Island archaeologist, Dr Katharine Sawyer, unveils Scilly’s fascinating pre-historic past dating back some 8,000 years.

Scilly was first visited by hunter gatherers a few thousand years ago – around 6,000BC to be a little more precise. Back then it was a seasonal affair, with Mesolithic occupants enjoying the warmer climate during the summer months as well as a lack of predators. Indeed, spared from wolves and bears that were prevalent on the mainland and northern Europe, they brought deer and wild pigs with them to Scilly and released them on the land. These bred on the islands, thus providing - alongside bountiful fish and seals - a living larder on which to feast.

Image credit: Katharine Sawyer - Halangy, St. Mary's

Fast forward to 2000BC and we find evidence across the islands that Scilly was supporting a permanent population at this time.  This was the Bronze Age, a time when Scilly sprang to life with an explosion of Burial Chambers and other monuments.  Why?  Because like a lot of the islands around the UK, it was seen as a safe haven where children and livestock could roam safely. Neolithic inhabitants moved freely between Cornwall and Scilly but increasingly settled into villages on Scilly’s larger land mass… back then, of course, the islands - with the exception of St. Agnes and Gugh - were one, albeit intertidal, island with an estimated population of between 200 and 300 people.  

Image credit: Katharine Sawyer - Samson Cist Grave

The best examples of Bronze Age occupation can be found on St. Mary’s – the burial chambers at Porth Hellick, Bant’s Carn and Innisidgen – although there are a number of splendid examples on Samson and Gugh. On Nornour, there is evidence of stone huts, one with a hearth and sleeping platforms. Elsewhere there are Bronze Age field boundaries, both on dry land and in the inter-tidal zone.

Image credit: Katharine Sawyer - Porth Hellick, St. Mary's

There is no evidence for Roman occupation of Scilly, but the Romano British period (from 43AD to around 400AD) is still one of considerable importance for the islands. It is thought that traders travelling between France and continental Europe to the UK mainland would come and seek shelter in the channel between Nornour and St. Martin’s. Much of the archipelago was still one land mass at the time, and this location would have offered the first safe anchorage.  Evidence suggests that the settlement on Nornour had been abandoned previously but the Romans left offerings such as brooches at a shrine there. Whatever the explanation, Nornour represents the most iconic archaeological site of anywhere on Scilly.

Image credit: Katharine Sawyer - the uninhabited island of Nornour

Monuments aplenty

There are 238 Scheduled Ancient Monuments, as designated by Historic England. This is the greatest concentration of monuments anywhere in the UK, containing over 900 individual examples - from prehistoric ritual and burial monuments, field systems and houses to cist grave cemeteries and Romano-British period settlements and shrines. 

How to get involved!

Visitors to Scilly are welcome to get involved… join Katharine on her regular Scilly Walks (and guided walking holidays) that cover all the islands. (scillywalks.co.uk).

There is a Community Archaeology group which works in tandem with the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust to clear ancient sites – it’s open to everyone. It meets every month. Keep in touch via their Facebook page: “Isles of Scilly Community Archaeology Group”.  

Great finds 

1: The Bryher Sword, described as one of the most important ancient finds in Britain, was discovered at Hillside Farm in 1999 by chance by the farmer Paul Jenkins.  The stone-lined burial chamber on the island of Bryher also contained a bronze mirror. When found, the sword was still in its bronze scabbard, decorated with tiny iron rings that were still clearly visible. Recent scientific tests have shown that the individual buried with these objects was a young woman.  

2: Although Halangy Village on the northern shores of St Mary’s dates back to the late Iron Age/early Romano-British Period  (300BC to 300AD) there is evidence in the cliff-face of the bay below of circular stone huts that suggests a lower-lying village was occupied considerably earlier.  

3: Giant’s Castle on the south- eastern coast of St Marys’ is a classic example of an Iron Age Promontory Fort found on Scilly, dating back to around 300BC.  It’s a contemporary of Halangy Village, and also of a Promontory Fort at Shipman Head Down on Bryher.  

4: Nornour hosts the richest evidence of pre-historic life on the islands, in  particular the remains of 11 excavated circular stone buildings. Nornour was occupied from about 2000BC to 50AD and was probably home to one extended family. During Roman times, two buildings were thought to have been used as a shrine as excavations have unearthed more than 300 brooches, 84 Roman coins, 35 bronze rings, 11 bronze bracelets, 2 bronze spoons, 24 glass beads, numerous fragments of glass vessels, and miniature pots and pieces of Gallic clay figurines. 

5: The Old Man of Gugh is a leaning menhir standing 2.4 metres high, and Obadiah’s Barrow, also on Gugh, is an impressive entrance grave which was excavated in 1901. You’ll find both, and a kelp pit too around Kittern Hill, itself displaying the remains of round houses, field system and cairns.   

6: Bant’s Carn is probably the most famous of the Scillonian entrance graves. It was excavated in 1900 by George Bonsor who found four piles of cremated bones at the far end of the chamber and fragments of pottery in the passage outside the entrance.  

7: Chapel Down on St Martin’s is rich in archaeological remains… just below the Daymark you can just about make out the foundations of a small 8^th-10^th Century chapel. Further down the hill, set into the bedrock and standing just 0.6 metres high, is a small carved piece of granite in the shape of a human head and shoulders. This is “Billy Idol”.