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Note that all maps on this site are only
indicative. You should never set out without the correct OS map.
This short walk on the main island of St Mary's takes you around
the south-west corner of the island. It includes Hugh Town, the
harbour, the massive Garrison peninsula and Porthcressa Beach at
the rear of the town.
The walk takes an hour, so it really does make for an ideal pre-dinner
promenade. To find the start you must wander west towards the end
of Hugh Town's main street and turn left in front of the chemist's
shop. You'll see a phone-box standing guard over a steep lane -
and up this, passing through the old garrison gateway, you must
go.
There is a footpath that more-or-less hugs the coastline around
the Garrison - to find the beginning of this take the first right
after you pass the little gatehouse cottage. A track takes you
diagonally down the hill and passes Store House Battery (where
I met the man who remarked upon the evening light) and King Charles'
Battery with its splendidly remounted canon.
From here you can find the path that climbs the hill up to Star
Castle so that you can enjoy sweeping panoramas of the islands.
Star Castle is now a hotel, but it was built as an impregnable
fortress back in 1593 and gets its name from the shape of its eight-sided
central keep, curtain wall and dry moat.
Just to the right of the castle you'll see a campsite and just
right of this a footpath branches right and takes you down to Steval
Point Battery, which marks the island's most westerly point. You'll
enjoy fabulous views over to St Agnes and distant, lonely Bishop's
Rock every step of the way.
St Mary's has every right to be proud of its Garrison. Indeed
the place is deemed to be of national importance "for the
complexity and survival of its fortifications, representing successive
periods of raiding, hostility and war."
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It was a winter's evening in St Mary's, and barely a soul moved
save for one old man who watched the sun as it began to sink over
Bishop's Rock Lighthouse. He turned to me as I passed by and remarked: "Strange
light. You never see this light on Scilly. It must be something
to do with the east wind."
I was glad he said it, for I too had never seen a gloaming quite
like this before in the islands. It was a glowering, sullen, light
- the sort of glow you expect might to see on the east coast of
Scotland rather than in the far-flung Fortunate Isles.
I love to visit the Westcountry's archipelago in winter. It is
empty, and it is full of surprises. Somehow the island landscape
- or rather, the effect the islands have on your soul - reaches
deeper at this time of year. 
Information on St Mary's walks, accommodation bookings, etc can
be Gained from the Isles of Scilly Tourist Information
Centre -
Tel: 01720 422 536.
Basic hike: around the south west corner of the
island of St Mary's
Recommended map: Ordnance
Survey do one of the Isles of Scilly, but you could just
as easily follow this hike by using one of the free maps offered
with
various island guides.
Distance and going: a short walk taking approximately
1 hour Getting there: Martin Hesp flew to the Scillies
on Skybus which, at times of the year have departures from Land's
End and Newquay - Exeter, Bristol
and Southampton airports are added in season. For more information
- visit www.islesofscilly-travel.co.uk
or phone 0845 710 5555. |
| So says English Heritage's explanatory leaflet
which goes on to explain the Garrison's history from Elizabethan
times, through the Civil War years(it became the last Royalist
stronghold), and the Spanish Wars of the 18th century. It was further
upgraded and used between 1890 and 1910 when there was talk of
a war with France and in both the First and Second World Wars.
From Steval Point the walk becomes level and easy as you stroll
along the wide path just inside the great granite walls. First you
pass Colonel George Boscawen's Battery, then Bartholomew Battery,
next there's Woolpack Battery at the southerly tip, and eventually
you head back to Hugh Town past Morning Point Battery. |
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The path now becomes wooded, quite unlike the wild western slopes
of the Garrison. Upon reaching town you'll notice imposing Hugh
House looming large and grey just inside the walls. It used to
be an officers' mess, but now houses the island headquarters of
the Duchy of Cornwall.
Next there's Porthcressa Beach and the town. The island's coast
path winds its way past here, down the long and scenic peninsula
to the lighthouse at the point and inland above Piper's Hole which
is a bay richer in fantastically sculpted rocks than any other
I know. Indeed, Pulpit Rock is one of the most extravagant piles
of granite that I have seen on my Westcountry travels. |
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