Lundy

This article refers to the island of Lundy, which is part of England. For other uses of the word Lundy, see Lundy (disambiguation).

The Old Light, Lundy

Lundy is an island in the Bristol Channel of Great Britain, administered as part of Torridge district of the English county of Devon. It lies about a third of the way from the coast of Devon to that of South Wales. It is about 4.5 km long from north to south by 1 km wide, yielding an area of 4.24 km², and is the largest island in the Bristol Channel. Its coordinates are 51.18°N, 4.67°W. Lundy gives its name to one of the British Sea Areas and is England's only statutory Marine Nature Reserve. It has a resident population of 18 people (2006 estimate), almost all of whom live and work in the village on the south of the island.

In a 2005 opinion poll of Radio Times readers, Lundy was named as the 10th greatest natural wonder in Britain. It has increasingly become a popular tourist destination. Day-tripping is most popular, although tourists can spend several nights on the island in holiday cottages, almost all at the south end of the island.

History and ownership

Lundy has evidence of visitation or occupation from the Neolithic period onward, with mesolithic flintwork, bronze age burial mounds, inscribed Celtic gravestones, and an early medieval monastery (possibly dedicated to St Elen or St Helen).

Map of Lundy with inset maps of Great Britain and Bristol Channel

Evidence that the Knights Templar were given the island of Lundy is sparse but clearly documented.

Exactly when the Templars were first given the island is uncertain but it would seem that as they were a major maritime force in the reign of Henry II (1154-1189), he gave them Lundy as an English port of refuge. Whether they actually took possession of the island then is questionable, though the Order did have economic interests in north Devon and may well have been given the island as an alternative to the Taw river landings leading to Barnstaple. It has been speculated that one of the reasons for the king's generosity was that the Norsemen were troubling Scotland and may have posed a threat to more southern waters.

It is known that William de Marisco was fined circa 1195 for retaining the island of Lundy against the wishes of King Henry and against the rights of the Knights Templar.

In 1235, William de Marisco, implicated in the plot to murder Henry II, fled to the island where he lived as a virtual king. He fortified the only real landing place on its coastline and defended it against all comers other than pirates and outlaws who flocked there for his protection. He built Marisco Castle with nine-foot (2.74 m) thick walls that safeguarded him and his 'subjects' for seventeen years. Eventually he and sixteen of his close followers were captured and tried. Lundy was seized by the Royal forces and Marisco was hanged, drawn and quartered.

There followed a period of relative anarchy on the island with English and foreign pirates and privateers (including more members of the Marisco family) taking control of the island for short periods, causing shipping traffic to avoid the Bristol Channel whenever possible.

Further evidence of the Templars' weak hold on the island comes ten years after the death of Henry II in the year of the death of King Richard I, Henry's eldest son, who had succeeded him.

King John, Richard's youngest brother, began his reign in 1199, ignoring the claims of his young nephew, Prince Arthur. In an effort to ensure the Templars' rights on Lundy, John confirmed the earlier grant made by King Henry (II?) in the following form:

Carts Regis Johannis de Insula Londeue. - Johannis Dei gratia, &c. Sciatis nos Concessise et presenti Carta nostra confirmasse in liberam et perpetuam elemosinam pro salute nostra et anteces-sorum et successorum nostrorum. Deo et fratribus militiae templi Jerusalem Insulam de Lnndeia qu~ sita est in man in ore Sabrini fluminis inter Tinbeth et Bardestapulam, quare volumus et firmiter pr~ci-pimus quod pnefati fratres Templi eandem Insulam habeant et teneant totam in liberam et perpetuam elemosinam bene et in pace libere et quiete integre et plenarie et honorifice cum omnibus libertatibus et liberis consuetudinibus sicut Carta Henrici Regis patris nostri quam inde habent testatum Testi Waltero Rothomagensi. - Dat per manum H. Cant Archiepiscopi Cancellarii nostri apud Saqium Anno Regni nostri primo.

