Prehistoric to Roman The earliest sign of human activity on the island are prehistoric vertebrae of red deer discovered in Five Johns' Cave during an exploration in 1975. Worked flints from the
Mesolithic and scrapers from the
Neolithic were uncovered as part of the Priory excavations carried out between 1977 and 1992. Roman remains, possibly a signal station or watchtower, have been identified on the island by an
electrical resistance survey. Accurate exploration and interpretation of the site is difficult as it was reused by builders in both the
Victorian era and during World War II. A carved stone head found on the island in 1991 is likely to be a Celtic head from the
Romano-British era, but may be from the
Iron Age. In addition to shards of cooking pots from the Roman era, some luxury items have been identified including
Arretine ware,
La Tène style brooches, and an
amphora dating from between 90 and 140 AD which was made in southern Spain. There have also been shards of
Castor ware. Fragments of pottery roofing and box flue tiles have been identified signifying the presence of a heating system and possibly a bath house. Roman coins from the reigns of
Claudius Gothicus (268–270) and
Tetricus I (271–273) have also been found.
Religious foundations According to legend, first recorded by
John Leland in the 16th century,
Saint Gildas, the author of
De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae, lived on Steep Holm during the 6th century. He arrived on the island after visiting his friend
Saint Cadoc, who lived on Flat Holm as a hermit. Gildas supposedly left the island, after pirates from
Orkney carried off his servant and furniture, to become
Abbot of Glastonbury. Other semi-legendary saints are also associated with the island; in
John Rous's Historia Regum Angliae (c. 1480), Rous claims that
Saint Dubricius, the saint said to have crowned Arthur, retired to an hermitage on the island of 'Stepeholm' in the River Severn. The
Vikings took refuge on Steep Holm during the summer of 914 and then carried out raids on the coast of Somerset at
Watchet and
Porlock, according to the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. At the end of the 12th century, there was a small priory of
Canons Regular of St Michael on the island. The only priory building fully excavated measured long and wide, with the cloisters and other structures still to be identified. The date of the original foundation of the priory is unclear; however, in the early 13th century the patron was
William I de Cantilupe. His family were also patrons of
Studley Priory in
Warwickshire. His granddaughter married Lord Robert de Tregoz who acquired the freehold of the whole island; however, endowments for the upkeep of the priory were declining, which led to it being abandoned between 1260 and 1265, the monks returning to Studley Priory. A
Blue Lias memorial stone from the abbey, which has a
Cross of Lorraine, was found in 1867 during the fortification of the island. It was incorporated into an armoury leading to the naming of the "tombstone battery".
Manorial ownership The island seems to have been held, in association with the local manors of
Uphill and
Christon, by the
Bek family, who granted it to
Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln. Although the mechanism is unclear, it next passed to the
Berkeley family with
Maurice de Berkeley, the second Baron Berkeley, holding it in 1315. The site was used again by
warreners in the 14th and 15th centuries. They lived in one of the ruined priory buildings which was rebuilt. By 1453 the overlordship of the island was held by
James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond, and in 1460 the
advowson was exercised by
Margaret Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury. Margaret Talbot (née de Beauchamp) was a distant cousin of James Butler as both were descended from different sons of
Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick. In other words, James Butler (via his mother
Joan Butler, Countess of Ormond (née Beauchamp) and his grandfather
William Beauchamp, 1st Baron Bergavenny, whilst Margaret Talbot was daughter of Elizabeth de Beauchamp (née Berkeley) and the granddaughter of
Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick. In short, James Butler's and Margaret Talbot's de Beauchamp grandparents were brothers. Of note is that Margaret Talbot was the daughter of
Elizabeth Berkeley, Countess of Warwick (and her husband
Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick) from which discord in the Berkeley family was to emerge (see below). Furthermore, Elizabeth Berkeley was the only daughter of
Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley, showing that ownership still resided to some extent in the Berkeley family since Maurice de Berkeley took over the island in 1315 – Margaret Talbot was the great, great, great-granddaughter of Maurice de Berkeley. However, in the years following, the ownership of a variety of estates, including Norton Beauchamp, to which Steep Holm was attached, was disputed. At the heart of this was the dispute from how the Barony was passed on from Thomas Berkeley, the 5th Baron. These disputes had on one side
James Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley, also known as 'James the Just' (not to be confused with the other 1st Baron Berkeley
