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The Isles of Scilly and island identity

Chapter 3: The Isles of Scilly-setting the context

3.1 The Isles of Scilly and island identity

Island identity is a theme central to this research. It has been noted that, for islands in particular, a profound identity and sense of place can be recognised (Anckar, 2006). This is, in part, due to the inherent nature of islands as bounded spaces (Royle, 2001) but also due to their populations (Conkling, 2007) and geography in relation to other islands (Stratford et al., 2011). This section considers the physical geography of the Isles of Scilly, discussing how their spatial distribution and distance from each other, and Cornwall, contributes to their

peripherality, isolation and boundedness. Discussion also centres on population, and the role of the community in creating island identity. The islandness (Weale, 1991) of the Isles of Scilly, and resilience of the local population, will be explored in relation to the history and former industries of the islands. The relevance of integral island themes is of fundamental importance if the Isles of Scilly are to be used as a case study location as the contribution of islandness, to island identity, is widely agreed upon in the area of island studies (Stratford, 2003; Péron, 2004; Anckar, 2006; Stratford, 2008).

3.1.1 Geographies of the Isles of Scilly

The relationship between the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall

The Isles of Scilly are an archipelago, formed of five inhabited islands and approximately 200 smaller islands and rocks, and located 28 miles west of Lands’ End (Farr and Rogers, 1994). The archipelago is of volcanic origin and granite geology (Bamber, 2011), connected to a line of

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granite bosses, the Cornubian Batholith, that stretches from Dartmoor through Devon and Cornwall (Banks, Reimann and Skarphagen, 1998; Manning, 1998). Stratford et al. (2011) commented that islands are often held in relation to a mainland, consequently it is necessary to consider the relationship between the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall, the closest landmass.

Weale (1991), through his discussion of islandness, identifies the innate sense of difference between islands and their mainland, demonstrating that comparison can be drawn between the island-self and the mainland-other (Stratford, 2008). Furthermore island studies literature has paid much attention to the contradictory geography and relationship between islands and their mainland, particularly with regards to peripherality, isolation and separateness (Williams, 2010; Stratford et al., 2011).

The location of the Isles of Scilly is certainly peripheral, where the islands are separated from the Cornish coast by 28 miles of water. Péron (2004) comments that separateness, or the feeling of being cut off, is instrumental in instilling a sense of place that is central to island identity. This is supported by Hay (2006) who argues that island identity originates from the physical boundary formed by the sea. Themes of peripherality, isolation and separateness are of great relevance to the islands, particularly in terms of transport, where connections

between the islands and Cornwall are not only limited but also expensive and unpredictable (Grydehøj and Hayward, 2014). Spilanis, Kizos and Petsioti (2012, p. 210) argue that that

“‘accessibility’ is not measurable by distance in kilometres alone when it comes to islands that are dependent on slow and/or expensive ferries for transport.” Accessibility is a long standing issue for the Isles of Scilly. In his book, ‘A Portrait of the Isles of Scilly’ Mumford (1967, p. 27) provides an account of the effects of unfavourable weather for transport between the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall:

“The helicopters have been grounded and there is no boat to link the islands with Penzance. Scilly is cut off from the mainland, a marooned half world of swirling sea mists amid an inhospitable Atlantic”.

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Although peripherality, and isolation are often discussed in relation to negative social and economic impacts it has been argued that peripherality has strengthened the islands

economically as it is financially unviable to commute between the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall (Grydehøj and Hayward, 2014).

It is commonly understood that peripherality leaves island populations isolated politically (Royle, 2001) and economically (Armstrong and Reed, 2003), with little power among their communities (Brown and Hall, 2000). Yet the resourcefulness of island populations (Hay, 2006) and their ability to work together to counteract the negative effects felt by peripherality (Conkling, 2007) has also been noted. Although the Isles of Scilly are politically and

economically linked with Cornwall, and are in fact owned by the Duchy of Cornwall (Farr and Rogers, 1994; Duchy of Cornwall, 2015), they are governed by their own council. The Isles of Scilly Council was first elected in 1890 and, as a unitary authority, is responsible for education, economic development, emergency planning, coastal defence, environmental health, fire services, housing, tourism, social services, waste management, water and operating St Mary’s Airport (Council of the Isles of Scilly, 2015). In addition to the council there are a number of other organisations responsible for the management of land, environment and heritage including the Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty unit, Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, English Heritage, Natural England, Duchy of Cornwall, Tresco Estate, Trinity House and Scilly Local Action Group (AONB, 2010). Although peripheral, the islands are not necessarily isolated by their distance from Cornwall. It can be argued that the Isles of Scilly are in fact advantaged by their distance from their mainland, being the size of a parish with the powers and

responsibility of a county (Bowers, 1990). Furthermore, their self-governance contributes to island identity.

