beautiful sea views devon, b&b north devon, bed and breakfast devon, accommodation north cornwall, coastal path beautiful sea views, accommodation, welcombe marsland mouth, hartland peninsula, fishing walking birdwtching

Lundy is the largest island in the Bristol Channel, lying 12 miles (19 km) off the coast of Devon, England, approximately one third of the distance across the channel between England and Wales. Lundy gives its name to one of the British Sea Areas and is one of the islands of England.

As of 2007, there was a resident population of 28 people, including volunteers. These include a warden, island manager, and farmer, as well as bar and house-keeping staff. Most live in and around the village at the south of the island. Most visitors are day-trippers, although there are 23 holiday properties and a camp site for staying visitors, mostly also around the south of the island.

In a 2005 opinion poll of Radio Times readers, Lundy was named as Britain's tenth greatest natural wonder. The entire island has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and it was England's first statutory Marine Nature Reserve, because of its unique flora and fauna. It is managed by the Landmark Trust on behalf of the National Trust.

The name Lundy is believed to come from the old Norse word for "puffin island", however an alternative explanation has been suggested with Lund referring to a copse, or wooded area.According to genealogist Edward MacLysaght the surname Lundy is from Norman de la Lounde, a name recorded in medieval documents in counties Tipperary and Kilkenny in Ireland.

Lundy has evidence of visitation or occupation from the Neolithic period onward, with Mesolithic flintwork, Bronze Age burial mounds, four inscribed gravestones from the early medieval period,and an early medieval monastery (possibly dedicated to St Elen or St Helen).

Beacon Hill cemetery was excavated by Charles Thomas in 1969. The cemetery contains four inscribed stones dated to the 5th or 6th century AD. The site was originally enclosed by a curvilinear bank and ditch which is still visible in the South West corner. However, the other walls were moved when the Old Light was constructed in 1819. Early Christian enclosures of this type are known as lanns. There are surviving examples in Luxulyan, in Cornwall; Mathry, Mydrim, and Clydey in Wales; and Stowford, Jacobstowe, Lydford, and Instow, in Devon.

Thomas proposed a five stage sequence of site use: An area of round huts and fields. These huts may have fallen into disuse before the construction of the cemetery. The construction of the focal grave, a 11ft by 8ft rectangular stone enclosure containing a single cist grave. The interior of the enclosure was filled with small granite pieces. Two more cist graves located to the west of the enclosure may also date to this time. Perhaps 100 years later, the focal grave was opened and the infill removed. The body may have been moved to a church at this time. Two further stages of cist grave construction around the focal grave.

23 cist graves were found during this excavation. Considering that the excavation only uncovered a small area of the cemetery, there may be as many as 100 graves.

The island is primarily composed of granite from the palaeocene period, with slate at the southern end; the plateau soil is mainly loam, with some peat. Among the igneous dykes cutting the granite are a small number composed of a unique orthophyre. This was given the name Lundyite in 1914, although the term – never precisely defined – has since fallen into disuse.