Lower Lance Cove: The following description of the Cove comes from the ENL:

An unincorporated community on Random Island, east of Britannia Lower Lance Cove first appears in Census records in 1901, with a population of 140.

In nineteenth century records the community was either regarded as part of Britannia or else all the communities from Petley (formerly Upper Lance Cove) to Lower Lance Cove were identified as Lance Cove.

The main part of the present-day community was locally known as Skimmers Cove, while British Cove (to the west of Lower Lance Cove Head) is also regarded as being part of Lance Cove.

Permanent settlement probably dates from the 1850s, when some winter people from the Trinity area began staying year-round. The first settler was likely Richard Ivany of English Harbour.

While l'anse in French is the word that translates to "cove", and this community could take its name from the Anglicized version, is also possible that the cove was name after a common fish in Newfoundland: the northern sand lance and the American sand lance are two different species of sand eels.

According to material included in the ENL "both species are slender, schooling saltwater fish and often bury themselves in bottom sand or fine gravel to rest and to hide from predators".

Petley: Originally known as Lance Cove or Upper Lance Cove, to avoid confusion with the "other" Lance Coves, it was renamed in 1915 to honour an early Church of England missionary in the area, Henry Petley.

According to ENL sources, "the modern community of Pedley also includes Aspen Cove, just to the west of Lance Cove, which in most carly records was considered a separate community".

The earliest settlers (the Laites and the Walters) were believed to have moved into the area around the 1840s, settling permanently by the 1850s.

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/LowerLanceCove