Ros Veur | |
---|---|
Geography | |
Coordinates | 49°52′N6°24′W / 49.87°N 6.40°W |
OS grid reference | SV839059 |
Archipelago | Isles of Scilly |
Administration | |
United Kingdom | |
Civil parish | St Agnes |
Demographics | |
Population | 0 |
Rosevear (Cornish : Ros Veur "great promontory") [1] is the largest (0.63 hectares (1.6 acres)) of the group of rocks known as the Western Rocks, Isles of Scilly. The islands are on eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean on the south-west approaches to the island of Great Britain and are renowned for the numerous shipwrecks in the area and the nearby Bishop Rock lighthouse. All the uninhabited islands are owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and are managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, which looks after the archaeological and historical remains on the islands, as well as the flora and fauna. Landing is not allowed on the island. [2] [3]
Rosevear is the largest of the Western Rocks and has a relatively flat top to 5 metres (16 ft). The island is situated within a 3-kilometre-long (1.9 mi) group of rocks which stretches from the Round Rock of Crebawethan in the north to Pednathise Head in the south.
The island was used as a base camp, during 1709 and 1710, for the Herbert salvage expedition, which worked the wrecks of the Association and the other naval vessels in 1707. [4]
The ghost of opera singer and actress Ann Cargill, who died when the British East India Company packet ship Nancy sank near Rosevear on 24 February 1784, is said to haunt the island. Her body, still clutching her 18-month-old son, was originally buried on Rosevear, although she was later moved to Old Town Church on St Mary's, along with her child and Halden, the captain. [5] [6] In the 1840s and 1850s the island was again inhabited by workmen, this time building the Bishop Rock lighthouse. It was said that they heard mysterious music and were troubled by ghosts. [5]
Following a decision to build a lighthouse on the Bishop Rock in April 1847, Trinity House decided to make Rosevear the base because it was the nearest island (3.2 km) with a relatively flat area. The island was used as a base from 1847 to 1850, for the unsuccessful first attempt and for the successful construction from 1851 to 1858. Four main elements of the base remain. Two buildings, one a workers' lodge and mess and the other a workshop, are to the north-west of the complex, a slab-built platform by the east coast and a smiths hearth between the lodgings and workshop. Another building can be seen further south on the east coast. The surviving walls are from 0.4 m to 0.7 m high, with the best preserved are up to 3.0 m. [7] The remains were designated as a scheduled monument in 1997. [8]
A ship's funnel lies amongst the rocks of Rosevear; this comes from the Cité de Verdun, which was wrecked on Rosevear in 1925. [9]
Landing on the uninhabited islands is both difficult and discouraged, and there are few published records of visits by naturalists. [10] In 1971, the rocks and islands were designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for their breeding sea birds. [11] A visit by Geoffrey Grigson, in or around 1947, found a few Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), scores of razorbill (Alca torda), European shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) and great black-backed gull (Larus marinus). A heavy fall of migrants was seen on a visit by Rosemary Parslow in October 1990 with dozens of European robin ( Erithacus rubecula ) and goldcrest ( Regulus regulus ), and several yellow–browed warbler ( Phylloscopus inornatus ); all feeding amongst the vegetation. The island has replaced Melledgan as the site of the third largest colony of European storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) in England with fifty-seven occupied sites recorded during the Seabird 2000 survey, increasing to 129 occupied sites in the repeat survey in 2006. The colony of shag on Rosevear and the rest of the Western Rocks is of national importance. [10] [11]
During storms the sea can wash over the island, and there is a shingle community of plants with tree mallow (Lavatera arborea), sea curled dock ( Rumex crispus littoreus ) and Atriplex sp. The only other species recorded are sea beet ( Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima ), common scurvygrass (Cochlearia officinalis), orache sp, and rock sea-spurry (Spergularia rupicola). [12]
The Bishop Rock is a skerry off the British coast in the northern Atlantic Ocean known for its lighthouse. It is in the westernmost part of the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago 45 kilometres off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The Guinness Book of Records lists it as the world's smallest island with a building on it.
St Agnes is the southernmost populated island of the Isles of Scilly. Thus the island's Troy Town Farm is the southernmost settlement in the United Kingdom.
Bryher is one of the smallest inhabited islands of the Isles of Scilly, with a population of 177 in 2021, spread across 134 hectares (1.34 km2). Bryher exhibits a procession of prominent hills connected by low-lying necks and sandy bars. Landmarks include Hell Bay, famous for shipwrecks in the 18th and 19th centuries, Shipman Head, which was fortified in the Iron Age and where the tumbled ramparts of an Iron Age castle remain, and All Saints' Church, originally constructed in 1742. The island has two quays, Church Quay and Bar Quay.
Annet is the second-largest of the fifty or so uninhabited Isles of Scilly, one kilometre west of St Agnes with a length of one kilometre and approximately 22 hectares in area. The low-lying island is almost divided in two by a narrow neck of land at West Porth which can, at times, be covered by waves. At the northern end of the island are the two granite carns of Annet Head and Carn Irish and three smaller carns known as the Haycocks. The rocky outcrops on the southern side of the island, such as South Carn, are smaller. Annet is a bird sanctuary and the main seabird breeding site in Scilly.
