Kynaston was a very charismatic man who built a lovely mansion house in ht priory grounds and added farm buildings to the compound. His more enduring legacy to the island was the building of a new and very large quarry to extract Caldey limestone.
Although there were a number of other quarries on Caldey on the island, this quarry yielded up to 20,000 tons of ore a year, which was exported to capture some of the then booming building and road-making industries. Thomas passed away in 1812 and his son Cabot took over the island.
Cabot Kynaston could have been called a visionary of his time. He believed in moral and just treatment of his employees. He treated the worker and their families fairly and decently and took an interest in making sure their lives were good.
Cabot was often referred to as the ‘King of Caldey’. He was what some could call a father figure to the island people, caring deeply about the children of his employee’s, making sure they were educated and not allowing a pub to be erected on the island to give the children a safe and loving environment in which to prosper.
Upon Cabot’s death in 1866, the island was purchased by James Hawkesley, who carried forth with his predecessor’s good works and fair treatment of the workers, and this endeared him to the people, as did Cabot’s attitudes before him.
Hawkesley was also a visionary,, but on a more scientific approach. He increased the agricultural output of the island and introduced new ways of irrigation and cultivation. He also brought greenhouses and exportation of produce form the island and purchased a ketch to transport the island’s yield to waiting consumers on the mainland.
After Hawkesley died, the island was briefly owned by Thomas Cunningham, who did not seem to take an interest in the island, apart from the financial aspect. Three years later he sold it to the Reverend Done Bushnell as a holiday retreat and home for his mentally handicapped son.
Reverend Bushell saw to the renovation of the Old Priory, St. Illtud’s and St. Davis’s churches on the island. It was in this time the he invited Benjamin Fearnley Carlyle to the island. Carlyle was an Anglican Benedictine monk. He was formally known as Dom Aelred. Rev Bushell invited Dom Aelred to establish a monastery on the island and once more the a group of monks were to make their home on Caldey.
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