Cadgwith Cove was originally called Porthcaswydh based on the Cornish words kas meaning a fight and wydh meaning wood, which were combined to mean "thicket", probably because the valley was densely wooded. In mediaeval times, there was little more than a collection of fish cellars around the cove used by local farmers for fishing. From the 16th Century, the cove became a permanent settlement with fishing as the main industry.
Cadgwith has an anthem which has been recorded with slightly different variations of words, sometimes under the title "The Robbers Retreat". It starts with:
Come fill up your glasses and let us be merry, For to rob bags of plunder it is our intent.
...which sounds promisingly Cornish, but it then mentions mountains, valleys, lilies and roses and even "the beauty of Kashmir" which has everyone confused. In fact it makes no mention of Cadgwith, Cornwall or even the coast. Nobody is quite sure where it came from, when it originated, or to what it refers!
The old coastguard hut is on the far side of the inlet.
The hut overlooking Cadgwith Cove was used as a Coastguard lookout and is now maintained by the National Trust. A stone near the hut inscribed with 1869 may possibly indicate its age. It is postulated the hut may have originally been built as a huer's hut to spot shoals of pilchards.
The coastline around Lizard Point is scattered with the remains of shipwrecks, now mostly broken into small pieces by storm waves crashing onto the exposed headlands.
The Bellucia was in a convoy on its way to London in July 1917 with a cargo of flour from Montreal when one of the crew noticed a periscope 300 yards off the port side. His warning was too late: a torpedo from a German U-boat killed four of the crew but did not immediately sink the ship. The remainder of the crew escaped in lifeboats and rafts, and were rescued. Meanwhile the wind drove the sinking vessel onto the shore where it grounded and tipped over onto its side. Tons of flour were later salvaged by cutting a hole in the exposed side of the hull. The sea has since broken the wreck up so that the pieces now all lie underwater.
The Devil's Frying Pan (also known by the Cornish name of Hugga Dridgee) has been created by the collapse of a sea cave resulting in a 100 metre deep funnel-shaped depression. The arch remaining from the cave forms a connection to the open sea. The origin of the name is said to be because in rough weather, the sea appears to be boiling within the cave and the central boulder resembles an egg frying in a pan.
Waves pounding into a cave compress the air inside. This can often be seen venting quite explosively from a cave as a blowhole. Inside the cave, the force from the air being rapidly compressed and decompressed gradually fractures the rock. Eventually this is unable to support the weight of the roof of the cave. Once this collapses, the sea washes away the soil and smaller stones leaving just the largest boulders which are slowly smoothed by the wave action.
Adders are easily identified by the pretty diamond pattern along their backs. Also known as vipers, these are Britain's only venomous snake. Adders are a protected species, are not aggressive, and generally only bite if trodden on or picked up (unsupervised dogs or children may attempt the latter).
On a foggy morning in 1882, the Mosel - a German steamship on its way to New York with 620 passengers - ran straight into the cliffs of The Lizard at full speed. All aboard were rescued and much of the cargo was also salvaged but many personal effects were lost with the ship. Divers have found penknives, scissors, buttons, combs, toothbrushes, shoe brushes, spectacles, and even mouth organs buried in the sand or amongst the wreckage.
Vrogue Rock, usually known as "The Vrogue", lies 800 metres southeast of Bass Point and is hidden 2 metres beneath the surface. In a strong tide, disturbance of the water can sometimes be seen at the surface. Unsurprisingly, a number of vessels have come to grief on the rock as they have attempted to cut the corner by Bass Point, and it is consequently listed by the Admiralty as "very dangerous".
In January 1859, the Czar was on its first long voyage to Malta with munitions but had to turn back due to a boiler fault. It hit The Vrogue on the way around The Lizard and ran so far over the reef that it ended up pivoting on top of it. The majority of those onboard disembarked into two lifeboats, but one of these was immediately swamped by the rough seas and moments later the ship tore in half and sank. Coastguards and Cadgwith fishermen launched boats and managed to save 6 people but 13 drowned including the Captain, his wife and young son.
