Sully Island facts for kids
Sully Island (which is Ynys Sili in Welsh) is a small island. It's special because the sea covers it at high tide, making it a tidal island. It's also a Site of Special Scientific Interest, meaning it's protected for its nature.
You can find Sully Island near the small village of Swanbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It's about 400 yards (365 meters) from the coast. The island sits in the Bristol Channel, between the towns of Penarth and Barry. It's also about 7 miles (11 kilometers) south of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales.
You can walk to the island when the tide is low. The path appears from the car park of a pub called The Captain's Wife. Sully Island is about 14.5 acres big. It's one of 43 tidal islands in England, Wales, and Scotland that you can reach on foot.
Hundreds of years ago, in the 1200s, a Norman pirate named Alfredo De Marisco used the island as his base. People called him "The Night Hawk." Later, in the Middle Ages, Sully Island was well known for its part in smuggling goods.
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Exploring Sully Island's Past
How Sully Island Got Its Name
The name "Sully Island" might mean "south pasture." Or, it could be named after a powerful Norman family, the de Sullys, just like the nearby village of Sully.
The tides around Sully Island are very strong. They rise and fall more than almost anywhere else in the world! Only the Bay of Fundy in Canada has bigger tides. A rocky path connects the island to the mainland. This path is only uncovered for about three hours around low tide. For the rest of the day, the island is completely surrounded by water.
Because the tide comes in so quickly, Sully Island can be a dangerous place. Many people have been caught by the fast-rising water. It's very important to be careful when visiting. There's now a timer near the island that shows the tide times. This helps visitors know when it's safe to cross.
People have visited Sully Island for a very long time. There's proof that both Romans and Vikings came here. Archaeologists have also found remains of an old Saxon fort on the eastern side of the island. This fort was likely a protected home and farm. There's also a Bronze Age burial mound (called a barrow) on top of the fort.
Swanbridge: A Busy Old Port
For hundreds of years, Swanbridge, protected by Sully Island, was a busy harbour and port. Today, you won't see any signs of this. Ships used to bring goods here, which were then taken by road to markets in Cardiff. Even in the early 1970s, you could still see old iron rings where ships used to tie up.
In the 1500s, ship captains were supposed to pay taxes on the goods they brought in. But many tried to avoid this by smuggling their cargo ashore. In 1569, court records show that officials seized a lot of cheese and butter that arrived illegally. In 1658, the harbour was even used to land people who weren't supposed to be there.
A small group of fishing boats also worked from Swanbridge harbour. The cottages that became The Captain's Wife pub in the 1970s were probably where these fishermen and their families lived.
The Story of the SY Scotia
Many ships have sunk near Sully Island because of the tricky tides and narrow paths. One famous ship, the SY Scotia, was wrecked here on January 18, 1916. The Scotia was a special ship that explored the Antarctic.
Old people from nearby Barry remember coming to Swanbridge as children. They would collect coal that had spilled from the wreck onto the beach. Today, you can still see the skeleton of a wreck on the island's north shore. However, this wreck is too small to be the Scotia.
The SY Scotia was originally a sealing ship built in Norway in 1872. It was used for exploring in Greenland before it became an Antarctic survey ship. In 1902, renamed Scotia, it sailed to the Weddell Sea with a team led by Dr. William Speirs Bruce. They spent a winter in the South Orkney Islands. In 1904, they discovered 150 miles (240 kilometers) of new coastline in Antarctica. They also did a lot of research on the ocean and its creatures.
After its Antarctic adventures, the Scotia was sold and went back to sealing. It was even the first ship to patrol the North Atlantic for icebergs after the RMS Titanic sank. During World War I, it became a cargo ship. Sadly, it caught fire and was destroyed on Sully Island.
Sully Island in the 1900s
From 1890 until the late 1960s, a railway line connected Swanbridge to Penarth, Cardiff, Barry, and the South Wales Valleys. This railway line was closed in 1968. The old Swanbridge Halt station is now covered in plants. Most of the old railway path has been sold or is overgrown. But between Lavernock and Penarth, the path is now a green walking and cycling trail.
When the railway arrived, Swanbridge, St Mary's Well Bay, and Lavernock became very popular. People from Cardiff and the South Wales valleys would come for day trips, especially on weekends and holidays. For almost 100 years, there was a busy cafe and ice cream shop near the Swanbridge car park. It closed and was taken down around 1970.
A famous artist named Thomas Frederick Worrall, who lived in Barry, painted many beautiful pictures of Sully Island.
Plants and Animals of Sully Island
The famous British biologist Brian J. Ford used to live near Swanbridge. He often explored Sully Island. He studied and mapped the island and its shore. Ford found many unusual plants there. These included the bee orchid, the marine spleenwort, and the adder's tongue fern.
The island once had a huge number of rabbits. But in 1953, a disease called myxomatosis arrived in Britain. It quickly killed most of the rabbits on the mainland. Because Sully Island was separated from the mainland, its rabbits survived for many years. Eventually, the disease reached the island too. Sometimes, new rabbit groups start living on Sully Island, but not as many as there were in the 1950s.
The waters around Sully Island are good for fishing. You can find fish like cod, whiting, pouting, dogfish, conger eels, and bass.
Any trees that once grew on the island were cut down a long time ago. Even small bushes find it hard to grow on the sandy soil. Most of the island is covered with rough grass. In the middle of the island, there's a damp area with a bed of reeds.
Sully Island's Rocks and Land
The sea cliffs of Sully Island show us what the area was like about 200 million years ago. This was during the Triassic period. The rocks here are red mudstones, sandstones, and breccias (rocks made of sharp pebbles). These rocks tell us that this area was once a beach. It was on the edge of a steep, dry land next to a large, shallow lake or sea lagoon. These Triassic rocks sit on top of much older Carboniferous limestone. You can see this older rock at the bottom of the cliffs.
Sully Island in Modern Times
In 1985, the local council said no to a plan for a health and holiday center on Sully Island.
In July 2011, the island was put up for sale. It was advertised as being 14.5 acres (5.9 hectares) big. The first price was £1.25 million, but it was lowered to just £95,000 because no one was interested. A group called "Save Sully Island" tried to raise money to buy it, but they couldn't.
However, a mystery buyer stepped in at the last minute. This buyer offered much more than the guide price. The buyer was a sailor who had helped the "Save Sully Island" campaign. They promised to keep the island open for everyone to visit.
