Recently a very ordinary exercise book (6) containing numerous handwritten history related articles and jottings, mostly copied from other sources, was donated to the museum. Among the articles was one which described the establishment and activities of the Anglesey Druidical Society, in being on Ynys Môn from 1772-1844.
A plaster plaque depicting a Druid, the symbol of the Anglesey Druidical Society. (3)
The society was formed at Beaumaris in 1772. Members included clergymen, sea captains, prosperous farmers, persons of title and a number of the minor gentry of the island. Numbering over 100, they would meet monthly, mostly at Beaumaris inns to dine. They were expected to make regular donations and were fined if they failed to wear the adopted uniform of the society, also for non attendance at meetings and for other minor transgressions. Silverware was purchased – four ceremonial goblets. A seal was designed and medals issued. (5) (6)
An impression of the Anglesey Druidical Society seal. (1)
The aims of the society were charitable and benevolent with funds made available to reward bravery in saving life at sea, supporting local hospitals and for arranging apprenticeships for poor children. They later took an interest in rewarding good practice and skills in agriculture. The society eventually became less active and closed in 1844.
A guilded medal of the Anglesey Druidical Society. (2)
In 1976 work was in progress to expand the Holyhead port facilities at Salt Island and a number of buildings were being demolished, including one previously occupied by the Waterguard Section of HM Customs and Excise. This building at one time had been the offices of the ‘City of Dublin Steam Packet Company’ that operated the Royal Mail service to Ireland from 1860-1921. It stood at the entrance to their ship repair yard. Alongside the main building was a boathouse, that in 1825 is believed to have housed a lifeboat together with a rocket firing apparatus for the rescue of those in difficulties at sea.
The Holyhead Waterguard offices of HM Customs and Excise at Salt Island. (3)
Attached to the inner walls of the customs offices were three plaster plaques depicting the images of druids (see above). Their connection to the Anglesey Druidical Society is clear as other known artefacts also depict the same imagery. Their location at the offices can only be guessed at but may be connected to the society’s possible provision of a lifeboat and life saving equipment at Salt Island.
Before the building was demolished Captain Geoffrey Butterworth, John Cave, Roy Jones (Maintenance Supervisor at the Civil’s Section of Anglesey Aluminium), together with Ken Evans of Holyhead Library managed to extract the plaques which were then cleaned and eventually taken to the old Holyhead Library at Queen’s Park. They were displayed on the stairs to the first floor for many years.
Removal of the druidical plaques before demolition. (3)
In 2019 the town library was relocated to the newly refurbished Market Hall with the plaques no longer on display. The article in the exercise book prompted the museum to try and track down the plaques to ensure that they were being taken care of. With the assistance of council officers and library staff they were eventually located in storage at Llangefni Library but with little known provenance.
A silver snuff box, believed to have belonged to Holland Griffith (1756-1839) of Carreglwyd and Plas Berw, Anglesey, an Arch Druid of the Anglesey Druidical Society. (4)
The plaques are now to be relocated to the care of Oriel Môn, Llangefni. References to the society have been identfied in the transactions of ‘The Anglesey Antiquarians’ and ‘The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion’, which provide a valuable provenance for the items and the society they represented, which in their day did much good for the people of Ynys Môn.
References and Acknowledgements
1. The image of the Seal Impression – Credit Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum of Wales
2. The image of the society guilded medal – Ebay (listed at £1,200 and sold)
3. Photos relating to the removal of the plaques – John Hodgkinson posted on Facebook (Holyhead Past and Present, 16/10/2024). Believed to have originated from John Cave MBE.
4. The image of the silver snuff box – listed online for auction with a society medal at Mellors and Kirk in 2017. (Estimated at £3000-£4,000).
5. Geoffrey Butterworth – The Anglesey Druidical Society, 1772-1844. The Anglesey Antiquarian Society and Field Club, 1980
Throughout the 18th century and into the beginning of the 19th century, the Royal Navy became the most effective navy in the world. Under the outstanding leadership of great men such as Nelson, Collingwood, Anson, Bligh, and Cook, the British navy won almost every major sea battle it fought.
However, omitted from this illustrious list there were numerous others.
Among these was Admiral John Henry whose distinguished career deserves to be examined. The following narrative briefly cover his roots in Holyhead before entering the navy as a boy and his rise to prominence.
Although archival evidence appertaining to John Henry’s early life and career is somewhat sparse, it is nevertheless supported by secondary sources. This article attempts to further expand these sources and illuminate the life of a long forgotten local sailor.
The references for these sources are highlighted in the text.
Ranking as one of Britain’s most prominent sailors of his time, John Henry was born in Holyhead on September 28th 1731.
Parts of a publication written by Lieutenant John Marshall in 1823, Marshall gave glimpses of John Henry’s naval career and continued to regularly update his publications in further supplements until 1835. An abridged version also appeared in ‘The Gentleman’s Magazine’, in the form of an obituary some six years later, following Henry’s death at Rolvenden in Kent in 1829. 1
Whilst Marshall mentioned parts of Henry’s life, particularly his naval career, other aspects of his life remain untold or undiscovered. Both accounts mentioned that Henry entered the navy as a midshipman in 1744 but disappearing from the record until eighteen years later when he was noted as a senior Lieutenant aboard the ‘Hampton-Court‘.
