Neither Mr. Hals nor Mr. Tonkin has noticed these islands.
It may be proper, therefore, to add a few observations on their
ancient history, of which however very little is known.
That the Phœnicians, and after them the merchants of Carthage, traded
with the Britons for tin, is established without the slightest doubt;
but no possible absurdity can be greater than the supposition that
voyagers, having sailed through the Mediterranean Sea, and passed
between the Pillars of Hercules into the exterior ocean, and navigated
through this boundless and dreaded expanse of water for about a
thousand miles, should then stop short at trifling islands, or rather
rocks, and that too year after year during centuries, with the country
before them, actually in sight, from whence the valuable commodity
which they sought must have been manifestly taken, and where they
would have been sure of an improved market for the commercial articles
to be given in exchange. Yet, relying on the literal interpretation of
passages from ancient authors, who never visited the land of tin, nor
possibly ever conversed with the adventurous sailors who had been
there, persons of account have gravely asserted that the rocks of
Scilly were the ancient Cassiterides; while others, to render this
strange supposition somewhat less absurd, have glossed it with the
miracle, probably invented by Florence of Worcester, of a large tract
of country between these existing islands and the Land’s End, having
been engulphed within times of recent memory.
Perhaps this mode of induction, directly opposed to common sense and
to experience, may be a remnant of the hallucination which bound
itself round men’s minds at the period when the stores of ancient
learning were first poured on modern Europe; under this delusion they
were not contented with ascribing a high degree of merit to the
artists, to the writers, to the architects of Greece and Rome; nothing
short of absolute perfection was believed to exist in each, and this
servile appeal to authority is not even yet quite obsolete, although
the time for such delusions being in the slightest degree advantageous
either to literature or to science, has long since passed by.
The traders who frequented these remote shores would naturally mistake
land in the great unbounded ocean for mere islands, and their vague
descriptions, purposely made obscure, proved so successful that Julius
Cæsar was not aware when he landed on the coast of Kent that he was
arrived in the country producing tin.
The rocks of Scilly, having inhabitants, were visited by monks and
anchorites, who formed establishments there, and gradually associated
themselves into a small priory; but, so early as the time of King
Henry the First, their monastery, with all its appendages, was given
to the Abbey of Tavistock. The grant is extant.
“Henricus Rex Anglorum Willelmo Episcopo Excestriæ et
Ricardo filio Baldwini, et Justiciæ suæ de Devenesira et
Cornegallia, salutem. Sciatis me dedisse in perpetuam
elemosinam Osberto Abbati et Ecclesiæ de Tavystok, et
Turoldo Monacho suo, omnes Ecclesias de Sullye cum
pertinentiis suis, et terram sicut unquam Monachi aut
Heremitæ melius eam tenuerunt tempore Regis Edwardi, et
Burgaldi Episcopi Cornegalliæ. Et volo et præcipio quod ipse
Turoldus et omnes Monachi de Sully sicut proprii Præbendarii
mei habeant firmam pacem cum omnibus quæ ad eas pertinent,”
&c.
There is also a confirmation by Reginald de Dunstanville, illegitimate
son of King Henry the First, who was created Earl of Cornwall in 1140,
and died without male issue in 1175.
“Reginaldus Regis Filius Comes Cornubiæ, omnibus Baronibus suis
et Ballivis suis Cornubiæ et Scilly, salutem. Sciatis me, pro
anima Henrici Regis patris mei, et mea, et pro Carta ipsius quam
vidi, concessisse et confirmasse in liberam et perpetuam
elemosinam Monachis de Sully, sicut propriis Præbendariis Patris
mei, omne WREC quod in Insulis, quas ipsi totas tenent,
advenerit; præter cœtum et navem integram, hoc est, in Rentemen
et Nurcho et insula Sancti Elidii et Sancti Sampsonis, et Sanctæ
Teonæ. Et prohibeo super forisfactum meum, sicut prohibuit pater
meus per cartam suam, ne quis eis aliquam injuriam faciat aut
molestiam. Quoniam nolo ut de aliquo tenemento suo in Scilly aut
libertate aut consuetudine, quam eis concessi, alicui amodo
intendant nisi michi[24] et Abbati Tavistochiæ.
“Teste Radulpho de Bosco-Roardi apud Dorecestriam.”
There is also another document, entitled,
“Confirmatio B. Episcopi Exoniæ de Decimis de Sully.”――It is probable
that the person indicated by B, was Bartholomew Iscan, consecrated in
1161, and died in 1184.
“Omnibus fidelibus ad quos præsens scriptura pervenerit, B.
divina miseratione dictus Episcopus Exoniæ salutem in Domino.
