Cribinau is a small

tidal island A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands, many of them have been sites of ...

off the south west coast of the isle of

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

between Porth China and Porth Cwyfan. The island is in

Aberffraw Aberffraw is a village and community on the south west coast of the Isle of Anglesey ( cy, Ynys Môn), in Wales, by the west bank of the Afon Ffraw (Ffraw River). The community includes Soar and Dothan. Located near the A4080 and the neares ...

Community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

, about west of Aberffraw village. The island can be reached on foot at low tide. It is notable for the 13th-century

Church in Wales The Church in Wales ( cy, Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is an Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. The Archbishop of Wales does not have a fixed archiepiscopal see, but serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The p ...

church of St Cwyfan, called in cy, eglwys bach y môr ("the little church in the sea") or simply ''Cwyfan''.

Church

St Cwyfan's church was in existence by 1254 and was enlarged in the 14th and 15th centuries. The building later fell into disrepair, and in the 19th century parts of the church were demolished. By 1891 the surviving part was roofless, so an appeal was launched which paid for the building of a new roof. In about the 1970s all the windows were restored, but now the building is deteriorating again and a new restoration appeal has been launched.

Sea erosion

A Jacobean map dated 1636 shows the church standing on the mainland of Anglesey. Written evidence submitted in 1770 in the case against Thomas Bowles says that the road from Aberffraw to Llangwyfan was bad, but makes no mention of the tide restricting access to the church. Therefore, it seems to be after that date that sea erosion of the

boulder clay Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists o ...

cliffs turned Cribinau into an island. By the 19th century, erosion was causing graves in the churchyard to fall into the sea, so a

seawall A seawall (or sea wall) is a form of coastal defense constructed where the sea, and associated coastal processes, impact directly upon the landforms of the coast. The purpose of a seawall is to protect areas of human habitation, conservation ...

was built around the island to protect the remaining graves and the church.

References

External links

* {{Commons category, Cribinau Islands of Anglesey Tidal islands of Wales Aberffraw