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HUGH-TOWN, the capital of the Scilly Isles; on a sandy isthmus of St. Mary's Island, between St. Mary's Pool and Port Cressa. The peninsula running out from the isthmus rises to an elevation of 110 feet; has the kind of character designated by the Celtic word "heugh;'' and probably gave rise to the name Hugh-Town. The town has a crooked main street of stone houses; an excellent harbour in the Pool; a pier 430 feet long, reconstructed in 1835-8; two good inus; and a church built in 1835, in the pointed style, with a tower, and with memorials of those who perished in the wreck of three men of war, in Oct. 1707, under Sir Cloudesley Shovel. A previous church stood ½ a mile distant; is now partly a ruin; yet is still used for the burial service. The Star Castle, a fortress erected in the time of Elizabeth, and probably taking its name from a star like saliency of its eight angles, crowns the neighbouring peninsula; and the garrison, with batteries, park, and promenade, is in the vicinity of the castle. A telegraph to Land's End was laid in Sept. 1869. Pop., 1,532. Houses, 282.
(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))
Linked entities: | |
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Feature Description: | "the capital of the Scilly Isles" (ADL Feature Type: "populated places") |
Administrative units: | Cornwall AncC |
Place: | Hugh Town |
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