Far from being complete the author of this narrative attempts to expand further on Marshal’s account
In a letter written by William Morris, a customs official at Holyhead, to his brother Richard who was a clerk at the Admiralty in London dated February 1756, William states the following: –
“I have some private reason for this enquiry. The young fellow whom I suppose is a lieutenant on board Captain Weller’s and who was his clerk and steward on board the Dorset yacht, is John Henry of this place.”
William goes on to remind Richard as to John Henry’s identity.
“You perhaps may remember his father, master of Peter’s brig at Dulas in time of yore’. Gwyddel oedd ei dad a briodws Gybi wraig.”
Translated:- ‘His father was Irish who married a Holyhead woman.’2
The ‘Dorset’ was a Royal Yacht commissioned in 1753 to convey the Lord Lieutenants and other dignitaries to and from Ireland. Her predecessor was the yacht ‘Dublin’ which had carried out those same duties since 1709. The captain of the ‘Dublin’ was Captain John Weller, who had been her commander since 1734. However, in 1751, John Weller resigned this position (thought to be through ill health as he died early in 1753) and his son, also called John Weller, was then appointed to take over as her commander. John Weller junior remained with the ‘Dublin’ until she was broken up in 1752 and, as aforementioned, took command of her successor, the ‘Dorset’ in 1753. He was later elevated to the rank of Rear Admiral and died in 1772.
Both vessels frequently visited Holyhead where Captain John Weller (senior) had forged a great friendship with William Morris as did his son, John (junior).
The Royal Yacht ‘Dublin’ in Dublin Bay
There were several ways that a young man could enter the navy as a midshipman, the most common being in the form of patronage in one form or another. Marshall gives no mention to Henry’s naval career from his entry into the navy in 1744 except that he had broken his thigh bone whilst serving as a young midshipman and prior to his appearance as a first Lieutenant aboard the ‘Hampton Court’ at Havana in 1762. It can only be assumed that John Henry began his naval career as a thirteen-year old midshipman aboard the yacht ‘Dublin‘ in 1744 possibly under the patronage of John Weller, senior.
In 1755 John Weller left the ‘Dorset‘ and took over the command of the ‘Assistance’, a fifty-gun man of war, with his clerk, (John Henry) leaving the vessel at the same time. 3
His training as a midshipman would have included a wide range of nautical skills and disciplines. Henry became a naval surgeon and later published a paper where he claimed that he had knowledge of how to cure various medical ailments. 4 It would be difficult to resist the thought that his interest in surgery was not influenced by his own experience after having his thigh broken by a hawser in 1746. John Henry received his commission on the 27th February 1757 but it is unclear whether or not he remained with John Weller. There can be no doubt that Henry was held in high esteem both professionally and socially by the Weller family and went on to marry Charlotte Stringer on the 8th October 1760. Charlotte was the granddaughter of John Weller senior, and niece of John junior.
Henry was also one of the executors of John Weller’s (junior) will. Following Weller’s death in 1772, Henry’s wife Charlotte, was one of the beneficiaries which included a quarter share in plantations, lands and property in Tasmania and a substantial amount of money. 5
Shortly afterwards, Henry purchased Sparks Farm in Rolvenden, Kent which he renamed ‘Sparkswood’. This property was close to Kingsgate, where the Weller family lived. Interestingly, the property, now renamed ‘High Chimneys’, still stands in the village today. 6
Once called ‘Sparkswood’, the home of John Henry, recently renamed ‘High Chimneys’
John Henry married Charlotte Stringer on 8th Ocober 1760 at St. Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney. The signatures of the witnesses are those of Nick (Nicholas) Weller, brother of John Weller (junior) and George Ball, Charlotte Stringer’s uncle. 7
A copy of the banns of marriage between John Henry and Charlotte Stringer
Wherever Henry served after leaving the ‘Dorset’ in 1755 and, according to Marshall’s account, turning up as first lieutenant aboard the ‘Hampton Court’ in 1762, is unclear. The ‘Hampton Court’ at that time took part in the reduction of Havana, the Cuban capital. This conflict was part of the seven-year war between Britain and France and her Spanish allies.
The Cuban capital stands on the north-west coast of what was known as Spanish Cuba and was a primary port in the Spanish American colonies. It was from here that the Spanish regularly transported gold and silver from the Americas to Spain. The siege began on the 6th June and lasted until the 13th August 1762 when the Spanish capitulated but was later returned to Spain the following year under the Treaty of Paris.
Marshall, in his account quoted: – “The expedition against the capital of Cuba, was one of the most daring and best conducted enterprises ever undertaken by any nation”.
