importance by the stately Edwardan fortress of Beaumarais. It is possible that some remains of the old palace of the Welsh princes may be traced at Aberffraw their capital: but here the survey is as yet deficient. In interest, however, the castle of Beaumarais is perhaps the chief medieval remain upon the island, and in some respects it is more valuable to the military antiquarian than the more stately contemporary structures of Conway and Caernarvon. It is very complete; its parts and their destinations may all be readily made out; its military position (the warfare of the time considered) is very remarkable; and it possesses the only complete military chapel to be found in the principality. The survey of this is almost entirely finished, and the subject of it is important enough to form either a monographic account, or to be placed in a series of accounts of the Edwardan buildings of Wales. A few other military buildings may probably be traced in some parts of Anglesey, but sufficient observation has not yet been made on this branch of its medieval remains.
Several ancient houses remain in various parts of the island, such as Plas Goch near Moel y Don, Plas Goch in Beaumarais, (the ancient manor-house of the Bulkeley family,) and various detached manorial or farm houses throughout the district. The site, if not the buildings of Plas Penmynydd, the original seat of the Tudors, near Llanfinnan, is of no small interest to the historical antiquarian; just as their family-vault and the altar-tomb (executed anterior to the royal fortunes of that house) now preserved in Penmynydd church, are to the artist and the architect. One of the most remarkable houses is Plas Goch, mentioned above, at Beaumarais. Though greatly dilapidated, and indeed tenanted by poor families, the details of the house may be made out satisfactorily. The great dining-hall is in tolerable preservation, though blackened by smoke, and converted into two or three dwelling-rooms. But its canopied dais and its ceiling, fretted with ever-varying pendants of good execution, would not be misplaced at Hatfield, Burghley, or Audley End.
On the whole the antiquities of Anglesey, though but little known, are not without interest and value; they are important to the national antiquarian and the national historian: and the two great classes into which they may be divided—Cymric and Medieval—are sufficient to occupy the attention of a careful observer for a considerable period.
