Island 56 - Caldey, Pembrokeshire, Wales

I spent a morning on Caldey in June 2004 and returned for a day in June 2012.  There is a ferry service from South Beach at Tenby from Easter to October.  It runs from 10am-5pm weather permitting and takes about 20 minutes.  In 2012 the cost was £11 for adults, £10 for senior citizens and £6 for children.  Well behaved dogs are allowed on the island but they must be kept on leads.  The island is closed on Sundays.  Around 60,000 people visit Caldey each year.

There is a tea garden, post office & museum, perfume shop, gift shop, chocolate factory and public toilets on the island.  The tea garden is reasonably priced and I can recommend the chocolate crunch!  It also sells filled rolls, crisps, cake, sausage rolls and pasties.

The name Caldey is from the Norse kaldr (cold) or kelda (springs) + ey meaning island.   The Welsh name for the island is Ynys Byr (Pyro's Island).

Flint tools dating from Mesolithic times have been found in Nanna's Cave.  At this time sea levels were lower and Caldey would have been joined to the mainland by land.  The island was also inhabited in the Bronze & Iron Ages and in Romano-British times.

Pyro, a Celtic Christian hermit, established a small chapel on the island in the 6th century.  He was succeeded by St Sampson, who is now the patron saint of the island.    By the end of the 9th century the Christians were forced to leave because of raids by Vikings.  In 1131 Henry I gave the island to a Norman nobleman, Robert Fitzmartin.   He built a fortified house but then gave Caldey to his mother who in turn gave it to the Benedictine monks of St Dogmael's near Cardigan.  They converted the house into a priory and lived there until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1537.  The island then had a succession of owners who farmed it until it was bought by Rev William Done Bushell, Chaplain of Harrow School in 1897.  He restored the old priory and 2 churches and in 1899 he invited a small group of Benedictine monks led by Benjamin Carlyle to re-establish the monastery.  He sold the island to them in 1906.  

The present Italianate style abbey buildings were completed in 1913.  They were designed by the Abbot Aelred Carlyle and the architect John Coates Carter of Penarth.  The cost of all the building work forced the Benedictines to sell it to the Reformed Cisterian Order in 1925.  The Benedictines moved to Prinknash Abbey in 1928 and Cisterians from Scourmont Abbey in Belgium moved in. 

http://www.caldey-island.co.uk/monks.htm

I was disappointed in 2004 to find that only men were allowed on tours round the monastery and that much of the island is not accessible to visitors.   In 2012 they didn't seem to offering tours of the Abbey to anyone but a larger section of the south coast as far as Red Berry Bay is now accessible and well worth the short walk.  

Caldey is a lovely tranquil place and the monks make excellent chocolate!  They also make perfume but that is less interesting.  You can visit the Abbey Church, St David's Church and St Illtyd's Church.    There is also a video hall near the Abbey, which shows a film about the life of the present day monks, of whom there are currently around 15.

My second visit to Caldey was on a sunny bank holiday and the ferries were kept busy all day long ferrying people to and from Caldey.  However as with most popular tourist hotspots you don't have to walk far from the main thoroughfare and facilities on the island to get away from the crowds.  I only met a couple of people while I was walking along the beach at the eastern end of Priory Bay and around the woodland walks and not many people follow the cliff path from the lighthouse to Red Berry Bay.   The woodland on Caldey was planted in the early to mid 20th century and consists mainly of sycamore, conifers, horse chestnuts and hawthorns.

There were a few more people on the Nature Trail which runs parallel to the track from the village to the lighthouse.  This is a path worth taking, as it runs along a stream and passes the ruins of an old cottage, corn mill and the gardens of 19th century mansion, which was damaged by a storm in 1954 and demolished in 1970. 

 

Lighthouse 

The Lighthouse was built by Trinity House in 1829 to a design by a Mr Nelson.  It is on the site of a former chapel and is the highest point on the island at 60 metres above sea level.  It was automated in 1927 and was powered by acetylene gas until 1997.

Atlantic grey seals can be seen around the island, as can various types of gulls and a few choughs.

Stained glass window in St Illtyd's Church

Calvary - looking north towards the mainland
It would seem that not even Jesus likes pigeons or seabirds sitting on his cross, as there are spikes on it to keep them off!

 Red Berry Bay on the south coast
 - you can see lots of small caves

Geologically the island can be divided by a line from Drinkum in the south east to Sandtop Bay in the north-west.   The northern part is blue grey carboniferous limestone and the south is Devonian old red sandstone.

 Cliffs on the south coast 

 Sand dunes behind Priory Beach
 I had the dunes and this end of the beach to myself even though it is only a short distance  from the main track to the village.

 St Illtyd's Church - the leaning spire of Caldey

 Cliffs on the east coast looking towards Paul Jones Bay 
 - an idyllic spot for quiet contemplation

 Jetty with ferry

 The Abbey
The Abbey Church was destroyed by fire in 1940 but restored in 1951.   Only the 1st floor gallery is open to the public.

 The Old Priory ruins and St Illtyd's Church

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries the St Illtyd's Church was used as a laundry and brewery.  It was restored in 1898 by Rev William Done Bushell.  It is still consecrated as a Catholic Church.
 
The Caldey Stone, which was excavated from the grounds of the Old Priory, is on display in St Illtyd's Church.  It is inscribed in Latin and Celtic Ogham but there is disagreement over its age and what the writing on it says.

 The Oratory

This was a medieval watchtower but is now the Chapel to Our Lady of Peace.  It overlooks the sea and is a quiet place for prayer and private contemplation.

 Priory Beach

 St David's Church

The present building is Norman but it is thought to be built on the site of a 6th century Celtic chapel.  It was possibly formerly known as St Mary's by the Sea at a time when the area around the present day common and village was a sea inlet.   It fell into disrepair after the Dissolution of the Monasteries but the nave was restored and brought back into use in 1838 by Cabot Kynaston who owned Caldey at this time.  The chancel was restored in 1908 by the Benedictines.  The graves are those of monks and islanders.   It is on the site of a pre-Christian burial ground, possibly dating from the Romano British period 1800-2000 years ago.  There are several beautiful stained glass windows in the church, which were designed and made by Dom Theodore Baily, who was a Benedictine monk who lived on Caldey in the early 1920s.   My favourite windows are the Fish Window and the Tree of Life Window.  The font was made by Eric Gill.

 St Illtyd's Church

 St Philomena's Retreat House

 

There is an old limekiln you can look at just below the Retreat House.   Limestone was burnt to produce cement and fertilizer.

The island was a mixed farm with pigs, sheep, cattle and poultry until 1990 when it was decided for economic reasons that only beef cattle would be kept.  There are currently around 90 of them on the island.