Some of the cargo still remains on the seabed next to Vrogue Rock, including a number of 68-pounder guns and their huge shot. Within cracks and gullies in the rocks, military buttons from the uniforms within the cargo and musket shot are often found by divers.
The Clan Malcolm was a steamship built in Glasgow which was on its way from London to the Clyde in September of 1935 and grounded on the Tregwin Rocks off the Lizard in fog. Her crew of 75 were landed safely and tugs tried to get the ship off the rocks, but were unsuccessful. After two days, the wind rose and the ship became a complete wreck in the rough sea. Quite a large amount of the material from the ship was salvaged but some broken up remains lie on the sea bed including the three boilers in around 14 metres of water.
The large red and white wooden diamond is known as the Balk Beacon and is a daytime navigation aid (daymark) to assist ships in avoiding The Vrogue rock. It was erected in 1859 and restored in 2002 by the National Trust. The Balk Beacon lines up with a painted white mark on Hot Point to indicate the position of The Vrogue rock.
During late April, St Mark's flies occur in quite large numbers. They are recognisable by their shiny black colour, slow flight and dangly legs and have a habit of landing of anything in their path, walkers included. The larvae live in the soil feeding on roots and rotting vegetation and hatch around St Mark's Day (25th April), sometimes later into May in a cold year. The adults only live for about a week but they do feed on nectar, making them important pollinators. Each of the males eyes are divided into two parts by a groove and each part has a separate connection to their brains. This allows them to use one half to fly whilst using the other half to look for females.
The headland just before Church Cove is known as The Balk.
The Balk forms the eastern boundary between the serpentine rocks making up much of the southern area of The Lizard and the ancient rocks on Lizard Point which were once at the bottom of an ancient ocean.
There has been a lifeboat at The Lizard since 1859. It was originally launched from the boathouse at Polpeor (the most southerly point) which was on the cliff, making launching difficult. A second station was built in 1885 that was further down the cove and in 1914, a third station was built with a slipway. The exposed location on Lizard Point needed a lot of maintenance and made launching dangerous in rough seas, so in 1961 the lifeboat was moved to Church Cove.
In 2010, the Church Cove lifeboat station that was built at the end of the 1950s was demolished and, in 2012, was replaced with the current one which features a funicular railway line to transport lifeboat crews from the boathouse to the clifftop car park.
The RNLI was founded in 1824 under the original name of the National Institution for Preservation of Life from Shipwreck. It was renamed to the RNLI in 1854. Until 1890 all the lifeboats were rowed with oars until some steam-powered boats were introduced. By 1905, petrol-powered boats were being trialled and fairly quickly replaced the bulky steam-powered predecessors. Today a fleet of over 340 lifeboats provide a 24/7 search and rescue service around the UK. The charity has saved over 140,000 lives since it was set up.
The National Coastwatch Institution was set up to restore visual watches along the UK coastline after two Cornish fishermen lost their lives within sight of an empty Coastguard lookout in 1994. The first station - at Bass Point on The Lizard, where the fishermen had died - opened in December 1994. The organisation, staffed by volunteers, now runs 50 lookout stations around England and Wales.
The red wall below the coastguard lookout is another marker for The Vrogue rock which lines up with red and white marks on Lloyds signal station.
In April 1872, the signalling station opened to pass messages to ships arriving in the English Channel, which removed the necessity for ships to call at Falmouth. Messages were passed using flags, which was limited to fine weather and daytime. Initially, messages back from the ships were sent by horse rider to the nearest telegraph station at Helston. Two months later the telegraph cable was extended to the station which enabled near real-time messaging. As winter approached and daylight hours grew shorter, night-time signalling was tried using arrays of coloured lights, steam whistles, rockets and guns but was not that effective, particularly right next to a massive lighthouse and huge foghorn. Despite the limitations, the savings made by bypassing Falmouth meant the station was heavily used and a rival station soon opened up next door. The resulting confusion, arising from two rival stations both signalling from shore with flags, was fortunately short-lived when the companies merged and the second station was demolished. In the early 20th Century, the station was extended by adding two additional buildings known as "night boxes" to enable night-time lamp signalling without interference from the lighthouse and were used until the 1950s when they were taken over by the Coastguard.
