Denny Island, Bristol Channel

Denny Island is a small rocky island in the middle of the Bristol Channel, three miles north of Portishead and halfway between Avonmouth and Redwick near Newport.  It lies at the southern end of the Bedwin Sands.  These are part of a huge complex of sandbanks collectively known as the Welsh Grounds, which are exposed at low tide. The boundary between England and Wales runs along the southern foreshore of the island, which is located in Monmouthshire for administrative purposes.

In 1373 Edward III granted a charter to Bristol, which made it a county of its own separate from Somerset or Gloucestershire.  Denny Island is referred to in the charter as Dunye.  This may mean that the name meant “island shaped like a hill” in Old English.

Denny Island has an area of 0.24 hectares and is covered in scrub vegetation. It becomes much larger at low tide, due to the Bristol Channel having the second highest tidal range in the world.  Strong tidal currents and the danger of quicksand on a rising tide make the island almost impossible to land on.  Therefore it is extremely unlikely that I will ever set foot on it.

The island provides a roost for seabirds.  Small colonies of cormorants and great black backed gulls and a few pairs of rock pipits nest on the island.

Denny Island from Portishead - a speck on the horizon

Denny Island is on the left hand side of the photo on the horizon

Island 228 - Ynys Groes, Rhosneigr, Anglesey, Wales

Ynys Groes (Cross Island) is an unremarkable small tidal island about 300 metres from the village of Rhosneigr.  It is actually 2 separate islands grouped together but separated at high tide.  They are accessible at low tide across the sand.  The last 50 metres or so is across some rocks, muddy sand and slippery seaweed.  The islands, which rise to a height of about 4 metres are covered in grass and thrift, which was still in flower when I visited in early June 2014.  There were also a few dandelions.

Ynys Groes

 - definitely enough grass to graze a sheep but there was no sign of any sheep having taken advantage of it in recent years!

Rhosneigr from Ynys Groes

Island 227 - Sach Harri, Rhosneigr, Anglesey, Wales

I originally thought this island was part of neighbouring Ynys Groes but on the OS OpenData large scale map it is named separately.  It is located 300 metres to the south west of the village of Rhosneigr and can easily be accessed across sand, some firm mud and a few seaweed covered rocks.  The island has no distinguishing features.  It rises to a height of about 3 metres and is mainly bare rock with patches of grass and thrift.

 Sach Harri looking towards Ynys Groes

 Sach Harri looking towards Rhosneigr

Island 226 - Braich Parlwr, Rhosneigr, Anglesey, Wales

Braich Parlwr is an unremarkable small tidal island located 100 metres from the village of Rhosneigr on the west coast of Anglesey.  However I don't think it gets cut off very often from the mainland, possibly just at high spring tides or in storm conditions.  Other people have described it as a peninsula rather than an island but having studied the seaweed deposits that cover the shingle spit that joins it to the mainland I have decided it is an island. Braich Parlwr is about 150 metres by 50 metres and is low lying and covered in grass and thrift.



Braich Parlwr

Rhosneigr from Braich Parlwr

Island 225 - Creigiau'r Odyn, Rhosneigr, Anglesey, Wales

Creigiau'r Odyn is a very small tidal island located about 150 across a sandy beach from the village of Rhosneigr on the west coast of Anglesey.  It is mainly lichen covered rocks with patches of thrift and grass. The only distinguishing feature is a white bollard on the south east side.  I presume this is some kind of navigation aid to mark the channel between the island and the rocks of Braich yr Orsedd.

White bollard on Creigiau'r Odyn

 

Rhosneigr from Creiggiau'r Odyn

Island 224 - Cribinau/St Cwfan's Church, Anglesey, Wales

St Cwfan's Church is located on a very small tidal island called Cribinau on the Ordnance Survey maps but apparently the locals all call it St Cwfan's.  The original church was probably built in the 7th century.  A stone church was built in the 12th century and this was re-built in the 14th century, although some Norman masonry remains in the south wall.  The arched braced roof is partly 16th century.  The church is also known as eglwys bach y mor = the Church in the Sea.

The island can be accessed at low tide across the sand/rocks from between Porth Cwfan and Porth China on the western side of Anglesey near Aberffraw.  The church was probably originally located on a peninsula but centuries of erosion gradually separated it from the mainland thus creating an island.  John Speed's map of 1636 shows it as a peninsula.  Erosion around the island continued and the wall around the churchyard was built in the late 19th century to prevent the graves from falling into the sea.  The church had become derelict by this time and was restored in 1893-4.

St Cwfan was probably a monk and disciple of St Beuno, with whom he came to North Wales in the 7th century.  St Cwfan is thought to have been Irish and may be the same person as St Kevin of Glendalough in County Wicklow, Ireland.

I don't know how I missed this church on my previous visit to Anglesey in 2011 but I have seen it featured on at least 3 television programmes since then and I was glad to have an opportunity to come back to Anglesey and visit it at last.  It is a delightful spot on a sunny day.  I found my 8,000th geocache there but only after a 20 minute fingertip search of the base of the church wall.  The church was locked, so I could only look through the windows at the interior, which is quite plain.  I understand that services are occasionally held there.