Following the signing of the American Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July 1776, hostilities between Great Britain and the Loyalists began to intensify. Ten months later on 16th of May 1777, Henry was promoted by Lord Richard Howe, to the rank of ‘Commander and Commanding Officer’ of the ‘Vigilant’. 8 The ‘Vigilant’ operated out of New York and later Baltimore. During the Philadelphia campaign, Henry was highly praised by Sir William Howe for his excellent work in destroying enemy works on Mud Island. As a result he was posted captain on 22nd November 1777 9 and given the rank of Captain and Commander of the ‘Fowey’.
‘HMS Vigilent’, Henry’s first command
On the 6th May 1778, Henry in co-operation with Major John Maitland led an operation to deal with enemy fortifications up the Delaware to Bordentown. Taking command of the ‘Hussar Galley’ and several other vessels they escorted a battalion of infantrymen aboard eighteen flatboats up the Delaware. Without taking any casualties, the operation was a total success, having destroyed the batteries and destroying nearly fifty enemy ships. 10
Despite being slightly irrelevant, another mariner with close ties to Holyhead, was a young twenty- year old lieutenant was given his first command of the ‘Hussar Galley’, on the 1st March 1780, his name was John Macgregor Skinner!! 11
Returning to the ‘Fowey’ in July 1778 Henry became involved with escorting convoys between Rhode Island, Halifax and to New York. In 1779 he was in command of a small naval squadron anchored off Savannah. The siege of Savannah was to become the second deadliest battle of the Revolutionary War and where Henry greatly distinguished himself against the superior forces of the Comte d’ Estaing.
In May 1780 he took command of the captured frigate ‘Providence’ leaving New York for England in September with dispatches. At the end of December of that year he was appointed to take command of the ‘Renown’ of 50 guns. The ‘Renown’ had also taken part in the siege of Savannah and she too had returned to Plymouth for a refit and where she remained until Henry recommissioned her in March 1781. For almost the remainder of that year the ‘Renown’ resumed routine naval duties.
Joining Rear-Admiral Richard Kempenfelt’s squadron on the 12th of December of that year, Henry took part in the Second Battle of Ushant. This battle involved the squadron taking several prizes out of a heavy protected French convoy before returning to Portsmouth.
In June 1781, the ‘Renown’, accompanied by the ‘Diomede’ under Captain Thomas Lenox Frederick, escorted a large convoy bound for New York with victuals. Avoiding being captured by the French, Henry put into Halifax in the second week of August. Whilst remaining in North American waters Henry captured the American privateer ‘Grace’ on the 28th October 1782. The following year the conflict ended with the Treaty of Paris being signed on the 3rd September 1783. Whilst the future of the loyalist population was being decided, the ‘Renown’ remained in New York, flying the flag of the commander-in-chief, Rear-Admiral Hon. Robert Digby. The ‘Renown’ finally departed from American waters sailing from Halifax in the late spring of 1784 and arrived in Portsmouth in July the crew was paid off in Chatham in August.
Following France declaring war against Britain in February 1793, Henry commissioned the 74 gunned ‘HMS Irresistible’ and escorted a convoy of merchant vessels to the West Indies. Here he was involved with the reduction of the French islands and was where he terminated his active Naval career.
‘HMS Fortitude’ or ‘Irresistible’ as they were identical, Henry’s last command.
In 1794 he was elevated to the rank of Rear-Admiral of the Blue. In 1795 to the rank of Rear-Admiral of the Red. In 1799 to the rank of Vice-Admiral of the White. In 1801 to the rank of Vice-Admiral of the Red. In 1804 to the rank of Admiral of the Blue. In 1808 to the rank of Admiral of the White. In 1812 to the rank of Admiral of the Red. 12
Once again, it should be noted, John Henry out ranked Nelson by two ranks at the time of the battle of Trafalgar.
John Henry’s wife Charlotte, died on the 16th February 1816 and was buried in St Mary’s Church Rolvenden. John Henry died at ‘Sparkswood’ on the 6th August 1829 aged 98.
In part of his will 13, (kindly transcribed by Dr. Ruth Sellman of the National Archives, London), there is no mention of any surviving family at Holyhead or he chose to forget about them!. His bequests went to his goddaughter, Charlotte Coombe (the daughter of Richard Morris and Mary Kadwell of Rolvenden, baptised there in 1775), her husband the Rev John Richard Coombe and their daughter Charlotte Coombe (who subsequently married Major George Willcock of the East India Company). He also left bequests to Francis Weller (his wife’s cousin) and his son, Francis, and to Anne Georgiana Ball, widow of Rear Admiral Henry Lidgbird Ball (his wife’s nephew). The two trustees he nominated lived locally to him in Kent.
Throughout the 18th century the Royal Navy regularly vied with the French, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese navies for maritime supremacy, before it eventually became the world’s largest and most powerful navy. Retaining that dominance enabled the navy to transport Britain’s armies to wherever and whenever they were needed. Another extremely important role that they played, was in protecting Britain’s shipping interests with its colonies. Trade between the Indian sub-continent and the South China Seas was regularly fought over by the East India Company but other trade routes which transported other commodities such as sugar from the Caribbean, cotton from America and furs from Canada were also important. Much of the wealth generated, particularly in the Caribbean and the Southern States were sadly dependant on the horrendous trading of slaves from the West coast of Africa.
