A small island of 22.5 acres, a mile from the mainland at Looe. It has been inhabited since the Iron Age, had a Benedictine Chapel built in 1139, and in later centuries it was a popular haunt for smugglers avoiding the government's revenue men. Two sisters bought the island in 1965, and lived there alone until the eldest died in 2004. As a wooded island of outstanding natural beauty and a natural sanctuary for sea and woodland birds it then became a nature reserve owned by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. The island is accessible usually only by boat. However at really low spring tides it is possible to cross by foot. St George's Island is open to day visitors during the summer.