Holyhead is the largest town on Holy Island, Anglesey. It is best known for its role as a major seaport and its centuries-old ferry link with Ireland.
The settlement of Holyhead and Holy Island reaches as far back as the Neolithic era. The area around Holyhead holds many remains of circular huts, burial chambers and standing stones.

In the fourth century, a Roman military outpost was established there. Archaeologists think this camp may have had connections with the fort Segontium, located in today’s Caernarfon.

In the sixth century, St Cybi is believed to have established a church and monastery on the abandoned camp. Over the following centuries, the town grew around this site. The Welsh name of Holyhead, Caergybi, ‘Cybi’s Fort’, reflects these Roman and early Christian origins.
Since at least the seventeenth century, Holyhead served as north Wales’s main port for sailing to Ireland. The completion of Thomas Telford’s post road to London in 1828 and the arrival of the railway (1848) boosted the growth of the town.

In 1819, the first steamships transported mail and passengers between Holyhead and Kingstown (today Dún Laoghaire). As a result, the service became more reliable and increased the traffic across the Irish Sea.

Eventually, it became necessary to develop a new, much larger harbour that could shelter up to 1,000 ships during severe storms. The result was the construction of the enormous Holyhead Breakwater with a length of 2.39km. It remains Europe’s longest seawall to this day.

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