Other industries in the Amlwch area

Due to the needs of the mines and miners a number of other industries grew up in the Amlwch area.
The greatest of these was ship building which is described on another page.
Many of the industries grew up around the chemicals which were available from the mines.
Some of the other industries are described below.

Breweries (There are 4 brewers listed in 1851 census and 8 in 1881)
The Owen map of Amlwch port in 1780 shows the presence of the "Amlwch Brewery " (Brewas Borth) in the square just above the port. The Francis map of 1828 still indicated the location of the large brewery on the square but also indicates that the Marquis of Anglesey had a smaller brewery in Lower Quay street. The Dinorben arms also owned "brewas llan" or the town Brewery. The 1890 OS map shows the Parys brewery located to the South West of the railway station.

The larger Amlwch brewery was run by a company from St Helens called Greenalls which is still in the brewery trade today. The company also had a mineral water works in Llanelian road and branded it's products as "ABC Ale". The company traded it's products as far as Caernarfon. One of it's drays was amongst the first commercial vehicles to cross the new suspension bridge when it opened in 1826. As far back as 1784 Mr Michael Hughes the younger brother of Reverand Hughes of Llys dulas, the Parys mine owner had become a share holder.
 

The water for the breweries was drawn from St Eleth's well which had been an important spa since ancient times.  People visited the well to question the oracle in the form of an eel which was able to change shape.

In 1823 the Amlwch Brewery Company were selling Cognac Brandy at 25/- per gallon. ale at 45/- per barrel and Amlwch porter at 45/- per barrel.

The breweries supplied the 21 taverns recorded in the area in 1828. In some cases the taverns were little more than a front room of a house adapted for public use. These were often run by the widows of sea man who had to open up there house to make a living. The beer act of 1830 resulted in the closing down of many of these ale houses and the establishment of licensed premises. By the end of the 19th century over 70 licensed pubs  or "Beer houses" were in existence in Amlwch. Link to old photographs of Amlwch

Robert Roberts, "Y Sgolor Mawr" described Amlwch port in the 1850s.
"a busy port, full of ships, and the smell of sulphuric smoke from the smelting works; numerous public houses around the port, and seamen, shipwrights and hobblers drinking Amlwch Brewery beer (or Greenalls, the company from St.Helens which has been there since 1786), and chewing Amlwch shag tobacco and at least seven pugilistic encounters in the street between old Mrs. Roose's pub and Roberts' lodging house".

Brickmaking
 In 1797 Arthur Aikin described a clay mill which was adjacent to the smelting works near the present day Craig yr don housing estate.
" Adjoining to the smelting houses is a rolling mill, upon the same construction as malt mills, for grinding the materials for fire bricks: these consist of fragments of old brick, with clunch procured from near Bangor.
An area on the hill to the East above the quay is still called the Brickpool. This was formed when clay was removed to form bricks. The type of clay is unsuitable for use as fire bricks in the local smelters however it could have been used to make bricks for the precipitation ponds on the mountain. It is thought that the industry finished some time prior to 1828. See also Porthwen Brickworks

Candle makers
A candle factory was located in School lane next door to the Wheatsheaf public house. The candles were in great demand, both for use in the mine and at home until paraffin lamp and later gas lighting became available. The candles were made of tallow and not bees wax. The tallow was collected  each market day from the farming people who came into town.

Carrageenan
This was sodium alginate which was manufactured from sea weed. It use was to clarify the beers in the brewery. Sea weed was also collected and sent in ships from Amlwch as early as 1775. When burnt the sea weed provided potash and iodine which was used in the manufacture of Alum and glass.

Chemical industry ( Please follow link )

Coastguard ( Please follow link)

Corn milling (6 millers in the 1801 census 11 in 1851 and 3 in 1881)
Built in 1816, and standing over 60 ft. high, the imposing brick and stone tower of Melin y Borth overlooks the harbour of AmIwch Port. With seven floors and 4 sets of grinding wheels, it was the tallest windmill to have been built on Anglesey. Erected by the prominent Paynter family, it was able to grind 70 bushels of corn in an hour.

Although Melin Y Borth was owned by the Paynters, its day to day running was, for many years, was carried out by the miller, William Jones of Queen Street. William Jones continues to appear as miller of Melin y Borth in various Directories until 1895, not long before its closure.

