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Isles of Scilly
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Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly (/ˈsɪli/ SIL-ee; Cornish: Syllan) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall. One of the islands, St Agnes, is over four miles (six kilometres) further south than the most southerly point of the British mainland at Lizard Point, and has the southernmost inhabited settlement in Cornwall, Troy Town.
The total population of the islands at the 2021 United Kingdom census was 2,100 (rounded to the nearest 100). A majority live on one island, St Mary's, and close to half live in Hugh Town; the remainder live on four inhabited "off-islands". Scilly forms part of the ceremonial county of Cornwall, and some services are combined with those of Cornwall. However, since 1890, the islands have had a separate local authority. Since the passing of the Isles of Scilly Order 1930, this authority has held the status of county council, and today it is known as the Council of the Isles of Scilly.
The adjective "Scillonian" is sometimes used for people or things related to the archipelago. The Duchy of Cornwall owns most of the freehold land on the islands. Tourism is a major part of the local economy along with agriculture, particularly the production of cut flowers.
Scilly was known to the Romans as Sil(l)ina, a Latinisation of a Brittonic name represented by Cornish Sillan. The name is of unknown origin, but has been speculatively linked to the goddess Sulis. The English name Scilly first appears in 1176, in the form Sully. The unetymological c was added in the 16th century in order to distinguish the name from the word "silly", whose meaning was shifting at this time from "happy" to "foolish".
The islands are known in the Standard Written Form of Cornish as Syllan or Enesek Syllan. In French, they are called the Sorlingues, from Old Norse Syllingar (incorporating the suffix -ingr). Mercator used this name on his 1564 map of Britain, causing it to spread to several European languages.
The islands may correspond to the Cassiterides ("Tin Isles"), believed by some to have been visited by the Phoenicians and mentioned by the Greeks. While Cornwall is an ancient tin-mining region, there is no evidence of this having taken place substantially on the islands.
During the Late Roman Empire, the islands may have been a place of exile. At least one person, one Tiberianus from Hispania, is known to have been condemned c. 385 to banishment on the isles, as well as the bishop Instantius, as part of the prosecution of the Priscillianists.
The isles were off the coast of the Brittonic Celtic kingdom of Dumnonia (and its future offshoot of Kernow\, or Cornwall). Later, c. 570, when the modern Midlands—and, in 577, the Severn Valley—fell to Anglo-Saxon control, the remaining Britons were split into three separate regions: the West (Cornwall), Wales and Cumbria–Ystrad Clyd (Strathclyde).
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Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly (/ˈsɪli/ SIL-ee; Cornish: Syllan) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall. One of the islands, St Agnes, is over four miles (six kilometres) further south than the most southerly point of the British mainland at Lizard Point, and has the southernmost inhabited settlement in Cornwall, Troy Town.
The total population of the islands at the 2021 United Kingdom census was 2,100 (rounded to the nearest 100). A majority live on one island, St Mary's, and close to half live in Hugh Town; the remainder live on four inhabited "off-islands". Scilly forms part of the ceremonial county of Cornwall, and some services are combined with those of Cornwall. However, since 1890, the islands have had a separate local authority. Since the passing of the Isles of Scilly Order 1930, this authority has held the status of county council, and today it is known as the Council of the Isles of Scilly.
The adjective "Scillonian" is sometimes used for people or things related to the archipelago. The Duchy of Cornwall owns most of the freehold land on the islands. Tourism is a major part of the local economy along with agriculture, particularly the production of cut flowers.
Scilly was known to the Romans as Sil(l)ina, a Latinisation of a Brittonic name represented by Cornish Sillan. The name is of unknown origin, but has been speculatively linked to the goddess Sulis. The English name Scilly first appears in 1176, in the form Sully. The unetymological c was added in the 16th century in order to distinguish the name from the word "silly", whose meaning was shifting at this time from "happy" to "foolish".
The islands are known in the Standard Written Form of Cornish as Syllan or Enesek Syllan. In French, they are called the Sorlingues, from Old Norse Syllingar (incorporating the suffix -ingr). Mercator used this name on his 1564 map of Britain, causing it to spread to several European languages.
The islands may correspond to the Cassiterides ("Tin Isles"), believed by some to have been visited by the Phoenicians and mentioned by the Greeks. While Cornwall is an ancient tin-mining region, there is no evidence of this having taken place substantially on the islands.
During the Late Roman Empire, the islands may have been a place of exile. At least one person, one Tiberianus from Hispania, is known to have been condemned c. 385 to banishment on the isles, as well as the bishop Instantius, as part of the prosecution of the Priscillianists.
The isles were off the coast of the Brittonic Celtic kingdom of Dumnonia (and its future offshoot of Kernow\, or Cornwall). Later, c. 570, when the modern Midlands—and, in 577, the Severn Valley—fell to Anglo-Saxon control, the remaining Britons were split into three separate regions: the West (Cornwall), Wales and Cumbria–Ystrad Clyd (Strathclyde).
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