Llanmaes (Gwynedd)
| Llanfaes | |
|---|---|
 Llanfaes
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| Llanfaes shown within Anglesey | |
| OS grid reference | SH603778 |
| Principal area | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Country | Wales |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BEAUMARIS |
| Postcode district | LL58 |
| Dialling code | +01248 |
| Police | North Wales |
| Fire | North Wales |
| Ambulance | Welsh |
| EU Parliament | Wales |
| UK Parliament | |
| Welsh Assembly | |
Llanfaes (formerly also known as Llanmaes) is a small village on the island of Anglesey, Wales, located on the shore of the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey from the north Wales coast. Its natural harbour made it an important medieval port and it was briefly the capital of the kingdom of Gwynedd. Following Prince Madoc's Rebellion, Edward I removed the Welsh population from the town and rebuilt the port a mile to the south at Beaumaris.
The current settlement of Llanfaes was originally known as Llan Ffagan Fach ("Church" or "Monastery of Fagan the Little") in honour of a Ffagan who founded a church at the site.Saint Fagan was supposed to have been a 2nd-century apostle among the Welsh and is also commemorated at St. Fagan's in Cardiff. The present name doesn't refer to a saint, but instead is simply Welsh for the "Church" or "Monastery in the Meadow".
Although both towns are pronounced Llanfaes in Welsh, the British government distinguishes an identically-named settlement in Glamorgan by spelling it Llanmaes. However, the town on Anglesey has also historically been known by that spelling as well. An unofficial Welsh variant is Llan-faes with a hyphen.
In the medieval kingdom of Gwynedd, Llanfaes functioned as the royal demesne (Welsh: maerdref) and seat of local governance for the commote of Dindaethwy in cantref Mon.King Cynan Dindaethwy maintained his royal court (Welsh: llys) in the town around the turn of the 9th century, but he was killed amid a protracted struggle against a rival named Hywel. Following Cynan's death, there was a major Battle of Llanmaes (Welsh: Gwaith Llanfaes) recorded in all the Welsh annals. Various sources conjecture that the battle marked an invasion by Mercians, Wessaxons, or Vikings, but the original sources simply do not record the combatants. Afterwards, however, the subsequent Merfynion dynasty established its northern court at Aberffraw on the opposite side of the island instead.
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Wikipedia