During his tenure a tragic accident occurred at the mill - "William Jones, a youth aged 18, son of Mr. Jones, proprietor of AmIwch Port Windmill, whilst at work inside the mill on Tuesday, was struck by lightning and killed."

There where other mills at Pentrfelin and a water mill at Melin Adda. In the later 1800s some of these windmills were so important for corn grinding that they were fitted with steam engines to ensure that they could operate on still days.

Fertilizers
In 1840 Charles Henry Hills established a factory at LLam Carw near Amlwch port to make Sulphuric acid via the direct pyritic process. By September 1860 Hills was trying to form an agreement with Evan Evans of the Mona mine to calcine their ores to make sulphuric acid. By 1861 a plant was built which produced 15,000 lbs of 15.5 % sulphuric acid per week. Over the following years the amount of sulpur made from mine ore began to decrease and Hill was forced to import sulphur from as far a way as Spain.  He also imported ground phosphate rock. The phosphate rock was reacted on by sulphuric acid to make range of fertilizers as was described in a 1889 advertisement.:-
" The firm has produced nitro phosphates for the last 36 years, and as a general fertilizer for all kinds of crops, it has given utmost satisfaction. Their bone manure has also proved to be made of the best ingredients and is used by hundreds of farmers. The company's corn and grass manure,...contain more Nitrogen and Ammonia than the NitroPhosphate. The Potato Fertilizer ... contains more essential elements than other products.  The all purpose Phospho Guano is in great demand for Corn and grass."
The last of these materials explains why Guano was being imported from South America to Amlwch Port.
In 1881 Mr Lewis Hughes was listed as manager of the Chemical  and Manure works.
In May 1893 an enormous fire swept through the works. This was caused by one of the hot furnaces cracking and the material inside flowing onto coal. The fire took hold in the roof and 50 roof trusses had to be replaced. Once rebuilt the works seemed to have had a new lease of life under a new manager called Lewis Hughes. In the early months of 1898 additional men were employed to work 24 hours per day. In February alone 6 ships delivered raw material to the port. The works eventually closed in 1910.

Bill head of Henry Hills & Son 1906 

Fishing
In 1798 Warner wrote that huge shoals of herring sometimes visited the Anglesey coast , which were taken, dried and exported. They were considered as delicacies.  Several fishermen from Amlwch port with their open ,clinker-built boats would join the Moelfre herring fishery during the season.
The herring would be salted and sent to Liverpool.
In the later part of the 19th century the herring catches were so heavy that it became very profitable for neighbouring farmers to buy the catch and set their employees to salt and pack the herring before they were sold at a good profit in Ireland
In the summer lobster fishing was the mainstay. Most of the pots were set within a few hundred yards of the cliffs, yet difficulties were experienced because of the strong local 5 knot tide.

Hatters
The most famous hat maker of Amlwch was David Edwards 'Dafydd y Ffeltiwr' (David the feltmaker),a hatter who was born and learnt his trade in Tre'r-ddôl, Cardigan shire around 1801. He moved to Amlwch in 1824 and is listed as a hatter in the 1828 trade directory. In the 1851 census he was listed as a hatmaker living at 11 Pigmarket Place. In 1861 he was living in market street with his wife Elizabeth. In the 1871 census he is listed as a widow at the hat shop market place. He died in Amlwch 29th September 1876.

His wife, Elizabeth Morgan was born in Tynywern and was well-known throughout Wales as  ‘Y Ddynes Fach’. She sold the hats and was also very good at making corn dollies. (Y Geninen, Vol 12 (1894), p. 280)

 Felt hats had been made in Britain since the middle ages but become very popular in Wales in the early 1800 s.  Fashionable ladies would wear tall felt hats to Chapel or market while miners used a felt hat adapted to hold a candle underground as described below.

 In Wales the felt hats were normally made from rabbit or hare fur. Around 2 ½ ounces of fur together with good quality wool was required to make each tall hat.

 The hair and the wool were drawn together on a hurdle and then, by using an implement similar to a bow, the fibres were spread in all directions while the dust and dirt fell through the holes in the hurdle. The fibres were then squeezed to form a cone, and the cone was then dipped into a large cauldron full of liquid known as a kettle. The liquid was a mixture of boiling water, a glass full of vitriol ( sulphuric acid) and beer dregs or in some cases urine. The vitriol compressed the body of the hat and the beer or urine diminished the  effect of the vitriol.