Numerous sea battles were fought and won in the colonisation of the Caribbean, as they were in America before their declaration of independence in 1776.
Almost from time immemorial Holyhead has owed its living to the sea, with its sons having an almost hereditary sea faring aptitude bred into them. Therefore, it not surprising that Admiral John Henry, who played a fairly central role in the aforementioned activities, carried on that proud Holyhead tradition and was elevated to this prestigious rank at the peak of his profession.
The people of Holyhead can rightly feel a sense of pride in the achievements of Admiral John Henry.
Contributed by Peter Scott Roberts who wishes to acknowledge the help of Dr. Gareth Huws for his invaluable advice on research and editorial issues. May 2024.
Royal College of Surgeons of England. “ An account of the means by which Admiral Henry, of Rolvenden in Kent, has cured the rheumatism, a tendency to gout…….” J. Callow, London, 1816. ↩︎
Syrett, David, (Robert L. DiNardo, Ed.) Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy (Vol 1 + 2) Routledge; 1994. ↩︎
Hindley, Brian, current owner of ‘High Chimneys’ alias ‘Sparkeswood’ Rolvenden. ↩︎
Parish Records. St. Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, Tower Hamlts England, October 1760. ↩︎
The following article is by Mr. David Puleston Williams, an eminent local historian who has spent considerable time and effort researching aspects of the Parish Church of St. Cybi that are not readily known.
Many will have passed by St. Cybi’s Church and noticed the Sundial on the south wall, possibly checking their modern day watches or smart phones to see how accurate the sundial might be. On closer inspection they may also have noticed the Welsh inscription and wondered what the meaning was.
The south wall of St. Cybi’s Church
A sundial has been on the south wall of St Cybi’s church for many years. It appears likely that it has been replaced or renewed a number of times due to weathering. The account of the church for 1738 has the following entries (the original spelling has been retained):
Paid for a Diall board . . . . . . £0 – 6s – 2d
Two further disbursements are listed in the following year:
It is impossible to say if this was the first time a dial was fixed to the wall or whether this dial, purchased in 1738/39, replaced a previous one. The dial is shown, in the same position as it is today, on Lewis Morris’s drawings of the church drawn c.1740, and in the well-known engraving of the Church by the brothers Samuel and Nathaniel Buck, in 1742. The dial appears to have been well looked after as the church accounts for 1785, 1791 and 1799 record the payment of oil and paint for the dial.
The Sundial
R.T. Williams in his book ‘Nodion o Gaergybi’, states that the sundial was a gift from Robert Roberts the publisher and compiler of almanacs. But Lucy Williams, in her article, ‘The Portionary Church of Caergybi and Jesus College’, states that it was Robert Roberts who made a new sundial during the incumbency of Rev Ellis Annwyl Owen, who was rector from 1815 to 1827. Robert Roberts died in 1836, at the age of 58 and was buried only a few yards away from the sundial, next to the path leading to the double arches. The Church account for 1906 record that the sum of £2-5s-0d was spent on repairing the dial.
The description of the dial in ‘An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Anglesey’ (1937) is as follows:
Sundial: on S. wall of S. transept, with inscriptions on dial and gnomon; dated 1813.
The gnomon is the arm of the sundial which casts the shadow. In 1926 the sundial was taken down as the fastenings holding the dial to the wall had become unsafe. At the same time the wooden frame was strengthened and the dial was renovated. It was noted at the time that there were inscriptions on the gnomon, with on one side:
This dial was given by Captain Skinner of the Union Packet to the Parish of Holyhead, 1814.
and on the other side:
The roof etc of the Church was repaired in 1813 and 1814. W. Lloyd, minister; H. Evans and R. Roberts, Wardens.
Thus, it would appear that a new sundial had been installed in 1814 and placed in the same position as before. Captain Skinner lived in Stanley House adjoining the church yard.
‘The Book of Sun-dials’ (1890), by Margaret Gatty, gives information about the inscriptions or mottos to be found on sundials in the British Isles, Italy, France, Germany and other countries. In all she refers to 867 dials, but on page 538, she sets out the inscription on the dial on St Cybi’s Church and states:
This, our last motto, is one of the most remarkable in the collection. It is a unique specimen being the only Welsh inscription.
The words ‘yr hoedl er hyd ei haros, a dderfydd, yn nydd ac yn nos’, placed at the top of the sundial, are a couplet taken from a poem concerning the months of year. This was the final verse dealing with the month of December in a late medieval poem known as ‘Englynion y Misoedd‘, being a collection of twelve verses describing the nature of each month. The full verse is as follows:
Mis Rhagfyr, byrddydd, hirnos, brain yn egin, brwyn yn rhos: tawel gwenyn ac eos; trin yn niwedd kyfeddnos; adail dedwydd yn ddiddos, adwyth diriaid heb achos yr hoydl er hyd i haros, a dderfydd, yn nydd a nos.
