St Twrog's Island

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St Twrog's Island
Native name:
Ynys Twrog
The island at high tide, showing St Twrog's Chapel and light
St Twrog's Island is located in Wales
St Twrog's Island
Location within Wales
Geography
Coordinates51°36′N 2°39′W / 51.60°N 2.65°W / 51.60; -2.65
Highest elevation5 m (16 ft)
Administration
Wales

St Twrog's Island (Welsh: Ynys Twrog) is a small tidal island in the Severn estuary near the Severn Bridge and half a mile south-west of Beachley, Gloucestershire. Access to the island is frequently cut off by the tidal waters of the estuary. It is also known in English as St. Tecla's Island, Chapel Island and Chapel Rock

Description

The island may accessed by tidal crossings, walking across seaweed covered rocks during a two hour period around low tide. The island's high point is less than five meters with the fragmented wall and arched window of the chapel ruins centrally located among the sparse grassland found above the high-tide line.[1]

The island lies between the Severn Bridge and the Prince of Wales Bridge, laying just south of the first. The island and its ruins can be seen on your left as you drive into Wales along the M48.[2]

History

Saint Twrog who is said to have lived on the island in the 6th-7th centuries

A much older chapel is said to have been built on the island to house the anchoress, Saint Tecla (Treacla) sometime in the 4th-5th century. According to Welsh legend, Tecla was a princess and daughter to a King of Gwynedd named as Requli or Reguli. She is associated with another holy well in Gwynedd at Llandegla ("the Llan of Saint Tecla"), but it is said that she abandoned her father's kingdom in order to isolated herself and seek out a religious life on the island until she was murdered in her cell by pirates.[3][4]

Saint Tecla's cell was reoccupied in the 6th-7th century by the Breton Saint Twrog, who kept a beacon burning on the island to warn sea vessels of the dangerous rocks surrounding the island. The island became well-known for the healing properties of a holy well, which saw the ancient chapel rebuilt sometime after.

The remain found on the island today date back to the 13th century and a chapel on the island is recorded in 1290. It was a popular destination for pilgrims in the fourteenth century and offerings at the chapel were valued at £10 in 1400. A papal bull of 1405 described how "a multitude both of English and Welsh" were resorting to the chapel , with historical records of the Aust Ferry showing huge numbers using it to access the island's chapel.[5]

By 1535 however, the island's fortunes had declined measurably, possibly as a result of difficulty accessing it through rising sea levels. The chapel was described as worthless "because it stands in the sea", although it would still be valued at 26s. 8d. by the diocesan survey in 1536.[6]

The chapel was in ruins by the 18th century. The remain found on the island today include a few walls and an archway dating back to the 13th century, although the holy well is still extant inside the ruined chapel.[7]

While Saint Twrog is said to have warned sea vessels of the dangerous rocks around the island by keeping a beacon burning, the island became home to a modern lighthouse in 1907 when a small navigational light was constructed among the chapel ruins. Today the light is an eight meters tall, solar-powered light on a metal lattice-framed structure.[8][9]

Origin of Beachley

Historical records simply use the latin name "Capella in Sabrina" (The chapel in the Severn) for the chapel, with the name "St. Treacle's Chapel" being an English corruption found in local guide books. William Worcester called it "Capella Sancti Teriachi Anchorita" and the island "Rok Seynt Tryacle" while John Leland recorded the island as "Saint Tereudacus's Isle".[10] The island has been suggested as the original "Beach ley" from which the town takes its name,[11] either as a corruption of "Betteslé" from the Welsh "Bettws" (a chapel) and "Lir" (sea-water) or as a partial calque of another name, "Traeth-Lle", (meaning a place on the beach).[12][13]

References

  1. Drewe, Lisa (7 October 2021). England & Wales Island Bagging: A guide to adventures on the islands of England, Wales, the Channel Islands & the Isle of Man. Vertebrate Publishing. ISBN 978-1-83981-091-6.
  2. Hayward, Guy; Mayhew-Smith, Nick (6 August 2020). Britain's Pilgrim Places: The first complete guide to every spiritual treasure. Heartwood Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9544767-9-3. Retrieved 26 March 2026.
  3. Hayward, Guy; Mayhew-Smith, Nick (6 August 2020). Britain's Pilgrim Places: The first complete guide to every spiritual treasure. Heartwood Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9544767-9-3. Retrieved 26 March 2026.
  4. Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine) (1907–1911). The lives of the British Saints : the Saints of Wales and Cornwall and such Irish Saints as have dedications i n Britain. London : For the honourable Society of Cymmrodorion by C.J. Clark. pp. 221–223. Retrieved 27 March 2026.
  5. Morgan, Kathleen; Smith, Brian S (1972). "Victoria County History: Gloucestershire: Vol 10 – Tidenham including Lancaut: Introduction". British History Online. University of London. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
  6. Jones, David Ceri; Lewis, Barry J.; Gray, Madeleine; Morgan, D. Densil (February 2022). A History of Christianity in Wales. University of Wales Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-1-78683-822-3. Retrieved 26 March 2026.
  7. Barber, Chris (1987). More Mysterious Wales. London: Paladin. ISBN 9780586085189.
  8. "England - River Severn / Chapel Rock light - World of Lighthouses". www.lightphotos.net. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  9. "St Tecla's Chapel, Beachley, Gloucestershire". The Journal Of Antiquities. 5 May 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  10. Dames, Michael (12 December 2019). Spirits of Severn. Austin Macauley Publishers. ISBN 978-1-5289-6257-5. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  11. Watkins, Alfred (1 November 2005). Early British Trackways: Moats, Mounds, Camps, and Sites. Cosimo, Inc. ISBN 978-1-59605-469-1. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  12. Cliffe, Charles Frederick (1854). The Book of South Wales, the Bristol Channel, Monmouthshire, and the Wye ... Hamilton, Adams & Company. pp. 32–33. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
  13. Notes and Queries. Oxford University Press. 1886. pp. 278–279. Retrieved 19 March 2026.