I recommend the café at the Llys Llewelyn Centre in Aberffraw - excellent coffee cake and toasted sandwiches and very friendly and helpful staff.  There is some limited parking at Porth Cwfan but the walk down the lane from Aberffraw and then back to Aberffraw via the coast path is delightful and very easy.  It is about a 5 mile round trip.

St Cwfan's Church from the south at low tide

St Cwfan's Church



St Cwfan's Church



Wall around St Cwfan's Church

St Cwfan's Church at low tide

There are seats at both ends of the church

Island 223 - Ynys Peibio, Holyhead, Holy Island, Anglesey, Wales

Ynys Peibio is a very small tidal island located about 50 metres from the beach to the south east of the port at Holyhead.  The original purpose of the small square tower on the island seem to be uncertain.   According to the website of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales it may have been a leading mark for Holyhead Harbour and may have aligned with a structure called Madoc Chapel.   When I visited in June 2014 it had found a new use as a public toilet - lovely!

Ynys Peibio is covered in long grass and thrift, which was in flower when I visited.  It is easy to access from the nearby housing estate and involves a very short walk across a pebble beach avoiding the seaweed where possible.  At the time of my visit it had a geocache.

Not sure what the original purpose of this arch was but you can see Ynys Peibio through it and it gives easy access to the beach down some steps

Ynys Peibio at low tide

Ynys Peibio

Ynys Peibio

Ynys Peibio

Ynys Peibio looking north towards the port of Holyhead

Island 222 - Shell Island/Mochras, Gwynedd, Wales

Shell Island is also known as Mochras but whether it is actually an island or not is debatable.  It is certainly accessed via a tidal road, although this only gets covered over by water at high spring tides and then not for very long.  However to the south of the island it is joined to the mainland by sand dunes and low lying land.  The island is located a couple of miles to the west of the village of Llanbedr.

The River Artro currently flows out to sea north of Shell Island but before 1819, when it was diverted by George Finch, the 9th Earl of Winchilsea, it used to enter the sea to the south of the island.  He altered the course to improve access to the wharf at Pensarn, which was the shipment point for slate from the local quarries.  Large scale Ordnance Survey maps of 1887-1949 still show the former course of the river cutting back into the dunes to the south of the island but stopping short of cutting it off. 

I wasn't going to count it as an island for the above reason but it is listed in my book Islands of England and Wales by Donald McCormick (1974) and having gone to all the trouble to visit it (the roads in Mid and North Wales, even the A roads, are incredibly windy and it takes ages to get any distance) and paid £5 for a day pass I am going to count it.

Shell Island is currently run as a very large campsite - 300 of the 450 acres are available for camping and it claims to be the biggest campsite in Europe.  However it doesn't feel that big, as it is divided into smaller areas, which are divided up by stone walls, hedges and undulations.  The island was bought in 1958 by the Workman family who still run it today.  Campers choose where they want to camp and I can't imagine that it is ever completely full, as it is so large.  There are 6 toilet blocks dotted around the site and there is a comprehensive road system giving access to the whole island, making it the ideal island for the disabled or lazy visitors!  According to the leaflet you have to arrive in a car, you cannot arrive by train.  I am not sure why?

The island gets its name from the shells that can be found on its beaches.  I could see shells on the beaches but was a bit disappointed that they don't seem to be any more plentiful than on other beaches I have visited.  The best beach in my opinion is the one at the south end of the island, which is sandy.  There is a harbour for small boats at the north east end of the island and the island is also popular with anglers.

The Holiday Centre in the middle of the island has a bar, restaurant, snack bar, launderette, gift shop and supermarket.  However apart from a few essentials like bread and milk the supermarket mainly seemed to stock junk food. 

I enjoyed my 2 hours on the island in June 2014 and if I liked camping, which I don't, I think it would be a great place to camp.  It was raining when I first arrived but the sun soon came out.  Being lazy and in a hurry I explored most of the island in my car using the excellent road network.  Away from the Holiday Centre it was a very peaceful place.

Beach at the north end - a mixture of sand and pebbles

This view is typical of the camping areas on the island

Sandy beach at the south end of the island



Sign warning that the road is tidal

Welcome to Shell Island

Harbour entrance at the north east end

Harbour, Shell Island

Holiday Centre showing gift and camping shop

I presume this was the original farmhouse

Marshly land at the south end of the island

Memorial to George and Edith Workman



Snowdon is somewhere in the distance

Mini boat pool

Island 207 - Barry Island, Glamorgan, Wales

Barry Island is no longer a true island, as some of the land separating it from the town of Barry was filled in when the docks were built in the 1880s.

