Isles of Scilly

The Isles of Scilly ( SIL-ee; Cornish: Syllan) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of mainland Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. One of the islands, St Agnes, is over four miles (six kilometres) further south than the most southerly point of the British mainland at Lizard Point, and has the southernmost inhabited settlement in Cornwall and the UK, Troy Town. The total population of the islands at the 2021 United Kingdom census was 2,100 (rounded to the nearest 100). A majority live on one island, St Mary's, and close to half live in Hugh Town; the remainder live on four inhabited "off-islands". Scilly forms part of the ceremonial county of Cornwall, although since 1890, the islands have had their own local authority. Since the passing of the Isles of Scilly Order 1930, this authority has held the same powers as a county council, and today it is known as the Council of the Isles of Scilly. Some services continue to be provided by the mainland Cornwall Council. The adjective "Scillonian" is sometimes used for people or things related to the archipelago. The Duchy of Cornwall owns most of the freehold land on the islands. Tourism is a major part of the local economy along with agriculture, particularly the production of cut flowers.

Name Scilly was known to the Romans as Sil(l)ina, a Latinisation of a Brittonic (Celtic) name which became Cornish Sillan, or Syllan in modern spelling. The name is of unknown origin, but has been speculatively linked to the goddess Sulis. The islands are also known in Cornish as Enesek Syllan, with enesek meaning "archipelago". The English name Scilly first appears in 1176, in the form Sully. The unetymological c was added in the 16th century in order to distinguish the name from the word "silly", whose meaning was shifting at this time from "happy" to "foolish". In French, they are called the Sorlingues, from Old Norse Syllingar (incorporating the suffix -ingr). Mercator used this name on his 1564 map of Britain, causing it to spread to several European languages.

History

Early history

The islands may correspond to the Cassiterides ("Tin Isles"), believed by some to have been visited by the Phoenicians and mentioned by the Greeks. While Cornwall is an ancient tin-mining region, there is no evidence of this having taken place substantially on the islands. During the Late Roman Empire, the islands may have been a place of exile. At least one person, one Tiberianus from Hispania, is known to have been condemned c. 385 to banishment on the isles, as well as the bishop Instantius, as part of the prosecution of the Priscillianists. The isles were part of the Brittonic Celtic kingdom of Dumnonia. In the later Sub-Roman period, c. 7th century AD, the remaining Britons were split into three separate regions: the West (Cornwall), Wales and Cumbria–Ystrad Clyd (Strathclyde). The isles may have been a part of these polities until a short-lived conquest, by the English, in the 10th century was cut short by the Norman Conquest. It is likely that, until relatively recent times, the islands were much larger, and perhaps conjoined into one island named Ennor. Rising sea levels flooded the central plain around 400–500 AD, forming the current 55 islands and islets (if an island is defined as "land surrounded by water at high tide and supporting land vegetation"). The word Ennor is a contraction of the Old Cornish En Noer (Doer, mutated to Noer), meaning 'the land' or 'the great island'. Evidence for the older, large island includes:

A description, written during Ancient Roman times, designates Scilly "Scillonia insula" in the singular, indicating either a single island or an island much bigger than any of the others. Remains of a prehistoric farm have been found on Nornour (now a small, rocky skerry far too small for farming). There once was an Iron Age British community here that continued into Roman times. This community was likely formed by immigrants from Brittany—probably the Veneti—who were active in the tin trade that originated in mining activity in Cornwall and Devon. At certain low tides, the sea becomes shallow enough for people to walk between some of the islands. This is possibly one of the sources for stories of "drowned lands", e.g. Lyonesse. Ancient field walls are visible below the high tideline off some of the islands, such as Samson. Some of the Cornish-language place names also appear to reflect historical shorelines and former land areas. The whole of southern England has been steadily sinking, in opposition to post-glacial rebound in Scotland: this has caused the rias (drowned river valleys) on the southern Cornish coast, e.g. River Fal and the Tamar Estuary. Offshore, midway between Land's End and the Isles of Scilly, is the supposed location of the mythical lost land of Lyonesse, referred to in Arthurian literature (of which Tristan is said to have been a prince). This may be a folk memory of inundated lands, but this legend is also common among the Brythonic peoples; the legend of Ys is a parallel and cognate legend in Brittany, as is that of Cantre'r Gwaelod in Wales.

Norse and Norman period

In 995, Olaf Tryggvason became King Olaf I of Norway. Born c. 960, Olaf had raided various European cities and fought in several wars. In 986 he met a Christian seer on the Isles of Scilly. He was probably a follower of Priscillian and part of the tiny Christian community that was exiled here from Spain by Emperor Maximus for Priscillianism. In Snorri Sturluson's Royal Sagas of Norway, it is stated that this seer told him:

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