Northwest Europe 05 Britain (Britannia), 5C ENGLAND, Associated Islands: Isles of Scilly

Scilly is part of the ceremonial county of Cornwall, but has a separate local authority, which has the status of a county council and is known as the Council of the Isles of Scilly.

Scilly is an archipelago in the North Atlantic with five islands permanently inhabited and numerous uninhabited islets and rock outcrops, separated from the southwest tip of Cornwall by 45 km of sea less than 100 metres deep. Between the islands the sea is very shallow which means that at certain low tides people can walk between some of the islands. 

During the Last Glacial Period (LGP, 115-11.7 kya) the sea levels were lower because more water was in the ice. At its maximum the ice reached the northern edge of Scilly. When the ice began to retreat it left the islands in a coastal plain (land bridge) that reached Cornwall (southwest England).

  Later, when the sea levels began to rise, the land bridge to Cornwall was flooded and Scilly became a large isolated island (9000 BC). Later, with the sea-levels continuing to rise, the islands were created c.7000 BC and by the beginning of the Bronze Age (1500 BC) they began to look similar to the archipelago as it is today.

The earliest evidence of humans on the islands is from the Mesolithic Period (9700-4000 BC). Analysis of a pollen sequence from Higher Moors, St Mary’s suggests a small-scale woodland clearance by hunter-gatherers. Lithic evidence of their presence has been found at Halangy Down (St Mary’s), New Grimsby (Tresco), Old Quay (St Martin’s) and The Town (Bryher). The cliff-face at Old Quay, St Martin’s had yielded Mesolithic and Neolithic flints as well as sherds of Earlier Neolithic Hembury-style pottery.

During the Neolithic Period (4000-2500 BC) settlers began clearing woodland, domesticating animals, growing crops and creating field systems. Excavations at Old Quay, St Martin’s, revealed a Neolithic settlement represented by postholes, pits and a hearth, along with a possible midden nearby

Burials range from the Late Neolithic (3000-2500 BC) to the Middle Bronze Age (2500-1000 BC). Shipman Head Down cairnfield (Bryher) contains over a hundred small cairns, most are assumed to be burials but some may be field clearance. 

Of the archaeological sites, one of the most impressive groups is the megalithic burial chambers. Some of these have cist graves (small stone-built boxes), e.g. Porth Cressa and Poynter’s Garden on St Mary’s. The Porth Hellick Down cairn cemetery, St Mary’s, includes entrance tombs, unchambered cairns and a field system. Obadiah’s Barrow (Gugh), Bant’s Carn (St Mary’s) and Innisidgen (St Mary’s) are Bronze Age entrance tombs. 

On Scilly, fishing was a significant part of the economy from the Bronze Age onwards. At Iron Age sites on Halangy Down (St Mary’s) and Bryner, midden deposits, largely composed of limpet shells, have produced the bones of a wide range of fish types. 

There are three Pre-Roman Iron Age (700-00-43) cliff castles on Scilly: Giant’s Castle (St Mary’s) Shipman Head (Bryher) and Burnt Hill (St Martins). On St Mary’s, Halangy Down Village (200-00-300) had a selection of courtyard houses and surrounding field systems. Some of these early settlements, burials and forts were re-occupied in the Roman Period (43-410). Roman coins were found at Normour in the Eastern Isles, so it is possible that the Romans traded with the islands, but there is no evidence of a lasting presence.