Almost
all the Lizard Peninsula is composed of soft, colourful Serpentine
stone (so called because of its snakeskin appearance
when polished), which is carved in local workshops.
Just
east of Lizard Village is the hamlet of Landewednack
with its church of St Wynwallow,
built of alternate granite and serpentine blocks.
Photo
of another Walk from The Lizard Village
to Kynance
Kynance
Cove
Just to the west is Kynance Cove, owned by the
National Trust, with golden sands and isolated rocks in the
sea. It is truly a wonderful site from above, Dark rocks with
yellow sand around the green and blue waters. Caves and beach
at the rear at low-tide. (At high tide there is little beach,
but lovely all the same).
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Cadgwith
A charming little village, near to the Lizard
Village. It has a sheltered harbour, and a steep street either
side with lovely cottages, It has a few fishing boats still
catching crab, lobster and small quantities of local fish. There
is an old pilchard cellar still standing on the quay beside
the inn. It was a major fishing harbour in times gone by, holding
the record for pilchards with 1.3 million caught in a single
day back in the 19th century. Walk down the lovely wooded path
from the car park, with its views across the narrow valley,
with many flowers and past the famous small church, St
.mary's, about the size of a room.
The Devils Frying Pan
at
Cadgwith, where the collapse of a sea cave has led to the creation
of a 100 metre deep hole. A circular nature trail takes you
through the Poltesco Valley. Along the trail there are the remains
of an old serpentine factory (which closed in the 1890's) at
Carlton Cove.
Cadgwith winter storms
The
Lizard is famous for the ornamental working of serpentine
Stone with its lovely greens, red, yellow and white
lines running though it. There are local shops in the village
where it is available to buy in interesting shapes. To the east
of Cadgwith is the old coastguard building on the headland.
This was a notorious smuggling coast, and there was a continuous
revenue presence in Cadgwith over many years to try and stop
this! Sit in the pub there and try to remember the old days.
Coverack
Further away is another Lizard Village that
grew up round smuggling and fishing. It has a high sea wall
, with one main street running along it. A sandy beach. Some
of the cottages are said to have secret cellars for the hiding
of contraband. The Paris Hotel (a public House) on the quay
is named after the wreck of the American ship, the Paris, which
sank here in May 1899 with 700 passengers and crew aboard. All
were rescued. There is an Iron Age cliff fort at Chynhallis
Point, half a mile to the south.
Gunwalloe
A
fishing cove with a scattering of fishermen's cottages at the
eastern tip of Mounts bay. In a separate cove just to the south
at Gunwalloe Church Cove is the parish church of St Wynwallow
in the sand dunes beside the beach surrounded by a tamarisk
hedge. "The St Anthony", the King of Portugal's treasure
ship was wrecked in the cove in 1527.
Marconi
transmitted the first trans Atlantic radio signals from Podhu
Head to the south of Gunwalloe in 1901.
Goonhilly
Earth Station
With over 60 dishes on site, Goonhilly is the
largest satellite earth station in the world. Able to transmit
to every corner of the globe via space,and through undersea
fibre optic cables, Goonhilly simultaneously handles millions
of international phone calls,emails,and TV broadcasts.
The Visitors Centre is now closed for the winter & will
be re-opening for Easter. -
please call 0800 679593 for details. Open
daily from Early April - Late October. Follow the B3293 Helston
to Keverne road. Location: Located 7 miles from Helston on the
Lizard Peninsula. Follow the B3293 road from Helston to St.
keverne.
Helston
The largest town in the area, (Banks, food etc).
is known for it's internationally famous festival of the Furry,
or Flora Dance. Watch St George and St Michael slay the Dragon
and the Devil, cheered on by a crowd dressed in Lincoln green
and Elizabethan robes. This is held every year on May 8th unless
that day falls on a Sunday or Monday, when it is held on the
preceding Saturday. Helston was a port as early as the 13th
century, when locally streamed tin was exported from here.
There
is a Victorian guildhall, the Butter Market Folk Museum. Henry
Trengrouse, the inventor of the rocket apparatus used to fire
rescue lines to ships, has a memorial in the churchyard. The
parish church itself was in fact destroyed by lightening in
1727, and rebuilt in 1830. At the lower end of the Main Street
stands the Blue Anchor Inn, a place of repose for monks in the
1400's. Bob Fitzsimmons, the former world boxing champion, was
born here in a cottage in Wendron Street.
