Llanfaes Friary facts for kids
| Brodordy Llan-faes | |
 Location in Anglesey
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| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Order | Order of Friars Minor |
| Established | 1237 |
| Disestablished | 1538 |
| Diocese | Bangor |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Llywelyn ab Iorwerth |
| Important associated figures | Joan, Lady of Wales, Eleanor de Montfort |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Scheduled monument (AN134) |
| Site | |
| Location | Nr Beaumaris, Anglesey, Wales |
| Coordinates | 53°16′29″N 4°05′14″W / 53.2748°N 4.0873°W |
| Grid reference | SH6091677341 |
| Visible remains | None |
Llanfaes Friary was a Franciscan friary located near Beaumaris, on Anglesey, Wales. It was founded around 1237. A friary is a type of monastery where friars live and work. This one was built to remember Joan, who was the wife of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, a famous Welsh prince.
The friary stayed active even after the nearby town of Llanfaes disappeared. However, it was closed down in 1538. Most of its buildings were taken apart soon after. Later, a house called Friars was built on the land in 1623. This house eventually became part of the Bulkeley family's properties.
In 1939, during World War II, the site was used by a company called Saunders-Roe. They adapted and repaired flying boats there. After the war, the company continued with different engineering work. The industrial use of the site ended in the late 1990s. In 1991, archaeologists dug at the site. They found important remains of the friary church and other old buildings. Today, the site is a Scheduled monument, which means it's protected for its historical importance.
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The Medieval Town of Llanfaes
The old town of Llanfaes no longer exists today. Only St Catherine's Church remains, though it was rebuilt in the 1800s. In the 1100s, Llanfaes was a very busy town. It handled most of the trade for the whole area of Gwynedd.
By the 900s, Llanfaes was the main town and royal court for the area called Dindaethwy. Its wealth came from controlling the ferry crossing. By the early 1200s, it was a busy trading center, likely around the church. This is why the Franciscan Friary was built there.
However, things changed when King Edward I of England defeated the Welsh princes. To control the area better, he built a new castle and walled town at Beaumaris. This new town took over the ferry crossing. In 1303, the people of Llanfaes were forced to move. They were resettled in a new town called Newborough. This was to stop Llanfaes from competing with Beaumaris. After this, only the church and the friary remained. The exact location of the old town is now hard to find.
Why the Friary Was Founded
The first Franciscans came to Britain in 1224. They were part of a new religious group that lived simply. Unlike older monasteries that were often in quiet countryside, Franciscans preferred towns. They needed to be among people to teach and to receive charity.
Early Franciscan buildings were usually small and simple. They didn't want fancy or permanent structures. But people across England and Wales were very excited about this new way of life. By 1240, at least 29 Franciscan houses had been set up.
The Friary at Llanfaes was founded around 1237. By this time, Franciscans were starting to accept larger, well-funded buildings. This was because donors wanted to be connected with their popular new faith.
Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, the Prince of Gwynedd and Wales, founded the friary. He built it to honor his wife, Joan, Lady of Wales. Joan died in 1237 at their palace. The friary was officially opened in 1240, before Llywelyn passed away. Joan's original burial place was inside the friary's grounds.
Because of this, the friary became a special burial place for royal women of Gwynedd. In 1282, Eleanor de Montfort, another Welsh princess, was buried there. It was also a popular burial site for important families from Anglesey.
Challenges and Decline
The friary suffered some damage in 1295 during a rebellion led by Madoc ap Llywelyn. It was also affected by the rebellion of Owain Glyndwr in 1401. The damage was so bad that the friars had to leave for several years.
King Henry V helped to restore the friary in 1414. Even though the town of Llanfaes had disappeared, the monastery managed to keep going. It was still active when the Dissolution of the Monasteries happened.
The Friary's End
The friary was officially closed down in 1538 by King Henry VIII. At that time, a list was made of everything it owned. It shows that besides the church and living areas, the friary had a large farm. It had a brew-house, a yard with carts, a cheese store, and a kitchen. There was also a hall with tables, a storehouse, and farm products like grain, cattle, and sheep.
The buildings were slowly taken apart starting in 1539. Their stones were used to build things in Beaumaris. The friary's boundary wall could still be seen in 1610. The friary church itself was used as a barn until the mid-1800s.
Today, there are very few remains of the friary. Some medieval floor tiles have been found. Some of these tiles show oak leaves and acorns. This might be linked to the name "Llanfaes," which comes from "mes," a Welsh word for acorns.
The land of the friary was first bought by the Bulkeley family. Then it went to the Wynne (White) family. In 1623, Rowland Whyte built a house there, which he called Friars.
An empty stone coffin is now in St Mary's and St Nicholas's Church, Beaumaris. For a long time, people thought it belonged to Joan, Llywelyn's wife. A plaque above the coffin says it once held Joan's remains. It also says it was used as a horse trough before being moved to the church in 1808.