This has been (very freely) translated as:

"Deed concerning King John and the island of Lundy - I John by the Grace of God &c you may know we confer and present by our confirmation by these presents our confirmation in perpetuity to God and to the brothers of the military service of the temple of Jerusalem, the island of Lundy … off the mouth of the river between Tinbeth and Barnstaple in what way how and by which means we wish and confirm to the Master of the brothers of the Temple that same island that they may have and hold completely and freely in continuous freedom and peace for free usage and with all liberties, habits, customs, usage and ways as of the late King Henry. Witness Walter Rothman Given by our hand of in the presence of Archbishop of Canterbury in year one of our reign."

At this time, John also recompensated the Templars for the past lack of income from Lundy by granting them the revenues of the Marisco family in Somerset. It is uncertain whether the Templars used the island at all, because in 1213 the English treasury paid the Order £10 in respect of the island. Whether this was recompense for not being able to use it or a fee agreed for the Templars to nominally hold it in the name of the Order is unclear.
What is certain is that by the time of King Henry III, the son of King John (ruled 1216–1272) they were given 100 shillings by the king in lieu of and in full recompense for the island. The Order's connection with Lundy seems to have been severed at this time.

Thomas Bushell was a friend of Francis Bacon, a strong supporter of the Royalist cause during the Civil War and an expert on mining and coining. It has even been argued that during his stay on Lundy he produced coinage for King Charles I, however definitive proof has not been found and it remains speculation. He held Lundy for King Charles I and significantly this was the last part of the king's lands to capitulate to the victorious Parliamentary after a siege lasting a year. Richard Fiennes, representing General Fairfax received the surrender. Bushell had rebuilt Marisco Castle and garrisoned the island at his own expense (Boundy 1961).

The late 18th and early 19th centuries were years of lawlessness on Lundy, particularly during the ownership of Benson, an MP who notoriously used the island for housing convicts who he was supposed to be deporting. Piracy was rife during this period.

From the 1830s however, an air of respectability descended on Lundy. It was purchased in 1836 by William Hudson Heaven, younger brother of Cam Gyde Heaven, the son of an old Gloucestershire and Bristol family, as a summer retreat and for the shooting. Many of the buildings on the island today, including St. Helena's Church and Millcombe House (originally known simply as The Villa) date from the Heaven period.

The Villa, a well-proportioned house in the Georgian style, was built in the late 1830s. However, the expense of building the road from the beach (no financial assistance being provided by Trinity House, despite their regular use of the road following its construction), the Villa, and the general cost of running the island had a ruinous effect on the family's finances. Coupled with the collapse in the sugar market (much of William Heaven's income came from his sugar plantations in Jamaica), the family was obliged the make the island its principal home from the early 1840s.

William Heaven retained some property on the mainland in order to continue to qualify to vote. Known as 'The Squire' he defended Lundy's extra-terratorial privileges vigorously, and this defence included the insistence that his qualification to vote did not rest on his ownership of the Lundy property, but of mainland property. Not surprisingly the island became known as the 'Kingdom of Heaven'.

William Heaven was succeeded by his son the Rev'd Hudson Grosset Heaven who, thanks to a legacy from Sarah Langworthy (née Heaven) was able to fulfil his life's ambition of building a stone church on the island - St Helena's was completed in 1896, and stands today as a lasting memorial to the Heaven period. He is said to have able to afford a church or a new harbour. His choice of the church was not however in the best financial interests of the island. It came at a heavy price. Rather than using the money to re-establish the family's finances on a sound footing, and coupled with some disastrous investments and speculations in the early 20th century, the financial situation deteriorated seriously. Hudson Heaven died in 1916, and was succeeded by his nephew, Walter Charles Hudson Heaven. With the outbreak of the Great War, matters deteriorated seriously and, in 1918, the family was forced to sell the island, receiving less for it than the accumulated debts and mortgages. Bankruptcy ensued, and Walter emigrated to Australia, a broken man.

His sister, Marion Cecilia Harley Heaven married her cousin Dr John Cookesley Heaven. She and her daughter Eileen Heaven retained a close interest in the Island throughout their lives, Eileen dying in 1983.

Her cousin, Richard John Gyde Heaven, and his children and grandchildren have also continued to be regular visitors to the Island.

The Christie family owned the island for just a few years before selling it in 1924 to Martin Coles Harman.

The main residence was modelled on that of a Burmese Tea Plantation dwelling, with a partly convex roof to catch the rain as the water courses on the island are prone to contamintion due to the stock grazing on the island.