79 The relationship between islands within the archipelago

In addition to understanding the relationship between the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall it is important to understand the Isles of Scilly as an archipelago (Figure 3.1). This will be achieved through the discussion of relationships between the individual islands. There is evidence that the geography of the archipelago has changed significantly since the islands were first

inhabited (Johns, 2006). It is commonly believed that, of the larger islands, St Mary’s, Bryher, Tresco, St Martin’s, Samson and the Eastern Isles formed one island, known as Ennor, while St Agnes, Gugh, Annet and the Western Rocks formed another distinct group (Ashbee, 1974;

Thomas, 1985; Ratcliffe and Johns, 2003). Although water now separates these islands, a relationship of mutual dependence exists. Before the relationship between the islands is discussed, a brief overview of each of the five inhabited islands; St Mary’s, St Agnes, Bryher, Tresco and St Martin’s (Norman and Tucker, 2001) will be provided. Key features of each island are documented in Table 3.1.

Figure 3.1 Isles of Scilly Map (Adapted from Open Street Map, 2015)

St Mary’s St Martin’s

St Agnes Bryher

Tresco

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St Mary’s, the largest of the five inhabited islands, spans an area of 2½ miles by 1¾ miles, with just 9 miles of road (Isles of Scilly Travel, 2015). Home to the majority of the islands’

population, St Mary’s houses approximately 1800 of 2200 residents (Visit Isles of Scilly, 2015e).

Additionally, as the commercial and business centre for all of the islands (Mumford, 1967), St Mary’s hosts the Town Hall, banks, secondary school, one of four primary schools, the hospital, dentist, health centre, supermarket, airport and commercial harbour.

Accommodating both the air and sea transport links, between Scilly and Cornwall, St Mary’s provides a gateway to the rest of the islands (Visit Isles of Scilly, 2015e). The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company operate both the air and sea links between St Mary’s and South West England. The Scillonian, a passenger ferry, departs Penzance for the islands daily between March and October. Meanwhile Skybus, the only airline, runs an all year service from three airports in the South West: Lands’ End, Newquay and Exeter. The harbour on St Mary’s is vital Island Size (Miles) Population Settlements Principle Industries St Mary’s 2.5 x 1.75 1800 Hugh Town, Old

Table 3.1 Characteristics of the individual islands adapted from: (Mumford, 1967; Bryher Isles of Scilly, 2015; St Agnes Scilly, 2015; Tresco Estate, 2015a; Visit Isles of Scilly, 2015e;

Visit Isles of Scilly, 2015b; Visit Isles of Scilly, 2015f; Visit Isles of Scilly, 2015d)

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for transport by sea, of passenger and freight, both within the islands and between the Isles of Scilly and the mainland,1 as Scillonians2 refer to the rest of the UK.

The remaining inhabited islands, known as the off-islands, include St Agnes, Bryher, Tresco and St Martin’s. St Agnes is the most south-westerly of the inhabited islands within the

archipelago and has a small resident population of 72 (St Agnes Scilly, 2015). At only ¾ mile long and ½ mile wide, St Agnes would be the smallest off-island, if it were not connected to the island of Gugh, by sandbar, at low tide (Mumford, 1967). St Agnes is largely untouched, with flower farming and fishing the traditional industries. St Agnes hosts the only dairy farm in the Isles of Scilly making its local produce available across the islands (Troy Town Farm, 2015).

Bryher, also largely untamed has a population of 80 (Visit Isles of Scilly, 2015b). Although largely undeveloped, with roads that are little more than tracks, Bryher has the infrastructure necessary to support tourism including a hotel, campsite, shop, boat service, and pub. Bryher is regarded as an island of contrast (Grigson, 1948), with the rugged coastline to the west of the island, and the shelter from Tresco channel at the eastern side (Bryher Isles of Scilly, 2015).

Bryher lies directly across the channel from the island of Tresco, which, “is perhaps the best known for its sub-tropical gardens planted early in the 19th Century” (Over, 1993, p. 1). As the only island leased from the Duchy of Cornwall, Tresco is an anomaly (Gill, 1975). Currently leased and run by the Dorrien-Smith Family, Tresco sets itself apart from the other islands as a sub-tropical paradise, focusing on luxury and sophistication in its tourism product, from dining and accommodation through to facilities and services (Visit Isles of Scilly, 2015f). Tresco is the second largest inhabited island (Tresco Estate, 2015a) with a population of 175.

