the Isles of Scilly
Scilly, Isles of, a group of about 140 small British islands and reefs off Cornwall, England. They are some 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Land's End, at the entrance to the English Channel. The Scillies are noted for production of flowers, some 50,000,000 blooms a year. The island reefs are a notorious ships' graveyard. Tourists to the five inhabited islands can see ruins of a medieval abbey, burial chambers, and figureheads from wrecked ships.
Scholars believe that the ancient Phoenicians may have gotten their tin from the Scillies. King Athelstan of England (925–940) allowed Benedictine monks to settle there in the 10th century A.D. The islands have belonged to the Duchy of Cornwall since the 14th century.
Population: 2,153.