Thomas de Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley who pre-dated him by 150 years). Yet it was to James whom the Barony transferred to under a new creation by writ since his uncle, the aforementioned Thomas de Berkeley (5th Baron) had no male heirs even though he had named his only daughter (Elizabeth Berkeley) as his heir. This was to be the start of a longstanding legal dispute. On one side of the dispute originating through the line of James, the new 1st Baron, continued through his son (Sir)
William de Berkeley, 1st Marquess of Berkeley in 1463, who was the first male issue from his 3rd marriage to Lady Isabel de Mowbray. This was after two previous marriages that yielded no children. On the opposing side of dispute were the descendants of the aforementioned Elizabeth Berkeley (James' the 1st Baron's, 1st cousin) and in particular through her daughter Margaret (de Beauchamp) that shows some curious tangled sub-plots. One such sub-plot lies with
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury who took Margaret de Beauchamp as his 2nd wife. His first marriage, to a Maud Neville (the daughter of his stepfather Thomas Neville, a
Baron Furnivall) and which produced Lady Joan Talbot, amongst 6 children is however notable. The same John Talbot seemingly kidnapped and imprisoned until their death in 1452, the 3rd wife of James Berkeley (the 1st Baron) and mother of the aforementioned 2nd Baron Berkeley (Sir William de Berkeley). Yet, this James Berkeley, took a 4th wife, Lady Joan Talbot (i.e. the daughter of John Talbot who kidnapped his 3rd wife!). A further sub-plot, or extension of the previous one, centres again around John Talbot but this time as a result of his marriage to Margaret de Beauchamp. Their eldest son,
John Talbot, 1st Baron of Lisle and 1st Viscount Lisle, was the father of
Thomas Talbot, 2nd Baron of Lisle and 2nd Viscount Lisle. This Thomas Talbot sought to exert his claim on the lands of Baron Berkeley on the death of his grandmother Margaret de Beauchamp (daughter of the disenfranchised Elizabeth Berkeley), who in the interim had continued to press her claim to Baron Berkeley lands against James Berkeley the 1st Baron. It brought him into direct opposition with Sir William de Berkeley (2nd Baron and son of James Berkeley and came to a full head at the
Battle of Nibley Green (1470), following what is described as Thomas Talbot's impetuous challenge to Sir William, which had concluded by the end of the following day with the death of Thomas Talbot and the subsequent sacking of his Manor at
Wotton-under-Edge. In the 16th century
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset and brother of
Jane Seymour (3rd wife
Henry VIII) took over, and then lost, large estates including
Brean, to which Steep Holm was allied. The marriage of his sister Jane and Henry VIII in 1536 coincided with him being made
Viscount Beauchamp, potentially linking back to ancestral marriage between Sir Roger Seymour (c.1308 – Before 1366), who married Cicely, the eldest sister and heir of
John de Beauchamp, 3rd Baron Beauchamp. This may be related to the feudal Barony of
Hatch Beauchamp, Somerset, previously held by his father
Sir John Seymour. The Seymour descendants recovered the estates, owning them into the 17th century, although the only activity on Steep Holm seems to have been the employment of gull watchers and fishermen. In 1684 the Norton Beauchamp estate (possibly in
Kewstoke, Somerset, near
Sand Bay, north of
Weston-Super-Mare) was sold to Edward Ryder. It appears to have been auctioned by decree of the
Court of Chancery 11 years later in 1695, possibly because of difficulties in maintaining sea defenses along the Somerset coast; however, this seems to have been disputed in the light of outstanding mortgages. In 1699 the estates, including Steep Holm, were sold to
Philip Freke of Bristol, whose descendants held it for the next 130 years. Freke's granddaughter married into the family of
John Willes, who was
Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and
Member of Parliament. During their ownership, probably around 1776, a new cottage was built on Steep Holm for fishermen. It was built using stones from the ruined priory. In 1830 the island was sold again, according to some sources this was to a cousin of John Freke Willes named William Willes; however, other sources suggest it was to a solicitor in
Weston-super-Mare named John Baker. In 1832 the island was leased to Colonel Tynte of
Halswell House, who established an inn for sailors. The inn was run by the Harris family, using rum and tobacco bought from ships. They claimed that the island was outside the jurisdiction of the
excise men until a court case in 1884. After the Harris family, the inn was run by Mr W. L. Davies, who offered fishing, shooting and boating holidays. To make landing on the island easier, a new pier was built close to the inn. In 1835 clergyman
John Ashley from
Clevedon voluntarily ministered to the population of the island and the neighbouring Flat Holm. Ashley created the Bristol Channel Mission in order to serve seafarers on the 400 sailing vessels which used the Bristol Channel. The mission would later become the
Mission to Seafarers, which still provides ministerial services to sailors in over 300 ports.
