Scilly Islands

SCILLY ISLANDS. These islands, which are 17 in number, besides 22 smaller islets and numerous naked rocks, form a cluster lying off the south-west coast, and annexed to the Western division of the county of Cornwall, about 17 leagues due west from the Lizard Point, and 10 nearly west-by-south from the Land's End. By the Greeks they were called Hesperides and Cassiterides; by the Romans, Sellinæ and Siluræ Insulæ. Their present name, anciently written Sully or Sulley, appears to be British, and they are said to take it from a small island, containing only one acre, which is called Scilly. Except what relates to their trading intercourse with the Phnicians and the Romans, and the circumstance of their having been occasionally appropriated by the latter as a place of banishment for state criminals, the first mention we find of them in history is in the tenth century, when they were subdued by King Athelstan. From this period there is no record of any remarkable historical event, until the reign of Charles I., when the islands became of considerable importance as a military post, and formed one of the last rallying points for the royalists. In 1645, they afforded a temporary asylum to Prince Charles and his friends, Lords Hopton and Capel; and in 1649, Sir John Grenville being governor of the Scilly Islands, fortified and held them for Charles II. The parliament finding their trading vessels much annoyed by Sir John's frigates, fitted out an expedition for the reduction of the islands, under the command of Admiral Blake and Sir George Ascue; and they were delivered up to the parliament in the beginning of June of the same year.

The total surface of the islands is about 4700 acres, and the number of inhabitants 2582. The extent of St. Mary's Island, the largest, including the garrison, which is joined to it by an isthmus, is 1640 acres, and the population amounts to 1545. Its principal village, called Hugh or Heugh Town, was much damaged by inundation during the great storm in 1744; the pier was finished in 1750, at the expense of Lord Godolphin, and vessels of 150 tons' burthen may ride here in safety. Near this place are the ruins of an old fortress, with a mount and the remains of several block-houses and batteries, supposed to have been constructed in the civil war. Two furlongs eastward is a bay called Pomellin or Porthmellin, where a fine white sand, composed of crystals and talc, much esteemed as a writing sand and for other purposes, is procured in abundance. About a mile from Hugh-town is Church-town, consisting of a few houses and the church. In the chancel of the church are interred Sir John Narborough, Bart., son of the celebrated Admiral Narborough; Henry Trelawney, son of a bishop of Winchester; and Captain Edmund Loades, of the Association man-of-war; all of whom shared the fate of Rear-Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovel, who was lost on the Gilston rock, October 22nd, 1707. A quarter of a mile further, bordering on the sea, is Old-town, formerly the most important place of the island. On a promontory called the Giant's Castle, are traces of a fortress, thought to be of remote origin. On the west side of the island are St. Mary's garrison, with the barracks and several batteries, and Star Castle, the latter built by Sir Francis Godolphin, in 1593.

The island next in magnitude is Trescoe, anciently called Iniscaw, and St. Nicholas, which contains 430 inhabitants, and comprises 880 acres. In it are some remains of the conventual church of St. Nicholas, the ruins of Old-castle, and Oliver's Battery. Old-castle, which appears to have been built in or about the reign of Henry VIII., is spoken of by Leland as "a little pile, or fortress;" but seems to have been afterwards enlarged, as its ruins show it to have been a considerable building. Oliver's Castle, as it is called, from its having been built by the parliamentarians, was repaired in 1740; but is described by Borlase, in 1756, as being then already much decayed. St. Martins Island, though next in size to St. Mary's and Trescoe, containing 214 inhabitants, and comprising 720 acres, was uninhabited until the reign of Charles II.: in 1683 Mr. Ekins built a tower on it as a landmark, 20 feet high, surmounted with a spire of the same height. On St. Agnes' Island, which has 243 inhabitants, is a lighthouse. Bryer, or Brehar, contains 121 persons, and consists of 330 acres; Sampson has a population of 29.

The principal employment and trade of the islanders consist in fishing and in making kelp: the quantity of kelp anually made varies from 100 to 200 tons. The number of vessels of above 50 tons' burthen, registered at the port, is 37, and the aggregate tonnage 3751; about 100 boats are used for fishing, piloting, &c. Tin is found in several of the islands, and in some lead and copper; but no mines are now worked. Barley, peas, and oats, with a small portion of wheat, are produced: a few acres are sown with the pillas, or naked oat; and potatoes are cultivated in great quantities in St. Mary's. Cattle are fed on most of the isles, and though not very numerous, are sometimes sold to masters of vessels. Samphire, for pickling, is collected in abundance in the isle of Trescoe. The tamarisk and lavatera arborea grow plentifully in that of St. Mary.

The property and temporal jurisdiction of the islands were anciently attached to the earldom, as they now are to the duchy, of Cornwall, excepting those of St. Nicholas (now Trescoe), St. Sampson, St. Elid, St. Teon, and Nullo, and some lands in other islands, which were given, in or before the reign of Edward the Confessor, to certain monks or hermits in St. Nicholas, and were subsequently granted by Henry I. to the abbot of Tavistock. The present lessee of the whole is the Duke of Leeds, representative of the Godolphin family, to whom they appear to have been first leased in the 13th of Elizabeth. The lord proprietor appoints a court, or council of twelve, consisting of some of the principal inhabitants, which generally sits monthly, for the trial of plaints, suits, &c, between the islanders, excepting such causes as affect life and limb, and such as are cognizable by the court of admiralty. The islands are under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Bishop of Exeter, and form part of the archdeaconry of Cornwall. In early times the abbot of Tavistock held the tithes of the whole, and certain lands, by the title of finding two monks to reside here, and to provide for the spiritual wants of the inhabitants; but since the Reformation the tithes have been vested in the lord proprietor, who is patron of the donative, and pays the minister an optional salary. Until of late years the minister of St. Mary's was the only clergyman, officiating constantly at St. Mary's, at Trescoe on the Sunday after Easter, and at St. Martin's on Trinity-Sunday. There are chapels at Trescoe, St. Martin's, St. Agnes', Bryer, and St. Sampson's, for the most part built by the Godolphin family. The Wesleyans have four places of worship. On St. Helen's Island, now uninhabited, are the ruins of houses, and of an ancient chapel.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.