Bardsey Island

**Bardsey Island** () is a small island  off the coast of Wales. Bardsey is  wide,  long and  in area. The north east rises steeply from the sea to a height of  at *Mynydd Enlli.* The western end is low and flat farmland. On the south, the island narrows to a peninsula with a lighthouse.  It is the fourth-largest island in Wales.

Bardsey has several names, including the "Island of 20,000 saints". In Welsh the name means "The Island in the Currents". In English the name means the "Island of the Bards", or possibly the "Island of Barda", a Viking chieftain.

The island has been an important religious site. In AD 516, Saint Cadfan built a monastery on Bardsey.

## History
People lived on the island in Neolithic times, and traces of their hut circles remain. During the 5th century the island became a place of refuge for Christians In 516 Saint Cadfan arrived from Brittany and directed the building of St Mary's Abbey. In medieval times three pilgrimages to Bardsey Island were said to be equal to one visit to Rome. In 1188 the abbey was still a Celtic institution, but by 1212 it belonged to the Augustinians. Only ruins of the old abbey's 13th-century bell tower remain. A Celtic cross in the ruins commemorates the 20,000 saints claimed to be buried on the island.

Saint Deiniol, the bishop of Bangor, was buried on the island in 584. Saint Dyfrig was also buried on Bardsey Island, although in 1120 his remains were moved to Llandaff.

The *Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries Act* of 1536, on the orders of Henry VIII, resulted in ''St Mary's Abbey* being closed and its buildings pulled down in 1537. The choir stalls, two screens and the bells were moved to Llanengan, where the parish church was then being built. *Carreg* and *Plas Bach* are separate buildings, but the remaining eight were built as semi-detached houses, each pair with outbuildings set around a shared yard. The buildings are Grade II listed. In 2008, Cadw gave £15,000 to help with some repairs. Only one of the original *croglofft* cottages, *Carreg Bach'', is still standing. Given the choice of a harbour or a new church, in 1875 the islanders asked for a place of worship; a Methodist chapel was built. The island's small school, opened in a former chapel in 1919, closed in 1953.

*Bardsey Island Trust ()* bought the island in 1979. In 2000, the trust advertised for someone to run the  sheep farm on the island. They had 1,100 applications. The farm is now run by the *Royal Society for the Protection of Birds*; and the land is managed to keep the natural habitat. Oats, turnips and swedes are grown; goats, ducks, geese and chickens kept; and there is a mixed flock of sheep and Welsh black cattle.

## Bardsey apple
An old and twisted apple tree was found growing by the side of *Plas Bach.* It is believed to be all that is left of an orchard planted by the monks who lived there a thousand years ago. In 1998, experts on British apples said this tree was the only example of the *Bardsey Apple ()*. The tree has been propagated by grafting and is available commercially.

## Bardsey Lighthouse
Bardsey Lighthouse stands on the south end of the island and guides vessels passing through St George's Channel and the Irish Sea. It is the only square lighthouse looked after by Trinity House.
 
Joseph Nelson was the engineer and builder. He had served under Daniel Alexander, a Trinity House architect, whose influence can be seen on parts of the design including the heavy weathered string-course near the base and the blocked and hooded directional-light window. A local person does regular maintenance. and is part of *Glannau Aberdaron ac Ynys Enlli Special Protection Area ()*. It is now a favourite bird-watching location, on the migration routes of thousands of birds. *Bardsey Bird and Field Observatory* (), founded in 1953, nets and rings 8,000 birds each year to study their migration patterns.

The island was made a Site of Special Scientific Interest because of its maritime life. This includes internationally rare lichens; bryophyte, plants, bird species; and intertidal communities. Nationally important flowering plants include sharp rush, rock sea lavender, small adder's tongue, western clover, and the rare purple loosestrife. Two nationally rare heathland lichens are found on the slopes of *Mynydd Enlli*: the ciliate strap lichen and golden hair lichen; The leafcutter bee, which cuts neat, rounded circles in rose leaves, used to seal the entrance to its nest, is native.

Thousands of birds pass through each year on their way to their breeding or wintering grounds. Chiffchaffs, goldcrests and wheatears are usually the first to pass through, followed by sedge warblers and willow warblers, whitethroats and spotted flycatchers.

 to see grey seals. About 15 pups are born each autumn]]
About 40 species of bird regularly nest on the island, including ravens, little owls, oystercatchers and the rare chough. Hundreds of sea birds, including razorbills, guillemots, fulmars and kittiwakes, spend the summer nesting on the island's eastern cliffs. There are no land predators such as rats or foxes on the island.
 swimming in sunset in Porth Neigwl (Hell's Mouth) Bay]]
The island is one of the best places in Gwynedd to see grey seals. In mid summer over 200 can be seen, lying in the sun on the rocks or swimming in the sea. About 15 pups are born each autumn. Their sharp teeth and strong jaws are perfect for breaking the shells of lobsters and crabs which live in the waters. It is also possible to see bottlenose and Risso's dolphins, and porpoises. The currents around the island carry food-rich water. The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society has been carrying out surveys since 1999 to find out which areas are important for feeding and nursing calves. he was crowned by Baron Newborough or his representative. The crown is now kept at Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool, although calls have been made for it to return to Gwynedd. The first known King was John Williams. His son, John Williams II, the third of the recorded kings, was deposed in 1900, and asked to leave the island as he had become an alcoholic.

Yorkshire born poet Christine Evans lives half the year on Bardsey Island, spending the winters at Uwchmynydd.  She moved to Pwllheli as a teacher, and married into a Bardsey Island farming family. While on maternity leave in 1976, she started writing poems, and her first book was published seven years later. *Cometary Phrases* was *Welsh Book of the Year 1989* and she was the winner of the first *Roland Mathias Prize* in 2005.

Edgar Ewart Pritchard, an amateur movie-maker from Brownhills, produced *"The Island in the Current"*, a colour movie of life on Bardsey Island, in 1953. A copy is held by the *National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales*.

Opera singer Bryn Terfel, a patron of the Bardsey Island Trust, has performed in the island's chapel. Llio Rhydderch recorded *Enlli *in 2002, an album inspired by the spiritual feelings from a pilgrimage.

Dilys Cadwaladr, the former school teacher on the island, in 1953 became the first woman to win the *Crown* at the National Eisteddfod, for her long poem *Y Llen*. Artist Brenda Chamberlain won the *Gold Medal for Art* at the Eisteddfod on two occasions: in 1951 for *Girl with Siamese Cat*, and in 1953 with *The Christin Children*. Some of the murals she painted can still be seen on the walls of *Carreg*, where she lived from 1947 to 1962. Wildlife artist Kim Atkinson, whose work has been widely shown in Wales and England, lived on the island as a child, and came back to live there in the 1980s.

Since 1999,* *Bardsey Island Trust has had an Artist in Residence who spends several weeks on the island producing work which is later shown on the mainland. A Welsh literary residence was created in 2002; singer-songwriter Fflur Dafydd spent six weeks working on a collection of poetry and prose.

In 2009 Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog became the first electric rock group to play on the island, as part of S4C's "Bandit" series.

## Transport
There is a ferry services to Bardsey Island from *Porth Meudwy* and Pwllheli.

At times, the wind and the fierce sea currents make sailing between the island and the mainland impossible. Sometimes boats are unable to reach or leave Bardsey Island for weeks. In 2000, 17 visitors had to stay for two weeks when strong winds prevented a boats from reaching the island.

## References
## Other websites
* Bardsey Island Trust 
* Geograph : Photographs of Bardsey Island