Noverit universitas vestra me vidisse et legisse cartam Ricardi
de Wicha, in qua confitetur se concessisse, et in liberam et
perpetuam elemosinam dedisse omnes decimas suas de Sully (et
nominatim de cuniculis, quas injuste aliquandiu detinuerat, eo
quod de rebus hujusmodi decimas dandas esse non putavit,) Abbati
et Conventui Tavistochiæ, et Fratribus Monasterii Beati
Confessoris Nicholai de Sully, pro salute animæ suæ, et parentum
suorum, necnon et Reginaldi quondam Comitis Cornubiæ Domini sui;
et hanc donationem super altare Beati Rumoni Tavistochiæ per
Librum Evangeliorum manu propria obtulisse in præsentia B.
Abbatis et conventus ejusdem loci et multorum aliorum.
“Quoniam autem tam Monasterium Tavistochiæ, quam tota terra
prædicti Ricardi de Sully ad meam pertinet Diocesim, ego sicut
Episcopus diocesanus prænotatam ipsius Ricardi donationem,
auctoritate episcopali, præsenti scripto, et sigilli mei, sicut
eam quam gratam et ratam habeo, appositione confirmo.
“Hiis testibus, B. Archidiacono Cornubiensi, &c.”
There is also a letter of protection from King Edward the First for
the prior of St. Nicholas, within his island de Scilly. This letter is
addressed among others, to the constable of his camp in the island of
Enmour in Scilly.
Enmour may well be a corruption of Ennis Moor, the great island,
possibly the secular name of St. Mary’s.
In the time of Edward the Third, this priory or cell to Tavistock must
have been of very little importance, since in the 19th year of his
reign, it appears by the following entry in the Abbreviatio Rotulorum
Originalium, that two monks only were resident. Since, for some reason
which it is difficult to discover, secular priests were to be
stationed in Scilly during the continuance of a war with France,
instead of the monks, which gave rise to the following agreement:
“Abbas et Conventus de Tavistok finem fecerunt cum Rege per
viginti solidos, pro licentia habenda, quod ipsi duos capellanos
sæculares pro animabus progenitorum Regis, quondam Regum Angliæ,
et hæredum suorum, in Insula de Sulley celebraturos, loco duorum
Capellanorum commonachorum suorum, quos ibidem ex causa prædicta
invenire solebant, durante guerra inter Regem et homines de
Francia mota, invenire possint.”
Since the Reformation the tithes have been appropriated, and passed
with the different leases of the lands. Remains of the convent, most
properly dedicated to St. Nicholas, are still to be seen on the island
of Trescow. St. Nicholas was the patron of mariners, and frequently
preserved vessels in a miraculous manner when his aid had been
fervently invoked; perhaps the right of wreck was given to the convent
for the pupose of attaching an increased degree of merit to their
prayers in favour of ships likely to be dashed against those rocks.
St. Nicholas had also delegated to him from Heaven the peculiar care
of infants, as a reward for his early piety, which induced him, in the
first month, to abstain from taking the nourishment afforded by his
mother’s breast on Wednesdays and Fridays, and on all occasional fasts
appointed by the church.
He was Archbishop of Myra, a city of Lycia, in Lesser Asia, where he
died in 342; but in 1087 his relics were forcibly taken from thence,
and conveyed to the town of Bavi in Italy, towards the opening of the
Adriatic, and where they continue to perform the most wonderful cures,
more especially in all cases of infants.
The Scilly Islands first became objects of public attention in the
great civil war, and especially towards the latter part of these
struggles. After the death of King Charles the First, Sir John
Grenville, subsequently created Earl of Bath in memory of the battle
at Lansdown, where his father fell in the arms of victory, having
collected a small force, kept possession of St. Mary’s island, where
they either constructed or enlarged lines, rather than a fortress,
which still remain. Their opponents encamped themselves on Trescow,
till at last, as relief was clearly impossible, the cavaliers
surrendered, but not till they had evinced their honour and true
feelings as gentlemen, by refusing to accept any terms from a foreign
power, and preserving the integrity of England, although it was in the
hands of their deadly foes.
Unfortunately for these islands, they remain public property, or as it
is termed, belong to the Crown; and a system has prevailed, at least
from the time of Queen Elizabeth, one of the very worst that could be
devised, of granting them at an annual rent, and for a short term of
years, to private gentlemen; renewed, indeed, in the same line for
more than two hundred years, first to the family of Godolphin, and
then to the family of Osborne, which succeeded to the property of the
former, but always with an uncertain tenure and the impossibility of
encouraging others to expend capital on any permanent undertaking.
