Fringed With Mud and Pearls: An English Island Odyssey
Scotland has its rugged Hebrides; Ireland its cliff-girt Arans; Wales its Island of Twenty Thousand Saints. And what has England got? The isles of Canvey, Sheppey, Wight and Dogs, Mersea, Brownsea, Foulness and Rat. But there are also wilder, rockier places – Lundy, the Scillies, the Farnes. These islands and their inhabitants not only cast varied lights on the mainland, they also possess their own peculiar stories, from the Barbary slavers who once occupied Lundy, to the ex-major who seized a wartime fort in the North Sea and declared himself Prince of Sealand. Ian Crofton embarks on a personal odyssey to a number of the islands encircling England, exploring how some were places of refuge or holiness, while others have been turned into personal fiefdoms by their owners, or become locations for prisons, rubbish dumps and military installations. He also describes the varied ways in which England's islands have been formed, and how they are constantly changing, so making a mockery of human claims to sovereignty.
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Fringed With Mud and Pearls: An English Island Odyssey
Scotland has its rugged Hebrides; Ireland its cliff-girt Arans; Wales its Island of Twenty Thousand Saints. And what has England got? The isles of Canvey, Sheppey, Wight and Dogs, Mersea, Brownsea, Foulness and Rat. But there are also wilder, rockier places – Lundy, the Scillies, the Farnes. These islands and their inhabitants not only cast varied lights on the mainland, they also possess their own peculiar stories, from the Barbary slavers who once occupied Lundy, to the ex-major who seized a wartime fort in the North Sea and declared himself Prince of Sealand. Ian Crofton embarks on a personal odyssey to a number of the islands encircling England, exploring how some were places of refuge or holiness, while others have been turned into personal fiefdoms by their owners, or become locations for prisons, rubbish dumps and military installations. He also describes the varied ways in which England's islands have been formed, and how they are constantly changing, so making a mockery of human claims to sovereignty.
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Fringed With Mud and Pearls: An English Island Odyssey

Fringed With Mud and Pearls: An English Island Odyssey

by Ian Crofton
Fringed With Mud and Pearls: An English Island Odyssey

Fringed With Mud and Pearls: An English Island Odyssey

by Ian Crofton

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$17.99 

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Overview

Scotland has its rugged Hebrides; Ireland its cliff-girt Arans; Wales its Island of Twenty Thousand Saints. And what has England got? The isles of Canvey, Sheppey, Wight and Dogs, Mersea, Brownsea, Foulness and Rat. But there are also wilder, rockier places – Lundy, the Scillies, the Farnes. These islands and their inhabitants not only cast varied lights on the mainland, they also possess their own peculiar stories, from the Barbary slavers who once occupied Lundy, to the ex-major who seized a wartime fort in the North Sea and declared himself Prince of Sealand. Ian Crofton embarks on a personal odyssey to a number of the islands encircling England, exploring how some were places of refuge or holiness, while others have been turned into personal fiefdoms by their owners, or become locations for prisons, rubbish dumps and military installations. He also describes the varied ways in which England's islands have been formed, and how they are constantly changing, so making a mockery of human claims to sovereignty.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781788852982
Publisher: Birlinn, Limited
Publication date: 07/08/2022
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 288
File size: 14 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Ian Crofton was born in Edinburgh and worked for Collins in Glasgow before moving to London, where he has been a freelance writer and editor for 25 years. Previous books include Brewer's Dictionary of Curious Titles; Brewer's Britain and Ireland (with John Ayto); Brewer's Cabinet of Curiosities, A Dictionary of Art Quotations, History without the Boring Bits; Science without the Boring Bits; A Dictionary of Scottish Quotations.

Table of Contents

Maps x

Preface xiii

Between Land and Water

An Introduction 1

Out of the Estuary, Kicking Arse

Convey Island 18

Through the Red Steel Door

Eel Pie Island 37

You'll Have a Blast

The Isle of Sheppey 48

Waiting for the Ferryman

Wallasea Island 69

Into the Heart of Darkness

The Isle of Dogs 76

Between the Heavens and the Devil's Slide

Lundy 99

Samphire and Oysters

Mersea Island 127

Quicksands, Cocklers and Killer Whales

The Isles of Furness 138

Twice Isle and Twice Continent in One Day

Lindisfarne 150

A Land Lost and Found

The Scillies 163

Never Say R*bb*t

The Isle of Portland 190

Across the Sands of Dee

Hilbre Island 213

All at Sea

The Fames 230

In Search of Lost Time

The Isle of Wight 242

No Man Is an Island

An Afterword 268

Index 273

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