Steep Holm (grid reference ST228607) is an English island lying in the Bristol Channel. The island covers 48.87 acres (19.78 ha) at high tide, expanding to 63.26 acres (25.60 ha) at mean low water. At its highest point it is 78 metres (256 ft) above mean sea level. It lies within the historic boundaries of Somerset and administratively, it forms part of North Somerset. Between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996 it was administered as part of Avon.
The island serves as a wind and wave break, sheltering the upper reaches of the Bristol Channel. The island is formed of Carboniferous Limestone and is geologically a continuation of the Mendip Hills at Brean Down. The island is now uninhabited, with the exception of the wardens, and protected as a nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), notification having taken place in 1952. Nearby is Flat Holm island, part of Wales.
According to legend in the 6th century Saint Gildas lived on Steep Holm visiting his friend Saint Cadoc, who lived on Flat Holm as a hermit. Gildas supposedly left the island to become Abbot of Glastonbury.
Read more about Steep Holm: Former Military Uses, Kenneth Allsop Memorial Trust
Famous quotes containing the word steep:
“O sleep, O gentle sleep,
Nature’s soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down
And steep my senses in forgetfulness?
Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee,
And hushed with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber,
Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,
Under the canopies of costly state,
And lulled with sound of sweetest melody?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)