Holyhead was a convenient port for sea travel to Ireland (Dublin area) since it was only 50 miles away. There were drawbacks: travel to Holyhead involved ferries across the Menai Straits and across the Conwy River. The road along the North Wales coast was poor and travel on the sands at low water was needed. Also the original harbour was very limited.
The original harbour of Holyhead was a creek partly sheltered by Salt Island (Ynys Gybi)
as shown in this 1748 chart [not north up]:
The sheltered anchorage was not accessible at low water by laden vessels and passengers were transferred by small boats since there was no along-side quay.
A big effort was made to improve this state of affairs: a new (more direct) road was engineered by Telford with a suspension bridge across the Menai Straits (opened 1826). The port was made more sheltered by adding the Admiralty Pier (running east from Salt Island) and the South Pier (running north towards the end of the Admiralty Pier). These port improvements were engineered by Rennie (and finished by Telford) - opening in 1821. The Admiralty Pier (with the Admiralty Arch and lighthouse at its end) is still in place today (2019).
Holyhead Port in 1830 [Gastineau; Admiralty Pier and Arch]:
In 1821 King George IV, on his way to Ireland by Royal Yacht, was delayed at Holyhead for 8 days by adverse weather and he then elected to travel by Post Office paddle steamer Lightning from Holyhead to Howth. This royal journey was marked by building an arch (Admiralty or King George IV Arch) on Salt Island in 1824. PS Lightning at Holyhead.
The next big steps in the development of Holyhead as a port were the
arrival of the railway (1850) using bridges at Chester over the Dee [failed in 1847], at Conwy and over the Menai
Straits. See discussion of
ships used in 1850.
Another big improvement was the construction of the outer harbour breakwater
(1873) which allowed deeper draught vessels to berth safely.
Much more recent progress was the creation of a dual carriageway A55 from near Chester - crossing the Conwy by tunnel [1991] and the Menai on top of the Britannia Rail Bridge [rebuilt 1980 after fire in 1970] and finally reaching Holyhead by 2001.
