Anglesey.-- an insular co. of N. Wales, separated from the mainland by the Menai Strait, over which a suspension bridge was thrown in 1826, and a tubular railway bridge in 1850. The island is about 20 miles long, 16 broad, and 76 in circumference, and is the only co. in Wales that is not mountainous. Area, 193,511 acres: pop. 51,416. The soil is moderately fertile. The rearing of cattle is one of the chief occupations. (For agricultural statistics, see Appendix.) A considerable trade is also carried on in butter, cheese, hides, honey, wax, and tallow. It contains valuable minerals, and furnishes copper, lead, silver, marble, limestone, coal, and marl. The chief copper mines are at Parys. There are no important mfrs. The Chester and Holyhead Ry., a part of the main route between London and Dublin, traverses the S. of the co. for 23 miles. The distance from Holyhead to Dublin is about 60 miles. Anglesey is generally believed to have been the chief seat of the Druids of the ancient Britons. It was called Mona by the Romans, and Anglesey, or Angle's Eye (that is, island) by the Saxons. Anglesey comprises 6 hundreds, 77 pars., the mun. bor. of Beaumaris, and the towns of Amlwch, Holyhead, and Llangefni. It is in the diocese of Bangor. It returns 1 member to Parliament.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))