However, experts now think the carved lid of the coffin might not belong to the coffin itself. The style of the carving doesn't quite match the time when Joan died (1230s). But the crown on the carving suggests it was for a royal person. Many now believe the coffin lid might be for Eleanor de Montfort instead.
Henllys and Fryars Estates
Near Llanfaes was Henllys, an important home for one of North Wales's main families. When Llanfaes was emptied in the early 1300s, Henllys remained a notable residence. After 1460, it was given to William Hampton, who was the Deputy Governor of Beaumaris Castle.
The name Henllys means 'old royal court'. It was first recorded in 1584. The Hampton family became very important in the area. They kept Henllys and bought more land. By 1630, they owned most of the former Llanfaes town area. They continued to own it until the mid-1900s. Henllys was rebuilt and expanded over the centuries, most recently in the 1850s.
During World War II, Henllys was used to house engineers working at the Fryars site. After the war, a Franciscan order owned Henllys in the 1950s. Later, it became a hotel. In 2003, it became part of the Holiday Property Bond.
At the same time, the Bulkeley family was very important in Beaumaris. When the Friary closed in 1539, the Bulkeleys leased the site. They took stones from the friary buildings to use in Beaumaris. The next person to lease the site was Ellis Wynne (White) in 1563. His relative, Rowland Whyte, built the house called Friars in 1623.
The Bulkeley family, who had a huge house nearby, later took back Friars from the Whytes. So, the two main land-owning families, the Hamptons and the Bulkeleys, divided the Llanfaes area between them. In 1866, Friars (which became known as Fryars) was rebuilt. By the early 1900s, James Hartley Burton bought Fryars. His two sons, Alfred and Richard, were sadly killed in World War I. They are remembered on the Beaumaris war memorial.
Industrial Use of the Site
In 1939, the 50-acre Fryars estate was taken over from the Burton family. It was needed for the war effort. The site was given to Saunders-Roe, a company that modified Catalina flying boats. These planes were built in America and Canada.
Over four years, 399 Catalinas were changed to fit the needs of the Royal Air Force (RAF). This included adding British machine guns, bomb-racks, and radio equipment. They also installed secret radar systems and powerful Leigh lights from 1942. German U-boats had to surface at night to recharge their batteries. The radar and searchlights helped planes find and attack U-boats before they could dive underwater.
At Llanfaes, a long slipway was built across the road and down to Fryars Bay. This allowed the flying boats to use the deep water of the Menai Straits. The Catalinas were first shipped over from the USA and Canada. But from November 1942, they could be flown directly from Bermuda or Canada.
A large concrete turning circle still exists south of Fryars House. It was used to set the aircraft's compasses. After the war, the factory started doing many different engineering tasks. Some aircraft work continued, like testing floats for light planes. They also pioneered using aluminum to build things like motor torpedo boats and Airborne lifeboats.
The company also made many civilian and military vehicles for land. For example, they made the bodies for buses. In the 1950s, 620 of these buses were sent to Cuba. At its busiest, over 2,000 people worked at the site. Fryars House became the offices. During the war, workers lived in nearby Henllys Hall and other temporary housing. Later, permanent houses were built, creating a new village of Llanfaes north of the factory.
In 1968, the Llanfaes SARO site joined with another engineering works. They became Laird (Anglesey), part of the Cammell Laird shipbuilding company. By the 1990s, Faun Group owned it. In 1997, Faun Group opened a new factory elsewhere. The old wartime hangars and buildings at Llanfaes then fell into disuse. The company still works with aluminum in Llangefni, but the Llanfaes site is no longer used.
Archaeological Discoveries
In 1991, a plan to build sewage treatment works on the site meant a full archaeological study was needed. Gwynedd Archaeological Trust carried out this investigation. They wanted to find out what buried remains were there. The sewage works were later built in a corner of the site.
The 1991 excavations dug several trenches in areas that were easy to reach. The main structure there was the large concrete turning circle from the 1940s flying boat activities. The Friary Church itself was about 20 meters north of this circle and was not part of this study.
Two trenches near the circle were especially rich in finds from the friary's graveyard and boundary wall. The largest trench, Trench E, showed seven different periods of activity:
- Graves from an early time in the friary's history. These were dug next to a boundary wall and drain from the same period.
- Later, more graves were dug in a slightly different direction.
- A second wall was built, and more graves were dug through the older ones. By then, the older graves must have been forgotten.
- Two empty grave holes were found. This suggests that bodies were dug up and moved when the friary closed in 1538. Older burials were left in place.
- A cobbled surface was found. This was probably laid when the 'Friars House' was built in 1623.
- About 0.25 meters (10 inches) of clay soil built up. A trackway running north-south remained as a sunken path.
- Finally, the sunken track was filled in, and the site was leveled with clay and gravel. It was then paved with tarmac in the 1900s.
Other trenches found much less. The west side of the concrete circle had been dug down to create a flat area. This meant any older archaeological remains there had been lost. Trenches south of the circle only found the old trackway. So, that area was approved for the sewage treatment works.
