Weddell Settlement
| Weddell Settlement | |
| Falkland Islands | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Location: | 51°53’37"S, 60°54’35"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Camp |
Weddell Settlement is the only settlement on Weddell Island in the Falkland Islands. It stands on the east coast of the island at the head of the sheltered Gull Harbour (formerly Great Harbour.[1][2]), part of Queen Charlotte Bay.[3]
The settlement is seven and a half miles north-east of Race Point, nine miles south by west of Swan Point, 132 miles west of Stanley and 35 miles west of Fox Bay on West Falkland.
The village
The settlement provides the logistic base for Weddell Island’s sheep farming and tourist industries. Sea transportation is serviced by a 55-yard pier. The island’s airfield is a mile and a half north of Weddell Settlement, and has two intersecting unpaved runways (1,542 feet and 1,312 feet long respectively) used by the Falkland Islands Government Air Service (FIGAS) Islander aircraft operating out of Stanley Airport. There are two unpaved earth roads on the island, both leaving Weddell Settlement. One of them, 8 miles long, runs towards the airfield and further north to Loop Head Shanty and the headland ending up in Loop Head and Swan Point. The other one leads nine miles in westerly direction, skirting the head of Chatham Harbour and turning north at Kelp Creek House to reach Chatham House at the south-west corner of the bay.
The tourist and farming infrastructure at Weddell Settlement is currently being renovated; in particular, the Weddell Lodge is being extended to provide additional tourist and workers accommodation during the summer period.
Pictures
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Old map of Weddell Island
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Sheep farmer John Hamilton whose family owned the settlement and the island from 1923 to 1987
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Sheep gathering on Weddell Island
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The brothers Lewis (pictured) and Stephen Clifton own the island since 2015
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Map of Weddell Island
Outside links
- Weddell Island: Visit Falkland Islands
- Weddell Island: Falkland Islands: Our islands
References
- ↑ The Falkland Islands: Surveyed by Capt. Fitz Roy R.N. and the Officers of H.M. Ship Beagle, 1834. The Inner Bays from Port Harriet to the Eagle Passage are from the Surveys of Lt. Sulivan and W. Robinson R.N., 1838 & 1839. Scale ca. 1:404000 map. London: John Arrowsmith, 1841
- ↑ R.M. Martin, J. & F. Tallis. Falkland Islands and Patagonia. Scale 1:1200000 map. New York: J. & F. Tallis, 1851
- ↑ Weddell Settlement. Falkland Islands. GeoNames Geographical Database
- Stonehouse, B. (ed.): 'Encyclopedia of Antarctica and the Southern Oceans' (John Wiley & Sons, 2002) p 404 ISBN 978-0-471-98665-2
- Barnard, C.H.: 'A Narrative of the Sufferings and Adventures of Capt. Charles H. Barnard, in a Recent Voyage Round the World, Including an Account of His Residence for Two Years on An Uninhabited Island' (J.P. Callender, 1836)