St. Mary's Island was originally called 'Bates Island', 'Hartley Bates' or 'Bates
Hill'. Its name has some connection with the Bates family who were prominent
in the area. In medieval times there was a chapel on the little rock dedicated
to St. Helen. Within it was the Lady-light, also called St. Katherine's light
and by wrong ascription to St. Mary the island later received its second
name. The light was probably not burnt to warn shipping, but was purely
religious. Traces of St. Helen's Chapel were destroyed when the present lighthouse
was built in 1898. Attached to the lighthouse was a graveyard in which interment
took place until 1680
|