Perhaps you’ve noticed the figurehead of Jane Owen, mounted on the wall opposite the Ship Inn; maybe you’ve stopped to read about her, and wondered who she was. And you might well have learned that she is a copy of the original Jane Owen figurehead, displayed in the Abbey Gardens on the island of Tresco, Scilly.
The figurehead from the Jane Owen on The Strand, a copy of the original in Tresco, Scilly
The original Jane Owen was built in 1860, a 76-ton Welsh schooner which ran aground near Tresco in 1889 while carrying a cargo of slate from Aberdovey to Devonport (near Plymouth). The figurehead of Jane Owen was likely a portrait of a woman connected with the boat. Twenty-nine years in service was quite impressive at the time, when a number of ships met an unhappy end before they were even five years in service.
Figurehead from the Welsh-built schooner, the Jane Owen at the Valhalla Collection in Tresco
Tresco has an impressive collection of figureheads, gathered together from over 20 ships sunk mostly around the shipwreck capital of British waters. A strange and wonderful curation of carved men, women, angels and animals which once adorned the prow of ships, seen as guardians, protecting the ship, their crew and their freight from harm. But many ships came to grief on the wild and windy coastline of the five inhabited islands – and several more uninhabited – off Cornwall, and one or two tell extraordinary tales of a sole survivor clinging onto the figurehead and being washed ashore.
Figurehead from the Welsh-built schooner, the Jane Owen at the Valhalla Collection in Tresco
Just before leaving Tresco on a morning helicopter, I always bid farewell to Scilly Jane Owen, and salute her doppelganger as we drive bleary-eyed back home into Rye, just in time for supper.
Little is known about the Rye Jane Owen figurehead, if you have any information about her please contact info@ryenews.org.uk
