Читать книгу The Isles of Scilly - Rosemary Parslow - Страница 12

The Isles of Scilly became part of the original Duchy of Cornwall in 1337 when Edward, the Black Prince, became the first Duke of Cornwall. Today the islands are still owned by the Duchy, administered by a resident Land Steward. The Duchy is governed by a Council, of which His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall is Chairman. Much of the land on the inhabited islands is in agricultural tenancies, with the exception of the island of Tresco, which is leased to the Dorrien-Smith family, and Hugh Town, which became freehold in 1949 (Mumford, 1987). In 1999 there were some sixty farm-holdings, covering 557 hectares, of which 182 are in horticultural use, mostly bulbs. The average farm on the smaller islands of Bryher, St Agnes and St Martin’s is very small, sometimes less than 10 ha, although those on St Mary’s and Tresco are proportionately larger. Many fields are equally small, some less than 0.1ha (Pontin, 1999). Some 1,845 hectares of the unfarmed land are now leased to the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, mostly heath, wetland and coast on the inhabited islands and including all the uninhabited rocks and islands.