The hatters would form the hat on a wooden plank on the rim of the cauldron, dipping the hat from time to time into the liquid. This process was known as planking. It was essential that the liquid be kept at boiling point. Once the hat had been shaped, it was dipped in varnish to make it waterproof, and once dry it was stretched over a hatter's block to obtain the correct shape and then cut.

It was now ready to be dyed. The hat was dipped in a black mixture, usually made up of logwood, copperas and nutgall. The finished hats were then dried in the open-air. Before being ironed by a heavy iron.  A band was stitched on it and a suitable lining was added for the better hats.

Hospitals
The Mona Mine manuscripts contain a number of references to Miner's widows appealing to the Marquis of Anglesey for a small pension following the death of a husband  in the Mona Mine. In some cases individual appeal letters were written with some additional information being noted by agents in the mine. There are a number of widows in the lists of pensions being paid up to about 1820.

In 1821 the miners elected Dr Roose as the Doctor under which they would receive treatment for injuries sustained at the mines. to cover the cost 2d per week was retained from there wages. However by 1831 up to three doctors where treating the miners.

In February 1831 Sanderson visited the mines and wrote a letter to Treweek complaining of the " Reprehensible inattention towards sick and hurt miners on the part of three medical attendants. Want of experience and surgical skills is imputed of one of them leading to want of confidence in him by his patients. In the other whatever skills he possesses he is utterly unable to exercise from habitual drunkenness. The third, and only other medical man, is in the predicament of the second. Seldom sober but fortunately skillful when not drunk. Miners are taxed, well or ill to pay Mr Williams and Mr Roose for general attendance. Mona Mine agents must ensure that Medical aid is available " ( MMS 2655)

Later in 1831 a Dr Webster , the son of the assay agent arrived in Amlwch and miners were allowed to attend him in a case of accident while still being "taxed" for medical attention.  From 1845 onwards the miners were free to choose there own doctor with the cost being paid for by the company. In the early parts of the 19th Century Lord Anglesey paid for some injured mines to go to hospitals in Liverpool, Bangor or Chester. (MMS 998)

In the first part of the 19th century many older miners, who had given 30 or 40 year service to the mines also appealed for a pension because of disability many caused by accidents in the mine.

Around 1860 there seems to have been a sudden increase in this sort of appeal as a policy of retiring older miners and bring in younger fitter men seems to have been started. This left some older miners with no other means of support than to appeal for pensions.

From the lists it can been seen that loosing your sight from an exploding gunpowder charge was always a problem. Fracture and broken limbs often lead to disability later in life. The other common accident seems to be a rupture  Many of the older and infirm miners were set to work in the precipitation pits. This work seemed to be a sort of "light duty" for injured or frail workers. Some of the men in this area were still working aged 70 after given up to 65 years service to the mines. This is in contrast to copper miners in Cornwall of the same time who rarely survived beyond 40 years of age.

In 1863 the average wage of a miner was 14/-  (70p) per week, Dr Thomas Hughes of the Parys Company and Dr Richard Lewis Parry of the Mona company gave testimony before the Royal Commission on mines, that it was necessary to wait between an hour and two hours after a blast so that the cordite fumes might have time to clear. They also testified that many suffered from Tuberculosis and Silicosis because they were mining through seams of Silica Quartz to reach the copper rock. One of the greatest dangers of the work was breathing in the fumes of the sulphuric acid from the burning ore piles on the mountain and many suffered from rheumatic fever. Some practised their own medicine, such as taking and ounce of gunpowder in a pint of spiced beer for the relief of rheumatic fever. Other miners also suffered from dyspepsia because they drank too much tea or coffee. both doctors started that the miners of Parys mountian looked about 15 years older than men who worked on the land.

In 1872 the Dinoben cottage hospital was opened at a cost of £600. Much of this cost was paid for by Lady Dinorben of Llys Dulas. The new hospital allowed the local surgeons to operate in a much more healthy atmosphere. However it was closed by 1893.

An "Isolation hospital" was also opened a few year latter at Llam carw. In 1902 a number of suspected Small pox cases were sent to the hospital. The "Anglesey Isolation Hospital Rules" were published in Jan 1925 (WCC/102). These state that the hospital was only to be used for the treatment of Infectious diseases such as Scarlet fever, Typhoid fever, Typhus fever, Diptheria, Puerperal fever and Erysipelias.

