[B] BARRY ISLAND, the name of which has been thought to have been derived from St. Baroche, a hermit, who, according to Cressy, died here in the year 700. This island, which lets for about L80. a year, is estimated to contain about 300 acres. In Leland's time there was, in the middle of it, a "fair little chapel used," but there was no dwelling. Since that period, however, a house has been erected for the residence of a farmer, which, in the summer, is converted into a boarding-house, for the reception of sea-bathers. The family of Giraldus de Barri, are said to have taken their title from this island, of which they were once lords. "It is remarkable," observes Giraldus, "that in a rock near the entrance of the island, there is a small cavity, to which, if the ear is applied, a noise is heard like that of smiths at work--the blowing of bellows, strokes of hammers, grinding of tools, and roaring of furnaces; and it might easily have been imagined, that such noises which are continued at the ebb and flow of the tides, were occasioned by the influx of the sea under the cavities of the rocks." Sir Richard Hoare, in his additions to Giraldus, observes as follows:--"Towards the southern part of the island, on a spot called Nell's Point, is a fine well, to which great numbers of women resort on Holy Thursday, and, having washed their eyes at the spring, each drops a pin into it. The landlord of the boarding-house told me, that on clearing out the well he took out a pint full of these votive offerings." On the main land, opposite the western extremity of the island, lies the village of Barry, near which are some remains of the castle. A few miles north-westward from Barry are the remains of Penmark castle, anciently the property of Sir Gilbert Humphreville, one of the followers of Fitzhamon. Llancarvan, in this vicinity, was once the seat of a religious house, said to have been founded by Cadoc the Wise, in the 6th century. Llancarvan is also distinguished as the birth-place of Caradoc, the Welsh annalist, who compiled a history of the Principality, from the abdication of Cadwaladyr, 686, to his own time. Tref Walter, or Walterston, in this parish, was the residence of Walter de Mapes, a writer of some note towards the middle of the 12th century. He was Archdeacon of Oxford, and Chaplain to Henry I. He built the church of Llancarvan, a large substantial edifice, and the village of Walterston, with a mansion for himself. His literary labours comprise a translation of the British Chronicle into Latin, and a Welsh version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fabulous paraphrase of the same work. He wrote also a Treatise on Agriculture in the Welsh language. [Sidenote: Remarkable noises heard here.] [Sidenote: Curious custom.]