Anglesey`s Copper Kingdom and the closure of The Liverpool Arms
Passing through Amlwch, I notice that The Liverpool Arms has closed. The windows of both floors are closed off with shutters of gleaming aluminium, and each shutter bears a sticker, courteously worded to inform would-be looters that `all items of value have been removed`.
I visit Amlwch two or three times a year. It is the location of my novel `Flowers of Vitriol` set in 1817, when Amlwch was still an important copper producer and sea port, and I have the affection for the place of one who has indulged his imagination in an episode of its past.
To many people passing through for the first time, Amlwch is a disappointment. Despite having one of those names, endearing to non-Welsh speakers, with an unbroken cluster of consonants, Amlwch has steadfastly refused to become picturesque. It is not Moelfre, or Cemaes, or Beaumaris – it has much of the seedy atmosphere of a working class town after the work and the prosperity have departed.
Copper was discovered on Parys Mountain, a mile above the town, in 1770, and a period of feverish industrial activity followed, sucking in a new workforce, and giving the town rowdy boom-town atmosphere; the natural rocky harbour was developed into a port, and copper from Amlwch, it is said, was used to sheath the hulls of Nelson`s ships at Trafalgar. When the copper boom dwindled, Amlwch had already begun to build a reputation for shipbuilding which lasted into the twentieth century.
Since then, various brave attempts have been made to maintain the industrial infrastructure. For a time the tobacco industry flourished alongside the maritime trade. After the second world war, OCTEL set up a works on the headland to the west of the port, producing bromine, and in the seventies SHELL built a floating oil receiving station, just offshore, with a pipeline to a shore station at the port.
Now both are finished. The Shell Terminal has gone and the OCTEL site is empty and abandoned. Like the railway track which still runs through the town, choked with gorse and bramble, like the huge Carmel Independent Chapel on the Llaneilian road, now deserted and with clumps of turf growing from its roof, they belong to a world from which time has moved on.
And now the Liverpool Arms.
In `Flowers of Vitriol` there is a scene where Thomas Kendrick, the Mona Mine Superintendent, is sent to the Liverpool Arms to speak to the local men, who, angry that corn is being shipped out of Amlwch when their own families are going hungry, are on the verge of rioting. Sitting at the head of the port, the Liverpool Arms seemed a suitable place for such a gathering, a place where the heartbeat of Amlwch could be felt.
Amlwch Port, of course, is half a mile down the hill from the main part of the town, and you could easily pass through without realising it is there. The old port is still, however, when you come across it for the first time, a real find. It is a narrow, fjord-like creek, steeply walled, and with the ground rising sharply on each side. It went through several stages of development and improvement during the nineteenth century, but a century of decline has seen the destruction of the kilns, the copper bins and the other industrial buildings, and little remains now from that period.
The Sail Loft, perched above the eastern seaward end of the port
is one building that escaped, and it is now an attractive little museum with lots of Amlwch memorabilia. Here you can see a short video animation of the port in mid-Victorian times, and you can buy books, and pictures, and have a coffee and so on. And being here, you become aware that there is a nucleus of enthusiasts who are making great efforts to preserve Amlwch`s industrial heritage.
They will ask you if you have been up on the mountain – Parys Mountain, ravaged by decades of mining and sulphur fires, is dramatic from a distance and even more dramatic if you take the trouble to walk up there – and they will tell you about plans to restore parts of the port to their old working state.
The Sail Loft Centre gives you hope that there is more of a future for Amlwch than is apparent from the dreary post-industrial first impression it makes.
The closure of the Liverpool Arms, however, is just a little bit depressing. It somehow sends out a signal that this is a place people don`t come to, a place where there is little worth seeing.
Which is far from the truth when you begin to look.
Let`s hope the closure is temporary.
May, 2013
“Flowers of Vitriol” by John Wheatley is available as a Kindle Download through the following link:
We went to Amlwch during our holiday last year - mostly on the strength of your book, to be honest. The port, as you say, is a fascinating place, and we had a great morning looking round and seeing what's on offer. The geology centre was particularly interesting.
ReplyDeleteBut when we went into Amlwch itself we were deeply disappointed. We tried one café where we were made to feel most unwelcome by hostile stares as soon as we walked in. And the second stank horribly of unwashed dishcloth. As a result we ended up in Cemaes. Amlwch needs to make a little more effort if it isn't to become a place that people REALLY don't go to.
We have a caravan sited at Rhosniger (been there for 4 years so far) and have visited Amlwch a few times, the Sail loft is great, lots of history, lots of interesting things to see and read. but only about an hour max (if you read everything) If you can arrange a fishing charter, visit the sail loft and then go for Chips and a pint it's a good day out. There's lots of stuff to do on Anglesey though The Sail Loft is a good starter, then see where the wind takes you.
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