A Devon Island
Drake's Island is a 2.6-hectare island lying in Plymouth Sound, the stretch of water south of the city of Plymouth, Devon. The rocks which make up the island are volcanic tuff and lava, together with marine limestone of the Devonian period. For more than 400 years the island was fortified.
The first recorded name for the island was in 1135, when it was referred to as St Michael's after the chapel erected on it. At some later date the chapel was rededicated to St Nicholas and the island adopted the same name. From the latter part of the 16th century the island was occasionally referred to as Drake's Island after Sir Francis Drake, the English privateer who used Plymouth as his home port. Even well into the 19th century, maps and other references continued to refer to the island as St Nicholas's Island and it is only in about the last 100 years that this name has slipped into disuse and the name Drake's Island has been adopted.
It was from Plymouth that Drake sailed in 1577, to return in 1580 having circumnavigated the world, and in 1583 Drake was made governor of the island. From 1549 the island began to be fortified as a defence against the French and Spanish, with barracks for 300 men being built on the island in the late 16th century.
For several centuries, the island remained the focal point of the defence of the three original towns that were to become modern Plymouth. In 1665 the Leveller Robert Lilburne died imprisoned on the island. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the regicide of Charles I. A few years later John Lambert, a former general of the New Model Army in the English Civil War, was moved to Drake's Island from Guernsey, where he had been imprisoned since 1662. Like Lilburne, he never regained his liberty, dying on Drake's Island in the winter of 1683.
In June 1774 the first recorded submarine fatality in history occurred north of Drake's Island, when a carpenter named John Day perished while testing a wooden diving chamber attached to the sloop Maria.
Beyond the island is Mount Edgcumbe Country Park which is listed as Grade I on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens and is one of four designated country parks in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The 358 hectares country park is on the Rame Peninsula, overlooking Plymouth Sound and the River Tamar. The park has been famous since the 18th century, when the Edgcumbe family created formal gardens, temples, follies and woodlands around the Tudor house. Specimen trees, such as Sequoiadendron giganteum, stand against copses which shelter a herd of wild fallow deer. The South West Coast Path runs through the park for 14 km along the coastline.
The park also contains the villages of Kingsand and Cawsand, as well as Mount Edgcumbe House itself. The Formal Gardens are grouped in the lower park near Cremyll. Originally a 17th-century 'wilderness' garden, the present scheme was laid out by the Edgcumbe family in the 18th century. The Formal Gardens include an Orangery, an Italian Garden, a French Garden, an English Garden and a Jubilee Garden, which opened in 2002, to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee. The park and Formal Gardens are open all year round and admission is free. The park and gardens are jointly managed by Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council. Although the park covers a large area, the park has limited formal maintenance. This gives it a rough and ready rural feel in all except the Formal Gardens.
The folly was built in 1747. It's an artificial ruin which replaced a navigation obelisk. It was built from stone from the churches of St. George and St. Lawrence, Stonehouse.
The title "A Devon Island" is a tongue in cheek reference to Space Deniers. Apparently, some people are convinced that NASA's Mars missions are a big hoax, and that the space agency's rovers are actually sending back photos from an island in Canada.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake%27s_Island
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Edgcumbe_Country_Park
www.buzzfeed.com/ishmaeldaro/mars-rover-hoax-conspiracy-t...
A Devon Island
Drake's Island is a 2.6-hectare island lying in Plymouth Sound, the stretch of water south of the city of Plymouth, Devon. The rocks which make up the island are volcanic tuff and lava, together with marine limestone of the Devonian period. For more than 400 years the island was fortified.
The first recorded name for the island was in 1135, when it was referred to as St Michael's after the chapel erected on it. At some later date the chapel was rededicated to St Nicholas and the island adopted the same name. From the latter part of the 16th century the island was occasionally referred to as Drake's Island after Sir Francis Drake, the English privateer who used Plymouth as his home port. Even well into the 19th century, maps and other references continued to refer to the island as St Nicholas's Island and it is only in about the last 100 years that this name has slipped into disuse and the name Drake's Island has been adopted.
It was from Plymouth that Drake sailed in 1577, to return in 1580 having circumnavigated the world, and in 1583 Drake was made governor of the island. From 1549 the island began to be fortified as a defence against the French and Spanish, with barracks for 300 men being built on the island in the late 16th century.
For several centuries, the island remained the focal point of the defence of the three original towns that were to become modern Plymouth. In 1665 the Leveller Robert Lilburne died imprisoned on the island. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the regicide of Charles I. A few years later John Lambert, a former general of the New Model Army in the English Civil War, was moved to Drake's Island from Guernsey, where he had been imprisoned since 1662. Like Lilburne, he never regained his liberty, dying on Drake's Island in the winter of 1683.
In June 1774 the first recorded submarine fatality in history occurred north of Drake's Island, when a carpenter named John Day perished while testing a wooden diving chamber attached to the sloop Maria.
Beyond the island is Mount Edgcumbe Country Park which is listed as Grade I on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens and is one of four designated country parks in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The 358 hectares country park is on the Rame Peninsula, overlooking Plymouth Sound and the River Tamar. The park has been famous since the 18th century, when the Edgcumbe family created formal gardens, temples, follies and woodlands around the Tudor house. Specimen trees, such as Sequoiadendron giganteum, stand against copses which shelter a herd of wild fallow deer. The South West Coast Path runs through the park for 14 km along the coastline.
The park also contains the villages of Kingsand and Cawsand, as well as Mount Edgcumbe House itself. The Formal Gardens are grouped in the lower park near Cremyll. Originally a 17th-century 'wilderness' garden, the present scheme was laid out by the Edgcumbe family in the 18th century. The Formal Gardens include an Orangery, an Italian Garden, a French Garden, an English Garden and a Jubilee Garden, which opened in 2002, to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee. The park and Formal Gardens are open all year round and admission is free. The park and gardens are jointly managed by Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council. Although the park covers a large area, the park has limited formal maintenance. This gives it a rough and ready rural feel in all except the Formal Gardens.
The folly was built in 1747. It's an artificial ruin which replaced a navigation obelisk. It was built from stone from the churches of St. George and St. Lawrence, Stonehouse.
The title "A Devon Island" is a tongue in cheek reference to Space Deniers. Apparently, some people are convinced that NASA's Mars missions are a big hoax, and that the space agency's rovers are actually sending back photos from an island in Canada.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake%27s_Island
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Edgcumbe_Country_Park
www.buzzfeed.com/ishmaeldaro/mars-rover-hoax-conspiracy-t...