The final inhabited island to discuss is St Martin’s, characterised by its long beaches (Visit Isles of Scilly, 2015d). St Martin’s is the most northerly of the inhabited islands (Over, 1993) and, at

1 Mainland: Scillonian or local terminology for the rest of the UK. Mumford, C. (1967) Portrait of The Isles of Scilly. London: Robert Hale

2 Scillonian: the name for local residents born in the Isles of Scilly, with several generations of their family also born within the islands.

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two miles across the water, also furthest from St Mary’s (Mumford, 1967). The traditional island industry of flower farming still prevails on St Martin’s (Scilly Flowers, 2015), yet the islands also have the necessary infrastructure for tourism with a hotel, pub, number of cafés, a vineyard and a diving school (Visit Isles of Scilly, 2015d).

Although each of the islands has a distinct community, the Isles of Scilly retains a definite population centre, Hugh Town (Grydehøj and Hayward, 2014), from which the majority of the islands’ services are accessible. A dependent relationship between the off islands and St Mary’s, which acts as a hub, is identifiable. As such it is important to discuss the themes of insularity, isolation, and peripherality in relation to off island communities, separated from crucial services including the hospital, secondary school, supermarket and airport.

That the Isles of Scilly are peripheral in relation to the rest of the UK has already been established, yet in considering relationships between the islands, it is also apparent that peripherality exists within the archipelago. The peripherality of St Agnes, for instance, has been noted. “Agnes is different. It stands off on its own, disdainful and aloof with no

neighbours to influence it and rob it of its individuality. It shares with no one but the boundless Atlantic and the labyrinth of rocks and reefs on its western shores” (Mumford, 1967, p. 158).

Mumford (1967) further comments on the isolation of off island communities where, in bad weather, the crossing between St Agnes and St Mary’s is often inadvisable due to treacherous conditions. St Agnes is not the only island to suffer in terms of transport. Although relatively close, “travel between the various islands (by small boat) is unpredictable, expensive, and infrequent, particularly outside of the tourist season” (Grydehøj and Hayward, 2014, p. 17) causing isolation of the smaller islands.

Grydehøj and Hayward (2014) argue that despite isolation and peripherality often being seen as negative characteristics, this is not always the case. Within their paper they consider how

“Scilly’s lack of financial resources to implement infrastructure policies has paradoxically led to social and economic benefits for individual island communities in the archipelago” (Grydehøj

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and Hayward, 2014, p. 18). For instance, commuting between islands is common in

archipelagos, where peripheral island residents commute to major towns (Grydehøj, 2008b). In the case of the Isles of Scilly, individuals are able to commute between the islands; however, the infrastructure is not in place to make this an attractive option out of season which has, in turn, contributed towards the smaller islands retaining active business communities

encompassing tourist accommodation, retail, agriculture, and small-scale production (Grydehøj and Hayward, 2014).

3.1.2 Community resilience and identity

The importance of community, in the construction of island identity, remains uncontested in island studies research. It is a well-established argument that island populations are bound by a “shared sense of isolation” (Hay, 2006b, p. 22), where the physical boundary formed by the sea is responsible for creating “a unique sense of difference to other populations” (Anderson, 2003, p. 48). The role of insularity in heightening both the sense of community, and sense of place, is particularly prominent among small islands, where the effects of insularity tend to be greater (Clark, 2004). In his discussion of island populations, Weale (1991, p. 81) considers the notion of “islandness”, exploring island identity of individuals and communities. In order to explore island identity and the resilience of the local population, the Isles of Scilly will be discussed in relation to their history and industries. This discussion demonstrates not only how key themes within island research are applicable to the Isles of Scilly, but will also determine how industrial history of the islands can contribute to a multi-faceted tourism product. There have been a number of industries that have supported the islands’ economy for the last several hundred years, those from the sea, those from the land and, the current mainstay of the economy, tourism.

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The year around population of the Isles of Scilly has remained fairly static for the last 20 years at approximately 2000; the last census however identified an increase in population to just over 2200 residents (ONS, 2011b). With second home ownership, at 16.3 % in 2012 (National Housing Federation, 2014) and availability of housing limited, the population is maintained at a consistent level. The islands have a stable economy with an unemployment rate of less than 1% (ONS, 2011a) with 36% of the working population being self-employed (Wilcox, 2004).

There are a number of economic problems evident in Scilly however, common among many island communities, including high house prices, where the average house price is £342,727 in comparison to £240,033 for England (National Housing Federation, 2011), high comparative price of goods due to freight costs, and high transport costs with a monopoly operation.

