Dulas Island
| Dulas Island Welsh: Ynys Dulas | |
 Dulas Island from the shore | |
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| Grid reference: | SH501902 |
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Dulas Island is a small island located off the north-east coast of Anglesey. It is the most eastern part of the parish of Llaneilian.
The island is situated about a mile and a half offshore, within Dulas Bay. The size of the island depends on the tide, with a maximum length of 681 yards and width of 222 yards against a minimum of 201 yards by 38 yards. It has a maximum area of 18.3 acres. The island is mainly rocky, but at low tide sand is exposed, most noticeably on the southern part of the island where it separates the main rock formation from two smaller ones named Garnog ("Hooves").
Seals are often spotted living on and around the island [1] (hence it is also known locally as Seal Island), but it is too small for human habitation. There is also very little plantlife on the island owing to its rocky composition. However, on lower lying parts of the island, exposed at low tide, seaweeds and other sea plants live. A smaller rock called Garreg Allan ("The Outer Stone" or "Expelled" or "Furthest" Stone) is found about 100 yards behind the island, but is not visible with the naked eye from the shore.
A raised shelf of seabed about a mile long reaches out a little beyond Garreg Allan, meaning that the sea around it is no more than 16 feet deep. This is followed by a drop to water much deeper (over 65 feet deep), which indicates that Dulas Island may have been part of a recently (geologically speaking) submerged headland.[2] The island also marks the termination of an old limestone headland which geologically separated Dulas Bay from Lligwy Bay and Red Wharf Bay.
Standing on the island is a cylindrical structure with a cone shaped top, built in 1924 by Lady Dorina Neave of Llys Dulas Manor to store food and provide shelter for shipwrecked seamen. There is evidence from a map drawn up in September 1748 by Lewis Morris that the island was once known not as Ynys Dulas but Ynys Gadarn ("Strong or Mighty Island").[3]
References
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Dulas Island) |