How did the Belgian Promenade get its name?

In 1914, over 60 refugees from the German-occupied city of Mechelen in Belgium were accommodated in Menai Bridge on Anglesey. In gratitude for the town’s hospitality, a group of them built this 400 metre promenade along the Menai Strait from Ynys Tysilio (Church Island) to Carreg yr Halen, completing it in 1916. It was rebuilt in 1963 and ceremonially reopened in 1965 by surviving refugee Eduard Wilhelms. Accessed from Beach Road, the hill running down from the Anglesey Arms Hotel, the Belgian Promenade follows a route along the water’s edge that emerges in the Coed Cyrnol car park near the Waitrose supermarket.