Tresco Abbey Garden

Among the beautiful displays at Tresco Abbey Garden are a fascinating collection of historic ships’ figureheads, the former fire cresset from St Agnes Lighthouse and a cannon recovered from HMS Association.

St Agnes Lighthouse dates back to 1680 and was originally illuminated by a coal fire burning in an iron cresset housed within the enclosed lantern. In 1790, the light was upgraded with Argand oil burners and parabolic reflectors, making the old cresset obsolete. It was later moved to Tresco, where it now forms part of the Valhalla collection within Abbey Garden.

Standing alongside the cresset is a cannon from HMS Association, the flagship of Sir Cloudesley Shovell, one of Britain’s most distinguished naval commanders and Admiral of the Fleet, the Royal Navy’s highest-ranking officer. Association was wrecked on the Outer Gilstone Rock, beyond St Agnes, on the night of 22nd October 1707 while returning from the Mediterranean. She was one of four Royal Navy ships lost in the Scilly naval disaster after the fleet fatally misjudged its position, resulting in the loss of around 1,400 lives.

Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s body was washed ashore at Porth Hellick on St Mary’s, where a memorial now marks the site. He was later buried with full state honours in Westminster Abbey. The disaster became one of the greatest maritime tragedies in British history and helped spur efforts to solve the long-standing problem of determining longitude at sea, eventually leading to the Longitude Act of 1714. Another relic from HMS Association can be seen in St Mary the Virgin Church, Hughtown.

Tresco Abbey Garden was established during the 19th century around the ruins of a Benedictine Abbey. Thanks to the island’s mild, sheltered climate, the gardens are home to thousands of exotic and subtropical plants from around the world, many of which flourish here despite being far from their native habitats.

The Valhalla Figurehead Museum is one of the garden’s most distinctive attractions, displaying around 30 beautifully carved ship’s figureheads. The collection began in the 1840s when Augustus Smith, the Lord Proprietor of the Isles of Scilly, started rescuing figureheads from vessels wrecked around the islands. Most date from the mid to late 19th century and provide a poignant reminder of the treacherous waters surrounding the archipelago. In 1979, the Valhalla collection became part of the National Maritime Museum.

Tresco is easily reached from the other inhabited Isles of Scilly, with regular boat services operating daily from April to October and additional sailings available by request at other times of the year, subject to tides and weather.