Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/252

224 flows from the south-west, warning the sailor to keep at a distance from this dangerous coast.

The ancient name of the chapel, the remains of which are still visible on this mound, was Llan-Sant-Fraid,—the church of St. Bridget, or by contraction, St. Bride. She was born in Ulster soon after the establishment of Christianity in Ireland, and received the religious veil in early youth from St. Mel, the nephew and disciple of St. Patrick. St. Bride formed for herself a cell under an oak, thence called Kill-dara, the Cell of the Oak, and subsequently, being joined by others of her sex, formed a religious community, from which several other nunneries in Ireland derived their origin. She was regarded as the patroness of that country, and is supposed to have lived in the early part of the sixth century, being first named in the Martyrology of Bede. She was held in much veneration in Scotland, and one of the Hebrides, near to Isla, was called, from a famous monastery built there in her honour, Brigidiani. Several churches also were dedicated under her name in England, France, and Germany, and her relics are still preserved by the Jesuits, at Lisbon. Sorwerth Vynglwyd, a Welsh poet of the fifteenth century, makes mention of the miracles performed by St. Bride in Wales, and the number of churches in the Principality dedicated under her name, is considerable. The legend states that she sailed over from the Irish coast on a green turf, and landing on the Island of Holyhead, at the spot now known as Towyn-y-Capel, the sod became a green hillock, on which she caused a chapel to be built, which was dedicated under her name. The walls and east window of this little building were standing within memory, and the green sward was to be seen, extending for a considerable distance to the sea-ward of the tumulus. Of late years, however, from the gradual encroachment of the sea, aided by the removal of sand for manure, the mound has been half washed away, and in a few years it will probably cease to exist.

The mound is formed entirely of sea-sand, and contains a