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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SAR-SCY |
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SCILLY ISLES , a group of small islands, belonging to Cornwall
Cornwall
Cassiterides " or " Tin Islands " of Herodotus is abandoned, and the origin oftheir name has never been authoritatively settled. The islands are wild and picturesque, with sheer cliffs and many large caves hollowed out by the Atlantic. Owing to the reefs and shoals by which these shores are surrounded, navigation becomes perilous in rough weather, and many disasters have occurred. In 1707 Sir Cloudesley Shovel perished in the shipwreck of his flagship and two other men-of-war, while two fireships of his squadron were driven aground, and the remainder only narrowly escaped. The graveyard of an old Puritan church on St Mary's contains the bodies of 311 persons, drowned in the wreck of the " Schiller " in 1875; and a local proverb tells that for every man who dies a natural death on the islands the sea takes nine. Much, how-ever, has been done to minimise the danger, especially by lighting the coast. On St Agnes there is a lighthouse, and on an outlying rock to the south-west is the lonely Bishop Light, constructed with infinite difficulty in 1858, and rebuilt thirty years later.The islands are composed wholly of graniteoutliers of the granite highlands of Cornwall. Most of the granite is coarse and porphyritic, but towards the centre of the original
porphyry are found in the granite. On the north-east end of White Island a fragment of the altered killas, which once covered the whole area, is still visible. A gravel deposit with chalk flints and Greensand cherts which caps some of the higher ground on St Mary's may possibly be of Eocene age. Raised beach, blown sand, fragmental granitic waste or " head" and an iron-cemented glacial deposit are found resting upon the granite.The climate of the islands is unusually mild, snow being rarely seen, and the temperature varying from about 46 F. in winter to 58 in summer. As a result, vegetation is luxuriant; fuchsias, geraniums and myrtles attain an immense size, and aloes, cactus and prickly pear flourish in the open. All these, together with palms, may be seen in the gardens of the governor on Tresco Island, which are quite subtropical in character, and, therefore, unique in the British Isles. Great flocks of sea-birds haunt the remoter parts, and on some of the islands there are deer. On Tean there is a warren of white rabbits; and some of the rarer land-birds occasionally visit the islands, such as the golden oriole, which has been known to breed here. The islands are served by steamers from Penzance, and telephone and telegraph communication is established with the mainland. The raising of early asparagus and other spring vegetables, and of flowers
spring the fields of narcissus and other flowers
The islands which may be distinguished from mere rocks number about 40, and the group has a total area of 4041 acres; but only five islands are inhabitedSt Mary's, Tresco, St Martin's, St Agnes and Bryher. The total population in 1901 was 2092. Hugh Town in St Mary's is the capital , occupying a sandy peninsula crowned by the height known as the Garrison, with Star Castle, dating from the days of Elizabeth. The town possesses a harbour, which is used by the Penzance steamers, and a roadstead where large vessels can lie at anchor. The government of the islands is vested in a county council created in 1890, consisting of a chairman, vice-chairman, 4 aldermen, and 18 councillors. For parliamentary purposes the isles are included in the St Ives division of Cornwall.On Tresco there are the ruins of an abbey, and of two fortifications called Oliver Cromwell's Tower and King Charles's Tower; and here also is a church built in 1882 and dedicated to St Nicholas. Numerous rude pillars and circles of stones, resembling those of Cornwall, are to be noticed; and barrows are common, the most remarkable of these prehistoric remains being a barrow on the Isle of Samson, 58 ft. in girth, and containing. amongst other relics, the only perfect " kistvaen," or sepulchral chamber of stone, which has been disinterred from any Cornish tomb. Although the Scilly Isles have been regarded as the remains of Lyonesse, as identical with the Cassiterides , and as the object of an expedition and of conquest on the part of Athelstan in pursuance of a vow made at the shrine of St Burian, it is not until the reign of Henry I. that we have indisputable evidence concerning them. The king gave all the churches of Scilly and the land, as the hermits held it in the days of the Confessor, to the abbot and church of Tavistock. A confirmation of this grant and a further grant to the monks of all wrecks except whole ships and whales was made by Reginald, earl
Jersey
Augustus
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