A lifetime of Islands: Island 101 - Flat Holm, Bristol Channel

Flat Holm or Ynys Echni (its Welsh name) is almost round with a diameter of about 500 metres. It is quite flat but not as flat as I thought it would be. It is located in the Bristol Channel a couple of miles from the equally imaginatively named Steep Holm.

In 2010 a friend and I travelled to Flat Holm on the island’s own boat the Lewis Alexander from Cardiff Bay. We had to wait for the lock to open to let us out of Cardiff Harbour, so we got just under 3 hours on the island, which was enough time to listen to the introductory talk, walk round the whole island, drink a couple of cups of tea, find the 5 geocaches and chat to the knowledgeable and friendly wardens. However it would have been good to have had longer to soak up the atmosphere and to "stand and stare". Cardiff City Council sold off the Lewis Alexander in 2013 in order to save money and now the island is served only by commercial boat companies.

An enterprising man based in Weston-super-Mare started a ferry service from Weston in 2011, making the island more accessible for those of us living on the English side of the Bristol Channel, so I paid the island another visit in October 2013. The weather was near perfect - lots of warm sunshine and only a slight breeze. We had over 7 hours on the island, which passed surprisingly quickly. I went on a guided tour by one of the wardens which took about an hour and then spent the rest of the day drinking mugs of tea and wandering round and round. I clocked up over 8 miles wandering up and down all the paths. On my last visit parts of the island were out of bounds due to the nesting seabirds. However in October they had all long since gone back to sea and the island was blissfully quiet.

St Cadoc made frequent visits to Flat Holm in the late 6^th Century for prayer and meditation. Danish invaders sheltered on the island in 918 after their defeat by the Saxons at Watchet. The island was farmed by a succession of tenants from the 16^th to the 19^th Century. The farmhouse was rebuilt in the 18^th Century to near its present form.

Flat Holm was fortified against a perceived threat from the French 1865-69. It was fortified again in 1941-42 with 2 batteries and 350 soldiers were stationed on the island. It became non-operational in 1944 and German prisoners of war removed most of the equipment 1945-6.

Agriculture ceased in 1946 and the island became very overgrown. It was leased to South Glamorgan County Council in 1974. The grassland was restored in the northern half of the island by scrub clearing and grazing of goats and sheep while the southern half was retained as a gull colony. The island was designated as a SSSI in 1972. Wild leeks and peonies grow on the island.

In 2013 Cardiff Council decided to sell off Flat Holm to save money. After much negotiation in early 2015 it was leased to the RSPB for 30 years. They will run it with the help of the National Trust and the Flat Holm Society.

Flat Holm Lighthouse

William Crispe of Bristol leased Flat Holm from John Stuart, Earl of Bute in 1735 and he submitted proposals to build a lighthouse on Flat Holm at his own expense. These were rejected by Bristol's Society of Merchant Venturers. However in 1736 a ship was wrecked nearby and 60 soldiers drowned. Negotiations resumed and the Society of Merchant Venturers agreed to petition Trinity House on Crispe's behalf. They agreed to the lighthouse, which was duly built and lit for the first time on 1st December 1737. It was
operated as a private lighthouse, which was paid for by tolls from passing ships.

The lighthouse was lit by a coal brazier until 1820 when that was replaced by an oil burning lamp. It was taken over by Trinity House in 1823. In 1881 the lamp was replaced by an occulting light run by a clockwork mechanism. It was converted to electricity in 1969 and solar power in 1997.

A compressed air foghorn was built in 1908. At the same time a cottage was built to provide extra accommodation for the lighthouse keepers and their families. There were already cottages at the base of the tower. In 1929 the lighthouse became a rock station, with the keepers' families living on the mainland. The foghorn was in use until the lighthouse was automated in 1988.

Flat Holm Lighthouse is 30 metres high. Its light is at 50 metres above sea level. It flashes 3 white and red group flashes every 30 seconds. The white light can be seen from a distance of 15 nautical miles and the white light from 12 nautical miles away.

More information on the lighthouse can be found on the Trinity House website:

https://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/lighthouses-and-lightvessels/flatholm-lighthouse

Flat Holm Lighthouse

A place to rest and think

Lighthouse
I'm not sure of the original purpose of the building in the foreground

Lighthouse

Flat Holm's gulls patiently waiting - I'm not sure what for!

The Lewis Alexander at the Landing Beach and Castle Rock

The Lewis Alexander

A very rare peony

- these are the seed pods, which have recently opened out

Remains of the Quarantine Hospital

An isolation hospital operated on the island from 1884 for sailors returning from abroad with cholera or other infectious diseases like yellow fever or plague. At first it was in tents until 1886 when part of the farmhouse was converted to house the hospital. A purpose built hospital was built in 1896 and this operated until 1935.

Tiled rainwater catchment area

Ramp

Unusual ripple or wave pattern in the limestone rocks - west coast

Flat Holm's Weather Station

Rather ugly monument to commemorate Marconi's historic visit in 1897

In May 1897 Guglielmo Marconi and George Kemp successfully transmitted the first ever wireless messages over sea from Flat Holm to Lavernock Point on the Welsh coast.

The Westward Ho high and dry on the beach on the north of the island

On the day I visited in 2013 we were told to be back at the landing beach at 5pm. However the ferry was still high and dry on the beach at this time and it was over an hour before the tide rose sufficiently for us to sail off.

This cottage next to the foghorn building has recently been renovated with a view to renting it out as holiday accommodation.

The purpose of this metal arch was to remind anti-aircraft gunners not to fire at the lighthouse during the Second World War.

Garden next to the Farmhouse

Farmhouse

The Westward Ho

This ferry was previously named the Cromarty Rose and was used as a 2 car ferry on the route across the Cromarty Firth from Nigg to Cromarty in northern Scotland. I have seen it used on that route on many occasions, as Cromarty is one of my favourite places on earth but I never thought I would use it to cross the Bristol Channel to Flat Holm. She was built by McRindles in Ardrossan in 1987 and was used on the Nigg to Cromarty route until 2009 when she was sold to MW Marine and sailed under her own power round Britain to the Bristol Channel. She is licensed to carry 100 passengers.