PUFFIN ISLAND 5 



repair, after the decay of the monastic buildings, as a 

 useful watch-tower or look-out. The ruins of a small 

 cottage, close to the tower, are not of great antiquity, 

 but harcl by are curious narrow tunnels, evidently part 

 of a former and very ancient building. A little way from 

 the tower are low, broken stone walls, which probably 

 mark the site of the conventual gardens ; near the landing 

 place are other enclosures, where, in a hollow, a few 

 stunted thorns and brambles " shrink landward from the 

 scathing storm." 



Towards Anglesey, from the southern extremity of the 

 island, a spit of sand stretches half-way across the narrow 

 channel; a perch at the point warns the navigator of the 

 dangerous shoal. South of the perch is an ancient cause- 

 way, uncovered at low water; pilgrims, it is said, crossed 

 the Lavan Sands, and by means of this causeway over- 

 came the obstacle of the last gutter. Now it would be 

 difficult to walk from Llanf airf echan ; there is a deep 

 channel between the Dutchman's Bank and the causeway. 

 Seiriol flourished in the sixth century, but little is known 

 about him; he appears to have been related to a Prince 

 of Lleyn, and by him to have been made chief of a priestly 

 sect at Penmon. Tradition tells that even the Vikings 

 came to the holy man for instruction, but it is far more 

 likely that the warlike priests kept watch and guard at 

 Penmon, and that such foreigners who were captured 

 or wrecked upon the coast were instructed in hard labour 

 for the benefit of the community. It was when he wished 

 to retire from public life that he crossed to Priestholm, 

 and there he died and was buried. 



Pennant, Bingley, and other writers at the end of the 

 eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, 

 describe Puffin Island as being thickly populated with 

 puffins, but there is a general idea that for a time the place 

 was forsaken. It is said that they were driven away by 