As can be seen there is a slight variation between the inscription on the sundial and the version set out in the complete stanza above. The poet speaks of December’s short days and long nights. The ravens are among the young shoots, with rushes on heathland. Even the bees and nightingales are silent. A disturbance after a night of celebration, with ill-fated destruction, but the homes of the fortunate are safe. The span of life is a sojourn first with light, but then ends with darkness. A more literal translation of the couplet being:
Life, however prolonged it may, Will end as does the night and day.
We are grateful to Mr. David Puleston Williams for his research and permission to publish this article. He wishes to express his thanks to the staff at Archifau Ynys Mon/Anglesey Archives, Llangefni for the considerable assistance provided when researching this article.
Editor’s footnote – Enquiries have indicated that the last time the Sundial was refurbished/replaced was sometime in the early 1990’s. The photos show that it is in need of attention.
The following article (and two others that will follow) are by Mr. David Puleston Williams, an eminent local historian who has spent considerable time and effort researching aspects of the Parish Church of St. Cybi that are not readily known.
This article describes the history of burials at the Church Graveyard over a number of centuries. Two other articles on the church by Mr. Williams will follow this. One will look at features of the South Porch and the other will concern the Sundial on the south wall.
St. Cybi’s Church at Holyhead/Caergybi
EARLY REFERENCES The parish of Holyhead covered the whole of the northern and middle part of Holy Island and measured some 6,988 acres. The graveyard surrounding St Cybi’s church, bounded on three sides by the walls of the Roman fort, and on the fourth by a low cliff overlooking the sea at high tide, was the only space for burying the dead. Thousands must have been buried here over the centuries. For instance, from 1780 to 1789 some 543 burials took place in the churchyard, and a further 393 were buried between 1790 and 1791.
St. Cybi’s Church in 1742
Thus, in a twenty-year period 936 burials took place. It must have been the case therefore that bodies were being buried where many burials had taken place before. The church accounts, starting in the 18th century, refer from time to time to matters concerned with burials. A bier was used for carrying coffins and in 1772 the church account records the payment of £1-1s for a new bier. Interestingly, an item associated with the bier were more expensive, as the account for 1791 records a payment of £3-13s-6d for a ‘new Bier cloth’, with a further payment of 1s-6d for a linen cloth bag to keep the cloth in. Payments are recorded for winding sheets to wrap around the bodies of the dead, as in 1742 when the sum of 10½d was spent ‘towards a winding sheet for an Irishman’, and in 1751 when ‘a sheet to bury a sailor’s corpse in’ cost 1s-9d. A number of those persons buried at St Cybi’s churchyard were travelling to or from Ireland
In 1746 the following burials are recorded: 14 September – two Popish vagrant Irishmen, names unknown. 3 October – a vagrant Irishman, name unknown. 4 October – a vagrant Irishwoman, name unknown. 17 November – James Taylor, an Irish vagrant.
Names of the more affluent also appear, as in 1778 when the following burials are recorded: 15 August – William Sterne Esq., from Ireland. 18 September – William Sutclif, Merchant from Dublin. 24 October – Samuel Tyndall of Dublin.
Payments for coffins appear occasionally in the church accounts, as in December 1785 when the sum of 9s was recorded as the cost ‘[for] a coffin for a vagrant drowned here’. The church accounts show that the paths in the churchyard, or ‘walks’ as they are described, were maintained by the regular spreading of gravel. In 1828 a payment of £1-13s was paid to the Sexton for spreading 22 loads of gravel in the church yard.
The church and the extensive walls of the old fort surrounding the churchyard required regular maintenance as the following examples show:
1772 – 6d was paid for ‘cutting ye ivy boughs on ye church walls’. 1821 – ‘It was ordered that Capt Colin Jones be paid ten pounds . . . for making and putting up gates in the churchyard.’ 1828 – the sum of £2 was paid to John Jones ‘for repairing church yard wall’. 1830 – the sum of £2-14s-½d was paid ‘for arches above the Church gate’. In 1831 – Edward Williams was paid the sum of £2-12s for 26 days work ‘pointing the church walls’.
THE LOWER GRAVEYARD With the building of the new harbour in the early part of the 19th century the population of the town grew rapidly. In 1801 the population was 2,132, but it had reached 4,071 by 1831. More space was desperately required for the burial of the dead, and the churchwardens consulted Richard Griffith and Edward B. Parry, who were both surgeons (doctors) in the town, and they received the following letter, dated 12 February 1818, from them:
‘Having been requested by you to give an opinion respecting the propriety of enlarging the Church yard of this town we beg leave to observe that owing to the great increase of population in this town within the last few years for so extensive a parish we are decidedly of opinion that it is necessary to have some additional ground for a burial ground. The graves are now so much crowded and the generality of earth over some of the coffins so very light, that in the summer time after a hot day with very light airs, we have frequently noticed in passing that direction a most unpleasant affluvia, arising no doubt from too many bodies being crowded together and without sufficient quantity of earth to cover them, we are therefore of opinion that unless some additional ground is added it will lead to very unpleasant consequences’.