Patients in this hospital were under the care of a "Sister in Charge" and could not leave until authorised by a Doctor. Other rules for the Sister included:-

a) She shall not under any circumstances allow a friend to see a patient other than through a closed window of a ward.
b) She shall see that no friend of a patient dangerously ill should enter a ward without first putting on a mackintosh.
c) Patients may only be visited between 2 and 4pm on Wednesday and Sunday. Maximum allowable stay was 10 minutes.
d) Visitors must be disinfected as described by the sister in charge.
e) Scale of charges : income < £100 pa Free, £100-150 pa 5/- per week. . £250 pa 15/- per week.

Glossary of old medical terms

Iron & brass foundry (There are 3 iron moulders  listed in 1851 census and 2 in 1881)
An area to the west of the port was developed into an iron foundry where all sorts of materials were made for use in the steam ships that were built in the port. In 1881 Mr Heth Jones was manager of the foundry. Many ornate iron gates and railings were made in the factory as well as parts for the new iron ships being made in the Amlwch ship yards.

Local memory is of a large building with a steel floor.  At regular intervals in the floor were square holes.  Metal sheets were heated in the furnaces and then place against pegs in the holes of the floor. Large metal wedges where then knocked between the sheets and the pegs, to curve the metal into shapes which had been drawn on the floor in chalk.

Lifeboat.
In 1828 James Williams , a nephew of Thomas Williams the famous Parys mine manager, and his wife Frances founded the  Anglesey Association for the Preservation of Life from shipwrecks, following the sinking of the sailing ship  Alert with the loss of all 140 people on board.

It was not until 1867 that the RNLI decided to open a station at Bull bay. The Marquis of Anglesey gave a site and the building cost £158 to errect. A Miss Anglesey gave £400 to allow a 32ft boat to be purchased and the lifeboat was in service in 1868.
To mark the occasion rock cannon were fired from Parys mountain. The boat " Eleanor" was delivered to the Amlwch railway station from where is was taken by horse and cart to the new life boat house in Bull bay. It was not until 12th February 1871 when she was first launched to save the crew of the schooner "Albion" . Lifeboat Eleanor was also used to rescue 20 passengers from the SS Dakota which ran aground in 1877.
In 1884 "Eleanor" was replaced by the 34 foot self righting Woolfe & Son boat called "Curling" which was named after a Miss Curling of Camberwell who provided the RNLI with £290 to buy her. The Curling was called out 6 times in her 5 years at Bull Bay.
She was replaced with another self righting boat also called "Curling"  built by Henderson & Co at a cost of £441.
In 1890 John Hughes the coxswain of the Bull Bay life boat  since 1868 received the RNLI Silver medal. However the Curling continued to give good service until 1903.
For a few years a temporary boat called "Anne Collin" was stationed at Bull Bay until in May 1904 "James Cullen" a 38ft Watson Class non self righting boat was provided at a cost of £993. She was provided out of the legacy of Miss Marianne Cullen of Nottingham and to accommodate the Life boat a new boat house was built at a cost of £2000. It remained in service until June1924 when the RNLI decided to close the station.
In 58 years the bull bay life boats were launched 41 times saving 63 lives and 7 ships during that period.

Link to Amlwch Ship wrecks

Light house
With the growth of traffic from the copper mines Amlwch became an important port. It was also on the sea route to Liverpool. In 1779 a group of merchants built a house near Point Lynas for the guidance of ships by placing lights in the windows. The first keeper of this light was Robert Beaver.

However there were constant complaints that the light from the smelting works out shone the light house. The present light house building was first lit on 1/8/1835 and stands 128ft above sea level.

Literary and Scientific Institution
The institute was formed in 1839 as a non political movement open to all classes and creeds. It's initial meetings were held in "The eagles" public house Quay street in Amlwch port. Among the initial founders were, Owen Lewis, "Philolecturus", Joseph Jones "Chwaneg Mon", Evan Evans, Mona Lodge, John Hughes, Tyddyn Dai, and  Jonathon Roose, Parys Farm.

By 1842 the movement became so popular that in a meeting in the school house it was decided that it should look for it's own premises. A Mr Lewis and Hughes were appointed as fund raisers. The Marquis of Anglesey contributed £10 towards the fund. The aims of the institution were :-
1) A decent private room for members to assemble.
2) That we should have a Library and a few apparatus.
3) That members should have access to the Library when ever they please.
4) A general meeting should be held once a fortnight .. in order to discuss.. topics approved off by the society.
5) Public lectures should be delivered every two or three months, with the benefits of ticket sales going to the Institution.

 Buildings were erected on the right hand side of Bull bay road just before the national school in 1845.
There were three grades of membership each with a separate fee. The highest grade, mostly gentry paid an annual fee of £2/2/= while for £5 a membership for life was offered. Mechanics ie skilled works paid 2/- annually.

Mat manufacture
Marram grass was initially planted on the west of the island to prevent the movement of coastal sands. The long strands of marram grass were found to be ideal for making mats. The grass was cut at the end of Summer and allowed to dry for a few weeks. These sheaves were plaited together, eight Welsh yards ( a welsh yard was about a metre) made a thong of lace (carrai) and eight thongs were needed to make one mat.  When rope became available many years later the mat making tradition was carried on using the new material.  
Many rope mats were used at Parys mountain. The drillers  knelt on rope mats while they were making their holes prior to filling with dynamite. The mats were also used as a filter during the process of washing copper ore. Sailors and sailors wives also made mats for decoration.

Mineral water
On 27/2/1875 an agreement was signed between William Thomas the ship builder and a Evan Evans of Waun fawr, Caernarvon to  become joint partners in the "Evan Evans Soda Water manufactory" based at Pant rhyd talog in Amlwch port. William Thomas was to be a "sleeping partner" while Evan Evans was paid 30/- per week to work full time for the venture.  A plant was established and water was bottled and sold all over Anglesey. Some even being sold at Port Dinorwic on the main land. However the venture was never a commercial. William Thomas withdrew from the company. The company survived until it was put into  voluntary liquidation on 10/1/1880.

Oil terminal (Single Buoy Mooring)

Paint works

Pilot boats
The sea routes from Anglesey to Liverpool have been, and still are very important for the British economy. The journey from Anglesey to Liverpool docks is one of fast tides and shifting sandbanks.
For many years merchant shipping from all over the world have picked up experienced Ship captains called Pilots from Amlwch to lead the ships on the last part of the journey to Liverpool.
Pilot boats have worked out of Amlwch from the 18th century. At this time they where 6 oared rowing vessels. The vessels were owned by the pilots themselves who often over charged for their services or did not go out to sea when the weather was rough.

In 1769 these privateers were outlawed in an act of parliament and the  Liverpool Pilot service was started. This service built a pilot station near Point Lynas which was sheltered from the prevailing winds. They used sail ships to give a professional service to the growing merchant fleet. The sailing ships eventually gave way to steam ships and now modern diesel powered craft do the same job.

    Photographs information early history of Pilots by Geoff Topp

Printing
A printing press was established by David Jones in Wesley street about 1864. Around 1881 he printed a travel book called "Amlwch, Bull bay and Neighbourhood", which was published by J C Roose. The printing press remained in operation until 1891 and many books and ballads were published.

Purple slime
This is a relic of the calcination kilns from the old sulphur removal process on the mountain and much of this purple material can still be seen on the mountain. The small deposits on the mountain were still being worked in 1889 as required and after "proper manipulaton at Liverpool is used almost solely for coating the bottom of iron ships as a form of antifouling."

Railway
In 1833 a railway had been  built from the smelting works down to the shipping berths at Amlwch port. It was operational by 11/6/1834 Treweek reported. " We have put our engine to work at the port and I am proud to say that there is every probability of its answering equal of our expectations, when we have our turnout roads down we shall be prepared to unload three vessels at once or 200 tons in a day" 
A public meeting was held in LLangefni on 5/7/1858 with the aim of trying to bring  a railway the 17 miles from Gaerwen to Amlwch. The Anglesey Central  Railway main line was extended from Gaerwen initially to Llanerchymedd in 1865 and then reached Amlwch in 1867. The railway made it easier for the mine owners to get there produce to markets in the South of England.
In May 1865 Thomas fanning Evans wrote " The Birmingham and London rates now make the land route even cheaper than our present mode of sending via Liverpool The freight cost of ore from Llangefni to London 27/6 per ton to Birmingham 22/6 and to Liverpool 16/8. ( MMS 1996)
Even when the cartage to Llangefni at 10/- per ton was taken into account the total price to London was £1/17/- per ton compared to £2/1/6 via ships.
The Mona Mine manuscripts (MMS 3749)  records that for the  2 week period ending on 9 June 1865, 21 tons of ore was sent on the sea and 16 tons on the railway. The following two week periods show 27 and 32 tones of ore being transported on the railway and none by sea.
The next part of the railway  to Amlwch town became operational on 3 June 1867 and must have further reduced the cost of shipping. 

