Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - The Bristol Channel District Guide - selected articles - [1934 Edition] . . . .

The name " Holm " is Norse for " island, " and is a survival of the Danish invasion of the coasts in the 10th century. A small priory, remains of which have been discovered, formerly existed on the island ;  it is believed to have been founded by one of the Berkeleys, in 1320.

In formation the island, which has recently been constituted a bird sanctuary, consists of limestone rock rising steeply to the height of 400 feet. Accessible only by two narrow passages it comprises sixty acres of barren and unproductive soil in a mile and a half circumference.

The Flat Holm, although it has the appearance of being larger than the sister isle, is also about a mile and a half in circumference, but its sixty acres are of a far more fertile description and include excellent pasturage for sheep, and wild plants abound there. A farm-house and an inn stand on it, and during the summer months it is the resort of many visitors and picnic parties.

The Lighthouse, standing about 156 feet high on its southern point, was erected in 1737, and shows an occulting light with red and white sectors, visible at a distance of 18 miles. The Flat Holm fog-horn is the loudest in the Bristol Channel.

On the island

" - Three forgotten moulds mark the rude graves,
None knows whom. "

According to tradition, these graves are those of the four knights who slew Thomas à Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

The Flat Holm under an ancient charter is regarded as being within the water boundaries of the parish of St. Stephen's, Bristol.

Between the Flat Holm and Lavernock Point is a dangerous reef known as " The Wolves, " from the resemblance of the noise which the sea makes in breaking over the rocks to the howling pack of hungry wolves.