Round Island Lighthouse, in the Isles of Scilly was designed by William Tregarthen Douglass for Trinity House and completed in 1887. At the time of building it was one of three lights in the Isles of Scilly, the others being the Bishop Rock and St Agnes lighthouse. The light was modernised in 1966, automated in 1987 and the island designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1995. It is now managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, and except for the maintenance of the Grade II listed lighthouse, landing is not allowed.
Crim Rocks is a small group of uninhabited islands in the Isles of Scilly, England, United Kingdom.
Gugh could be described as the sixth inhabited island of the Isles of Scilly, but is usually included with St Agnes with which it is joined by a sandy tombolo known as "The Bar" when exposed at low tide. The island is only about 1 km (0.62 mi) long and about 0.5 km (0.31 mi) wide, with the highest point, Kittern Hill at 34 m (112 ft). The geology consists of Hercynian granite with shallow podzolic soils on the higher ground and deeper sandy soils on the lower ground. The former Gugh farm is just north of the neck across the middle of the island between the two hills. The two houses were designed and built in the 1920s by Charles Hamlet Cooper.
The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, formed in 1985, is a Wildlife Trust covering the Isles of Scilly, a group of islands off the coast of Cornwall. It became the 46th member of The Wildlife Trusts in 2001 and is dedicated to ensuring that the archaeological and historical remains on the islands, as well as the flora and fauna, are protected and maintained. Since September 2021, the Chief Executive of the trust has been Julian Branscombe.
Tresco Abbey Gardens are located on the island of Tresco in the Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom. The 17 acre gardens were established by the nineteenth-century proprietor of the islands, Augustus Smith, originally as a private garden within the grounds of the home he designed and built. The gardens are designated at Grade I in the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
St Helen's is one of the fifty or so uninhabited islands in the archipelago of the Isles of Scilly and has an approximate area of 0.1885 square kilometres. On the south side of the island is one of the earliest Christian sites in Scilly, an early medieval religious complex, which is thought to be the remains of St Elidius Hermitage, an 8th-century chapel lived in by Saint Lide,. There are also the remains of an isolation hospital used to quarantine sailors with plague. The island is the major part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest and some features have been given the designation of scheduled ancient monument. Access to the island is through chartered or private boat, although there are some season trips throughout the summer. St Helen's is currently managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust.
Teän is an uninhabited island to the north of the Isles of Scilly archipelago between Tresco, 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) to the west, and St Martin's, 300 metres (330 yd) to the east. Approximately 16 hectares in area, the island consists of a series of granite tors with the highest point, Great Hill, rising to 40 metres (130 ft) at its eastern end. The low-lying land is overlain with glacial till and outwash gravels with glacial erratics abundant on the north coast beaches, which indicates the southern limit of outwash from an ice sheet for which it is designated a Geological Conservation Review site.
White Island is one of the larger unpopulated islands of the Isles of Scilly, part of the United Kingdom, and lies off the coast of the northernmost populated island of the group, St Martin's, to which it is joined by a tidal causeway, or isthmus. The island is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Geological Conservation Review site and is managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust on behalf of the Duchy of Cornwall.
The Western Rocks are a group of uninhabited skerries and rocks in the south–western part of the Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom, and are renowned for the numerous shipwrecks in the area and the nearby Bishop Rock lighthouse. In 1971, the rocks and islands were designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for their breeding sea birds. Landing on the islands is both difficult and discouraged and there are few published records of visits by naturalists.
Wingletang Down is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the southern side of the island of St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly, England, UK, which is noted for its biological characteristics. The site is managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust and is within the Isles of Scilly Heritage Coast and the Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is the only site in Great Britain and Ireland for the small fern, least adder's–tongue. As of 11 September 2009 the SSSI was considered to be in ″unconditional recovering″ condition because European gorse and bramble are at unacceptable levels.
The Eastern Isles are a group of twelve small uninhabited islands within the Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, part of the Scilly Heritage Coast and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) first designated in 1971 for its flora and fauna. They have a long period of occupation from the Bronze Age with cairns and entrance graves through to Iron Age field systems and a Roman shrine on Nornour. Before the 19th century, the islands were known by their Cornish name, which had also become the name of the largest island in the group after the submergence of the connecting lands.
The Norrard (Northern) Rocks are a group of small uninhabited granite rocks in the north–western part of the Isles of Scilly, to the west of Bryher and Samson. In 1971 they were designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for their breeding seabird colonies and they are permanently closed to landings from boat passengers. The vegetation on the islands is limited by the extreme exposure and only six species of flowering plants have been recorded.
Peninnis Head is the southernmost point of St Mary's, Isles of Scilly. The headland is within the Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and part of the Heritage Coast. It is also a Geological Conservation Review site for its Quaternary geomorphology and was first designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1971 for both its biological and geological interests. On the tip of the headland is a squat lighthouse built in 1911 by Trinity House as a replacement for the 17th century lighthouse on St Agnes.
The Lower Moors is a wetland between Hugh Town and Old Town Bay on St Mary's, the largest island in the Isles of Scilly. The Isles of Scilly are an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain.