Site details: Bardsey


Home dershane Project team Project News Future plans Contact us Search the database Browse list of sites Browse list of orders Browse bibliography & archives Browse people Browse articles Glossary of terms Monastic Wales is not responsible for the content of external internet sites	Display site: Bardsey (Abbey) also known as: Ynys Enlli Order: Augustinian Canons Either because of its pure air which comes across the sea from Ireland or through some miracle occasioned by the merits of the holy men who live there the island has this peculiarity that no one dies there except in extreme old age, for disease is almost unheard of. In fact, no one dies there at all unless he is very old indeed. In Welsh the place is called Ynys Enlli, and in the Saxon tongue Bardsey Island. The bodies of a vast number of holy men are buried there, or so they say, among them that of Daniel, bishop of Bangor. [A description of the island by Gerald of Wales, trans. Thorpe, p. 184] Bardsey had been reconstituted as an Augustinian community by the mid-thirteenth century but prior to that was a hermitage and allegedly a favourite burial spot of the saints. show details of standing remains Standing remains All that remains of the former Augustinian abbey is a thirteenth-century tower. Today Bardsey is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest and is owned by the Bardsey Island Trust which maintains it as a nature reserve and seabird sanctuary. Dedicated to: Mary Medieval Diocese: Bangor Lordship at foundation: Gwynedd Access: Public Owned by: Bardsey Island Trust Main events in the history of this site pre 1240: Foundation - Bardsey was reconstituted as an Augustinian community before the middle of the thirteenth century and soon gained influence, holding considerable areas of the Lleyn peninsula. [5 sources] c.1291: Wealth - According to the Taxatio Ecclesiastica Bardey's income was c. £16 3s 0d. [1 source] 1509: Levy of fine - The abbot of Bardsey was fined 40s for failing to attend the Augustinian General Chapter at Leicester. [2 sources] c.1535: Wealth - On the eve of the Dissolution Bardsey’s annual income was recorded for the Valor Ecclesiasticus as over £46. [5 sources][1 archive] c.1537: Dissolution - Bardsey was dissolved under the 1536 Act of Suppression. [3 sources] + 3 minor events. Show minor events People associated with this site Abbots of Bardsey Gerald of Wales; Giraldus Cambrensis , archdeacon of Brecon (Commentator) Bibliographical sources 24 Printed sources show sources The Heads of Religious Houses in England and Wales, II, 1216-1377, ed. D. M. Smith and V. London (CUP: Cambridge, 2001) pp. 329-30 The Heads of Religious Houses in England and Wales, III, 1377-1540, ed. David M. Smith (CUP: Cambridge, 2008) p. 369 Medieval Religious Houses, England and Wales, ed. R. Neville Hadcock and David Knowles (Harlow, 1971) pp. 138, 146 Monasticon Anglicanum: a History of the Abbies and other Monasteries, Hospitals, Frieries, and Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, with their Dependencies, in England and Wales, 6 in 8 vols, ed. Sir William Dugdale, revised J. Caley, H. Ellis, B. Bandinel (London, 1817-1830) vol. 4, pp. 659-662 Arnold, Christopher J., 'Excavation of "Ty Newydd", Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island), Gwynedd', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 147 (2001), pp. 96-132 Austin, David, and Stöber, Karen, 'Culdees to Canons: the Augustinian houses', in Monastic Wales: New Approaches, ed. Janet Burton and Karen Stöber (University of Wales: 2013), pp. 39-54 Chitty, M., The Monks on Ynys Enlli, pt 2: 1252-1537 (Aberdaron, 2000) Chitty, Mary, The Monks on Ynys Enlli pt 1: 500-1252 (Llangwnadl, 1992) Cooper, R., Abbeys and Priories of Wales (Swansea, 1992) pp. 37-38 Cowley, F. G., The Monastic Order in South Wales 1066-1349 (Cardiff, 1977) Daniel, Catherine, Enlli, porth y nef (Liverpool, 1995) Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), Gerald of Wales, The Journey Through Wales / The Description of Wales (Harmondsworth, 1978) pp. 183-184 Johns, C. N., 'The Celtic monasteries of north Wales', Transactions of the Caernarvonshire Historical Society, 21 (1960), pp. 14-43 Johns, C. N., 'Postscript to the Celtic monasteries of North Wales vol 21 (1960)', Transactions of the Caernarvonshire Historical Society, 23 (1962), pp. 129-131 Johnston, Dafydd, 'Monastic patronage of Welsh poetry', in Monastic Wales: New Approaches, ed. Janet Burton and Karen Stöber (University of Wales: Cardiff, 2013), pp. 177-190 Kightly, C., A Mirror of Medieval Wales: Gerald of Wales and his Journey of 1188, ed. D. M. Robinson (Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments: Cardiff, 1988) Luff, S. G. A., 'Twenty thousand saints', Pax...; review of the Benedictines of New Caldey (Abbey), 42 (1952), pp. 134-139 Pierce, T. J., Medieval Welsh Society: selected essays, ed. J. B. Smith (Cardiff, 1972) Pierce, T. Jones, 'Bardsey: A study in monastic origins', Transactions of the Caernarvonshire Historical Society, 24 (1963), pp. 60-77 Robinson, David M., The Geography of Augustinian Settlement in Medieval England and Wales, BAR British Series, 80, 2 vols (Oxford, 1980) Smallwood, T. M., 'The date of the Gough Map', Imago Mundi, 62 (2010), pp. 3-29 StÃ¶ber, Karen, Late Medieval Monasteries and their Patrons: England and Wales, c.1300-1540, Studies in the History of Medieval Religion, 29 (Woodbridge, 2007) appendix 1 Stöber, Karen, 'The Regular Canons in Wales', in The Regular Canons in the Medieval British Isles, Medieval Church Studies, 19 (Brepols: Turnhout, 2011), pp. 97-113 Unwin, Judith, The History of Bardsey (MTM Software, GB: 2007) 4 On-line sources show online sources (all open in new window) Bardsey Island Trust website (View website) Aerial photograph of St Mary's Abbey, Bardsey (View website) Aerial photograph of Bardsey Island (View website) RCAHMW, Coflein database - St Mary's Abbey, Bardsey (View website) Archival sources The National Archives, 'Agreement between Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Maredudd ap Rhys', (Document), (View website) Related articles on Monastic Wales Who were the Regular Canons?, Dr Karen StÃ¶ber	Gwynedd, OS Grid:SH12002217 View site details on COFLEIN (RCAHMW database)[new window]

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