It was clear that a new burial ground was required. One place considered by the churchwardens in 1820 was a piece of waste ground close to the National School – but this was not proceeded with. However, with the building of the new road along the western foreshore to Salt Island an alternative and new piece of land became available. The Church wardens applied to the Commissioners of the Harbour for the purchase of the land between the new road and the low cliff beneath the existing church yard. Before the new road was built this land was formerly part of the foreshore, and at high tide would be covered by the sea. The sum of £5 was paid for the land. The Commissioners required the church wardens to erect walls surrounding the new church yard and to undertake to keep them in repair for seven years. The church wardens were obliged to enter into a legal bond to that effect.
At a Vestry held on 26 February 1824 it was resolved that a plan and estimate be obtained for the building of these walls together with steps from the old churchyard. As this land had been formally part of the foreshore some work was required to be carried out on it, so at a meeting of the Vestry held on the 13 May 1825 the churchwardens were directed, ‘to level the new church yard and to cover the surface with earth and to sow it with hay seed.’ A considerable amount of earth was required and this was dug from land owned by the church at Rhos y Gaer. Over £8 was paid for the work. A payment was made to John Thomas for sowing hay seed and harrowing. The walls surrounding the new graveyard was the biggest expenditure, with two men, Hugh Owen and Owen Williams, being paid the sum of £55 for the work. The second largest item of expenditure were the various fees due to the Bishop, the Chancellor and Registrar (both diocesan officials) – they were paid the total sum of £22-15s-8d. The gate for the new church yard weighed 875½ lbs and cost £16-8s-3d. This gate was kept locked as the padlock for it cost 1s-6d. The lower grave yard started being used for burials towards the end of 1826.
INFANT MORTALITY During the 18th and 19th centuries infant mortality, was by modern standards, exceptionally high, and this can be seen from the information recorded in the parish registers. The early registers do not state the age of the children buried, but only refer to infant or child. In 1743 the number of children baptised came to 53, but the same year saw 38 children being buried. Contagious disease must have been the cause of many of these deaths, as in some years many deaths occur close together, as in 1753/54, when during the two months of December and January 25 infants died. During the other ten months only five died.
The Table below gives the numbers buried in the church yard at St Cybi’s from 1813 to 1832. This shows a large number of children aged two years and younger being buried each year. Edward B. Parry (the doctor mentioned above) and his wife Phoebe Parry, lost two baby children. A son Edward Young Parry died at the age of eight months and was buried in the upper graveyard on the 5 April 1822. His brother Henry Parry died at the age of nine months and was buried in the same grave in 24 January 1831.
BURIALS IN THE PARISH OF HOLYHEAD – from the Register of Burials 1813-38
1813 – 1822
1823 – 1832
Year
Aged 2 years or under
Total burials
Year
Aged 2 years or under
Total burials
1813
11
44
1823
26
101
1814
3
39
1824
7
72
1815
19
75
1825
29
99
1816
28
84
1826
21
96
1817
11
46
1827
11
55
1818
19
46
1828
12
59
1819
18
60
1829
6
50
1820
13
51
1830
14
68
1821
8
33
1831
28
84
1822
18
53
1832
10
46
Totals
148
531
Totals
164
730
SHIPWRECKS AND THOSE FOUND DROWNED A number of the burials that took place in St Cybi’s churchyard during the 19th century were of those who had drowned at sea, either from shipwrecks, or those who had been washed overboard. Generally speaking, the practice throughout the country, with respect to dead bodies washed ashore, whose identities were unknown, was that they were frequently buried on land close to where they had been found. However, this changed with the passing of the ‘Burial of Drowned Persons Act in 1808’.
The gravestone of William Holmes lost on the Charlemount Packet in 1790. (There were over 100 people lost but their burial location is not known)
This act required that in the event of a dead body, or bodies being discovered cast on the shore by the sea, that the Churchwardens and Overseers of the parish in which the discovery took place, were to be responsible for the arrangements concerned in ensuring a decent burial of the deceased in the church-yard or burial ground of the parish. One of the provisions of the act was that a reward of five-shillings was to be given to those who found and gave notice of the finding of a body. The paying of the reward due, pursuant to the provisions of the Burial of Drowned Persons Act, continued throughout the century – the 1884 church account show two payments for ‘finding unclaimed body’ in January and February. Owen Ellis was paid 10s for the removal of these bodies and William Williams, Tan yr Efail provided a coffin for the sum of 17s-6d. Thus, the total costs incurred by the church wardens in respect of these two bodies came to £1-17s-6d – this sum was then reimbursed by the County of Anglesey at the following Quarter Sessions.