Martin Coles Harman bought the island of Lundy, the mail contract, as well as the MV Lerina, in October of 1924 after which he proclaimed himself a "king". Harman also issued two coins of Half Puffin and One Puffin value in 1929, nominally equivalent to the British Halfpenny & Penny. It was this coinage that landed him in trouble. The House of Lords, in 1931, found him in violation of the United Kingdom's 1870 Coinage Act. He was fined five pounds and fifteen guineas expenses. The "coins" were withdrawn and became collectors' items. In 1965 a 'fantasy' restrike four coin set, a few in gold, was issued to commemorate 40 years since Harman purchased the island. He died in 1954.

Residents did not pay taxes to the United Kingdom and had to pass through customs when they travelled to and from Lundy Island.

Following the death of Harmon's son in 1968, Lundy was sold in 1969 to the National Trust and leased to the Landmark Trust, which maintains properties on the island that are rented to tourists. The income is used to maintain the properties and the island.

Although the island was ruled as a virtual fiefdom, its owner never claimed to be independent of the United Kingdom, so this differed from later territorial "micronations".

The Lundy ferry "Oldenburg" sails into Ilfracombe harbour, north Devon, past inflatable Thundercat powerboats waiting to begin an offshore race

Transport to Lundy

Except in winter, there is a regular ferry service, from Bideford or Ilfracombe depending on the state of the tides, using the island's own ship, the MS Oldenburg. There is also a winter helicopter service.

Economy

Tourism and postage stamps are the main parts of Lundy's economy. The Marisco Tavern, which used to brew its own beer, is in Lundy village. Lundy is also used as a site for scientific research, and the south end of the island is operated as a farm. There are two working lighthouses on the island (and one historic disused one), so Trinity House staff also work on the island from time to time.

The harbour at Lundy

Lundy stamps

Owing to a decline in population and lack of interest in the mail contract, the GPO ended its presence at the end of 1927. For the next couple of years "King" Harman handled the mail to and from the Island without charge. On November 1, 1929 he decided to offset the expense by issuing a series of private postage stamps, with a value expressed in 'Puffins'. The printing of Puffin stamps continues to this day. They have to be put on the back of the envelope, and a conventional postage stamp put on the front to pay for onward delivery on the mainland in the normal way. Puffins are a type of stamp known to philatelists as a 'local carriage label'. The Lundy Pony breed has figured on several issues.

Various issues of increasing values were made over the years, including air mail. Many are now highly sought-after by collectors.

Wildlife

Birds

Lundy's name is derived from the Norse lunde for the puffins that nest on the island. However, the number has decreased dramatically in recent years (the 2005 breeding population is estimated to be only two or three pairs) as a consequence of depredations by black rats (recently eliminated) and possibly also as a result of commercial fishing for sand eels, the puffins' principal prey.

As a fairly isolated island on major migration routes, Lundy has a rich bird life and is a popular site for birding. The list of species breeding on the island is long, and the list of those that have been seen on the island much longer. Among the commonest or more visible breeding species are:
*Herring Gull
*Lesser Black-backed Gull
*Kittiwake
*Fulmar
*Shag
*Razorbill
*Guillemot
*Puffin
*Oystercatcher
*Skylark
*Meadow pipit
*Blackbird
*Robin
*Linnet

St. Helena's Church on Lundy Island

Mammals

Lundy is home to an unusual range of mammals, almost all introduced. They include:
*Grey Seal
*Sika Deer
*Soay Sheep
*feral goat
*Rabbit; there are an unusual number of melanistic rabbits
*Pygmy Shrew

There is also a distinct Lundy breed of wild pony, called the Lundy Pony.

Plant life

There is one endemic plant species, the Lundy Cabbage, which supports two endemic species of beetle. The east side of the island has become overgrown by rhododendrons; constant but unavailing attempts are made to remove them. They are used as a daytime shelter by the sika deer.

Geology

The island is primarily composed of granite which is palaeocene in age. Amongst the igneous dykes cutting the granite are a small number composed of a rock which has been named Lundyite (this name was first used in 1914 but never precisely defined so it has since fallen into disuse).

Lundy: Encyclopedia BETA

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