Posted by Matthew Townend on February 05, 2001 at 12:54:34 from 144.32.128.132:
In Reply to: Re: Who owns Wildcat Island? posted by Robert Dilley on February 04, 2001 at 18:14:58:
Does anyone know when Peel Island was given to the National Trust? I've just been reading W.G. Collingwood's 'The Book of Coniston' (1897), in which he writes (page 22): 'The island itself was for a while known as Montague Island, from its owner. It was sometimes called the Gridiron; for it is made up of a series of bars of rock, so to say, with a long projecting 'calf-rock' that stood for the handle. It might as well be called the ship, with the cock-boat astern. But the old original name was Peel Island, which to a student of place-names indicated that it once was used as a fortress; and permission being asked from the agent of the owner, the Duke of Buccleugh, some little excavations were made, which revealed ancient buildings and walls, with pottery of an early mediaeval type and other remains.'
And later (page 68): 'After the dissolution [of the monasteries] the manor [of Coniston] remained in the crown until 1662, when Charles II granted it to General Monk, Duke of Albemarle, whose descendant Elizabeth, daughter of George, Duke of Montague (whence the other name of Peel Island) married Henry, third Duke of Buccleugh, whose successor is now lord of the manor.'