Qualla: Admiralty Arch, Holyhead

Admiralty Arch, Holyhead: Introduction

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Thomas Harrison, Public domain. On 7 August 1821, the new King of England, George IV, stepped ashore at Holyhead from the royal yacht Royal George. He had come for a state visit to Ireland -- the first by a British monarch in centuries -- and the planned itinerary called for him to spend a night at Plas Newydd, the marquess's house on the Menai Strait, then return to his yacht and sail to Dublin. The weather, in the way of Welsh August weather, intervened. The Royal George could not sail. After several days of delay the King made a different decision. He boarded the Lightning -- the world's first Royal Mail steam packet -- and steamed across to Howth, near Dublin, on 12 August. The change to the new technology was met, by an Irish public hungry for any sign that modernity was reaching their island, with widespread approval. Three years later, the citizens of Holyhead opened a public subscription, hired the architect Thomas Harrison, and built an arch to remember the visit.

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Image: Thomas Harrison | Public domain

Admiralty Arch, Holyhead: Thomas Telford's Road

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit k.dowdell, CC BY-SA 3.0. The arch sits where Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road -- the route now known as the A5 -- meets the sea. Telford had spent the previous fifteen years redesigning the road from London to the Irish ferry port, blasting through mountains, throwing his suspension bridge across the Menai...

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Image: k.dowdell | CC BY-SA 3.0

Admiralty Arch, Holyhead: Red Wharf Bay Stone

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Cls14, CC BY-SA 3.0. The construction took two years. The arch was funded by public subscription -- the people of Holyhead and the wider Anglesey gentry putting up the money themselves, which is why it is also sometimes called the Triumphal Arch or the George IV Arch. The stone came from Red Wharf Ba...

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Image: Cls14 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Admiralty Arch, Holyhead: The Lighthouse Beyond

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Christopher Hilton, CC BY-SA 2.0. Beyond the arch, at the seaward end of the Admiralty Pier, stands the Holyhead Mail Pier Lighthouse -- a slim white tower completed in 1821, the same year as George's visit, and designed by the engineer John Rennie the Elder. Rennie was working at the same time on the wider impro...

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Image: Christopher Hilton | CC BY-SA 2.0

Admiralty Arch, Holyhead: Where to Stand to See It

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0. The arch is on Ynys Halen -- Salt Island -- inside the port estate. The public cannot reach it directly. The best view today is from the churchyard of St Cybi's Church, the medieval parish church of Holyhead, which sits on the high ground inside the Roman walls of Caer Gybi. From...

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Image: Eric Jones | CC BY-SA 2.0