Two reward payments of 5s were made by the church wardens as late as 1891, in July and December. One payment of 5s was made for ‘picking up a body found drowned’ and the second for ‘taking the body from beach to dead house.’ Further payments of £1-4s-6d were paid with regard the costs of burial. The work and costs involved with the burial of those bodies washed ashore can be seen from a letter sent by Hugh Hughes – who was one of the churchwardens – to the treasurer for the County of Anglesey in 1873 concerning a burial of a body found drowned in the old harbour. Five shillings (the statutory reward) had been paid to a person ‘for finding a dead human body cast ashore’. Four shillings had been paid for canvas to cover the body, and another 4s paid for cartage of the body. The four men who assisted were paid the total of 8s-4d. A fee of 4s went to the Sexton, and the coffin cost 18s. The sum of £1-12s-7d was found on the deceased, so the balance remaining came to £2-3s-6d. In his letter Hugh Hughes explained that the canvas was necessary as this was ‘[an] exceptional case of decomposition’ and referred to ‘the difficulty of having men to help in the removal of dead bodies except they are well paid’.
The following are the details of some of those who had been drowned and then buried at St Cybi’s graveyard between 1815 and 1829:
12 November 1815: two female passengers on board the ‘Swan’, a ship wrecked off the coast, names unknown, one aged 20, and the other aged 22. 22 February 1819: William Baker a ‘stranger who was drowned’, aged 22. 29 September 1821: A stranger, name unknown, drowned with the sinking of the ‘Duke of Leinster’. Age about 40.
1823: On the 28th March the bodies of 28 adults and children were laid out in St Cybi’s church, where they were viewed by the Coroner for Anglesey and his jury. These were some of the passengers who had drowned following the loss of the ‘Alert’ and had been brought into Holyhead harbour. Many of them were women and eight were infants. The findings of the jury at the inquest were the same in respect of all those who had died and was as follows:
On the view of the body of a person unknown then and there lying dead, who was a passenger on board a ship or vessel called the ‘Alert’, packet bound from Dublin to Liverpool that the wind slackened and it becoming a perfect calm, that the said ship or packet, accidentally, casually and by misfortune inconsequence of the strong current then running was thrown against a rock called the West Mouse Rock was wrecked and foundered in Holyhead Bay, and then and there the said person unknown was drowned.
Only one passenger, Mary Flanagan was identified, and she had died together with her unnamed infant. All 28 were buried in the church yard at St Cybi’s.
February 1824: Twelve bodies washed on the shore from the wreck of the ‘John’. Four separate inquests were held in the church – as and when the bodies were discovered and then recovered from the shore and placed in the church – over the following days, with the last being held on the 13 February. Among the dead were a number whose names were unknown and the bodies of three infant children. The finding of the court was the same for all the dead, namely:
‘The [deceased] was a passenger/mariner onboard a certain ship or vessel called the ‘John’, bound from Cork to Liverpool laden with sundries which ship or vessel was on the sixth day of February in a violent Hurricane was wrecked and totally lost on the Rocks near Penrhos in the Parish of Holyhead and then and there the said [deceased] with many of the seamen and passengers onboard were drowned.
20 November & 4/15 December 1826: A total of 12 bodies washed ashore from the wreck of the ‘Marquis of Wellington’. Names unknown.
April/May 1829: A Dutch galliot – a type of small sailing vessel – was on a voyage from Rotterdam to Liverpool with a cargo of bark. On the 28 April, during a severe gale, she sought shelter in Holyhead harbour. A rope from the vessel was attached to the capstan on the pierhead but the rope broke, the vessel then drifted and was wrecked on the rocks known as Cerrig yr Adar, near Penrhos. All persons aboard survived save for the captain’s wife, Pieterke Jans Smid who drowned. Her body was brought to St Cybi’s Church, where the coroner held an inquest and she was buried in the churchyard on the 1 May. The burial register gives her age as 25.
VANDALISM AND APPOINTMENT OF A SEXTANT Throughout the 19th century there were reports of persons vandalising parts of the church building, graves and of general misbehaviour around St Cybi’s church. In 1816 the churchwardens agreed to appoint a Sexton ‘to prevent nuisances’. The first Sexton appointed was ‘found to be totally inadequate’ due to his age and Lewis Roberts was appointed in his place in November 1817 at a salary of £5.00 p.a. and he was provided with a staff and gown. Lewis Roberts would on occasions drink to excess, and in November 1824 he promised that he ‘will never more be guilty of any misdemeanour that will cause offence.’ Lewis Roberts also worked as the town crier, and in 1831 the church account show that he was paid the sum of 2s ‘for proclaiming against nuisance in the Church yard.’
By around 1828 William Hughes had been appointed as the new Sexton. An engraving of c.1830, shows in the distance the new harbour, with, in the foreground, part of the graveyard. On the left side a man stands before a chest tomb, with the handle of a pickaxe or mattock in his right hand, this could well be William Hughes the Sexton. References to the purchase of tools for the sexton appear in the church accounts, for instance in 1822 when 3s-6d was paid for a ‘mattock for sexton’, and in 1826 Hugh Owen was paid 1s ‘for sharpening the picks for new church yard.’ The sum of 1s-6d was spent on three pickaxe handles in 1825. Following the restoration of the church in 1878-79 the Sexton was paid an additional sum of £1-10s for ‘looking after old churchyard’. His work in this respect was made easier than before as £9-2s was spent in March and April 1879 for levelling the church yard. The Vestry meetings during much of the 19th century were held in the Old School room/yr Hen Ysgol (today called Eglwys y Bedd) and in December 1833 the Sexton was instructed ‘to make fire there 11 o’clock each vestry day – on account of this room being so cold and damp and the chimney does not draw the smoke.’
