Welsh Journals

numerous Iron Age (and later) hut circles, stone walls, water dams and boundary stone lines which practically cover the cliff lands on Skomer. On Middleholm there are indications of a straight wall dividing the island fairly evenly in two, and running from north to south. Along the central ridge in this direction it can be seen by the discerning eye as a row of stones, mostly half-buried, con- necting intervening rock outcrops: we have drawn it as a straight line on our sketch map, but only its approximate position. It is hard to see why anyone should bother to divide up this little island but it is clear that people worked here in insular seclusion, just as at Skomer, and partitioned the land. Today on both islands Iron Age Period walls and boundary lines are traceable through the larger heavier stones half-buried in the ground, the "grounders" difficult to carry off when farmers of later centuries made the present "modern" farm-walls (on Skomer). These early enclosures most likely were for the purpose of containing livestock in summer the herdsman or boy would be put on the island of Middleholm to watch the animals, perhaps to milk sheep and goats and make butter or cheese. This was a common summer practice on many small islands off the coast, from Scotland to Brittany. The herders would have a good deal of spare time on their hands, and probably their superiors would require them to use it profitably in building a bothy or hut-house of stones and turves, and making up stock enclosures. The fact that there is no permanent fresh water on Middleholm was ob- viously no deterrent the nearby islet of Gateholm (less than ten acres) has well over a hundred hut-dwelling sites contemporary with the Skomer Iron Age occupation, yet is waterless. (Even more remarkable is the fact that Grassholm, about the same size as Middleholm, is also waterless, but much more difficult of access across six miles of open sea, yet it too had a rough stone house and several enclosures, indicating at least temporary settlement- see Grassholm some facts and a legend, in Nature in Wales 1957, Vol. 3 pp. 382-388.) Skomer, Middleholm and Grassholm are today noted for their wealth of sea-bird life, and this must have been also a considerable attraction to Iron Age as well as earlier and later occupations. We know that these were a valuable source of protein food, pro- viding revenue for the owner in historic times. Thus there is mention of the "farm of birds" in fourteenth century records, which also prove the existence of Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) there. The name of the island is really Middleholm, although the O.S. maps say "Midland Isle"-a rather muddling misnomer it should either be the Middle Island or better still we prefer the old name of Middleholm. The Pipe Roll of Edward III records "Carcases and skins of Rabbits caught in the islands of Schalmey (Skomer), Schokolm (Skokholm), and Middelholm, Michaelmas