I came to Barry Island once on a day trip from Essex (yes, I realise it was a long way to go for the day but it was a special railway trip that picked us up at the station at the bottom of our road and took us all the way to Barry) but all I remember is that it there wasn't much to do on Barry Island on a rainy Sunday in the 1970s.  Therefore my expectations weren't high for my next visit 38 or so years later but I was surprised that I really liked the island.   I visited on a sunny Saturday in June and the centre of the island around Whitmore Bay Beach and the Pleasure Park was very busy.  However the rest of the island was pleasantly quiet.  I was planning on staying for about an half an hour just to take a few photos.  However the queue to get off the island when I arrived at 5pm was about a mile long, so rather than sit in a traffic jam I chose to stay for a couple of hours and explore the island properly.  By the time I left at 7pm the traffic jam had disappeared.

I walked around Friars Point and Nell's Point both of which are sites of special scientific interest and on to Jackson's Bay.  I was surprised to find that there are a number of residential streets on the island.  A few men were hard at work trying to create some allotments out of some sloping waste land at the north end of the island.  I understand that Julia Gillard, Australia's first woman prime minister was born on Barry Island.

Butlins opened a holiday camp at Nell's Point in 1966.  They sold it in 1986 and it closed in 1996. The area is now a smart housing estate.  There is a National Coastwatch Institution station on Nell's Point, which is manned by volunteers.  The remains of Second World War gun emplacements can also be seen at Nell's Point.  The RNLI opened a lifeboat station on Barry Island in 1901.  Barry Yacht Club is located close to it.  Barry Tourist Railway is located in the restored Victorian station building.  They run trains on certain days in the summer and at other times in the year from Barry Waterfront to Barry Island.

Barry Harbour - looking north

Whitmore Bay and the Pleasure Park from Friar's Point

Friars Point and Nell's Point are SSSIs due to their unusual geology: Mercia mudstones and carboniferous limestones.  Friar's Point, which is owned by the Vale of Glamorgan Council, is one of the best calcareous cowslip dominated hay meadows in south east Wales. It is home to bees, hoverflies and rare species of crickets and grasshoppers.  The Pleasure Park opened in the 1920s.

Western end of the island - looking towards Barry

 

Queue for the train home on a summer Saturday

 

Barry Docks from the eastern end of the island

Former church, now a private house

 If you look very closely you can see that the large window has been transformed into a solar system.  The smaller windows to the right of the door are decorated with dragons.

Remains of St Baruc's chapel above Jackson's Bay at the eastern end of the island
Baruc drowned while collecting a book from Flatholm.  His body was found on the beach at Barry Island and the island may be named after him.

Jackson's Bay
Named after Sir John Jackson, who constructed Barry Harbour

Shops opposite the Pleasure Park

 - don't expect any healthy food - it was all hotdogs, hamburgers, fish & chips, ice cream etc.

Seafront at Whitmore Bay

A game of cricket at the western end of the island

A quiet contrast to the crowds around the Pleasure Park

 

Welcome to Barry Island!
I thought at first it was a bathtub that the people were sitting in but I think that it is probably a boat!

The railway line runs alongside the road bridge
Looking north west

Island 170 - Sully, Glamorgan, South Wales

Sully Island is a low lying tidal island about 500 metres south of the hamlet of Swanbridge, which is itself located about a mile to the south east of the small town of Sully.  It is only accessible for a few hours either side of low tide and the tidal currents in this area are very strong, so a check of the tide times is essential before venturing across the rocky causeway.  The highest point on the island is only about 24 metres above sea level.  There was once a fort there but I could see no signs of it.

This is the tidal island with the most warning signs I have come across so far.  The first notice said the beach was dangerous because part of the sea wall has collapsed and there are lots of chunks of concrete, some with metal rods sticking out of them, strewn across it.   However it was easy enough to find a way round them.  The second notice says the causeway is a death trap, presumably because of the tidal currents, because when the tide is out the walk across the causeway is very easy -  there isn't much seaweed on it, the rock bedding planes are almost horizontal and apart from skirting round a few small rock pools there aren't any other hazards.  When you get to the island there is another notice saying you have risked your life to visit. 

On a sunny summer day Sully Island was a lovely place to spend a while wandering around.

 

 Warning at Swanbridge

Causeway from Swanbridge to Sully Island  

 
When you arrive on the island there is another notice saying you have risked your life to visit the island.

 

 Highest point on the island with Steep Holm in the distance
I'm not sure what the yellow flowers are - they looked like members of the buttercup family

 

 South Coast with Flat Holm and Steep Holm in the distance

 

 Swanbridge from Sully Island

There are several paths crisscrossing the island.  Some areas are covered with grass and bracken with wild flowers like bird's foot trefoil, cowslip and salad burnet.  The rest is covered by thick scrub e.g. elder bushes and brambles.  The low lying part in the middle is covered with tall reeds.  The north side of the island, which is only a few metres above sea level, is fringed by a pebble beach.  On the south side there are low cliffs fringed by platforms of stone and large flat boulders.

  Interesting geology on the south coast - looking towards Barry
Triassic mudstones and sandstone with older limestone beneath

South coast with Steep Holm and Flat Holm in the distance

Sully Island was put up for sale in 2009 for £1.25 million but didn't sell.  In 2011 the price was reduced to £95,000 and it was sold to a mystery buyer.