The Roman forces had to cross the Menai Strait, a narrow strip of water that separates the island of Anglesey from the rest of the Welsh mainland. The exact place where the Roman forces would have crossed the Menai Strait is not recorded , William Manning has suggested that a possible site of their crossing is around the city of Bangor. Tacitus describes the crossing claiming that they used flat-bottomed boats because of uncertain water depths and that the cavalry managed to make it across by swimming and fording.  After the army made it across the Menai Strait they faced a mass of armed warriors. Tacitus states that women and Druids were among them and that the women were dressed in all black, whom he likens to the Furies. The Druids were chanting and raising their hands to the sky, while the women were waving brands and wore their hair disheveled. Tacitus explains that this combination of sights and sounds was quite frightening for the Roman army, causing them to stop in their tracks with fear. Tacitus claims that the army was roused out of their fear by their general who told them "not to quail before a troop of frenzied women." Tacitus then describes the armies attack, saying they destroyed the enemy and sent a force through the conquered area to destroy their sacred groves, which Tacitus describes as places "devoted to inhuman superstitions." Right after this Suetonius Paulinus received word of the Boudiccan revolt that called him away from Anglesey, which ended the first invasion. Manning suggests that Tacitus' account of the invasion is dramatized and that its reliability should be carefully considered, especially considering Tacitus' relationship to Agricola. However, Tacitus' account is it is the only written record of the second invasion: "Such was the state of Britain, and such were the vicissitudes of the war, which Agricola found on his crossing over about midsummer. Our soldiers made it a pretext for carelessness, as if all fighting was over, and the enemy were biding their time. The Ordovices, shortly before Agricola's arrival, had destroyed nearly the whole of a squadron of allied cavalry quartered in their territory. Such a beginning raised the hopes of the country, and all who wished for war approved the precedent, and anxiously watched the temper of the new governor. Meanwhile, Agricola, though summer was past and the detachments were scattered throughout the province, though the soldiers' confident anticipation of inaction for that year would be a source of delay and difficulty in beginning a campaign, and most advisers thought it best simply to watch all weak points, resolved to face the peril. He collected a force of veterans and a small body of auxiliaries; then as the Ordovices would not venture to descend into the plain, he put himself in front of the ranks to inspire all with the same courage against a common danger, and led his troops up a hill. The tribe was all but exterminated. Well aware that he must follow up the prestige of his arms, and that in proportion to his first success would be the terror of the other tribes, he formed the design of subjugating the island of Mona, from the occupation of which Paullinus had been recalled, as I have already related, by the rebellion of the entire province. But, as his plans were not matured, he had no fleet. The skill and resolution of the general accomplished the passage. With some picked men of the auxiliaries, disencumbered of all baggage, who knew the shallows and had that national experience in swimming which enables the Britons to take care not only of themselves but of their arms and horses, he delivered so unexpected an attack that the astonished enemy who were looking for a fleet, a naval armament, and an assault by sea, thought that to such assailants nothing could be formidable or invincible. And so, peace having been sued for and the island given up, Agricola became great and famous..." Aftermath Following the two invasions of Anglesey the Romans administered the island from Segontium (Caernarfon), a fort in mainland Wales just across the Menai Straits. In the first few centuries, the island saw little to no Roman building. It can be presumed that life on Anglesey would have remained largely unchanged following the two invasions, especially with the base of Roman control being across the Menai Straits. Copper would have been mined and smelted for Roman use, but granaries and farms would have functioned normally, dispersed across the island. Typical 'Romanization' that can be seen in other parts of Britain, was not successful in Anglesey which remained under military control. A number of centuries passed with little  change to the island, but by the mid-fourth century Roman rule was in disarray and a shore-fort, Caer Gybi, facing Ireland, was created following threat of attack by the Irish. The fort walls still remain, encircling a church in Holyhead. This fort however, did not last long under Roman rule as the legions quit Britain in 410 CE. The Cemlyn Cropmark is the most important site in relation to the invasions of Anglesey because the details of the cropmark strongly suggest it was constructed around the time of the second invasion in 77CE and it is the first military site to be found on the island from this time period  . The cropmark was first discovered in 1990 when an aerial photographer captured an image of the landscape during drought conditions. In 2015 David Hopewell and John Burman performed a geophysical survey of the cropmark, and this revealed characteristics of a typical Roman fortlet. Two coins were found at the site one from Nerva's reign and one from Hadrian's supporting the dating of the fortlet to post-invasion consolidation. The fortlet overlooks Cemlyn Bay, a good landing place on the north-coast of the island, and would have most likely served as a guide for landing seacrafts as well as a policing station for those wanting access to Anglesey. The fortlet also lies on a major shipping route. These three sites demonstrate the importance of maritime transport and coastline control to the Roman occupation of Anglesey. The Cemlyn fortlet, probably built shortly after Agricola's invasion, would have served as a point of control and navigational aid for incoming ships, provided protection from possible incursion most likely from the Irish, and would have been able to exert control over trade. Hopewell notes that there has been a possible second fortlet on the eastern end of the north coast of the island. The watchtower could have served as a naval lookout or an early warning system and the Tai Cochion settlement located on the coast of the Menai Straits would most likely have been important for trade between the island and mainland Wales.