In 1900, Guglielmo Marconi stayed in the Housel Bay Hotel in his search for a suitable site for marine communications using wireless technology, and given the already established telegraph links to semaphore signalling station here and lack of anything tall to interfere with radio transmission, he leased a plot of land on The Lizard, at Pen Olver, close to the lighthouse. Here he built the Lizard Wireless Telegraph Station which was primarily intended for ship-to-shore communication as ships were being fitted with new Marconi radio sets.
He also used the station for some tests. At the time, most scientists thought that radio waves would not propagate beyond the horizon. Marconi proved this not to be the case: on 23 January 1901, Marconi received a wireless signal here that was sent from the Isle of Wight, 186 miles away, thus proving that radio signals could be bent around the surface of the Earth and paving the way for modern telecommunications. After this, Marconi went on to build a larger transmitter at Poldhu which he used to send the first transatlantic signal.
In its capacity as a marine signalling station, the wireless hut was also the first to receive an SOS signal, in 1910, from a ship called the Minnehaha which had run aground further along the Cornish coast. Based on period photographs, the station has been restored by the National Trust to almost exactly how it was in 1901.
The steel-hulled Queen Margaret was considered by many to be one of the fastest and most beautiful sailing ships built in the 1890s. Whilst steamships didn't rely on the wind, over a long distance they could not compete with sailing ships which did not require coal or freshwater and were much faster than steamers. The Queen Margaret had a cargo of 4,500 tons of wheat from Australia and approached the signal station at the Lizard to receive orders for where to land the cargo. The ship signalled that it needed tugs to pull it against the strong headwind but could not read the answer so the captain manoeuvred closer to the shore to be able to read the flags. In doing so, the vessel grounded on Maenheere Rock. Water entering the hold caused the grain to swell which split the ship open and it became a total loss. The ship was salvaged for scrap and some of the remainder still lies on the seabed in 12 metres of water beside Maenheere Rock.
The SS Ilston was a merchant steamship armed with a deck gun during the First World War. In 1917 it was on its way from Swansea to France with a cargo of railway rolling stock. It was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sank off the Lizard with the loss of 6 crew members.
In November 1911 the sailing ship "Hansy" was bound for Melbourne with a cargo of iron and timber from Sweden. It was wrecked in Housel Bay in a gale but three of the crew were saved by the lifeboat and the remainder (including the ship's dog and cat) were rescued using rocket apparatus. The cargo of timber was used to build or repair many of the local cottages and the pigs of iron were fished out of the bay for use as ballast. When a salvage party boarded the wrecked vessel after the storm had died down, they found two goats had taken up residence in one of the seamen's bunks.
The current lighthouse building was completed in 1751, which Trinity House describes as consisting of "two towers, with a cottage built between them, in which an overlooker lay on a sort of couch, with a window on either side commanding a view of the lanterns. When the bellows-blowers relaxed their efforts and the fires dimmed, he would remind them of their duties by a blast from a cow horn." The twin towers were described by Tennyson as "the southern eyes of England". However, since 1903, only one of the two towers has been used and the lantern has been removed from the other tower. The lighthouse is the most powerful in the British Isles: the light has a range of 21 miles and its reflection can be seen 70 miles away.
The most southerly point of the British mainland - Lizard Point - protrudes far into The Channel and it is surrounded by shallow reefs which extend for roughly half a mile south of the Lizard. The individual rocks each have names: Ennach, Maenheere (furthest south) and Carligga, Carnvel, Man o' War and Mulvin (furthest west).
Also, even without any wind, the tidal race around the headland can reach 5-6 knots. The combination of these factors makes it the single greatest hazard for shipping in British waters. The Admiralty still advises navigators to stay at least three miles away from the Lizard in rough weather.
The "National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty" was founded in 1895 when snappy names weren't in fashion. Their first coastal acquisition was Barras Nose at Tintagel in 1897. Five years later, Tintagel Old Post Office was their first house to be acquired in Cornwall. The National Trust now owns over 700 miles of British coastline.
