TOWYN-Y-CAPEL. 227

St. Bride was raised, is visible from the Chapel Lochwyd on Hol3'liead mountain, from Bardsay Island, and various promi- nent headlands on which in early times anchorites had fixed then' abodes. It appears that no similar instance of inteniient in graves formed indiscriminately, as regards the point of the compass towards which the feet of the corpse were laid, has been noticed. The formation of successive tiers of graves in such a tumulus of sand is also a circumstance of unusual and cm'ious nature. It is not easy to deter- mine whether these cists could have been formed in the side of the tumulus, after the sand had become accumu- lated into a mound, or whether its formation may not have been, in great part, artificial, graves being constructed with flat stones, and sand heaped thereon in successive tiers, so as ultimately, with the assistance of the drifting of sand from the neiglibouring shore, to form the mound, which served in after times to support the Chapel of St. Bride. The inhumation without any regard to the position of the corpse towards any particular point of the compass, appears to connect these interments with the usages of primeval tribes. It may be conjectured, that, in later and Christian times, the ancient cemetery of the district, doubt- less regarded with some measure of veneration or respect, was still used as a place of burial, as shewn by the nmnerous human remains found under and around the chapel, deposited A^dthout any cist, as customary in earlier ages ; and that the spot was hallowed by the erection of a Christian chapel over this re- markable assemblage of heathen sepulchres. About the middle of the fifth centuiy, indeed, the Island of Anglesca appears to have been ravaged by invasions of the Irish Picts : they were repulsed by Caswallon Llaw hir (long hand), who was sent by his father to oppose the invaders. About A.D. 450 he fortified a post at the spot now occupied by the chm-ch of Holyhead. A great slaughter of the inhabit- ants had occurred at a place called Tyn Dryvcl, near Aber- fraw, and the spot is still known by the name Cerrig y Gwyddel, (the Irishman's stones.) At this time came Cas- wallon, who routed the Irish, and pursued them to Holyhead, where their vessels lay ; a second conflict took place there, in which Caswallon slew Cerigi their leader, and subsequently fortified Holyhead with a wall, now called ^Im--Caswallon. According to tradition, he tied his men together, previously to