It is unfortunate that the production of copper ore at the mountain reduced from around 1865 onwards.  In 1871 it was declared that  " As regards the line to Port of Amlwch, nothing ought to be done till there is certainty by guarantee or otherwise of sufficient traffic to pay a proper interest on the Capital to be expended in making it" (MMS 3363)
In 1873 Fanning was sending precipitate to Baxter in London by rail and would have sent more for want of trucks at the station.  Scrap iron was also brought from Liverpool by rail. (MMS 3528). In February 1873 a deal was signed with a scrap merchant in London to send iron for  the precipitation pits by rail.
By 1874 a new company called Parys Mountain Mines Limited was working the Parys and Morfa ddu mines. A new shaft had been sunk at the latter mine and 8470 tons of copper ore,634 tons of sulphur and 255 of bluestone had been produced. (MMS 3002)
The rail company directors were now  "assured that the future traffic will be greatly extended from the great impetus that has of late, and is now being given in the working of the copper mines at Amlwch, and from the fact that the smelting works are again about to resume their former activity"
However the work at Morfu ddu was sold as was most of the rest of the mountain to Thomas Fanning Evans in 1884. He had already shown preference to using rail rather that ships, This continued but the extension of the rail down to Amlwch port did not occur.
Some of the reduction in freight from the copper mines was taken up by the transport of artificial manure from the Hills fertilizer factory which continued for many years after the mine.
The railway continued to be used until "Beeching's axe" closed the passenger line on 5/12/1964.
 

The line was still used for the transport of freight to the Associated Octel works until 1993.

Sail makers (There are 6 sail makers listed in 1851 census and 4 in 1881)
Sail makers were an essential part of the ship building business which had built up in Amlwch port. The "sail soft" building is still in Amlwch port and is used as a heritage centre by Amlwch Industrial Heritage Trust. 
List of vessels who's sails were repaired at Amlwch sail loft.
Like all trades the sailmakers had their own set of terms used in the business many of which are now lost or forgotten.

Sawmill  (There are 4 sawyers listed in 1851 census)
The shipping industry needed wood and a water wheel driven sawmill owned by the Paynter family existed on the West bank of the port. The remains of the saw mill can be seen in this photograph taken in 1932.

Towards the end of the 19th century there were 5 timber yards in Amlwch all producing work for the shipping industry.

Schools

Ship building

Shopkeepers
In 1866 There were three druggist shops listed,8 butchers,13 Tailors,11 Carpenters, three watch and clock makers,6 selling china, one printers,4 bookshops,6 iron mongers,3 ship reapirs,4 tea and coffee house, 3 sailmakers, one blockmaker,8 showmakers,12 coal merchants,5 floor merchants,3 candlemakers,20 darpers,26 grocers, one savings bank, post office and one custom house.  In 1876 56 members formed the "United Society of Amlwch Traders"

More old photographs of Amlwch
Amlwch trade directories 1823-1890

Slate quarrying
In 1869 the "North Anglesey Slate and slab Co" was formed to work the hard rock close to Point Lynas. A new harbour and port to be named "Port Dinorben" was planned. But the company had stopped working by 1876.

Telegraph station
In 1804 during the Napoleonic wars, the admiralty installed signal stations along the North Wales coast to warn of a surprise attack by the French on Liverpool. The signal station on Mynydd Elian ( SH480932)  was typical of others in the chain. It was a wooden hut with a flagstaff.  The officers of the stations were issued with signal flags.
They would use these to signal to any ships that they saw out to sea.. The ships needed to give the correct signal response or they were assumed to be French vessels.  If the correct response was not received the signal stations would send a signal to Liverpool and all navel ships in the area would then prepare to engage.
By 1826 a new signal system based on a single mast with three pairs of semaphore arms had replaced the flag system. The location had also changed by 1839 to Point Lynas ( SH 478922) . Each of the arms on the semaphore mask  where 7 1/2 feet long.  The relative position of the arms on the mast spelt out the message.