Project Neptune was started by the National Trust in 1965 to purchase and protect large portions of the British coastline. By 1973 it had achieved its target of raising £2 million and 338 miles of coastline were looked-after. The project was so successful that it is still running although mainly focused on maintenance. There is still an occasional opportunity when privately-owned coastal land is sold. A particularly notable one was in 2016 when the land at Trevose Head was put up for sale and successfully purchased by the National Trust.
The Ramblers Association and National Farmers Union suggest some "dos and don'ts" for walkers which we've collated with some info from the local Countryside Access Team.
Do
Don't
Jackdaws are able to recognise eye gestures from humans (e.g. if someone looks at where a food item is hidden). It has been suggested that jackdaws may use this with other birds too and this may be the reason that they have a striking blue eye colour that is easily seen from a distance.
Alexanders are a member of the carrot family and grow along roadsides in places similar to cow parsley. The leaves are more solid than the lacy cow parsley leaves and the flowers are yellow rather than white. The name arises because the plant was introduced to the UK by the Romans and was known as the "pot herb of Alexandria". It is also sometimes known as horse parsley.
Kissing gates are documented as far back to the 16th Century. The design allow humans to pass through but prevents large farm animals such as cows from passing (sheep have been known to wiggle their way through) without the need for a latch. As well as on footpaths, kissing gates are common in churchyards to allow easy public access whilst stopping farm animals from ruining the grass and relieving themselves on graves.
If there are sheep in the field and you have a dog, make sure it's securely on its lead (sheep are prone to panic and injuring themselves even if a dog is just being inquisitive). If the sheep start bleating, this means they are scared and they are liable to panic.
If there are pregnant sheep in the field, be particularly sensitive as a scare can cause a miscarriage. If there are sheep in the field with lambs, avoid approaching them closely, making loud noises or walking between a lamb and its mother, as you may provoke the mother to defend her young.
Sheep may look cute but if provoked they can cause serious injury (hence the verb "to ram"). Generally, the best plan is to walk quietly along the hedges and they will move away or ignore you.
The village of Lizard dates from early mediaeval times. It was recorded in the Domesday survey of 1086 and at the time was held by a landowner named Richard who had 1 hide, 4 wild mares, 3 cattle, 20 pigs and 60 sheep. The relatively small amount of beef available in mediaeval times is notable. It would have been eaten mainly by the wealthy landowners and the peasants would have kept a pig. At this point in time, a pasty, based on the meat of the gentry and on potatoes from undiscovered South America, would have been a decadent and futuristic fantasy.
The settlement of Tregaminion was first recorded in 1302. Other than the obvious tre, meaning farmstead and implying an early mediaeval origin, the origin of the name is not known. There is another small settlement with the same name on Gribbin Head near Fowey, very close to where Daphne Du Maurier lived.
The chapel is thought to have been built in the 1860s by the Wesleyan methodists.
By the time John Wesley died, the majority of Methodists were not attending Anglican church regularly, and following his death a Methodist church was formed, separate from the Anglican church. In the first half of the 19th Century, the Methodist movement fragmented into several different factions, often each with its own chapel in the same town. The Bible Christian movement was one of these, founded in North Cornwall in 1815 by William O'Bryan from Luxulyan. His followers are also known as the Bryonites, although after falling out with most of his ministers, O'Bryan emigrated to America. In 1907, the Bible Christian movement amalgamated with other Methodist groups to form the United Methodist Church.
There are 2 sparrow species in the UK but only the house sparrow is common in Cornwall.
Sparrows are highly social birds. They roost in colonies and when breeding, the nests are also built in close proximity. They also quite readily form a flock with other species of bird.
The settlement of Landewednack was first recorded in 1268. The lann in the name is the Celtic word for an enclosed cemetery. The rest of the name is assumed to be a saint's name.
The church was founded in the late 6th or early 7th century and is dedicated to St Winwaloe, the son of a Cornish prince who was an Abbot in Brittany. The current building dates from the 12th century, from which the Norman doorway remains. The church was rebuilt in the thirteenth century when the porch was added and in the fifteenth century with a new window in the tower.
