The island was well known within Celtic Christianity as it was heavily associated with traditions of Saint Cenydd, who is said to have lived on the island as a hermit and is linked to the contemporary archeological remains found there. As such, the island is certain to have had an identifiable name in both Old Welsh and Ecclesiastical Latin, likely using Cenydd as an eponym.[1] Indeed, early English records give the name as "Saint Kenyth atte Holmes", suggesting that at least one of these pre-Norse conventions was still known and recorded centuries later.[2]
"Holmes" is a common element of English place-names in Wales, ultimately deriving from the Old Norseholmr, which denotes "a small and rounded islet". The island appears as "Holmes" and "Holmes en Gower", in the Calendar of Patent rolls entries for the 1440s, where it is listed as a "chapel or hermitage".[3] Variations on the Norse/English name continued into the modern era, with the island simply named as Holmes Island on early tithe maps (listed as a "Rectorial Glebe" of the parish of Llangennith).[4] The Modern Welsh name, Ynys Lanwol ("tidal island") is thought to have only come into common usage in recent history, with the modern English name, Burry Holms another recent appellation with the word Burry likely referring to the island's archaeological remains.
History
A view west along Rhosilli Bay, Burry Holms is at the top left of the beach