The merchant sea shipping companies used the new system  to obtain information about their ships as they rounded Holyhead. This allowed them to make arrangements for the ship take a Pilot on board for the difficult journey to the docks at Liverpool.
The signal man at Point Lynas was called Griffith Michael. He was appointed on 14/8/1827 and by 1837 was earning £55 pa.  He retired with a 12/- per week pension in1852. He died 24/8/1854 and is buried in St Eilian Church yard.
By 1861 the use of semaphore telegraph system to Liverpool merchant ships had been abandoned due to the arrival of the faster and more accurate electric telegraph system. However the coastguard and admiralty continued to have a semaphore station at Point Lynas until 1907. (Thanks to Faster than the wind .Frank Large for the information on the telegraph system).

Tobacco (There are 15 tobacco makers listed in 1881 census)
In Slaters directory  of business in Amlwch in 1844 Morgan & Jones is described as a tobacco manufacturer in the pig market. By 1850 the firm were listed in Bank street and by 1856 are listed as Edward Morgan & Co with Mr Morgan living at Ty Coch near St Eleth Church. The company continued to make tobacco there own brands until the late 1940s and remained in business until 1985.

This was only the first of a number of tobacco companies in Amlwch who produced both snuff and tobacco. In 1868 Edward Morgan Hughes (Fair view) established another firm in Methusalem street. This was the only firm to manufacture cigarettes rather than pipe tobacco or snuff.

A Third company, William Mostyn of Petter's street is also listed in 1880 and had a works at Madyn farm. The company may have been the first to be established in 1830.The company had changed name to Hugh Owen and Sons by 1910 and later became know as the Amlwch Tobacco company. "Young Wales" Amlwch shag for chewing and smoking was manufactured by Hugh Owens & Sons and their motto was:-

Tuedda dyn at eiddo da, ni siomir ei gais yma
{man goes for good things in life so he won't be disappointed by his wish here}

 

Most of the tobacco leaves were obtained from areas of the British Empire and had been imported into Liverpool. Almost all of this tobacco was for use in pipe smoking. The most famous of which were "Baco werin" and "Amlwch Shag"

Three different types of tobacco were made:-
Snuff:- made from grinding the dried tobacco leave, some of which was mixed with flavourings or in some cases adulterated with cheap powder to make it go further.
Twist:- in which wetted tobacco leaves were twisted into a tight coil before being compacted in a press to form blocks which would be sold to be broken off by the customer for chewing.
Shag:- in which wetted leaves were shredded in a machine and packed into small packets and used mainly for pipe smoking.

In comparison to today's health conscious society magnificent claims were made for some of the Amlwch tobaccos as this verse suggests.

Tourism
The coming of the railway to Amlwch increased the opportunity for tourism. However famous painters and writers had been visiting Parys mountain since the last part of the 18th Century.

In 1823 a horse drawn coach called "Marquis of Anglesey" travelled each morning from the "Freemasons Arms" in Amlwch over the mountain to Llangefni and then on to Bangor ferry where it meet the steam ships of Liverpool which had begun operation in 1822.

 It would return to Amlwch with people who wished to view Parys mountain for 6/- for an inside seat and 4/- for an outside berth.
In 1848 Owen Jones wrote a travel book entitled " Amlwch and the celebrated Mona and Parys copper mines" While in November 1856 Owen Roberts established a motor business in Salam Street, Amlwch.

By 1893 he was charging 2/- for a round trip from Amlwch to Cemaes bay and 1/- for a trip to the "Roman" swimming Baths at Bull bay.
The following century even the occasional steam ferry day trip to Liverpool to Amlwch could be seen trying to get into the crowded harbour.

Woollen factory
A woollen factory was in existence in 1866. The surrounding farms sent their wool to the factory to be converted into many different types of cloth.

Link to old photographs of Amlwch
Link to C19th Amlwch Trade directories
1890 OS map
Return to Amlwch History

For more detailed information:-

A curious place by Bryan Hope
The Industrial History of Amlwch 1550 - 1950
ISBN (Hardback) 0 9535268 0 1
ISBN (Softback)   0 9535268 1 X

Masts & Shaft
Eryl Wyn Rowlands
ISBN 1 902 565 04 5

Faster than the wind
Frank Large
ISBN 0 9521020 9 9