South Stack

South Stack (Welsh: Ynys Lawd) is an island situated just off Holy Island on the northwest coast of Anglesey.

View along the rugged coastline from South Stack
South Stack lighthouse on the island. The footbridge from the mainland is just visible

Description

South Stack is famous as the location of one of Wales' most spectacular lighthouses, South Stack Lighthouse. It has a height of 41 metres (135 feet), and a maximum area of seven acres (2.8 ha).

Until 1828 when an iron suspension bridge was built, the only means of crossing the deep water channel on to the island was in a basket which was suspended on a hemp cable. The suspension bridge was replaced in 1964, but by 1983 the bridge had to be closed to the public, due to safety reasons. A new aluminium bridge was built and the lighthouse was reopened for public visits in 1997. Thousands of people visit the lighthouse every year, thanks to the continued public transport service from Holyhead's town centre.

There are over 390 stone steps and 10 metal steps down to the footbridge, and the descent and ascent provide an opportunity to see some of the 8,000 nesting birds that line the cliffs during the breeding season. The cliffs are part of the South Stack Cliffs RSPB reserve, with a visitor centre, and bird hide at Elin's Tower. The tower provides a place to see choughs, peregrine falcons, kestrels and various marine mammals such as harbour porpoises seen at high tide, grey seals, Risso's dolphins and bottlenose dolphins.

The Anglesey Coastal Path passes South Stack, as does the Cybi Circular Walk.[1] The latter has long and short variants; the short walk is four miles (6.4 km) long and takes around two hours to complete. Travelling from the Breakwater Country Park, other sites along the way are the North Stack Fog Signal station, Caer y Tŵr, Holyhead Mountain and Tŷ Mawr Hut Circles.

The South Stack Formation was chosen as one of the top 100 geosites in the United Kingdom by the Geological Society of London, for its display of small-scale folding.[2]

West Anglesey Demonstration Zone

In 2019, proposals to develop a 35km2 'West Anglesey Demonstration Zone' tidal energy project at South Stack were submitted for approval under the Transport and Works Act 1992.[3] As the development will come within 500 metres of the South Stack SSSI, concerns have been expressed about the visual impact on the Anglesey Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Holyhead Mountain Heritage Coast along with the resultant impact on the tourism, recreation and fishing sectors. The developers have identified that seabird and mammal populations would be affected within the Holy Island Coast Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area along with the North Anglesey Marine Special Area of Conservation. Most notably bottle-nosed dolphin and harbour porpoise would likely be affected, whilst razorbill and common guillemot will be severely impacted, with the RSPB highlighting concern that under the proposal's worst case scenario the razorbill colony on their South Stack reserve would be wiped out.[4]

In culture

Siren cover shot

The cover photo for Roxy Music's Siren album was taken directly below the central span of the bridge on a slope on the south side, by Graham Hughes in August 1975.[5]

Les Gardiens des Enfers

In 2010 a French comic entitled Les Gardiens des Enfers ("The Guardians of Hell") was published. Its story is mainly set in South Stack lighthouse in 1859. The cover and the first pages can be seen on the publisher's website.[6]

gollark: Obviously I have backups, to a repurposed possibly-failing laptop drive.
gollark: As a "based" person my primary data storage is a dubious 7.2krpm drive my server shipped with which has been in continuous operation for 8 years or so.
gollark: According to *actual data*, Seagate is fine.
gollark: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-hard-drive-stats-q1-2021/
gollark: Isn't it over the record temperature of 51ish degC?

See also
  • South Stack fleawort (Tephroseris integrifolia subsp. maritima), a plant endemic to the area around South Stack

References
  1. "Circular walks - Holyhead: St Cybi". www.walkingnorthwales.co.uk. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  2. "The Geological Society's 100 Great Geosites". The Geological Society. 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  3. "What is Morlais". Menter Môn. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  4. "Threat to the seabirds off South Stack" (Facebook post). RSPB North Wales. 25 October 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  5. "Roxy Music - Albums - on VivaRoxyMusic.com". www.vivaroxymusic.com. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  6. Les Gardiens des Enfers
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