Malltraeth (origin: ''Mall'' (corrupt, blasted, desolate, + ''Traeth'' (beach))) is a small village in the southwest of

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

, in the

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

Bodorgan Bodorgan is a village and community on the Isle of Anglesey, Wales, United Kingdom. According to the 2001 Census, there were 1,503 residents in the now former electoral ward, 72.7% of them being able to speak Welsh. This increased to 1,704 at t ...

. It is now at the end of a large bay, which used to extend much further inland, almost creating a second sea strait in the area (the Menai Strait broke through following the end of the

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

). The population as of the 2011 census was only 255. After several abortive attempts, a long 'cob' or dyke was completed across it during the 19th century, allowing land reclamation behind it. Despite this, the land remains very wet and prone to flooding, much of it of great natural and scientific importance as a result. The former

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

creeks are still visible on aerial photography and evident as shallow depressions in the fields. Coal mining occurred for a time in the underlying Carboniferous rock strata and the subsidence of these workings resulted in the lakes "Llynnau Gwaith-glo". The village takes its name from the expanse of sand which used to exist there, some of which survives downstream of the Cob. ''Malltraeth'' means "unwholesome strand" and is recorded from at least 1304. The extent of the previous strand or beach is reflected in the names Trefdraeth ("strand farm") and Glantraeth ("strand edge"), north of Malltraeth and now far from the shore. The village had two pubs: The Royal Oak and The Joiners Arms. The Royal Oak closed in 2015 and The Joiners Arms remained closed for an extended period after the COVID pandemic lockdown in 2020, however it finally reopened in early 2022. It also had a village Post Office and shop at 16 High Street, but this closed as a victim of Royal Mail making deep cuts in local post offices. A mainline railway runs just a few hundred metres north of the village, but there is no station. The nearest stations are

, a request stop, which offers limited local journeys, along with Bangor and Holyhead, which offer more frequent access to longer distance travel to most parts of Wales, England and Scotland. On Sunday 26 September 2010, a newly constructed picnic area 'Clwt Glas' overlooking the Cefni Estuary in Malltraeth was opened by Olympic athlete Colin Jackson CBE and 99-year-old Mrs M A Edwards MBE, a long time and distinguished resident of the area. 'Clwt Glas' (Green Patch) was an area of land at the lower end of Malltraeth and was essentially the reverse side of a mound built as part of the scheme to reclaim the Cefni Marsh (Cors Ddyga) during the latter years of the 18th Century. It was transformed as a community project with the help of several grants into a picnic area, garden and information point. The long-establishe
Meyrick
landowning family of Bodorgan are located within the area, and are the owners of th

near

Aberffraw Aberffraw is a village and community on the south west coast of the Isle of Anglesey ( cy, Ynys Môn), in Wales, by the west bank of the Afon Ffraw (Ffraw River). The community includes Soar and Dothan. Located near the A4080 and the neares ...

. Older still is the ancient standing stone found on the northern edge of the village.

Malltraeth Marsh

The reclaimed land is called Malltraeth Marsh, through which runs the

Afon Cefni Afon Cefni is one of the major rivers on the island of Anglesey, Wales. It is long. Its source is near to the village of Capel Coch, before flowing through Bodffordd and into Llyn Cefni in the centre of the island. It continues to run south th ...

, which was canalised in 1824. The marsh is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and is particularly renowned for its bird life, beautifully captured in

Charles Tunnicliffe Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe, Order of the British Empire, OBE, Royal Academy of Arts, RA (1 December 1901 – 7 February 1979) was an internationally renowned naturalistic painter of British birds and other wildlife. He spent most of his work ...

's paintings, which form the resident gallery a
Oriel Ynys Môn
near

Llangefni Llangefni (meaning "church on the River Cefni", ) is the county town of Anglesey in Wales and contains the principal offices of the Isle of Anglesey County Council. United Kingdom Census 2011 recorded Llangefni's population as 5,116 people, ma ...

. There is an RSPB reserve in the marsh area.

References

* ''The Place Names of Anglesey'', 2004. G J Jones & Tomos Roberts.

External links

photos of Malltraeth and surrounding area on geograph
{{authority control Villages in Anglesey Sites of Special Scientific Interest in West Gwynedd Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in Wales Populated coastal places in Wales Bodorgan