Lundy is an English island in the Bristol Channel. It forms part of the district of Torridge in the county of Devon. About 5 km (3 mi) long and 1 km (0.625 mi) wide, Lundy has had a long and turbulent history, frequently changing hands between the British crown and various usurpers. In the 1920s, the island's owner, Martin Harman, tried to issue his own coinage and was fined. In 1941, two German Heinkel He 111 bombers crash-landed on the island, and their crews were captured. In 1969, Lundy was purchased by British millionaire Jack Hayward, who donated it to the National Trust. It is now managed by the Landmark Trust, a conservation charity that derives its income from day trips and holiday lettings, most visitors arriving by boat from Bideford or Ilfracombe. A local tourist curiosity is the special "Puffin" postage stamp, a collector's item in a category known by philatelists as "local carriage labels". The de Marisco family were the first known tyrannical owners of Lundy in the 12th century. They recognized the island as an impregnable stronghold and held it despite the crown granting it twice to the Knights Templar. As a steep, rocky island, often shrouded by fog, Lundy has been the scene of many shipwrecks, and the remains of its old lighthouse installations are of both historic and scientific interest. Its present-day lighthouses, both of which are solar-powered, are fully automated. Lundy has a rich bird life, as it lies on major migration routes, and hosts many vagrant as well as indigenous species. It also contains a variety of marine habitats, with rare seaweeds, sponges and corals. In 2010, the island became Britain's first Marine Conservation Zone.
Profile
Lundy is the largest island in the Bristol Channel. It lies 19 km (12 mi) off the coast of Devon, about a third of the distance across the channel from Devon to Pembrokeshire. Lundy gives its name to a British sea area. Lundy is included in the district of Torridge in Devon. In 2007, it had a resident population of 28 people. These include a warden, a ranger, an island manager, a farmer, bar and housekeeping staff, and volunteers. Most live in and around the village at the south of the island. Visitors include day trippers and holiday makers staying overnight in rental properties or camping. In a 2005 opinion poll of Radio Times readers, Lundy was named as Britain's tenth greatest natural wonder. The island has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and it was England's first statutory Marine Nature reserve, and the first Marine Conservation Zone, because of its unique flora and fauna. It is managed by the Landmark Trust on behalf of the National Trust.
Etymology
The place-name Lundy is first attested in 1189 in the Records of the Templars in England, where it appears as [Insula de] Lundeia. It appears in the Charter Rolls as Lundeia again in 1199, and as Lunday in 1281. The name is Scandinavian and means 'puffin island', from the Old Norse lundi meaning 'puffin' (compare the three Lundey islands in Iceland); it appears in the 12th-century Orkneyinga saga as Lundey. Lundy is known in Welsh as Ynys Wair, 'Gwair's Island', in reference to an alternative name for the wizard Gwydion.
History Lundy has evidence of visitation or occupation from the Mesolithic period onward, with Neolithic flintwork, Bronze Age burial mounds, four inscribed gravestones from the early medieval period, and an early medieval monastery (possibly dedicated to St Elen or St Helen).
Beacon Hill Cemetery
Beacon Hill Cemetery was excavated by Charles Thomas in 1969. The cemetery contains four inscribed stones, dated to the 5th or 6th century AD. The site was originally enclosed by a curvilinear bank and ditch, which is still visible in the southwest corner; however, the other walls were moved when the Old Light was constructed in 1819. Celtic Christian enclosures of this type were common in Western Britain and are known as Llans in Welsh and Lanns in Cornish. There are surviving examples in Luxulyan, in Cornwall; Mathry, Meidrim and Clydau in the south of Wales; and Stowford, Jacobstowe, Lydford and Instow, in Devon. Thomas proposed the following sequence of site usage:
An area of round huts and fields. These huts may have fallen into disuse before the construction of the cemetery. The construction of the focal grave, an 11 by 8 ft (3.4 by 2.4 m) rectangular stone enclosure containing a single cist grave. The interior of the enclosure was filled with small granite pieces. Two more cist graves located to the west of the enclosure may also date from this time. Perhaps 100 years later, the focal grave was opened and the infill removed. The body may have been moved to a church at this time. Two further stages of cist grave construction around the focal grave. Twenty-three cist graves were found during this excavation. Considering that the excavation only uncovered a small area of the cemetery, there may be as many as 100 graves.
Inscribed stones
Four Celtic inscribed stones have been found in Beacon Hill Cemetery:
1400 OPTIMI, or TIMI; the name (or perhaps epithet) Optimus is Latin and male. Discovered in 1962 by D. B. Hague. 1401 RESTEVTAE, or RESGEVT[A], Latin, female i.e. Resteuta or Resgeuta. Discovered in 1962 by D. B. Hague. 1402 POTIT[I], or [PO]TIT, Latin, male. Discovered in 1961 by K. S. Gardener and A. Langham. 1403 --]IGERNI [FIL]I TIGERNI, or—I]GERNI [FILI] [T]I[G]ERNI, Brittonic, male i.e. Tigernus son of Tigernus. Discovered in 1905.
Knights Templar Lundy was granted to the Knights Templar by Henry II in 1160. The Templars were a major international maritime force at this time, with interests in North Devon, and almost certainly an important port at Bideford or on the River Taw in Barnstaple. This was probably because of the increasing threat posed by the Norse sea raiders; however, it is unclear whether they ever took possession of the island. Ownership was disputed by the Marisco family who may have already been on the island during King Stephen's reign. The Mariscos were fined, and the island was cut off from necessary supplies. Evidence of the Templars' weak hold on the island came when King John, on his accession in 1199, confirmed the earlier grant.
Marisco family
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