Also
outside Helston are the attractions of Flambards Theme Park,
Cornwall Aero Park and the Poldark Mine.
RNAS
Culdrose
(near to Helston on the way to the Lizard village).
It's Europe's largest military helicopter base. It is the base
for Cornwall's air sea rescue helicopters in their Red and grey
coloured Seakings and many other helicopters and aircraft including
the new Merlin. Excellent trips around the base are available,
three times per day. Entry from the Public Viewing enclosure
side (with cafe and shop).
Merlin's,
Seakings, and other helicopters fly around. On the tour you
drive in a coach (with its superb commentary by an ex- naval
man,) and also disembark to visit a hanger and the cinema, Naturally
subject to change, but I enjoyed the visit in late Oct. 2001
where I saw some older helicopters in a hanger including a Whirlwind
HAS 3, Lynx and near by a lot of old RAF Harrier's including
a twin seat version sat out right next to the bus. There are
also Hark jet's stationed here. See my Merlin
animation
Praa
Sands
The mile-long beach at Praa Sands is known for
its sandy beach which attract many visitors during the summer,
as well as surfers throughout the year. The cliffs and dunes
behind the beach contain a fuller and more complex sequence
of Ice Age deposits than is exposed elsewhere in West Cornwall,
they also contain a partial record of events associated with
the rise of sea level after the last Ice Age which finished
10,000 years ago.
St
Keverne
Known for its church tower, which is used as
a marker to guide boats past the Manacles Rocks (their name
comes from the Cornish "maen eglos" which means "stones
of the church"). The tower was struck by lightening in
the 18th century, and had to be rebuilt. Two of the worst tragedies
were "The John" in 1855 which sunk with the loss of
196 lives, and the "Mohegan" in 1898 on which 106
lives were lost as it hit the rocks at full steam.
North
of St Keverne are the two former fishing villages of Porthoustock
and Porthallow, which are now quarry villages.
St
Ives
Less than an hour away is St Ives. Well known
for its stunning town and harbour with the grassy hill "the
Island" behind it. Many sandy beaches and lots of artists.
It's name comes from St Ia, a female saint who crossed from
Ireland on a leaf!
Smeaton's
pier, the main arm of the harbour, was built by the architect
of the Eddystone Light. Today the miners and the fishermen have
gone, and many tourists have replaced them.
Today
it still has some old character with cobbled alleys, steep streets
and whitewashed cottages with flowery courtyards. The Sloop,
an old Inn on the harbour front is still there. Please be aware
of the limited parking in Summer, you have been warned!,
please park on the outskirts it's really so much easier).
The
church, dedicated to St Ia, contains a sculpture by Barbara
Hepworth to the Madonna and Child. More examples of Hepworth's
work can be seen at the Hepworth Museum in Back Street.
The
Tate Gallery built an new extension, opened in 1992. St Ives
has been an artists colony since the 1880's when Turner visited
the town.
Mullion
A former fishing port on the Lizard. Of note
is the church with its magnificent 16th century bench ends (depicting
surprisingly bawdy scenes) The church tower is partly built
of serpentine.
The solid granite piers of Mullion harbour,
200 feet below the edge of the cliffs, was built in the completed
in 1895, and is owned by the National trust. To the north at
Poldhu Point, Marconi transmitted the first radio Morse code
signals across the Atlantic. At the bottom of the hill to the
harbour there are no shops, only a couple of buildings, a small
cafe, but when the tide is out there are beaches to the left.
Fantastic cliff walks offer really superb views.
Porthleven
(on the coast near Helston)
Since the middle ages this has been a fishing
village, and today it has a fishing fleet and a small boat building
yard. The long curved harbour wall is in three sections.
A
series of lime kilns that have now been converted into art galleries.
To
the east, behind a shingle bar pushed up by the sea over the
years, is Loe Pool, Cornwall's largest freshwater
lake
Seek
out intriguing, paintings and local crafts
Visit locations you have seen in Poldark, Wycliffe and many
other film and television programmes.
Tour south west Cornwall - Land's End, St Michael's Mount, The
Minack Theatre, Tate Gallery at St Ives, Penzance, Truro and
Falmouth - all are within an hour's drive.
Map
around The Lizard Village and local area>.
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