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St Martin's

Location

Scilly Map
Last Visited: 2012 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

The north coast of St Martin's offers as good a stretch of cliff walking as any in Cornwall. However, it is very exposed, and it is difficult to imagine the battering this coast can get.

The softer south coast, protected from the northerly gales, is a patchwork of tiny fields. The three settlements of Higher, Middle and Lower Town are all on this side of the island.

Both coasts can boast some fine sandy beaches, and from the eastern end on a clear day, you can see across to Land's End.

The Daymark

Location

Scilly Map
Last Visited: 2012 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

On the north-east corner of St Martin's stands a large red and white Daymark. The base is 4.8m (16ft) in diameter and it is 11m (36ft) high overall.

Above a blocked up doorway there is a date stone with the initials T E and the year 1637. The initials are those of the first Steward of the islands, Thomas Ekins, who was appointed by Sir Frances Godolphin, Governor of the Isles of Scilly, around 1600. He lived in what is now the Bishop and Wolf Inn in Hugh Town.

The date however is more problematic. The current stone reads 1637, however this is a replacement for an earlier one which by all accounts read 1683. Recent research in the Trinity House Minutes, however, has come up with a construction date of 1687.

Through the blocked doorway there was apparently an internal staircase leading to some sort of viewing platform, no trace of which remains.

The Napoleonic Signal Station

Location

Scilly Map
Last Visited: 2012 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

Next to the Daymark lie the ruins of a Napoleonic Signal Station established in 1804. In addition to a signal tower there was some modest domestic accommodation and ancillary buildings for the men stationed in this bleak and remote situation.

It was closed in 1814 and replaced by the Telegraph Tower, now known as the Coastguard Tower, on St Mary's

External Links and References

  • Recommended Books

    • Defending Scilly by Mark Bowden and Allan Brodie
      Published by English Heritage in 2011 incorporating the latest research into Scilly's defences.