TOWYN-Y-CAPEL,
AND THE RUINED CHAPEL OF ST. BRIDE, ON THE WEST COAST OF HOLYHEAD ISLAND: WITH NOTICES OF THE CURIOUS INTERMENTS THERE DISCOVERED.
Communicated by the Hon. William Owen Stanley, M.P., and read at a Meeting of the Section of Antiquities during the Annual Meeting of the Archæological Institute at York.
Towyn-y-Capel, Holyhead.
At a distance of about two miles and a-half from the town of Holyhead, on the old London road, in the direction of the four-mile bridge, a steep descent leads to a level tract of land, about a quarter of a mile in length, composed of drifted sea-sand, now covered with short and beautiful green sward. At this spot the sea, at high tides, meets within a few hundred yards, almost severing the Island of Holyhead into two distinct parts. The public road crosses this space, and on the westward of the road, at a distance of about one hundred yards, rises a green mound about thirty feet in height, and 750 ft. in circumference at the base. On the summit of this mound are seen the foundation walls of a small chapel, which has given the name of Towyn-y-Capel, the Bay of the Chapel, to the beautiful inlet, on the shore, and in the centre of which the mound is situated. Towyn signifies, in Welsh, a sandy bay.
This bay is of considerable extent, and deeply recessed from the iron-bound coast, which forms the northern side of Caernarvon bay: a frowning and jagged barrier of rocks guards the entrance, and breaks the heavy wave which
