Llanfaes Friary
Llanfaes Friary is a historic Franciscan friary located in the village of Llanfaes, on the northeastern shore of the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales. The friary is one of the most historically significant medieval religious sites in Wales, representing a remarkable chapter in the story of Welsh identity, royal patronage, and the turbulent relationship between the native Welsh princes and the English crown. Though much of the original structure has been lost to time and the upheavals of the Reformation, what survives continues to draw historians, archaeologists, and those with a passion for medieval Wales to this quiet corner of the island.
The friary was founded in 1237 by Llywelyn the Great, one of the most powerful and celebrated of the Welsh princes, who ruled Gwynedd and exercised dominance over much of Wales. Its founding was an act of profound personal grief as much as political statement: Llywelyn established the friary in memory of his wife, Joan, known in Welsh as Siwan, who was the illegitimate daughter of King John of England. Joan died in 1237, and Llywelyn chose the site at Llanfaes as her place of rest, constructing the friary to serve as a memorial and to house Franciscan friars who would pray for her soul. This connection to Llywelyn and Joan gives the site an extraordinary emotional and dynastic resonance, intertwining Welsh and English royal bloodlines in one of the most poignant episodes of medieval Welsh history.
Joan's original stone coffin, a carved medieval effigy chest, survived the dissolution of the friary and has had a long and somewhat wandering subsequent history. It was eventually moved to the Church of Saint Nicholas in Beaumaris, where it can be seen today, just a short distance from the original friary site. This migration of her remains and memorial speaks to the disruption caused by the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII in the sixteenth century, when Llanfaes Friary was suppressed along with religious houses across England and Wales. The friars were dispersed, the buildings fell into disrepair and were quarried for stone, and the community that had existed there for three centuries was abruptly ended.
By the time of the dissolution, Llanfaes itself had already experienced a dramatic transformation at the hands of English power. Following the conquest of Wales by Edward I in the late thirteenth century, Edward forcibly relocated the Welsh community of Llanfaes to a new settlement at Newborough in the south of Anglesey, clearing the area around what would become his new English borough of Beaumaris. This act of ethnic and political displacement was a defining moment in the Anglicisation of Anglesey, and it meant that the friary, which had stood as a monument of Welsh princely culture, found itself surrounded by an English colonial town. The survival of the friary through this period, continuing to function even under English overlordship, is itself remarkable.
Visiting the friary site today, one finds a place that rewards quiet reflection more than dramatic spectacle. The remains are modest, consisting largely of fragmentary stonework and earthwork traces rather than grand standing ruins, though some structural elements do survive. The setting is peaceful and deeply atmospheric, with the waters of the Menai Strait and the Snowdonian mountains visible across the channel on a clear day. The sounds of seabirds and the gentle movement of the tidal waters create an evocative backdrop that heightens the sense of antiquity and loss that hangs over the place. The landscape around it is green and gently rolling, typical of this part of Anglesey.
Llanfaes itself sits very close to Beaumaris, one of the finest examples of concentric castle design in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Beaumaris Castle is only a short walk or a very brief drive from the friary remains, making it possible to visit both in a single day and to contemplate how one site — the friary — speaks to the Welsh world that Edward's conquest sought to subdue, while the other — the castle — embodies the English power that reshaped the island. The town of Beaumaris also offers pleasant cafes, restaurants, and the museum within the castle precincts, providing comfortable amenities for visitors exploring the area.
Access to the general area around Llanfaes is straightforward. Beaumaris is reachable from Bangor on the mainland via the A545 road, crossing the Menai Strait over the Britannia Bridge or the Menai Suspension Bridge and then following signs toward Beaumaris and Llanfaes. There is no train station in Beaumaris, so a car or local bus service from Bangor is the most practical option. The terrain around the friary site is relatively flat and accessible, making it manageable for most visitors. Spring and early autumn tend to offer the best combination of reasonable weather, manageable visitor numbers, and the soft, clear light that makes the landscape of Anglesey particularly beautiful.
One of the more fascinating and poignant details associated with Llanfaes Friary is the story of Joan herself. She is remembered not only for her role as Llywelyn's consort but also for a notorious scandal: she was discovered in 1230 to be conducting an affair with William de Braose, a powerful Marcher lord, who was seized and hanged on Llywelyn's orders. Yet despite this episode, Llywelyn apparently reconciled with Joan before her death, and his decision to found the friary in her honour suggests a complexity of feeling that history rarely captures so vividly. That a place of Franciscan devotion and prayer should carry within it such a deeply human story of betrayal, forgiveness, and grief is one of the qualities that makes Llanfaes Friary genuinely unlike any other site in Wales.