The Roman forces had to cross the Menai Strait, a narrow strip of water that separates the island of Anglesey from the rest of the Welsh mainland. The exact place where the Roman forces would have crossed the Menai Strait is not recorded . They would have first seen Anglesey from the mouth of the Sychnant Pass near Abergwyngregyn, where the three land routes converge.Crossing the Menai - an illustrated history of the ferries and bridges of the Menai Strait. Bridge Books, 61 Park Avenue, Wrexham. Reg Chambers Jones 2011. p.15 Tacitus describes the crossing claiming that they used flat-bottomed boats because of uncertain water depths and that the cavalry managed to make it across by swimming and fording. The locations of the crossing are not known and modern suggestions are purely speculative. William Manning suggested that a possible site of their crossing is around the city of Bangor, where the Lavan Sands would be an appropriate place to ground flat-bottomed boats at low tide. George Shipway suggests infantry in boats crossing at the narrowest point of the Straits just north of the present location of the Menai Bridge, where, until the bridge was built, cattle for market were driven to swim across, and cavalry swimming across south of the present location of the Britannia Bridge, near the modern hamlet of Pwllfanogl. In 1867 it was suggested that two local field names in the parish of Llanidan, "Maes Hir Gad" (Area of long battle) and "Cae Oer Waedd" (Field of cold or bitter lamentation) may indicate the site of this battle.B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, LLANIDAN, ALLEGED SITE OF ROMANO-BRITISH BATTLE 04 May 2006, quoting W W Williams, 'Mona Antiqua' in Archaeologia Cambrensis 13, Third Series 1867, p283 URL accessed 1 June 2020 After the army made it across the Menai Strait they faced a mass of armed warriors. Tacitus states that women and Druids were among them and that the women were dressed in all black, whom he likens to the Furies. The Druids were chanting and raising their hands to the sky, while the women were waving brands and wore their hair disheveled. Tacitus explains that this combination of sights and sounds was quite frightening for the Roman army, causing them to stop in their tracks with fear. Tacitus claims that the army was roused out of their fear by their general who told them "not to quail before a troop of frenzied women." Tacitus then describes the Roman attack, saying they destroyed the enemy and sent a force through the conquered area to destroy their sacred groves, which Tacitus describes as places "devoted to inhuman superstitions." Right after this Suetonius Paulinus received word of the Boudiccan revolt that called him away from Anglesey, which ended the first invasion. Manning suggests that Tacitus' account of the invasion is dramatized and that its reliability should be carefully considered, especially considering Tacitus' relationship to Agricola. However, Tacitus' account is it is the only written record of the second invasion: "Such was the state of Britain, and such were the vicissitudes of the war, which Agricola found on his crossing over about midsummer. Our soldiers made it a pretext for carelessness, as if all fighting was over, and the enemy were biding their time. The Ordovices, shortly before Agricola's arrival, had destroyed nearly the whole of a squadron of allied cavalry quartered in their territory. Such a beginning raised the hopes of the country, and all who wished for war approved the precedent, and anxiously watched the temper of the new governor. Meanwhile, Agricola, though summer was past and the detachments were scattered throughout the province, though the soldiers' confident anticipation of inaction for that year would be a source of delay and difficulty in beginning a campaign, and most advisers thought it best simply to watch all weak points, resolved to face the peril. He collected a force of veterans and a small body of auxiliaries; then as the Ordovices would not venture to descend into the plain, he put himself in front of the ranks to inspire all with the same courage against a common danger, and led his troops up a hill. The tribe was all but exterminated. Well aware that he must follow up the prestige of his arms, and that in proportion to his first success would be the terror of the other tribes, he formed the design of subjugating the island of Mona, from the occupation of which Paulinus had been recalled, as I have already related, by the rebellion of the entire province. But, as his plans were not matured, he had no fleet. The skill and resolution of the general accomplished the passage. With some picked men of the auxiliaries, disencumbered of all baggage, who knew the shallows and had that national experience in swimming which enables the Britons to take care not only of