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Location

Stmarysios Map

Carreg Dhu (pronounced locally as Crake Dew), from the Cornish for Black Rocks, is a 0.6 hectare (1.5 acre) sub-tropical community garden situated near Longstone Terrace in the centre of St. Mary's.

Created from an old disused quarry, the garden was started by Richard and June Lethbridge in 1986, and has been nurtured by volunteers since then.

One area of the gardens is set aside for the Historic Narcissus Collection. Needless to say, this was not looking at its best when I visited in June.

The flower industry was started in 1870 by St Mary's farmer William Trevellick, but it was not until the 1880s that it became firmly established. This was due to the efforts of Thomas Algernon Dorrien-Smith of Tresco Abbey who visited London, Holland, Belgium and the Channel Islands, where he obtained 190 different varieties of narcissus.

He was also instrumental in establishing the shelter belts that are so characteristic of the islands today.

The collection was started in 2006 to preserve the traditional varieties of narcissus grown in the Scillys now that the industry is in decline.