THE old Church of St. Cybi, at Holyhead, which contains so many memorials
of the devotion and piety of former generations, has been in this Jubilee
year of the reign of Queen Victoria enriched by many precious gifts. A
new South Aisle, capable of containing 50 or 60 worshippers, has been
added to the Church as a memorial to Mr. and Mrs. W. O. Stanley of
Penrhos; and the beautiful window at the east end has been placed there
in memory of Mr. Watson, Chairman and Managing Director of the City of
Dublin Co., by his sons.
The connection of Mr. Stanley’s forefathers, the Owens of Penrhos, with
the Church of St. Cybi, has been a very close one, and we are indebted to
the archaeological lore and love of the locality which distinguished his
family and himself, for the preservation of many beautiful traditions and
interesting remains of long past ages.
Holyhead Island is rich in old-world treasures which appeal not only to
the archaeologist and the historian, but to the artistic mind and eye of
men like Matthew Arnold and the author of “The Stones of Venice.”
“Just on the other side of the Mersey,” Ruskin writes, “you have your
Snowdon and your Menai Straits and that mighty granite rock beyond the
moors of Anglesea, splendid in its heathery crest, and footplanted in the
deep sea, once thought of as sacred—a divine promontory, looking
westward; the Holy Head or Head Land, still not without awe when its red
light glares first through storm.”
On that same mountain of Holyhead are the circular hive-shaped dwellings,
of unknown antiquity, called locally “Cyttiau Gwyddelod,” or “Irishmen’s
Huts.” These are excavated to a depth of some feet below the surface, 15
feet to 20 feet in diameter inside, the sides of the interior being lined
with stones to prevent the earth from falling, and the dome-shaped roof
only being apparent above the surface of the ground. In addition to the
above are the curiously shaped querns, mullers, and other stone
implements indicating the past life of the dwellers in these rude huts.
The great Cromlech at Trefignedd and the fine Monoliths at Plas Meilw
also bear silent record to the existence of men, who, but for this
lasting evidence might well be deemed mythical. At that great Cromlech,
overlooking many miles of country, horrible scenes were enacted,
according to tradition, scenes too ghastly for description; and now,
cattle graze and children play in the sunshine among those giant stones.
Holyhead mountain has repeatedly been a witness to fierce struggles for
mastery between the natives and invaders, who from time to time landed,
and tried to make good their footing, on that wild picturesque coast,
guarded as it is to the west by jagged rocks, and with only here and
there a creek into which a boat might be pushed in calm weather. Even
now, with all the help that modern invention and careful thought can
give, there are tragic tales of shipwreck and loss of life on those cruel
rocks; and what must it have been in ancient times, when there was
nothing between daring men and death but their rough boats, which it
would take little to dash into a thousand atoms?
Doubtless in those early days the island was wooded, as trunks of trees
are found at low tide, half buried in the sand in Towyn-y-Capel Bay, on
the west coast. Possibly, under cover of these trees, marauders were
able to effect a landing unseen; but at present, when there is not a
single stick or shrub of any kind, this is difficult to realise. Still,
though the trees have perished, there remain the silent monuments of that
great race, which are found in almost every land; the same cromlechs, the
same monoliths, as exist in our own island, are traceable on the
Continent of Europe, especially in Brittany, and even in remotest India.
If to searchers after Druidical and Ante-Druidical remains Holyhead
affords such rich results, yet higher interest still attaches to its
early Christian records. In it, and in its neighbour Anglesey, are
traced some of the earliest evidences of the foundation of the Christian
Church, its collegiate bodies and its organization; and from this cradle
of the Church proceeded the men whose teaching appears to have
effectually superseded the dying religion of the Sun and the Serpent; for
we have evidence that a number of Druid priests were converted, and we
have no record of any bitter animosity against the preachers of the
Gospel.
Early legends affirm that James, the son of Zebedee, came with his mother
Salome into Britain, six years after our Lord’s Ascension, and preached
the Gospel to willing ears; others say St. Paul himself visited these
Islands after his imprisonment by Nero.
How far these legends are literally true is not of great consequence; the
certainty remains that the Gospel was preached throughout the country,
and that the fabric of the holy Church was raised and organized here
after the same manner as the Eastern Churches.
As a proof of Christians having visited the Island, a medal was found in
one of the Druid Mounds in Anglesey bearing the inscription, “This is
Jesus Christ the Mediator,” and as the Romans had routed the Druids, this
medal must have been there before the demolishing of the mound by
Suetonius Paulinus, thus verifying in part the words of Tertullian an age
later, who relates the sudden progress of the Christian Faith, which
anticipated the Roman sword in the celerity of its conquests.
The first school of “Christian learning” to supply the province with
clergy was apparently founded at Bangor, Anno Domini 182, and it is
supposed that according to the usual plan of organization there were
seven bishops under an archbishop in this province of Britain. Some of
these were bishops of endowed sees, others were consecrated “Sine
Titulo.”