themselves but of their arms and horses, he delivered so unexpected an attack that the astonished enemy who were looking for a fleet, a naval armament, and an assault by sea, thought that to such assailants nothing could be formidable or invincible. And so, peace having been sued for and the island given up, Agricola became great and famous..." Aftermath Following the two invasions of Anglesey the Romans administered the island from Segontium (Caernarfon), a fort in mainland Wales just across the Menai Straits. In the first few centuries, the island saw little to no Roman building. It can be presumed that life on Anglesey would have remained largely unchanged following the two invasions, especially with the base of Roman control being across the Menai Straits. Copper would have been mined and smelted for Roman use, but granaries and farms would have functioned normally, dispersed across the island. Typical 'Romanization' that can be seen in other parts of Britain, was not successful in Anglesey which remained under military control. Three centuries passed with little obvious change to the island, but by the mid-fourth century Roman rule was in disarray and a shore-fort, Caer Gybi, facing Ireland, was created following threat of attack by the Irish. The fort walls still remain, encircling a church in Holyhead. This fort however, did not last long under Roman rule as the legions quit Britain in 410 CE. The Cemlyn Cropmark is the first military site to be found on the island from this time period , constructed around the time of the second invasion in 77CE . The cropmark was first discovered in 1990 when an aerial photographer captured an image of the landscape during drought conditions. In 2015 David Hopewell and John Burman performed a geophysical survey of the cropmark, and this revealed characteristics of a typical Roman fortlet. Two coins were found at the site one from Nerva's reign and one from Hadrian's supporting the dating of the fortlet to post-invasion consolidation. The fortlet overlooks Cemlyn Bay, a good landing place on the north-coast of the island, and would have most likely served as a guide for landing seacraft as well as a policing station for those wanting access to Anglesey. The fortlet also lies on a major shipping route. These three sites demonstrate the importance of maritime transport and coastline control to the Roman occupation of Anglesey. The Cemlyn fortlet, probably built shortly after Agricola's invasion, would have served as a point of control and navigational aid for incoming ships, provided protection from possible incursion most likely from the Irish, and would have been able to exert control over trade. Hopewell notes that there has been a possible second fortlet on the eastern end of the north coast of the island. The watchtower could have served as a naval lookout or an early warning system and the Tai Cochion settlement located on the coast of the Menai Straits would have been important for trade between the island and mainland Wales.
R
, William Manning has suggested that a possible site of their crossing is around the city of Bangor.
. They would have first seen Anglesey from the mouth of the Sychnant Pass near Abergwyngregyn, where the three land routes converge.Crossing the Menai - an illustrated history of the ferries and bridges of the Menai Strait. Bridge Books, 61 Park Avenue, Wrexham. Reg Chambers Jones 2011. p.15
A
The locations of the crossing are not known and modern suggestions are purely speculative. William Manning suggested that a possible site of their crossing is around the city of Bangor, where the Lavan Sands would be an appropriate place to ground flat-bottomed boats at low tide. George Shipway suggests infantry in boats crossing at the narrowest point of the Straits just north of the present location of the Menai Bridge, where, until the bridge was built, cattle for market were driven to swim across, and cavalry swimming across south of the present location of the Britannia Bridge, near the modern hamlet of Pwllfanogl. In 1867 it was suggested that two local field names in the parish of Llanidan, "Maes Hir Gad" (Area of long battle) and "Cae Oer Waedd" (Field of cold or bitter lamentation) may indicate the site of this battle.B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, LLANIDAN, ALLEGED SITE OF ROMANO-BRITISH BATTLE 04 May 2006, quoting W W Williams, 'Mona Antiqua' in Archaeologia Cambrensis 13, Third Series 1867, p283 URL accessed 1 June 2020
R
armies
Roman
R
Paullinus
Paulinus
R
A number of
Three
A
obvious
D
most important site in relation to the invasions of Anglesey because the details of the cropmark strongly suggest it was constructed around the time of the second invasion in 77CE and it is the
A
, constructed around the time of the second invasion in 77CE
R
seacrafts
seacraft
D
most likely