A better system has, however, been at last adopted, although very
inferior to the plain, simple, and natural one of making the land
freeholds in the hands of individuals.
Either the former lessee for years no longer wished to retain a source
of small patronage, rendered of little importance by well-known
changes, or the government resolved on doing something beneficial for
the inhabitants and for the country; at all events, a lease for lives
has now been granted to Mr. Smith, a gentleman of ability and
information, the eldest son of a respectable country gentleman, under
certain conditions, and among them a stipulation for essentially
improving the harbour by the construction of a pier, the government
contributing a certain sum towards the expense, and the lessee
undertaking to complete the work. Mr. Smith, it is understood, means
to reside there; and great expectations are entertained of the benefit
likely to result.
Such a cluster of rocks, from eight to nine leagues west-south-west
off the main land, must always be dangerous to ships returning from
distant voyages; but the risk has been very greatly diminished by the
excellent light on St. Agnes. There is, however, one rock called the
Wolf, somewhat more than a third of the distance of Scilly from the
Land’s End, on which a light-house might be erected; and the losses of
lives and of property on this rock, which lies immediately in the way
of all coasting vessels, more especially of those from Ireland, are
supposed by many competent judges to exceed the losses occasioned by
all the other western rocks taken together.
Before lights were placed on the coast, and the soundings laid down
with accuracy, and the nature of the ground described, and before
astronomical observations were brought to practical perfection, the
wrecks were, perhaps, quadruple to what they are at present, and with
not one fourth of the vessels at sea: among the innumerable wrecks
that have taken place at Scilly, the most remarkable is that of the
Victory, a first-rate ship of war, commanded by Sir Cloudesley Shovel,
returning from a series of exploits, which continued adding to his
reputation even when they failed of obtaining success. This ship, with
two others of a smaller size, struck on the rocks of Scilly in the
night following the 22d of October 1705, when between fifteen hundred
and two thousand men are supposed to have perished; and there is a
tradition of one man having escaped, and of his relating some
anecdotes of obstinacy, and even of violence, on the part of the
Admiral, discreditable to him as a man, and the immediate causes of
the calamity; but these additions induce me entirely to disbelieve the
whole tale.
The Scilly Islands are composed of granite, similar to that of the
Land’s End district, and intersected by small lodes of tin, but not of
a size sufficiently large to have produced at any period a quantity
worthy of mercantile account.
The land does not rise into lofty hills, nor are the rocks on a scale
of magnificence; and the people have been so much absorbed in trade
and in intercourse with strangers from all nations, that they are
without any legendary histories or peculiarity of manners.
Although St. Mary’s, Trescow, and St. Agnes’, St. Martin’s, Bryher,
and Sampson, have alone permanent inhabitants, yet a great many more
islands are dignified with specific names. Among these one rock is
honoured with the appellation of Scilly; and this trifling
circumstance has given rise to theories about changes and devastations
by the sea, by earthquakes, &c. when the name has clearly been given
in the same spirit as that which induced seamen to declare that the
cord attached to the water bucket is the only rope belonging to a ship.
Alterations in the laws respecting Customs and Excise, with increased
vigilance as well as greater activity, both at sea and on shore, have
materially interfered with the most lucrative trade of these
islanders. They are, however, tolerably well supported by their
agriculture, which is said to afford more corn than they consume; by
their fisheries, particularly of ling, which are exported after being
pressed and dried almost without salt; and finally, by the resort of
ships in great numbers when the wind happens to be in opposition to
their intended voyages.
Doctor Borlase has written a separate treatise on the Scilly Islands,
and described in it the scanty remains of their supposed Druidical
antiquities.
At the time of the last census (in 1831) the population was as
ascertained to be
Statute Acres.
St. Mary’s 1311 said to measure 1640
Trescow 470 880
St. Agnes’ 289 390
St. Martin’s 230 720
Bryher 128 330
Sampson 37 120
―――― ――――
2465 4080
The small islands are estimated at 150
――――
4230
A recent benefit has been given to Scilly by the legislature, in
respect to their police and to the administration of justice. The sole
authority previously existing in the islands resided in a court
possessing very limited power, and that undefined, so that no case of
any magnitude could be acted on in any other way than by sending the
parties over to the main land; an Act of Parliament has now enabled
the executive government to appoint magistrates who may act in Scilly,
without qualification by the possession of freehold property, in as
ample a manner as other justices of the peace may act for the county
at large.
* * * * *
St. Agnes Light House. Lat. 50° 18′ 27″. Long. 6° 19′ 23″. In time
25m. 8s. W.
Time of high water at the New and Full Moon, 10 minutes after 4.
[24] Michi for Mihi, Ducange.――Ed.