Editing Lundy (section)

===18th and 19th centuries===
The late 18th and early 19th centuries were years of lawlessness on Lundy, particularly during the ownership of [[Thomas Benson (1708–1772)|Thomas Benson]] (1708–1772), a [[Member of Parliament]] for Barnstaple in 1747 and [[High Sheriff of Devon|Sheriff of Devon]], who notoriously used the island for housing convicts whom he was supposed to be deporting. Benson leased Lundy from its owner, [[John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower]] (1694–1754) (who was an heir of the Grenville family of Bideford and of [[Stowe, Kilkhampton]] in Cornwall), at a rent of £60 per annum and contracted with the Government to transport a shipload of convicts to [[Virginia]], but diverted the ship to Lundy to use the convicts as his personal slaves. Later Benson was involved in an insurance swindle. He purchased and insured the ship ''Nightingale'' and loaded it with a valuable cargo of pewter and linen. Having cleared the port on the mainland, the ship put into Lundy, where the cargo was removed and stored in a cave built by the convicts, before setting sail again. Some days afterwards, when a homeward-bound vessel was sighted, the ''Nightingale'' was set on fire and scuttled. The crew were taken off the stricken ship by the other ship, which landed them safely at [[Clovelly]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.lerwill-life.org.uk/history/lundy.htm |title=Lundy, the Mariscos and Benson |work=Lerwill-Life.org.uk |access-date=6 September 2007}}</ref>

[[Vere Hunt|Sir Vere Hunt, 1st Baronet of Curragh]], a rather eccentric Irish politician and landowner, and unsuccessful man of business, purchased the island from John Cleveland in 1802 for £5,270. Hunt planted in the island a small, self-contained Irish colony with its own constitution and divorce laws, coinage, and stamps. The tenants came from Hunt's [[Curraghchase Forest Park|Irish estate]] and they experienced agricultural difficulties while on the island. This led Hunt to seek someone who would take the island off his hands, failing in his attempt to sell the island to the British government as a base for troops. 

After the 1st Baronet's death his son, [[Sir Aubrey de Vere, 2nd Baronet|Sir Aubrey (Hunt) de Vere, 2nd Baronet]], also had great difficulty in securing any profit from the property. In the 1820s, John Benison agreed to purchase the island for £4,500 but then refused to complete the sale, as he felt that de Vere could not make out a good title in respect of the sale terms, namely that the island was free from tithes and taxes.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.limerickcity.ie/Tools/Search/?cx=011573740689929430170%3Abzoybyvdyy0&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=de+vere&sa=Go&siteurl=www.limerick.ie%252FCollectionLists%252FCollectionListsinPDF%252F |title= Limerick City Archives, P22, De Vere Papers |access-date= 25 June 2010 |archive-date= 22 July 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110722045600/http://www.limerickcity.ie/Tools/Search/?cx=011573740689929430170:bzoybyvdyy0&cof=FORID:9&ie=UTF-8&q=de+vere&sa=Go&siteurl=www.limerick.ie%2FCollectionLists%2FCollectionListsinPDF%2F |url-status= dead }}</ref>

William Hudson Heaven purchased Lundy in 1834, as a summer retreat and for [[Game (food)|hunting]], at a cost of 9,400 [[Guinea (British coin)|guineas]] (£9,870). He claimed it to be a "free island", and successfully resisted the jurisdiction of the mainland magistrates. Lundy was in consequence sometimes referred to as "the kingdom of Heaven". It belonged in law to the county of Devon, and had long been part of the [[Hundred (county subdivision)|hundred]] of [[Braunton]].<ref name="library" /> Many of the buildings on the island, including [[St Helen's Church, Lundy|St. Helen's Church]], designed by the architect [[John Norton (architect)|John Norton]], and Millcombe House (originally known simply as "the Villa"), date from the Heaven period. The [[Georgian architecture|Georgian-style]] villa was built in 1836.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1326626 |desc=Millcombe House |access-date=5 September 2007}}</ref> However, the expense of building the road from the beach (no financial assistance being provided by [[Trinity House]], despite their frequent use of the road following the construction of the lighthouses), maintaining the villa, and the general cost of running the island had a ruinous effect on the family's finances, which had been diminished by reduced profits from their sugar plantations, rum production, and livestock rearing in [[Jamaica]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gambrill |first=Anthony |date=26 May 2019 |title=Kingdom of Heaven |url= https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/focus/20190526/anthony-gambrill-kingdom-heaven |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=[[The Gleaner]]}}</ref>

In 1957, a message in a bottle from one of the seamen of {{HMS|Caledonia|1808|6}} was washed ashore between [[Babbacombe]] and Peppercombe in [[Devon]]. The letter, dated 15 August 1843, read: "Dear Brother, Please e God i be with y against Michaelmas. Prepare y search Lundy for y Jenny ivories. Adiue William, Odessa". The bottle and letter are on display at the Portledge Hotel at Fairy Cross, in Devon, England. {{ship||Jenny|1783 ship|2}} was a three-masted [[full-rigged ship]] reputed to be carrying ivory and gold dust that was wrecked on Lundy on 20 January 1797 at a place thereafter called Jenny's Cove. Some ivory was apparently recovered some years later but the leather bags supposed to contain gold dust were never found.<ref>{{cite book |last=Page |first=John Lloyd Warden |title=The Coasts of Devon and Lundy Island: Their Towns, Villages, Scenery, Antiquities and Legends |location=London |publisher=Horace Cox |date=1895 |page=227}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Langham |first=A. F. |date=1994 |title=The Island of Lundy |location=Stroud |publisher=Sutton Publishing |page=142 |isbn=978-0-7509-0661-6}}</ref>