St. Cybi’s Graveyard overlooking the Harbour C.1830
Breaking the windows of St Cybi’s church appears to have been a major pastime of the local youths, as payments for repairs to the windows, or to a glazier, appear regularly in the church accounts during the 1860 and 70’s. The sum of 4s was spent in 1862 on the printing of 50 posters offering a ‘reward for informing on any boys that broke the church windows.’ In 1872 the sum of 1s-9d was paid to Enoch Hughes for printing posters giving a ‘warning to window breaker’s’. The posters did little good as in 1873 the sum of £2-13s-1½d was paid to Robert Hughes, Glazier, followed by a further payment to another glazier, Owen Davies for 11s 1d the following year. Whether a further set of posters (the printer on this occasion was Robert Roberts) printed in November 1877, ‘warning re breaking windows at St Cybi’s Church’ did any good appears doubtful.
To deal with the problem of persons misbehaving around the church in 1869 it was decided that the path running through the church yard, which was a public right of way, be railed in on all sides. Three estimates were obtained, with one from John Jones, Black Bridge Foundry in the sum of £90, the others quoted £89 and £107. But the erecting of railings was put on hold until 1878/79, when the church itself was restored. The railings were erected and the church accounts show that a little over £102 was paid to John Jones, Black Bridge foundry by way of six interim instalments from October 1879 to April 1883. John Jones was a noted iron-founder – for example he did all the work for the City of Dublin Steam Packet Co. He was a prominent Calvinistic Methodist, being an elder at Hyfrydle Church, Thomas Street for over 40 years. The railings in front of the chapel are a fine example of his foundry’s work.
The upper graveyard showing the railings either side of the path.
CLOSURE OF THE GRAVEYARD Considerable additional burial space became available when the graveyard, of over one acre, came available with the opening of St Seiriol’s church in October 1854. By an Order in Council dated 13 August 1855 it was ordered that burials in the churchyard at St Cybi’s be discontinued, save in the case of existing brick graves where space was remaining.
A further Order in Council dated 23 September 1859 ordered that burials be wholly discontinued in the graveyard except ‘in walled graves now completed to the surface, in which each coffin shall be embedded in charcoal and separately entombed in an air tight manner.’
Soil had accumulated against the outer walls of the church and this was causing dampness to the interior – this soil was removed in 1862.
MORE RECENT TIMES The entrance from the lower graveyard to Land’s End was closed in 1919, when the iron gates were removed and the gap filled by a wall. It appears this was done as the gates needed replacing – no funds being available for the £60 cost of new gates – so the cheaper option was taken. However, a new gateway and gate was built in 1926/27 and paid for by Jane Henrietta Adeane (who had died in November 1926) and a niece to W. O. Stanley. The gateway was dedicated by the bishop of Bangor on Sunday 17 April 1927.
Gateway to the Lower Graveyard
The Gateway inscription facing the road – ‘St. Cybi pray for us’.
During the Second World War many iron railings and gates throughout the country were removed to be turned into scrap metal to aid the war effort. It appears that representations on the grounds of special circumstances were made by the church wardens to the Ministry of Works which enabled the railings to be spared. However in the years following the war the dilapidated state of the churchyard became a cause of concern. A grant of approximately £300 was applied for from the Welsh Church Act Fund in 1952 to renovate the churchyard and the adjacent walls dividing the upper from the lower churchyard, levelling the tombs/memorials and re-cutting the inscriptions on the worst worn stones. Unfortunately, the application was refused.
The upper graveyard with the gravestones laid flat – the Roman Wall beyond
A letter dated 4 May 1956 was sent from the Parochial Church Council (P.C.C.) to the Holyhead Urban District Council (H.U.D.C.) asking the Council to receive a deputation from the P.C.C. to consider the condition of the St Cybi’s churchyard. A sub-committee was formed comprising representatives of the H.U.D.C. and the P.C.C. By virtue of a Deed, signed in December 1957, the H.U.D.C. became responsible for improving and maintaining the graveyards at St Cybi’s Church. Work did not begin immediately but among the councils first tasks in 1963 was to repair one of the entrance arch quoins. The proposed improvements included new walling, removal of railings, removal/levelling of tombstones, clearing and levelling of the lower portion and provision of new steps down to the lower level. The total costs of the work were estimated at £454.00. A dwarf wall was built adjoining one side of the footpath through the churchyard. During 1964-65 the lower churchyard was cleared of bushes and undergrowth. In 1965 a section of the top masonry wall collapsed into the lower churchyard and had to be rebuilt.
We are grateful to Mr. David Puleston Williams for his research and permission to publish this article. He wishes to express his thanks to the staff at Archifau Ynys Mon/Anglesey Archives, Llangefni for the considerable assistance provided when researching this article.
Holyhead: Stories of a Port 