Rosevear ( "great promontory") is the largest () of the group of rocks known as the Western Rocks,

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the Great Britain, British mainla ...

. The islands are on eastern side of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

on the south-west approaches to the island of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and are renowned for the numerous

shipwrecks A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

in the area and the nearby Bishop Rock lighthouse. All the uninhabited islands are owned by the

Duchy of Cornwall A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between "sovereign ...

and are managed by the

Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, formed in 1985, is a Wildlife Trust covering the Isles of Scilly, a group of islands off the coast of Cornwall. It became the 46th member of The Wildlife Trusts in 2001 and is dedicated to ensuring that the a ...

, which looks after the archaeological and historical remains on the islands, as well as the flora and fauna. Landing is not allowed on the island.

Geography

Rosevear is the largest of the Western Rocks and has a relatively flat top to . The island is situated within a group of rocks which stretches from the Round Rock of Crebawethan in the north to Pednathise Head in the south.

History

The island was used as a base camp, during 1709 and 1710, for the Herbert salvage expedition, which worked the wrecks of the ''Association'' and the other naval vessels in

1707 In the Swedish calendar it was a common year starting on Tuesday, one day ahead of the Julian and ten days behind the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 1 – John V is crowned King of Portugal and the Algarv ...

. The ghost of opera singer and actress Ann Cargill, who died when the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

packet ship Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed mainly for domestic mail and freight transport in European countries and in North American rivers and canals. Eventually including basic passenger accommodation, they were used extensively during t ...

'' Nancy'' sank near Rosevear on 24 February 1784, is said to haunt the island. Her body, still clutching her 18-month-old son, was originally buried on Rosevear, although she was later moved to Old Town Church on St Mary's, along with her child and Halden, the captain. In the 1840s and 1850s the island was again inhabited by workmen, this time building the Bishop Rock lighthouse. It was said that they heard mysterious music and were troubled by ghosts. Following a decision to build a lighthouse on the Bishop Rock in April 1847,

Trinity House The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond, also known as Trinity House (and formally as The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Guild Fraternity or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity and of St Clement in the ...

decided to make Rosevear the base because it was the nearest island (3.2 km) with a relatively flat area. The island was used as a base from 1847 to 1850, for the unsuccessful first attempt and for the successful construction from 1851 to 1858. Four main elements of the base remain. Two buildings, one a workers' lodge and mess and the other a workshop, are to the north-west of the complex, a slab-built platform by the east coast and a smiths hearth between the lodgings and workshop. Another building can be seen further south on the east coast. The surviving walls are from 0.4 m to 0.7 m high, with the best preserved are up to 3.0 m. The remains were designated as a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

in 1997. A ship's funnel lies amongst the rocks of Rosevear; this comes from the ''Cité de Verdun'', which was wrecked on Rosevear in 1925.Glynis Cooper, ''Rosevear: A Desert Island Story'', Historic Occasions, 2002. p4. .

Natural history

Landing on the uninhabited islands is both difficult and discouraged, and there are few published records of visits by naturalists. In 1971, the rocks and islands were designated a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

for their breeding sea birds. A visit by

Geoffrey Grigson Geoffrey Edward Harvey Grigson (2 March 1905 – 25 November 1985) was a British poet, writer, editor, critic, exhibition curator, anthologist and naturalist. In the 1930s he was editor of the influential magazine ''New Verse'', and went on to p ...

, in or around 1947, found a few

Atlantic puffin The Atlantic puffin ('), also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family (biology), family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin being found ...

(''Fratercula arctica''), scores of

razorbill The razorbill (''Alca torda'') is a North Atlantic colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus ''Alca (bird), Alca'' of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk (''Pinguinus impennis' ...

(''Alca torda''),

European shag The European shag or common shag (''Gulosus aristotelis'') is a species of cormorant. It is the only member of the monotypic genus ''Gulosus''. It breeds around the rocky coasts of western and southern Europe, southwest Asia and north Africa, ma ...

(''Phalacrocorax aristotelis'') and

great black-backed gull The great black-backed gull (''Larus marinus'') is the largest member of the gull family. It is a very aggressive hunter, pirate, and scavenger which breeds on the coasts and islands of the North Atlantic in northern Europe and northeastern Nort ...

(''Larus marinus''). A heavy fall of migrants was seen on a visit by Rosemary Parslow in October 1990 with dozens of European robin (''

Erithacus rubecula The European robin (''Erithacus rubecula''), known simply as the robin or robin redbreast in the British Isles, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that belongs to the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It is found across Europe, e ...

'') and goldcrest ('' Regulus regulus''), and several yellow–browed warbler ('' Phylloscopus inornatus''); all feeding amongst the vegetation. The island has replaced Melledgan as the site of the third largest colony of

European storm petrel The European storm petrel (''Hydrobates pelagicus''), also known as British storm petrel, or just storm petrel, is a species of seabird in the northern storm petrel family, Hydrobatidae. The small, square-tailed bird is entirely black except f ...

(''Hydrobates pelagicus'') in England with fifty-seven occupied sites recorded during the Seabird 2000 survey, increasing to 129 occupied sites in the repeat survey in 2006. The colony of shag on Rosevear and the rest of the Western Rocks is of national importance. During storms the sea can wash over the island, and there is a shingle community of plants with

tree mallow ''Malva arborea'' (previously known as ''Lavatera arborea'', or, more recently as ''Malva eriocalyx''), the tree mallow, is a species of mallow native to the coasts of western Europe and the Mediterranean region, from Ireland and Britain south t ...

(''Lavatera arborea''), sea curled dock ('' Rumex crispus littoreus'') and ''

Atriplex ''Atriplex'' () is a plant genus of about 250 species, known by the common names of saltbush and orache (; also spelled orach). It belongs to the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae ''s.l.''. The genus is quite variable and ...

'' sp. The only other species recorded are sea beet ('' Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''maritima''), common scurvygrass (''Cochlearia officinalis''), '' orache'' sp, and rock sea-spurry (''Spergularia rupicola'').

References

External links

Western Rocks
including Rosevear on the

site

Geography

History

Natural history

References

External links

Further reading