In Scillonian history the sea has been relied upon to provide both employment and tradable goods. Between 1680 and 1830, kelp harvesting was prominent in the islands, becoming the mainstay of economic life and, for a time, the islands largest export (Bowley, 1968). The sea provided employment in the form of piloting, where local knowledge was used to navigate ships either into, or past, the islands safely. Scillonians used pilot cutters for longer distance work outside of the islands, and pilot gigs, for work within (Mumford, 1967). Although previously used to salvage men and goods from shipwrecks, pilot gigs, as part of the islands’

heritage, are raced competitively in modern times. In addition to piloting, shipbuilding was also a key industry on St Mary’s. Prior to the introduction of shipbuilding in the 16th Century Scillonians had little more than a subsistence economy (Farr and Rogers, 1994). Although ship building was not of great importance for employment in the islands, with only a small number of shipyards on St Mary’s, a boom in production from the 1830s onwards contributed to the economic recovery of the islands from depression and poverty (Gill, 1975). The building of ships gave rise to other forms of income, namely merchant shipping, where ships were often owned, officered and crewed by island men. Shipwrecks have also played a considerable part in the economy of the islands, where the practice of ‘wrecking’ saw men salvaging what they could from ships. A collection of figureheads, recovered from wrecked ships, can be seen at

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the Valhalla Museum in the Tresco Abbey Gardens (Tresco Estate, 2015b). In total there are 530 registered shipwreck sites in the islands (Larn, 1971) but the most notable wreck was that of the Royal Navy Fleet in 1707. Comprised of the HMS Association, HMS Eagle, HMS Romney and HMS Firebrand, this wreck accounted for Britain’s greatest loss of life from shipwreck (Gill, 1975). In addition to piloting and wrecking, the sea provided employment in the form of smuggling, an activity prominent throughout the late 18th Century (Bowley, 1968). Surprisingly, perhaps, fishing has taken place in the islands, most prominently, as a source of sustenance (Ashbee, 1974). Particularly “during periods of economic depression, the islanders disregarded the commercial possibilities, their main concern being to feed themselves” (Over, 1993, p. 45).

Historically, the inaccessibility of fish markets, due to the size of the boat necessary to cross from Scilly to Cornwall, has also been a barrier to commercial fishing. With the ability to freight their catch to Cornwall, today, a number of commercial fisherman operate within the Isles of Scilly.

There is a long history of farming within the islands. Before the 1700s however, the growing of crops and rearing of livestock was of a subsistent nature, supporting the local community and its economy. It was not until shipping increased between the islands and the mainland that farming became “a more sophisticated business of selling surplus crops and using the earnings to buy deficiencies” (Gill, 1975, p. 71). The year 1870 saw the beginning of the flower industry (Bowley, 1968) which remains, to this day, the islands largest export. Although flowers remain the staple crop of island farming this industry was significantly affected by the first and second world wars, with land being utilised for food production.

The nature of employment on the islands and use of farming and fishing as means of subsistence gives insight into the characteristics of the local population and local industry.

Matthews (1960, p. 20) notes how:

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“Generally speaking, he who farmed, also fished. In the simple structure of the

industrial life of the island, there was, as yet, no room for specialisation, so that these two vitally necessary industries were followed by one and the same individual, a practice which has never wholly died out. The inevitable result of this divided toll was that neither industry was developed as it might have been, but as Scillonians were the children of circumstances they had no choice in the matter”.

This demonstrates, to a certain extent, how insularity contributes to island identity, shaping both communities and their industries through circumstance.

Tourism, when it first started in Scilly in the mid-19th Century (Williams, Greenwood and Shaw, 1989), was complementary to the flower industry. The improvement in communications and transport, initially born out of the necessity to export flowers, made it possible to travel to and from the islands (Over, 1993). Although the first passenger steamers departed from Penzance to Scilly in 1858, tourism development in the islands can largely be attributed to the

development of the railway through Cornwall where the Great Western Railway reached Penzance in 1859 (Gibson, 1980). Early tourism development was limited by the distance from population centres as Penzance was 8 ½ hours from London by train and it took a further 3 ½ hours to cross to Scilly by steamer in 1898. The first commercial passenger service was established in 1858 by the Scilly Isles Steam Navigation Company, a joint enterprise between local shipping agents, merchants and ship owners, providing a three day a week service scheduled to meet the West Cornwall Railway trains in Penzance (Gill, 1975). The current passenger service provider, the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, was established in 1920,

development of the railway through Cornwall where the Great Western Railway reached Penzance in 1859 (Gibson, 1980). Early tourism development was limited by the distance from population centres as Penzance was 8 ½ hours from London by train and it took a further 3 ½ hours to cross to Scilly by steamer in 1898. The first commercial passenger service was established in 1858 by the Scilly Isles Steam Navigation Company, a joint enterprise between local shipping agents, merchants and ship owners, providing a three day a week service scheduled to meet the West Cornwall Railway trains in Penzance (Gill, 1975). The current passenger service provider, the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, was established in 1920,