The house for canons regular, called the College, appears to have been founded by Hwfa ap Cynddelw, lord of Llys Llifon, and one of the fifteen tribes of North Wales, a contemporary with Owen Gwynedd, who began his reign in 1137. This college was granted by James I. to Francis Morris, and Francis Phillips. It afterwards became the property of Rice Gwynne, Esq., who, in the year 1640, transferred the tithes to Jesus College, Oxford, for the maintenance of two Scholars, and two Fellows; since that time, the parish has been served by a Curate, nominated by the College. The Rev. Charles Williams, B.D., is the present Incumbent.
The head of this institute, formerly one of the three Spiritual Lords of Anglesey, was usually denominated Penclas, or Pencolas. The Rev. Mr. Evans considers it to have been Pencais, or chief judge in ecclesiastical matters. But from the inscription on the exergue of the ancient seal belonging to the Chapter, “Sigillum Rectoris et capitali Ecclesia de Caer Gybi;” it appears that his customary title was that of Rector. He was styled in a subsequent period Provost; for Edward III. bestowed the Provostship of “his free Chapel, Caer Cybi, on his Chaplain, Thomas de London,” for which the King, in 1351, dispensed with his services to himself. The original number of Canons is uncertain. By an inquisition made in 1553, twelve persons, styled Prependaries, were found on the pension list, receiving an annual allowance of twenty shillings each. Prior to the dissolution, the Provost had an income of thirty-nine marks, (£26); one Chaplain, a stipend of thirteen marks, (£8 13s. 4d.); and two others, each a moiety of the latter sum. The estimate, therefore, made in the time of Henry VIII., of its annual revenue, as amounting to £24, must have been an under valuation.
In 1745, the materials of Capel Llan y Gwyddel, or the Irishman’s Chapel, were used for the purpose of building a Public School, by Edward Wynn, L.L.D., of Bodewryd, in this county, who gave by bond, dated Nov. 25th, 1748, the sum of £120 for the endowment of it; the interest thereof to be paid annually, on the 24th of November, to the Schoolmaster, for teaching six poor boys of the town to read and write.
THE CHURCH
Is a handsome, embattled, cruciform structure, consisting of a chancel, nave, ailes, and transept, with a square tower, surmounted by a low flat kind of spire. The present edifice, exclusive of the chancel, appears to have been rebuilt, in the time of Edward III., and the latter was repaired in the beginning of the last century. The inside of the entrance porch, and the external part of the south end of the transept, are decorated with rude, but curious carvings. On the latter are the figures of a dragon, a man leading a bear, and other grotesque representations. On the pediments and embattlements are cherubic heads; and one or two figures in supplicating posture. The exterior carvings, in consequence of being executed on soft stone, and exposed to the sea, are almost mouldered away; under the porch, however, where sheltered from the weather, they are much more perfect. There is the following inscription, in Gothic characters, on the north side of the Church,—“Sancte Kybi; ora pro nobis.” “During the last century (says the Rev. John Price, in his account of Holyhead) the natives showed the print of Kybi’s foot in a rock by the east end of the chancel, till it was destroyed by the Rev. Mr. Ellis, Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, then Curate of this place.”
Long be our Father’s temple ours;
Woe to the hand by which it falls;
A thousand spirits watch its towers;
A cloud of angels guard its walls.
And be their shield by us possessed;
Lord, rear around thy blest abode
The buttress of a holy breast,
The rampart of a present God.
THE CHURCH WALLS
Are considered a very perfect specimen of Roman architecture. The form is parallelogram, about 220 feet long, and about 130 broad; three of its sides consist of massive walls, 6 feet thick, and 17 in height; the fourth is open to the harbour, having only a low parapet laid on the precipitous cliffs. At the north-east angle is a circular bastion tower; and along the walls are two rows of circular holes, four inches in diameter, having the inside smoothly plastered. The cement, mixed with coarse pebbles, is extremely hard, and this, in conjunction with other circumstances, exhibits ancient marks of Roman masonry. The Church, altogether, will repay the time spent in its examination.
THE FILIAL REQUEST.
Beloved Holyhead, farewell!
Every object around thee is dear;
Thy promontory, and meadows, and dell,
Where I wandered for many a year.