The Isles of Scilly
Passage Graves, Causeways and an Island in the West
Second millennium BC, Cornwall, England.
These islands are littered with old Bronze Age passage graves and cairns, far more than anywhere else in Britain.
The Isles of Scilly have been sinking for millennia, ever since the last Ice Age ended,' said Quintin. 'In the Bronze Age it was really still one large island and it was probably not until the end of the Roman period that today's islands began to appear. Even as late as the eleventh century AD most of these would have been joined at low water.
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These islands are littered with old Bronze Age passage graves and cairns,' replied Miranda. 'They are far more numerous than anywhere else in Britain, and who knows how many more now lie underwater? Perhaps there has always been something special about this place. An island in the western sea. An island of the Otherworld. Perhaps this was remembered in Medieval times, when ancient tombs and causeways were the striking features of these islands. And it says in this little booklet: Place-name evidence hints at the islands being a cult centre during the late Iron Age (water being one focus of religious practice at this time).
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'Arthurian legend has Galehot as the King of the Outer Isles,' replied Quintin. 'Otherwise known as the kingdom of Sorelois. Scillys? A land which Galehot retreats to with Lancelot in the 13th century pre-cyclic Lancelot, a kingdom of islands each of which is accessed only by a single causeway, or by two; underwater causeways in a land that, when Gawain finally discovers Galehot and Lancelot hiding there, they all have to emerge from in disguise!'
