STILL SURVIVES

Evening Star, Issue 20983, 23 December 1931, Page 1

STILL SURVIVES

TINY "KINGDOM"• Bardsey Island, the burial ' place cf 20,000 saints and the smallest “ republic ” in the, world, is not, after all, to lose its population of thirty-fire souls' yet awhile. But it is to lose the “ President,” who six years ago, succeeded.: the last of its “ kings,” says the ‘ New; York Times.’ The tiniest inhabitable island _ in tho United Kingdom, Bardsey lies in Cardigan Bay, about two miles* from the extreme western tip of North Wales,' of ..which it once formed a part. It is two miles long and about one mile wide.l Even in fair weather the tides and, currents of the treacherous sound that! lies between it and Wales makes the' passage one of five miles; and when’! st‘orms rage, as more often than not they do,_ no boat can live in the seas,and the island is cut off from the mainland for weeks at a stretch.

At such times the “republicans” of, Bardsey, one of the quaintest commiv nities on earth, suffer hardships. It is tantalising, too, the islanders declare,; to have to wait sometimes for a month 1 or six weeks to go to a picture theatre, that you can see on the mainland—particularly if you yearn to see a Hint that is on for only three days. In' April last the Bardseyites announced! that they had had enough of “ splendid isolation,” and would evacuate their, sea-girt home and settle on the mainland, but now they have made up their minds to grin and bear it for a while longer, anyway. They will have to elect a new President, however, or rather the owner of the island will have to appoint one, ; for the present head of the little State,; John Roberts, is leaving Bardsey, having signed an agreement to become tenant of a farm near the Welsh town.' oddly named Pwllheli. In an interview, Mr Roberts stated that he was leaving the island on account of the ill-health of his wife and the difficulty of obtaining medical attendance. The action of Frederick; Wynn, owner of the island, in placing a motor boat at the disposal of the people had alleviated matters to a largo extent, he said. In wild weather, however, it was impossible to launch a boat for days.

According to old chronicles, monks of Bangor Iscoed who escaped the massacre of the Saxons fled to Bardsey,. which was also the last retreat of the Welsh bards. The island gained a reputation as a place of sanctity and was the goal of countless pilgrims. Under, the name of “ Insula Sanctorum,”! Bardsey is referred to by the early, poets as the burial-place of 20,000 holy, men, or “ saints.” In the great Welsh! epic, ‘ The Mabinognion,’ there is art account of the House, of Glass of Bardsey, to which Merlin took the magic ring 1 of Caerleoh-on-Usk. Bardsey was owned for many years by the first Lord Newborough, a nobleman who evidently possessed a senso of humour. It was his custom to choose | one of the islanders to be head man andi his personal representative, and it* seems to have occurred to him one day! that it would enhance the latter’s au-| thority if he had the title _og “ king.”; So he proceeded to confer it upon him,; tlie first King of Bardsey being oneJohn Williams, a worthy farmer. A king must have a crown, of course,and so Lord Newborough had an or-j nate one made. It was of brass and) fashioned after the crowns of the old! Welsh kings. His lordship also pre-! sented the “ king ” with a “ treasure,”'' in the shape of a silver casket, and an'i “ army ” to guard the treasure in the! guise of a wooden figure painted to re-’ present a soldier. One of the kings of Bardsey, sad to' relate, having abdicated, died in a' Welsh workhouse. The last king, who; had the odd name of Love Pritchard,, was “ crowned ” in 1911. Thirteen 1 years later,' with all his fifty or so' “ subjects'!” he abandoned the island’, because of the extreme loneliness, and; went to live on the mainland ; he died a year later at the ripe age of 83. About a year later, however, the island was repopnlated. In the meantime’ it had passed into the possession of its present owner, a descendant of Lord-' Newborough. Mr Wynn seems to have’, thought that Bardsey had had kings! enough, and he decided that its head man should be known in the future as its “ President.” There is now a wireless station, as well as a lighthouse, on the island, buff until a few months ago its sole means | of signalling to the mainland was byi means of flares. These were burnt ortj Guart Rock, the topmost point of Bardsey, which towers 500 ft above the sea.-; One flare meant an illness on the island,;! two constituted a summons for a three carried warning of a death. I .i i