A lifetime of Islands: Island 44

Lundy is one of my favourite islands. I spent a week there in June 2001 (we stayed at Stoneycroft) and returned for day trips in July 2009, July 2013, July 2016, September 2021 and July 2023. In May 2024 I spent 3 nights on the island and stayed with a group at Millcombe House.

Lundy is located 11 miles north west of Hartland Point in Devon. It is 3 miles long and half a mile wide and for such a small island it has a wide variety of terrains. The east coast in more sheltered than the west and so has more vegetation and wild flowers. The top of the island is relatively flat and the island is made of granite apart from the SE corner which is composed of slates. There is also a pond and boggy area (Pondsbury) where orchids grow and the island becomes more barren towards the north end, where the soil is shallow and more rock is exposed. The landing beach is the only easily accessible one.

I love lighthouses, so this island is great, as it has 3 - one at each end and one in the middle. The Old Light on top of the island was replaced by the North and South Lights, as too often it was foggy or hidden in cloud and could therefore not be seen. It is the only one of the 3 that you can go inside and climb to the top and watch the world go by.

Lundy is thought to mean 'island of puffins' in Norse. Lundy has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. A Norman family called Marisco owned it for about a 100 years from 1150 and the current pub, the Marisco Tavern, is named after them. After that Lundy was owned by the Crown, pirates or private individuals.

Lundy was owned by the Heaven family for over 80 years from 1834 and it was known for a time as the Kingdom of Heaven. They built Millcombe House, the road up from the beach and the church. Quarries were opened in 1863 and there are several ruins on the island from that time. After the Heavens it was owned by Mr Augustus Christie, then Martin Coles Harman. After his death in 1954 it passed to his son Albion and 2 daughters. After Albion's death in 1968 his sisters put it up for sale.

It was then bought by the National Trust and is currently leased to the Landmark Trust, who run all the self-catering accommodation on the island. http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/otherOptions/lundy.htm

Lundy can be accessed by boat from Bideford or Ilfracombe. The passenger boat used is the MS Oldenburg. http://www.lundyisland.co.uk/oldenburg_visual.htm

We were somewhat underwhelmed by the very rare Lundy cabbage, which is only found on the island. However the mammals on the island are more interesting - black rabbits, wild ponies, Japanese sika deer, Soay sheep and goats. The deer, sheep and ponies were introduced to the island by Martin Coles Harman. There are no reptiles or amphibians on the island.

The island is a staging post for migrating birds. In the summer guillemots, razorbills, kittiwakes, gulls, storm petrels, Manx shearwaters and puffins breed there. The waters round the island have been a marine nature reserve since 1986.

A fifth of the island is enclosed pasture. The rest is rough grazing interspersed with heather, bracken and bare rock.

Website of the Lundy Field Society http://www.lundy.org.uk/

Devil's Limekiln

300 feet deep hole in the ground with near vertical sides. The rock just off the end of the island at this point is called Great Shutter Rock because legend says that it is the original shutter or stopper of the limekiln.

Millcombe House

The Battery

This was built by Trinity House as a fog and signal station in 1863. In foggy weather a blank round was fired every 10 minutes. It was abandoned in 1896 when the North and South Lights were completed.