Peter Naldrett - Treasured Islands

CONWAY

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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This electronic edition published in 2021 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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This edition published in Great Britain 2021

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CONTENTS

Overview map

Living in Sheffield, where day trips to the Peak District, York and Alton Towers are easier to arrange than a journey to the seaside, its easy to forget that we dwell on an island. Britain is, after all, 1,407km (874 miles) from head to toe and that epic journey from Lands End to John OGroats can take weeks for those pedalling or walking. Home to over 60 million people, this sceptred isle is no tropical desert paradise where people end up chatting with a volleyball called Wilson. And yet, from Blackpool to Blackburn and from Wrexham to Wick, everybody living in Britain has at least one thing in common they are an islander. And being an island nation has shaped Britains history, culture and politics for thousands of years. From Viking and Norman invasions to the defensive structures built to keep out Hitler. From the rise of seaside resorts encircling our coast to the floods and erosion that can destroy it. From the tragic tales of sea-bound migrants trying to reach our shores to the go it alone decision to approve Brexit. Being an island has shaped us and continues to do so.

Calling yourself an islander is to put yourself on a spectrum; the term means different things in different parts of the country. At one end of the spectrum, Im an islander in South Yorkshire and I know this because I have to fly, sail or journey through a tunnel to reach France. At the other end of the spectrum are those who live in small communities on tiny islands with just a handful of people. Being an islander to them means having to get on a boat to reach even a small supermarket or take their dog to the vet. And there are plenty of islands that fit on this spectrum. Estimates differ, but there are thought to be over 6,000 islands in the United Kingdom. As many as 196 are inhabited. Some disappear at high tide, others are too rocky to be reached. Some were abandoned in the 1930s because life became too hard, others thrive due to tourism and farming. Some islanders never see the sea, some spend their working lives on the waves. We are all islanders, but some are more islander than others.

Sitting in my Sheffield home, whenever I hear the words and now the Shipping Forecast it means two things. First, Im about to become lost in a mesmerising world of exotic and little-known place names, each one igniting my curiosity. Rattray Head. Gibraltar Point.