Sully Island

Sully Island is a small tidal island at the hamlet of Swanbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, four hundred and fifty metres off the northern coast of the Bristol Channel, midway between the towns of Penarth and Barry and 8 miles (12.8 kilometres) south west from the Welsh capital city of Cardiff. Access to the island is on foot at low tide from the car park of the "Captain's Wife" public house.

History

Origins

The island's name may mean "south lea" or "south pasture" "or", like the nearby village of Sully it may be called after the Norman baronial family of Sir Reginald de Sully. The rate of tidal rise and fall in the area is the second highest in the world: only that of Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia is greater. A rocky causeway connecting the island to the mainland is uncovered for approximately 3 hours either side of low tide, the island being cut off from the mainland for the rest of the day. This makes Sully Island a potentially dangerous place, and many people have been swept to their deaths while trying to leave the island as the tide rises very rapidly. All visitors to the island must exercise care and due diligence.

There is evidence that the island was frequently visited by both Romans and Vikings and there is archeological evidence for remains of a Saxon multivallate promontory fort occupying the eastern end of the Island, on the summit of which is a Bronze Age barrow. It has been suggested by some that this was an armed stronghold, but it was more likely to have been a defended residence and farm homestead.

The Port of Swanbridge

Swanbridge and the waterfront protected by Sully Island had been used as a commercial harbour and port for several hundred years, although there is no sign of this today. Cargo arrived and departed via the St Mary’s Well Bay Road, which is now blocked off to through traffic, en route for the traditional market at Canton Cross in Cardiff. As late as the early 1970s the harbour’s iron mooring rings could still be seen at the eastern end of the bay.

During the 1500s several historical records show that the trader masters were supposed to pay an import duty to local officials, but many attempted to avoid the payments by smuggling the cargoes ashore. In 1569 court records show that the harbour official seized contraband consisting of 28,000 lbs of cheese and eighty barrels of butter arriving illegally at Swanbridge. In 1658 the harbour was being used as a landing place for illegal immigrants, described at the time as “undesirables”.

A small fleet of fishing vessels were located at Swanbridge harbour and it is likely that that the row of cottages, that were converted during 1976 and 1977 into the "Captain's Wife" public house, were the traditional homes of the local fishermen and their families.

Y Scotia

Due to the tricky tides and narrow access many ships have sunk in the vicinity of the island. Several sources record that the famous Antarctic survey vessel, the SY Scotia, was wrecked on the island during 18 January 1916. Local elderly residents from as far away as Barry remember arriving at Swanbridge as children, with sacks to harvest coal spilled on the foreshore from the wreck, over several weeks.There is a skeleton of a wreck still visible on the island’s north foreshore facing Swanbridge, but this vessel’s keel is too short to have been the Scotia.

The survey ship that the oceanographer Dr William Speirs Bruce used on the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902–04, was originally a sealer named Hekla, built in Norway in 1872. In 1889 the Norwegian skipper Ragnvald Knudsen explored the northeast coast of Greenland between latitudes 74° and 75°, and in 1891–92 the ship was used by the Danish naval officer, Lieutenant C. Ryder, to explore the inner recesses of Scoresby Sund, finally visiting Angmagssalik. In 1902, re-named Survey Yacht Scotia and captained by Tam Robertson from Peterhead, she sailed to the Weddell Sea under the leadership of Bruce. The southern winter of 1903 was spent at Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands, and in March–April 1904 the party discovered 150 miles of previously unknown coastline of the Antarctic continent, reaching a farthest south of 74°01′S, 22°00′W. An extensive programme of marine survey and biological research was carried out. Back in the UK, Bruce sold the ship, and she returned to sealing, based in Dundee until appointed to be the first international North Atlantic Ice Patrol ship after the tragedy of Titanic. The Great War caused her to become a freighter in the English Channel area until she caught fire and was burnt out on Sully Island.

The 20th Century

Between 1900 and the First World War the young son of the Marquis of Bute established a successful vineyard at Swanbridge that provided grapes for his father’s bottling plant at Castell Coch, but there is no record of this enterprise continuing after 1919.

From 1890 until the end of the 1960s Swanbridge was connected eastwards to Penarth and Cardiff and westwards to Barry and the South Wales Valleys by an extension of the Taff Vale Railway line. The coastal spur fell victim to the sweeping Beeching Axe in 1968. Swanbridge Halt near the main Lavernock Road junction was closed and is now overgrown with weeds and brambles. The redundant rail track bed has mostly been sold into private ownership and built on, with any unsold stretches being overgrown and impassable as far as the Fort Road bridge at Lavernock. Between Lavernock and Penarth the track bed is a rural greenway and cycle track.

When the rail link arrived at the start of the 20th century the bays of Swanbridge, St Mary's Well and Lavernock became popular summer time destination for day trippers from Cardiff, Penarth and the South Wales valleys particularly at weekends and on Bank Holidays. For nearly a hundred years there was a busy and profitable cafe and ice cream parlour, located at the St Mary's Well Bay end of the Swanbridge carpark, that was closed and demolished around 1970 when the through road was blocked off to traffic.

Flora and Fauna

The noted British biologist Brian J. Ford used to live and write at Swanbridge and explored Sully island frequently. He also carried out extensive ecological studies, while surveying and mapping both the island and the foreshore. Ford recorded many plants unusual for the area, including the bee orchid, the "marine spleenwort" and the "adder's tongue fern".

The island once supported a vast colony of rabbits. When the disease myxomatosis arrived in Britain, during 1953 from France, the mainland population of rabbits was quickly decimated. Mostly because of its remoteness from the mainland the Sully Island rabbits survived for many years until the disease finally arrived on the island, some suspect through a human agency. From time to time new rabbit colonies set up home on Sully Island but at nowhere near the early 1950s levels.

Any trees that grew on the island have been long cut down and even scrubby bushes struggle to gain a foothold on the sandy and loamy surface. Most of the island is covered with a coarse grass.

ully Island and Swanbridge Today

Opened in the 1950s "Island View Caravan Park" now features ninety static caravans, several chalet cabins and a number of touring berths.

The "Captain's Wife" public house and restaurant first opened in 1977 as a tasteful conversion of a row of traditional cottages. There are outside tables with a rewarding sea view and two levels of indoor tables with a wide choice of quality cuisine.

The extensive carpark includes several disabled parking spaces and the car park charges are refundable through purchases at the public house. Access to Swanbridge is by car down a narrow lane from the main Lavernock Road at the eastern end of Sully village, or on foot from St Mary's Well Bay Road (not accessible by vehicle).

Other facts

* A mile west of the island, but on the mainland, is Bendricks Rock that has the only known Upper Triassic dinosaur footprint – possibly a Tetrasauropus – site in Britain
* The waters around Sully Island are fished for species such as cod, whiting, pouting, dogfish, Conger eel and bass
* During the 13th century, the island was the base for "Alfredo De Marisco", a Norman pirate known locally as "The Night Hawk".
* In more recent years, it was well known for its involvement in the local smuggling trade.

External links and References

* [http://www.celticocean.co.uk/places/itemSilver.asp?id=86 Celtic Ocean history of the area]
* [http://www.francisfrith.com/search/wales/south+glamorgan/swanbridge/photos/swanbridge_photos.htm Swanbridge photos from the 1950s]
* [http://www.brianjford.com/wsully01.htm BJ Ford page on Sully Island with links to maps and photographs]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/wildbritain/nature_near_you/venue.shtml?vid=48078&rid=82 BBC page on Bendricks Rock]
* [http://www.english-wine.com/history.html History of British Wine Making]
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