Scilly’s human history really started in 4000 BC, during the Stone Age, when the first nomadic hunter-gatherers visited the Islands. Prehistoric graves are left from these peoples 1, most are simply mounds of earth.

The Celts (from 2000 BC)

The first organised arrivals to Scilly were the Celts. Celts were originally Phoenician travellers and traders from the Indus Valley 2 which is now eastern Pakistan. They had migrated across Europe, travelling from Greece to Spain to Britain, and came to Scilly from Cornwall. Phoenician means ‘red haired’ 4.

The Celts mined and exported a lot of tin 5 and lead from the Islands. It was for this reason that Scilly became known as the ‘Cassiterides’, meaning ‘Tin Islands’ 6. The main Celtic base in Britain was on the Islands 7.

Many landmarks are left from a period around 2000 BC: Normandy, Innisigen and Bant’s Carn tombs. The village which accompanied Bant’s Carn is not the village located directly below the tomb. The original village would have been off the coast, now eroded away by sea. Megaliths also remain from the period: three standing stones, on Gugh, Harry’s Walls and at McFarland’s Downs. These stones would have had local significance.

The Celts then started sailing from Cornwall and Scilly. The Islands were a highly active port between 1500 - 1000 BC 4. In 1200 BC the Phoenicians fought in the Trojan War, a dispute over the control of Cornish and Scillonian tin mines 8. The Trojan War is meant to lead to the events causing the flooding of Lyonesse in the famous local legend 5.

Evidence from recent archaeological excavations proved that the Islands were places of pre-Christian pilgrimage and veneration 9.

The Romans (from AD 43)

The Romans did not leave much impression on the Islands, they did not colonise. However, they send their exiled convicts to the Islands.

The main Roman influence on the Islands was the Christian religion and coinage.

Many features of the ‘Roman Era’ remain on Scilly, although it had nothing to do with the Romans. The modern Bant’s Carn village was built around AD 0. Bryher’s famous tomb from whence the sword came would have also been of this time period.

The Anglo-Saxons (from AD 410)

Celtic traditions were continued throughout the reign of the Romans, and through the Anglo-Saxon rule. Bays and features on the Islands which would have only been formed in the last 400 years, due to sea level changes, were still being named in our regional Celtic language, Cornish.

The Vikings (from AD 793)

3000 years after the Celts had settled on the Islands the Vikings invaded. They corrupted the Celtic culture as they, and later the Normans, started a slow process organising the British Isles into a well defended nation.

The Vikings used the Islands as a base from which to attack the Bristol Channel 1.

St Lide of Scilly (c. AD 1000) was a Celtic Roman Catholic hermit 10. He was the leader of a small religious community on St Helen’s (St Helen’s being St Elidius corrupted over 1000 years). He was also known as Elid and Elidius. St Lide’s Day is celebrated on 8 August 11, when up to 500 Scillonians and local Christians go to St Helen’s. This tradition has only recently been established.

King Olaf Trygvasson of Norway was raiding the Islands c. AD 988 when he heard of Scilly’s St Lide, a hermit seer (fortune teller). King Olaf investigated St Lide’s wisdom by sending in a man in his place, claiming to be the Norwegian king. St Lide realised the hoax and said: “Thou art not the king, but I advise thee to be faithful to thy king.” Once St Lide’s wisdom was proven, King Olaf sought his advice. St Lide told him of a near-death experience which would lead him to Christian faith. After the prophesied incident happened, King Olaf stayed some time with St Lide, and was later Christened by the Bishop of Winchester in 1012. King Ethelred of England gave King Olaf bishops and priests who went on to evangelise Norway 12.

The Normans to Present (from AD 1066)

Around AD 1800, a law was passed to give all sailors found washed up on shores a decent funeral. This would have been expensive for any community, especially Scilly. Before this law, there were many mass graves for sailors, for example Mincarlo.