page_title: Piel Island
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Piel Island / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A portrait of William Wordsworth. This is apparently an 1873 reproduction of an 1839 watercolor by Margaret Gillies (1803-1887) Deutsch: William Wordsworth
context_page_description: Piel Island lies half a mile off the southern tip of the Furness peninsula in the administrative county of Cumbria, though historically within Lancashire, north of the sands. It is located at 54°3′50″N 3°10′30″W. It is one of the Islands of Furness. It is the location of the English Heritage-owned Piel Castle.
  The island is within the administrative boundaries of the mainland town of Barrow-in-Furness and is owned by the people of the town, having been given by the Duke of Buccleuch in the early 20th century. The Borough Council's administrative duties also include the selection of the "King" of Piel, who is the landlord of the island's public house, the Ship Inn. The area of Piel is about 50 acres. As well as the landlord and his family the island has three other permanent residents who live in the old Pilots Cottages.
context_section_description: In the Middle Ages Piel was known as Fowdray (or Fouldrey or Fowdrey) island. This name would seem to be derived from the Old Norse words fouder, meaning "fodder", and ay or oy, meaning "island". The island's known history dates from the time of King Stephen who, in 1127, gave the island to the Savignac monks as part of a land grant for an abbey. When the Savignacs became part of the Cistercian order later in the 12th century, the island came under the control of the Cistercians at nearby Furness Abbey. In the early 13th century the Cistercians used Piel as a safe harbour and built a warehouse for the storage of grain, wine and wool. Some of these commodities were shipped over from Ireland. In 1212 the monks were granted a licence by King John to land one cargo of "wheat, flour and other provisions" to stave off a famine caused by the failure of the local harvest. Later in the century an unlimited cargo licence was granted and in 1258 ships owned by the abbey were placed under royal protection.
  The monks fortified the island, firstly with a wooden tower surrounded by a ditch with palisades, and then in 1327 they commenced the building of a motte and bailey fort (also known as a "peel" - hence the island's modern name). This structure was, at the time, the largest of its kind in northwest England. It was probably built as a fortified warehouse to repel pirates and raiders, but it would appear to have had a measure of success in keeping the customs men at bay as well; smuggling was widespread at the time and the abbey was known to have been involved. Indeed, in 1423 an accusation was made against the Abbott of Furness that he smuggled wool out of the country from "la Peele de Foddray". The red sandstone ruins of the fort came to be known as the "Pile of Fouldrey", and are known today as Piel Castle.
  The next noteworthy episode in the island's history occurred on 4 June 1487 when Lambert Simnel and his supporters arrived from Dublin. Simnel, crowned as "Edward VI" in Ireland, was being passed off as Edward, 17th Earl of Warwick, the Yorkist heir, by John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln in his attempt to regain the throne for the Yorkists. Simnel and 2,000 German mercenaries made their way via Piel to do battle for the throne. They were eventually defeated at the Battle of Stoke near Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire on 16 June 1487.
caption: Romanticist William Wordsworth, who wrote of the island in a poem about his time at Rampside
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