Yes I'm also interested in what Tony has to share.
I found the discussion with Islander earlier in the string about which Channel Island Kirrin might be based on quite exciting (NB. Not sure where Islander has disappeared to since then - he was supposed to be providing more evidence!).
But it does seem a little unlikely that someone hasn't narrowed down the options on Kirrin Island before now. Having said that, Norman Wright's 'Everything you wanted to know about the Famous Five' certainly doesn't shed any light on the subject.
I only hope Tony really does have something of substance to help identify the island.......!
This is a Green Knight Book which means that it is a book by one of the most popular authors of all.
Hmmm. Some queer goings on. Has Tony nobbled Islander???
Actually if we did discover for the first time which island Kirrin is based on, it would make a good story for the press. They all like a good Enid Blyton story - and particularly the Famous Five, as was witnessed a few months ago re. reports that the books would be updated and include the boys doing the washing up.
Let's hope Moonraker is right......
This is a Green Knight Book which means that it is a book by one of the most popular authors of all.
oooh you bumped it just for me! *feels special*. Thank ee very much, I shall read, mark and inwardly digest.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
Time to die.
Since meeting David Cook (Society member and regular contributer to the Enid Blyton Journal) at ‘Enid Blyton’s Birthday Party’ (see separate string) we have remained in touch. I recently sent David copies of some of the Forum’s strings (David doesn’t have a computer). One of the strings I sent was the (where is?) Kirrin Island/Bay string. David then wrote to me setting out his own views on the subject. Repeated below, with David’s permission, are his thoughts on the subject! Many thanks David.
“The forum on Kirrin Island/Bay has intrigued me all over again, and I definitely have views on the location. Trevor Bolton’s letter from Enid Blyton states that “Kirrin was based on an actual village, bay and island – but in the Channel Isles”. Barbara Stoney states briefly (page 56 of the new revised Enid Blyton biography) that Enid appears to have spent her honeymoon on Jersey, a fact deduced from two articles in “Teacher’s World” entitled “La Corbiere” and “Dawn at Sea”. Five have plenty of fun describes houses built all the way around the bay with a view of the island. The only place in Jersey with houses all along the front is St. Aubin’s bay which runs from St Helier to St. Aubin and the pub/hotel called (in the Bergerac series) “The Royal Barge” owned by Diamante Lil.
The island in the middle of the bay here is Elizabeth Castle. This is linked to the mainland and I watched a Bergerac episode recently where police cars drove across the causeway and into the castle courtyard. Kirrin Castle it ain’t! So I don’t think the village, bay and island are necessarily in the same spot.
My best bet for inspiration is as Islander says, Janvrin’s Tomb in Portelet Bay. It’s been 12-15 years since I was last on Jersey, so my memory isn’t clear whether this is Ile de Guerlain or Ile de Perce, both marked on the map as being in Portelet Bay. As I remember it this is a miniature island, what they call in film land a foreground miniature and not full size as people might expect.
I also still believe that Brownsea Island may have influenced Enid’s thought processes as it is in Dorset and was a castle situated on an island (Bracksea) though inaccessible to the public. A further link is provided by the booklet I mention in my “Portrait of Kirrin” article in Journal 7. Written by (I kid you not, no Gooning around!) Theophilus Bennet, incumbent vicar of Brownsea in 1881 and entitled “A sketch of Brownsea Island” it first gives the idea of wrecks occurring around the island.
So the idea of a wreck on Kirrin Island may (also) be based on the factual Brownsea, where it seems wrecks were a regular occurrence. Bennett tells us that in AD1015 King Canute landed on the island and goes on “Canute having spoiled the church and monastery of Cerne, took the haven and thence sailed to Brownsea. His force being laden with the spoils of the monastery, doubtless found the little island a safe retreat. Here they could, without fear of molestation, mature plans for further marauding expectations”. “In 1154 King Henry II granted to the Abbott of Cerne, the right of wreck on the island. A chapel and hermitage were built and part of the hermit’s duties, along with his devotions, was to keep a sharp eye lookout for wrecks”.
As to the castle itself, I was once exploring a place on the coast of Guernsey where I was immediately reminded of the courtyard of Kirrin Castle, but from the description in Five on a Treasure Island that the route from the natural harbour leads to the ruined castle, which situated on a low hill had been built of white stone, but was now reduced to broken archways, two tumbledown towers and ruined walls. I think we’re safely talking Corfe Castle. Further description that jackdaws rest in the towers and that one enormous ruined old archway serves as castle entrance and another ruined doorway leads to its courtyard confirm it. The only castle I know of similar appearance and situation is Chin Castle in Shropshire featured in several of Malcolm Saville’s Lone Pine stories.
I still believe Kirrin is an amalgam – if there was a distinct site of all Enid describes together it would have been found long ago. Let’s credit our author with imagination!
PS. St Aubin’s Fort is another possibility. But as Kirrin has to include a promenade, jetty and a coastguard station it still seems an amalgam is most likely to me.”
This is a Green Knight Book which means that it is a book by one of the most popular authors of all.
Hi!,
Tonight, surfing the web and reading some interested articles about Famous Five, I found these pictures...
They´re from 1848...
They´re both from Jersey Islands, I had read than Enid said that real Kirrin was based in some islands from Jersey...
Maybe this or perhaps a mix between these and Corfe Castle?
I too have heard that Kirrin Castle and Island was based on the islands off Jersey, Oscar, so one of these pictures may well have been the inspiration for Enid's famous castle.
Julian gave an exclamation and nudged George.
"See that? It's the black Bentley again. KMF 102!"
