Lost Churches of Wales - St Cenydd's Hermitage, Burry Holms

This series of articles will focus on the lost churches of Wales; some of these churches are only skeletons of their former selves, while others are only memory. But they all have served their parishioners and clergy and given them a place to worship and come together in fellowship. These are the stories of the churches now lost to the ages.

St Cenydd's Hermitage, Burry Holms

Burry Holms is a low island on the northwest tip of the Gower peninsula in South Wales. This became the home of St. Cenydd, the man who was cast to the sea as an infant and cared for by the seagulls of Worm's Head until he reached adulthood. An angel appeared to Cenydd and told him to go and make a place of worship for the people and this led Cenydd to Burry Holms.

Burry Holms first appeared as a settlement during the Mesolithic period, 9000 years ago. Pieces of tools were found from this time frame, as well as later finds from the Bronze and Iron ages. But it is the period of Cenydd occupation that has most interested historians.

No structure from Cenydd's time has survived to the present day, but foundations of a chapel and domestic buildings of the Norman era can be seen, as well as remains of a cottage built much later.

The church compound was established on the eastern side of the island. When the site was excavated in the late 1960s, dwelling sites from as far back as the Iron Age were found under the Norman stone building ruins. A possible enclosed cemetery site was also discovered. It is thought that within the enclosure there were timber dwellings that might have been the work of Caradoc of Rhos, a 12th century holy man.

The timber was later replaced by stone, and more ruins were discovered outside of the enclosure, a larger stone church and semi-circular chancel. It is thought that by the 14th century a large hall, a schoolroom and more wall enclosures were added, and the stone chancel replaced by a larger square shaped structure. Although excavation has uncovered many secrets of Burry Holms, there are still many more mysteries. No one knows for sure why the site declined, but it is felt that the Reformation prevented pilgrimages to the island chapel, and with that no one contributed to its upkeep, and Burry Holms was lost to the ages.