Flat Holm and Steep Holm are two small islands in the Bristol Channel, lying between Cardiff and Western-super-Mare. Steep Holm lives up to it's name. Flat Holm is low and rocky, but surprisingly rich in both history and wildlife.
Flat Holm is a small, almost circular island, approximately 500 metres in diameter. It rises in a gentle slope from the exposed western rocky shore to more sheltered easterly cliffs, at the top of which stands the prominent lighthouse.
The island was farmed for almost 700 years, has been fortified twice, used to isolate infectious diseases and was finally abandoned in 1946. The relative isolation and lack of disturbance made the island attractive to sea birds which quickly established a colony there. In 1975, South Glamorgan Country Council lease the island for the next 99 years, and Flat Holm is now designated as a local nature reserve, as stipulated in the lease.
In the late 6th century the island of Flat Holm was known as Echni and it's earliest known visitor was St. Cadoc, one of the founders of Llancarfan Monastery near Llantwit Major. He made frequent visits for periods of meditation, especially during Lent. His disciples Gildas, Barruc and Gwalches are also known to have visited.
It seems probable that a small settlement was built similar to the one on Steep Holm, as the Saxons renamed Echni "Bradanreolice". Reolice derives from an Irish word meaning churchyard or graveyard. Early Ordnance Survey maps have the site of a priory marked, but traces of this can no longer be seen.
In the year 914, Danish invaders took refuge on the islands of Steopanreolice (Steep Holm) and Bradanreolice, following their defeat by the Saxons at Watchet. How long they remained there is uncertain, but this seems to be when the islands acquired their modern names. The name Holm or Holme derives from the Scandinavian for river island and the Danes certainly used both Flat Holm and Steep Holm as navigational aids during attacks along the Severn estuary. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle states :914 - In this year a great naval force came over here from the south of Brittany, and two earls, Ohter and Hroald with them. And they went west round the coast so that they arrived at the Severn estuary and ravaged in Wales everywhere along the coast, where it suited them... Yet they stole inland by night on two occasions - on the one occasion east of Watchet, on the other occasion at Porlock. Then on both occasions they were attacked, so that few of them got away - only those who could swim out to the ships. And then they remained out on the island of Flatholme until they became very short of food and many men had died of hunger because they could not obtain any food. Then they went from there to Dyfed, and from there to Ireland; and this was in the autumn.
After the Norman conquest of 1066, Flat Holm became part of the hereditary property of the Norman Lords of Glamorgan. Another entry in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle reads: 1067 - And Gytha, Harold's mother, and many distinguished men's wives with her, went out to Flatholme and stayed there for some time and so went from there overseas to St. Omer.
By the end of the 15th century the ownership had passed to the Royal Duchy of Lancaster, the island being rented out for farming. Indeed, archaeological evidence suggests that there was a farm house on the same site for at least 700 years. At the end of the 17th century the lease was held by a Joseph Robins, who was farming the island and a holding at Lavernock. At this time and throughout the 18th century the island was being used extensively for smuggling. In answer to enquiries from the Custom and Excise Headquarters, the local Collector replied that the Telescope was bought without any order but it was thought very necessary as we can see every vessel that goes to the Flat Holme an island where smugglers at present run a great deal of goods, and cannot just now be prevented by us as out Boat is too old to go into the sea.
Flat Holm lies in the middle of busy shipping lanes for the ports of Cardiff, Newport and Bristol. Although it is possible that a pharos (a brazier mounted on a wooden frame) was shown on the island either by the monks or the Danes, it was not until 1733 that a petition was made for a lighthouse - and was rejected. In 1736 a vessel was wrecked nearby and 60 soldiers drowned. The lease holder of the island, William Crispe of Bristol, persuaded Trinity House to allow him to build a lighthouse in their name and the first light was kindled at the end of 1737. However, this was only a coal fired brazier which consumed vast quantities of coal. Crispe relied heavily on tolls from mariners using the Bristol Channel to pay for the lighthouse, but very soon he went bankrupt. A wealthy merchant, Caleb Dickenson, agreed to take on both the lease of the island and the debts of the lighthouse and the lighthouse remained Dickenson property for three generations until Trinity House took over in 1823. In 1908 a foghorn station was also built on the island.
In the 1850's, wary of the strength of the French Navy, the British government decided to establish a number of fortresses along the coast. Flat Holm was to form part of a strategic coastal defence system for the Bristol Channelwhich was to include Brean Down, Steep Holm and Lavernock. Construction of the fortress on Flat holm began in 1865 and was completed in 1869. However, these fortresses became known as "Palmerston Follies" after the Prime Minister who instigated them and the cannons on the island were only fired in tests. Although barracks were constructed for the 50 soldiers needed to to man the four batteries, only a Master Gunner and 5 gunners were ever stationed on the island.
In 1884 three cholera patients were taken to Flat Holm for isolation. The ward was in a tent and one of the patients died. The use of Flat Holm caused many complaints - from the Royal Artillery who had troops stationed there, from Trinity House who were worried about their lighthouse keepers and from the tenants of the farm who suffered monetary losses from fewer visitors and could not sell their vegetables or rabbits as no-one would buy. So, from 1886, Cardiff Corporation leased the island from its owner, the Marquess of Bute, to provide a permanent hospital on the site of the farm, away from the soldiers and lighthouse keepers. In 1896 a new, more substantial hospital was built and remained in use until 1935 when the building was condemned.
On the 18th May 1897, Guglielmo Marconi, assisted by George Kemp, a Cardiff Post Office engineer, transmitted the very first message by wireless telegraphy - radio - across the water between the Flat Holm island and Lavernock Point, a distance of 3.5 miles. The message sent in morse code was 'ARE YOU READY.'
During the Second World War it was decided to refortify the Bristol Channel and over 350 soldiers were stationed on Flat Holm. As attack from the sea became less likely anti-aircraft guns were installed, but modified to allow sufficient depression to engage sea-targets. Flat Holm became non-operational in 1944 and by 1946 was abandoned.