The clergy in general appear to have lived with their bishops, forming
collegiate bodies, and they were sent out by their superiors into various
districts allotted to them as occasion required.
It does not appear that they had any settled parishes in Mona for many
years after this period nor were there many churches; but they “assembled
the people together to hear the Word of God preached in some convenient
place, either at oratories or at the manor-houses of their respective
Lords and Masters, who probably had their own chapels for sacred use and
service. Most of these churches and chapels were dedicated to such early
Christian names as St. Mary, St. Peter, St. Michael, &c.” (see “Mona
Antiqua.”)
After the departure of the Romans in A.D. 390 the Picts tried to regain
their former possessions, and the country was sorely ravaged by them
until there stood up two families of eminent rank who laid claim to the
British Sceptre. The one was headed by Octavius, grandson of the Duke of
Cornwall; the other was descended from Cynetha Weledig, and nearly
related to Constantine the Great.
For many years struggles continued between these rival Princes; but at
length the descendant of the Cornwall family gave up the contest and
retired to the Duchy of Cornwall. Cynetha’s descendants having routed
the Picts who had invaded Mona, made head also against the Saxons. For a
long time they withstood them victoriously, having secured all the
ancient “Brittannia Secunda” (now called Wales) from the ravages of these
invaders, and to them the poor Britons, and more especially the clergy,
fled for protection.
It is difficult to trace the exact date of the foundation of the church
of St. Cybi at Holyhead, but it appears to have been founded by Cybi the
son of Selyt, or Solomon, about 550 A.D. He afterwards, according to
tradition, became Bishop of Anglesey.
Sir John Stanley upheld the theory that a Roman Temple originally existed
within the present churchyard walls, and that on the departure of the
Romans it was occupied or used as a church. Whether this were so or not,
it is clear that in the days of Caswallan Llaw Hir, Son of Cynetha, there
was a burial-place within the fort at Holyhead, inside the present walls
encircling the churchyard.
Here Caswallan routed and slew with his own hand Sirigi, the Irish giant,
who, with a following of Irish Picts, had a short time before forced a
landing and had built a place or town called first Llan-y-Gwyddel, then
Caer Gybi, and now in English, Holyhead. Within the enclosure where
Sirigi was slain stood a chapel, on the south side of the church, some
remains of which (conspicuous among them a Gothic arch) are still extant,
and here, it is affirmed, the Irish giant was buried. This was called
Eglwys-y-Bedd, the Church of the Grave, and Capel Llan-y-Gwyddel, or the
Chapel of the Irishman.
It appears, from leases of the collegiate church, that this chapel was
endowed with distinct revenues in the reign of Edward III. Some of the
ruins were removed in the last century to render the entrance to the
present church more convenient, and in digging, a stone coffin was found
under an arch, on the north side of the chancel, containing bones of a
large size, and this probably was the shrine of Sirigi, who was canonized
by the Irish. According to an old chronicle, they carried off his body
and deposited it in their cathedral in Dublin; but the finding of the
coffin with the gigantic bones seems to render this part of the story
improbable.
Caswallon had apparently a very fierce conflict with the Irish Picts
before he gained his victory, and moreover could not have had much
confidence in his own men, for we read that he tied them together in
couples, with horse fetters, to prevent their breaking their ranks when
fighting with Sirigi. This prince settled himself after his victories at
Llaneillan, and was submitted to as Chief or King of Anglesey. There are
remains of a strongly fortified camp near the summit of Holyhead
mountain, still called Mur Caswallon or Caer-y-Twr.
Caswallon’s son was the famous Maelgwyn Gwynedd, the hero of many battles
and the terror of the Saxons. He erected the See of Bangor about the
year 550, where, a short time before, Daniel, the son of Dionothus, Abbot
of Bangor-is-Coed, had built a college for North Wales clergy. Maelgwyn
Gwynydd founded the college and the three canonries of Bangor, Penmon and
Caer Gybi. Others say that Llywarch-ap-Bran founded the Prebendaries.
His arms, the three crows, are in the porch of St. Cybi’s Church, at
Holyhead.
[Picture: South Doorway, Holyhead Church, Anglesey (1862)]
Tradition makes St. Cybi a contemporary of St. Seiriol, who lived at
Penmon, while St. Cybi lived at Holyhead. These saints met frequently in
the centre of the island to hold holy converse together. They left their
homes early and parted at mid-day, so that the rising sun always shone on
the face of St. Cybi as he travelled eastwards in the morning, and he met
the rays of the setting sun as he journeyed homeward in the evening,
while on St. Seiriol’s face the sun never shone, hence St. Seiriol is
represented as fair and white, while St. Cybi is depicted as dark and
sunburnt. (“Gybi Felyn.”)
This legend has been commemorated in the following verses by Mr. Matthew
Arnold:—