My husband has ancestry in Amlwch and we are planning a trip to Ireland for a wedding with a side trip to Amlwch.

Is it feasible to take the ferry from Dublin or Dun Laoghaire without a car and find public transportation between Holyhead and Amlwch?

If so, is it feasible to do it as a day trip or should we stay overnight?

If we need to stay overnight can you recommend lodging in Amlwch?

Any ideas would be welcome.

The Isle of Anglesey County Council has a journey planner which you can access here: http://www.anglesey.gov.uk/english/t...es/journey.htm

From what I can gather, there is limited bus service between Holyhead and Almwch. Note that the planner uses the Welsh name for Holyhead, Caergybi.

At the bottom of that page is a link to accommodations in Anglesey.

I'm guessing that you are going to have to rent a car or hire a car and driver for this little expedition. Good luck.

Yes there is a bus service from Holyhead to Amlwch and I would have thought you could stay in Amlwch and take a trip to Ireland on the ferry( or vice versa).
However there is not much to Amlwch although I can understand the pull if you are researching. What exactly are you planning to do there? If you want to find an address in the town and take a photo it will take you an hour. If on the other hand your address is in the postal area of Amlwch you may need a car to get to wherever it is. Again , if you just want to pay a short visit to Amlwch and back out of Holyhead you will have experienced little of Anglesey (but will have been frustrated by the stunning views passing you by from the bus which you can't explore any further).
If you'd give just a little more info particularly about what you intend to do in Amlwch and how long you will have in Anglesey, I'll try and help further.
By the way, it's a foul day here today!

Frances,
We have a genealogy that shows several of my husband's ancestors are buried in the Amlwch churchyard, so we'd like to find and photograph the gravestones. We might also want to find an area that was once called Tre Dath (or some variation thereof), as that's where the ancestors lived before migrating to the U.S. The research has been done by a cousin, so we're really looking more to experience the sense of the place than to do research.

As much as we'd like to spend more time in Anglesey, most of our time is scheduled in Ireland; so it'll have to be a quick trip this time. At most we could stay overnight in Anglesey.

It appears that we can't bring a rental car on the ferry from Ireland--the rental agencies apparently don't allow it, plus it's very expensive--so we are looking for either a good bus option or a rental car in Holyhead.

There appears to be a bus route numbered 61, but the timetable I've found indicates a somewhat limited schedule. The rental car agencies apparently don't have a pick up option in Holyhead. I also can't find any information about hiring a driver (although that might be more expensive than we'd like).

The ferry from Dublin appears to arrive at Holyhead by 9:00 and the last one leaves at 20:20, so if the transportation between Holyhead and Amlwch can be worked out we could make it as a day trip (which might make the difference as to how much of the west side of Ireland we get to see). Then, once we've found more precisely where in Wales MY ancestors were, we'll make a longer trip to Wales!

When are you coming?-bear in mind that Sundays in Wales have a reduced public transport service.
Amlwch churchyard is easy and I see no reason at all why you can't do as you suggest for the day. If things went wrong you could get a taxi back to Holyhead- it's about 20 miles.
Tell me a bit more about "Tre Dath" It doesn't sound quite right to me. "Tre" means town but "Dath" looks as if it has been misspelt along the years.Could it be "Tre Daith" perhaps which sounds more Welsh although it is not the name of a town which exists now. How about "Trefdreath" which a hamlet on the other side of the island?
Something has provided you with this information- is it a birth certificate?
If you'd like me to find out what I can in advance of your visit,so you don't waste time then let me know what information you have about" Tre Dath".
It could of course be a farm with "Dath" being a proper noun which would not have to be Welsh.

Frances, we're thinking of a day trip on a Wednesday in late September. Our flight home from Dublin leaves the next day, Thursday at 14:45.

The cousin who has done the genealogical research referenced census documents which show Tre Dath as an address in Amlwch; I found the census databases online and saw some variations such as Tre'r Dath or Tredaeth. According to one of the postings, Tredaeth was purportedly the early name for an area west of Mona Lodge, perhaps on the road to Cemaes. The ancestors ran a shop there.

Our cousin who has done the research started in 1974 but was at an impasse until a 1988 trip to Anglesey unearthed a diary for the shop containing entries that mesh with what he already knew based on oral history and burial records in California. He has written up an impressive document, and also references Parish registers for Amlwch and Llanfachreth as well as Amlwch Churchyard records.

Certainly, any assistance you can offer or directions in which you can point us would be most appreciated!

Have a wonderful trip. I was there once and found the people so warm.

That information was useful. Before I saw it I spoke to a friend from Llanerchymedd which is close to Amlwch and he had not heard of Tre Dath.
You seem to be describing somewhere in Amlwch town so this should be easily accessible on foot.Llanfachraeth is a village which you will pass through between Holyhead and Amlwch.
To get back to your original question, yes I think you can achieve this easily in a day trip from Dublin. You will even be kicking your heels for a few hours at the end of the day probably. The only word of caution is this. Once or twice a year very high winds mean that the ferry doesn't sail. My recollection of these is that they occur occasionally in October and most often in January. If the forcast for the day you want to come is bad then just don't do it. If you decide to risk it you could be faced with having to travel the 80 or so miles east to Liverpool airport to get a flight to connect with your transatlantic connection.
I will work on your "Tre Dath" and come back to you.What is the surname of your family? Do you want to give me your email address?

Frances, Thanks, that's good information to have about high winds cancelling the ferry. We'll be there in late September and hoping to do the crossing around the 22nd, so with luck the weather will cooperate.

Family name is Owen/Owens; yes, I know, one of the most common. Our cousin spoke with a woman in Amlwch who ran a yarn shop in 1988; she was the person who knew of the diary. You can e-mail us at redravnATmindspring.com. I found amlwch.net and was relieved to find out that there are two taxi companies in Amlwch. I also found a possibility for a car hire but the 24-hour price was 60 pounds, which converted to over $100 American--a bit pricy if we can get a bus.

I don't know how spread out Amlwch is for walking, or precisely where the Amlwch churchyard is in relation to the bus route. I found a map for Amlwch from 1890 and compared it to a more modern map, and it looks like Tre Dath might have been near the intersection of Bethesda Street and Burwen Road.

I very much appreciate your help!

Two more questions about our little trip to Amlwch:

1. Can anyone give me an idea how much it will likely cost to take a taxi between Amlwch and Holyhead?

2. Are there bicycle or scooter rentals available in Amlwch?

Well, since nearly a day has passed and no one has responded, I will hazard a couple of guesses.

1. My experience in the UK with taxis going some distance between towns is to plan for a cost of £2 per mile. For the 22 miles between Holyhead and Amlwch, that would be £40 to £45.

2. Amlwch seems to be small non-tourist town (ca 2500 people), with a declining population in a remote, economically depressed area. I find it hard to imagine a workable business model there for a cycle/scooter rental business.

Sorry- I didn't get here yesterday.
However I did manage to speak to someone who lives in Amlwch who confirmed the location of Tre Dath as you set out. He thinks it was probably a farm and hence the name being unusual.It was a general type shop which closed approximately 20 or 25 years ago. I have asked if he can let me know who the local historian is in Amlwch(every village has one.)
I will make enquiries about the taxi fare.I can also ask about bicycle rental but you will not need it if you only want to explore the town- it is small.