PENMON PRIORY

The earliest churches erected in Anglesey were connected with the cells or abodes of hermits. The oval foundations of St. Seiriol's cell are to be seen near the well. Seiriol lived in the late 6th century, and according to legend, used to meet St. Cybi of Holyhead another hermit, in the centre of the island. Seiriol walked with his back to the sun in the morning and with the setting sun behind him in the evening and so became known as Seiriol the Pale while Cybi the Golden had his face tanned by the sun. Saint Seiriol was buried on nearby Puffin Island but his remains were later moved here; ruins of a monastic foundation remain on the island, especially a tower of the same rare type as Penmon.

An interesting record relating to this period in the chronicles of Basingwerk Abby, Flintshire: 'Maelgwyn, King of Britain, was buried at Ynys Seiriol. He made the Priory of Penmon.

In the 10th century there were raids on Anglesey by the Danes, and the wooden church at Penmon was looted and burned down in 971. Afterwards, a stone church was built on a new site, that of the present building. This was rebuilt in about 1140 in the reign of Owain Gwynedd and what we see as the oldest part of the building today is the nave; the central tower and transepts were added in 1160-70. In 1237 Llewelyn Fawr granted the monastery to the Prior of Priestholm (another name for Puffin Island) and a new chancel was built. By 1414 it had become the Priory Church of St. Augustine. The monks who settled there in community were of the Augustinian order; they also settled on Bardsey Island. After the Dissolution of the Monastries under Henry VIII the priory became ruined but it was repaired in the 19th century when the chancel was rebuilt for parish worship in 1853-5.