ROY COVE
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Roy Cove lies in the north-west of West Falklands facing King George Bay on a deep-water creek in sheltered valleys beneath Mount Cook to the south. To the north on the long peninsular is Byron Heights.
William Wickham Bertrand established Roy Cove in 1872, after splitting with his partner Ernest Holmested with whom he had been setting up a sheep farm at Shallow Bay, Hill Cove. Shallow Bay was heavily in debt. Holmested met a new partner ‘Rees’ and Bertrand agreed with them to divide the estate, each taking on half of its debts. Bertrand took on the western section to farm it from Roy Cove originally naming the new settlement ‘Westbourne Station’. The stock was divided and it was loosely agreed that Bertrand could still run his sheep at Shallow Bay in exchange for assistance at shearing and lamb-marking.The two families continued to visit each other. |
Bertrand was a progressive farmer and constructed a sheep dip at Roy Cove in his attempts to eradicate the sheep scab which was plaguing the new sheep industry. In 1879 Authur Felton leased West Point Island from Roy Cove.
In 1886 Howard Clement and Sydney Miller arrived as cadets at Roy Cove. Miller moved onto work at Hill Cove in 1889 but Clement, married to Mabel, remained at Roy Cove and lived in a Manager’s house at the south end of the settlement, which was built for them in 1892.
Roy Cove was managed by Sydney Miller (married to Betty Miller) from 1932 until around 1970 when he retired. He was a progressive farmer, renowned for his work on grassland and stock improvement. In 1981 Roy Cove was sold to the Falkland Islands Government (£200,000) and in 1982 subdivided into six smaller family farming units, these being: Port North, Dunbar, Hope Harbour, Picthorne, Boundary and Crooked Inlet. |
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Sources include: Report on the Blue Book for 1888/89, Unspoilt Beauty of the Falkland Islands -Algernon Asprey text by Phyllis Rendall, Falkland Rural Heritage- Joan Spruce with Natalie Smith, nationalarchives.gov.fk/Jane Cameron National Archives /Buildings/ Land/General/Early leases of land post 1842,nationalarchives.gov.fk /Jane Cameron National Archives /People/19century families,The Dictionary of Falklands Biography (including South Georgia) - Edited by David Tatham,
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Photographic credits: Derek Lee
Photographs and Images Copyright: The images on this site have been bought under licence or have been used with the permission of their owners. They may not be copied or downloaded in any form without their owner's consent. |
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