The Floor of Anglesey1

Abstract

THE thoughts of travellers across Anglesey in the Irish mail-train are usually controlled by a previous vision of the breakers rolling in on Colwyn Bay; yet many must have been attracted by glimpses of grey homesteads set on elongated mounds, farmlands alternating with strips of marsh and moor, and here and there the “desert scenery” of some sunlit groove, bounded by low terraces of ancient rock, along which the sand has drifted inwards from the sea. In 1895 Mr. Edward Greenly retired from the staff of the Geological Survey to devote himself to the geology of the island. For twenty-four years he pursued his investigations, recording his results line by line upon the six-inch maps. The antique complex, offering problems similar to those faced by him in the Scottish highlands, was his first object of research; but nothing in Anglesey proved foreign to his aim as he carried out his work. The result is a memoir presented by its author to the Geological Survey, and thus to the general public, accompanied by a map reproduced on the scale of one inch to one mile. Mr. Greenly's generosity has led him even to provide much of the cost of publishing these two handsome volumes. Geologists in many countries will associate themselves warmly with the thanks so well expressed by Sir Aubrey Strahan in his preface. May we be allowed to join also in the author's gratitude to Mrs. Greenly for her co-operation in long years of preparation?