Several churches in Cornwall have been dedicated to St Winwalloe (or Wynwallow) including at Gunwalloe and Landewednack on the Lizard, Tremaine near Launceston and Poundstock near Bude. Winwalloe was the son of a prince of the Celtic kingdom of Dumnonia (now known as Cornwall) born in 460. He fled to Brittany to avoid the plague, founded a monastery and died at the age of 72.
At this point the route passes over the last of the ancient rocks of Lizard Point before returning to serpentine rocks for the remainder of the route.
Serpentine is not a single mineral but a broad group of minerals formed when minerals rich in iron and magnesium react with water in a series of chemical reactions known as serpentinization. Rocks containing these minerals are known as Serpentinite. The name is due to the resemblance of the patterning in the rocks to the skin of reptiles.
The slippery rocks in the stream are Serpentine.
Serpentine rocks are well-known for being slippery. Part of the reason is that the serpentinization process produces soft minerals such as talc. These minerals have a plate-like structure that have strong chemical bonds within a layer, but the bonds between layers are weak so that the layers glide over each other. Rocks composed almost entirely of talc are known as "soapstone" as they are so slippery. Also, because the minerals are quite soft, foot traffic causes the surface of the rocks to become polished.
Like other members of the pea family, gorse produces its seeds in pods. The seeds are ejected with a popping sound when pods split open in hot weather. This can catapult the seeds up to five metres. The plants are able to live 30 years and survive sub-zero temperatures, the seeds can withstand fire and remain viable in the soil for 30 years.
A well-known country remedy for the stings of nettles is to rub the sore area with the leaf of a dock plant. A common misconception is that dock leaves are alkaline and neutralise the acids in the nettle sting but, in reality, docks contain a mild (oxalic) acid and nettle stings aren't caused by the acid content anyway. Although dock is claimed by some to contain a natural antihistamine, no scientific evidence has been found for this. It is thought that it is simply the rubbing and moisture in the leaf which provides a short-term relief/distraction whilst the sting itself is diminishing over time. It's possible it may also dislodge any stinging spikes left in the surface of the skin. Therefore almost any moist leaf should provide a little relief, with the exception of another nettle leaf!
The farmstead of Trethvas is thought to date from the early middle ages and was first recorded in 1277. The origin of the place name isn't known but it could be from the Cornish words vos, meaning "dwelling", and possibly treth, for "beach", as it lies above the sandy beach at Parn Voose Cove.
Betony is a grassland herb, common on the coast, with pretty purple anthers that stick out from the plant. The name is derived from the ancient Celtic words bew (meaning head) and ton (meaning good) as it was used as a cure for headaches. From Roman times onward, it was believed to be a cure for a number of things (the Romans listed 47!) including drunkenness. Even as late as the 1800s, Richard E. Banks stated that you should "Eat betony or the powder thereof and you cannot be drunken that day" and John Gerard (1597) said that "It maketh a man to pisse well". Betony was also used to ward away evil spirits (hence it is planted in a number of churchyards) and also to make a dark yellow dye for wool.
The name Lizard comes from the Cornish lysardh which literally means "high court" but could also be interpreted as "fortress". It is possibly a reference to the high cliffs along the coast and maybe also that it is a peninsula. Much of the rock making up the peninsula is known as "serpentine" but this is thought to be a coincidence; the name is thought to be based on the appearance of the rock and not a reference to the place name.
The settlement of Gwavas was first recorded in 1300 and comes from the Cornish for "winter dwelling".
Even as recently as the 19th Century, a system of dairy farming was used in Cornwall which involved grazing cattle on the moorland during the summer and then moving them to the coast for the winter. This had been going on for centuries and is reflected in Cornish language place names such as Gwavas on the coast (meaning the cattle's "winter dwelling") and moorland places with the name Laity, meaning "dairy" (which took place during the summer after calving).
Biologically, there is no clear distinction between ducks, geese and swans (geese and swans are one lanky subfamily of ducks). Dark-coloured ducks get the equivalent of "grey hairs" with age - their feathers gradually turn white.
The track is hedged with blackthorn trees.
