Burry Holms () ( cy, Ynys Lanwol), a

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 ...

with the height of () is at the northern end of

Rhossili Bay Rhossili ( cy, Rhosili; ) is both a small village and a community on the southwestern tip of the Gower Peninsula in Wales. It is within the first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the United Kingdom. The village has a community council and i ...

in the

Gower Peninsula Gower ( cy, Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula () in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom ...

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 ...

. During spring and summer, Burry Holms is covered by flowers such as thrift and sea campion.

Etymologies

The island was well known within Celtic Christianity as it was heavily associated with traditions of Saint Cenydd (who is thought to have lived there as a hermit). As such, it would certainly have had an identifiable name in Old Welsh, possibly using Cenydd as an

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

. Later records of the name ''"Saint Kenyth atte Holmes"'' may also suggest a pre-Norse nomenclature associated with Cenydd. Despite this, the current English names only date back to the Norse period and the

Modern Welsh The history of the Welsh language (Welsh: ''Hanes yr iaith Gymraeg'') spans over 1400 years, encompassing the stages of the language known as Primitive Welsh, Old Welsh, Middle Welsh, and Modern Welsh. Origins Welsh evolved from British, the C ...

name, Ynys Lanwol ("tidal island") is thought to be a relatively recent appellation. "''

Holmes Holmes may refer to: Name * Holmes (surname) * Holmes (given name) * Baron Holmes, noble title created twice in the Peerage of Ireland * Chris Holmes, Baron Holmes of Richmond (born 1971), British former swimmer and life peer Places In the Uni ...

''" is a common element of English place-names in Wales, ultimately deriving from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

''holmr'', which denotes "a small and rounded islet". The island appears as ''"Holmes"'' and ''"Holmes en Gower"'', in the Calendar of Patent rolls entries for the 1440s, where it is listed as a "chapel or hermitage". Variations on the Norse/English name continued into the modern era, with the island simply named as ''Holmes Island'' on early tithe maps (listed as a " Rectorial Glebe" of the parish of

Llangennith Llangennith ( cy, Llangenydd/Llangynydd) is a village in the City and County of Swansea, South Wales. It is located in the Gower. Moor Lane leads westwards to a caravan park near Rhossili Bay and Burrows Lane leads northwards to a caravan park ...

). The modern English name, Burry Holms is another recent appellation with the word Burry likely referring to the island's archaeological remains.

History

9,000 years ago, the sea was up to 12 miles (19 km) away. Inhabited by

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

ic Mesolithic hunters,

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

tool A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates ba ...

s provide the first evidence of their existence. Charcoal-charred hazelnut tools made out of

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

and

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

were found in 1919. A 1998 excavation by the National Museums and Galleries of Wales found that Burry Holms was used as a Mesolithic seasonal camp.

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

people subsequently built a

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

and

ditch A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

on the island, while in

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

times it was home to a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

. The island is popular among collectors of shells.

References

External links

BBC history article

www.geograph.co.uk : photos of Burry Holms and surrounding area

Artifacts from Burry Holms on Gathering the Jewels
{{Gower Peninsula Gower Peninsula Hillforts in Swansea Islands of Swansea Prehistoric sites in Swansea Tidal islands of Wales

Etymologies

History

See also

References

External links