Historical images of the home of the man who encouraged British settlement of Bermuda have arrived on the Island through the kindness of a one-time worker here.

Former Ornamental Ironworks employee, Jim Skew, has returned to Bermuda with past and present pictures of one of Sir George Somers' homes in the UK.

"I thought it might be of interest to a lot of Bermudians,'' he said.

A successful career in privateering along the Spanish Main allowed the Admiral to buy two private estates. He was born in nearby Lyme Regis in 1554, a town which recently twinned with St. George's.

One of those estates, Berne Manor, is in Whitchurch Canonicorum, Devon. It is now a farmhouse after being restored from a fire which partially destroyed the original building at the turn of the century.

However the farm still has the original foundations and flagstones.

Sir George is buried in the nearby ninth-century Church of St. Candida and the Holy Cross -- where there is also a brass plaque commemorating his life. His heart is buried on-Island, at Somers Gardens.

Mr. Skew, here on the Island with his wife Eleanor, worked in Bermuda between 1968 and 1982.

He returned to the UK and settled down in Bournemouth and made the trip over to Whitchurch about five years ago "to try and find out what I could''.

"I am interested in history. I really like it. I love going into old places like cathedrals, castles and homes where famous people have walked.'' NOT WHERE THE HEART IS -- They say home is where the heart is, but not for Sir George Somers', whose heart rests in St. George's, not at his ancestral home, the ninth-century farmhouse, Berne Manor, located in Whitchurch Canonicorum, Devon, England.