Palmerston Fort Both Steep Holm and Flat Holm were fortified in the 1860s as a defence against invasion. They form part of a
line of defences, known as
Palmerston Forts, built across the channel to protect the approaches to
Bristol and
Cardiff. The island was fortified following a visit by
Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert to France, where they had been concerned at the strength of the French Navy. The
Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom, under the direction of
Lord Palmerston, recommended fortification of the coast, and the island formed part of this strategic coastal defence system. Construction began in 1865 and was completed in 1869 by John Perry of Weston-super-Mare. The work involved the creation of a perimeter road around the summit plateau and a
lime kiln for the manufacture of
lime mortar to build the barracks and gun emplacements with their ammunition stores. The concrete gun emplacements were called Summit Battery, Laboratory Battery, Garden Battery and Tombstone Battery. Along with the barracks they have been designated as Grade II
listed buildings. The facilities installed included a master-gunners house, a small inn, and a water tank holding of rainwater. The water tank is beneath the
barracks and collects rainwater from its roof. The brick tank is long, wide and high with a vaulted roof. Armaments included ten
7-inch rifled muzzle loaders Mk III spread between six batteries. and there are the remains of a centralised group of brick-built barrack blocks. In 1898 test firing by
HMS Arrogant, an
Arrogant-class cruiser, on Rudder Rock battery showed that the fixed gun emplacements used on Steep Holm and other sites were susceptible to attack by modern warships, and the site was no longer active. The military control on the island was maintained until 1908 when it was leased to James Sleeman and his family. In 1927 the first test of the
RAE Larynx (from "Long Range Gun with Lynx engine") an early pilotless aircraft, to be used as a guided anti-ship weapon, took place just off Steep Holm.
World wars These facilities were updated in both
World War I and
World War II. From 1915 to 1919 the island was requisitioned by the
Admiralty as a coastguard station. After the war the Sleemans returned to carry out farming and fishing and played host to occasional tourists. In World War II, searchlight batteries were built on Steep Holm. In 1940 the island's warden, Harry Cox, who had developed the island into a
bird sanctuary since 1931, was appointed as a coastguard and was supported by
Local Defence Volunteers from Weston-super-Mare. In 1940 and 1941 the battery was refortified by soldiers from the
Indian Army Service Corps using
mules to transport guns and equipment up the steep cliffs. The armament included
MarkVII6-inch breech-loading guns taken from World War I naval vessels which had been scrapped, and also included
Lewis automatic machine guns against air attack. The Garden Battery was built over two Victorian stone gun emplacements. Engineers from the
Royal Pioneer Corps improved the infrastructure including importing sheep to feed the soldiers and, after a case of
typhoid fever, shipping drinking water from south Wales. To enable the movement of equipment, the engineers built a new jetty. This was linked to the plateau with a cable-operated winched switchback railway using prefabricated gauge lines which had been captured from the Germans in World War I. The Steep Holm batteries were also connected, by underwater
telegraph cable, to the
Brean Down Fort batteries, but parts of the cable were stolen for scrap after the end of World War II.
Post war In 1953 the island was leased by the Steep Holm Trust supported by four local organisations: the
Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, Bristol Naturalists Society, Mid-Somerset Naturalists and the Bristol Folk House Archaeological Club. They repaired some of the buildings and established a bird ringing programme. In 1974 their lease expired and was taken over by the Kenneth Allsop Memorial Trust, a registered charity formed in memory of the broadcaster and naturalist
Kenneth Allsop. The Trust purchased the island in 1976. The mission statement of the Trust is: "To protect, preserve and enhance for the benefit of the public the landscape, antiquities, flora, fauna, natural beauty and scientific interest of the island of Steep Holm in the County of North Somerset and to advance the education of the public in the natural sciences." Visits can be made to the island. The trust runs day-long boat trips from Weston-super-Mare. One barrack block is in use to provide visitor facilities. In 1980 the
Bollywood film
Shaan was set and partially filmed on the island. The island is the focal point of the 2018 crime thriller
Arcam, by Jason Minick. ==References==