Once you've made your sloe gin, don't throw away your gin-soaked sloes! Instead buy some cheap sweet "cooking" cider (the kind that comes in 2 litre plastic bottles preferably with words like "value", "basic" or "economy"; do not commit heresy and waste good quality drinking cider) and replace the gin with this. Ensure your lid is on tight so your cider doesn't lose its fizz. Leave to infuse for a few more months for your cider to become osmotically fortified. The resulting delightful drink is known as "slider" (after several glasses anyway). Based on "experience", small-sized glasses are recommended.
Blackthorn is a spiny type of plum which is more broadly a member of the rose family. It is native to the UK and common on old farmland where blackthorn trees were planted as hedges to keep out cattle. It is still common in Cornish hedgerows today and also common on the coast as it's tolerant to salt.
Built of serpentine, the church dates from around the twelfth century but was extensively rebuilt in 1862, so that only the tower and font remains from the original. In the 13th century, it was known as the Church of The Holy Cross. The story associated with this is that a nobleman was shipwrecked on the Lizard on his way back from a pilgrimage in Jerusalem where he had stolen a small section of Christ's cross, which he donated to the church here in thanks for his rescue. The church inventory from 1533 mentions that the relic was kept in a silver box. However, by 1310 the church had been rededicated to St Grada the Virgin, about whom virtually nothing is known. A tiny door in the North wall was opened during baptisms to allow evil spirits to leave the church. Due to its remote location, the church was used as a filming location for a Dr Who episode in the 1960s. However, it was originally surrounded by a small hamlet known as Treveglos which was still present in the 17th Century.
The word "crow" is sometimes used to refer to the whole crow family (including jackdaws, rooks and ravens) and sometimes specifically to the common (carrion) crow. Carrion crows can be distinguished from their cousins by being totally black (jackdaws have grey heads, rooks have pale beaks) and having a slender and fairly straight beak (i.e. not the broad beak with a hooked top that a raven has). Biologists use the word "corvids" for "crow family" to avoid ambiguity, or to show off.
When you emerge onto the lane, on the opposite side is the Holy Well of St Grada (or St Ruan).
The holy well of St Ruan is covered by a building made from serpentine and arched with granite. The building probably dates from Victorian times but the well itself could have been used in ceremonies dating back beyond Christianity.
The saint to whom it is dedicated is said to have been accused of being a werewolf by his wife, on which she blamed the death of her baby girl and the ravaging of local sheep. According to the story, Ruan was arrested but proved innocent by the King's hunting dogs, which the story states would have reacted to a wolf.
During late winter or early spring, if you encounter a patch of plants with white bell-shaped flowers, smelling strongly of onions, and with long, narrow leaves then they are likely to be three-cornered leeks. Once you're familiar with their narrow, ridged leaves, you'll be able to spot these emerging from late October onwards.
All plants in the onion family including three-cornered leeks are poisonous to dogs. Keep dogs away from the plant and wash their paws if they come into contact with it.
Areas of tree cover such as this are good habitats for blackbirds.
The reference in the nursery rhyme "sing a song a sixpence" to "four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie" is thought to be to the 16th Century amusement (though not for the blackbirds) of producing a large pie which included an empty chamber. After the pie had been baked and was ready to be served, a trapdoor would be cut in the empty chamber and live birds were placed inside which would fly out when the pie was cut open. Live frogs were sometimes used as an alternative.
The two most common pigeon species are the wood pigeon and feral pigeon (domesticated rock dove). Wood pigeons are larger than rock doves. Rock doves have an iridescent green/purple patch on their necks whereas adult wood pigeons have a white patch on their neck (although this is not present in young birds).
There are over four hundred complete stone crosses in Cornwall and at least another two hundred fragments.
In the mediaeval period, stone crosses were sometimes placed by the road or path to mark the route to the parish church. Farms and hamlets were usually linked to the church by the most direct and level route. Crosses were also placed along routes of pilgrimage. Both of these have evolved to become some of today's Public Rights of Way.
Crosses were sometimes used to mark sites of chapels and holy wells or as a signpost for the tracks that led to them. Often churches were later built at this holy site, resulting in the cross being within the churchyard or close by.
A number of mediaeval crosses have been found built into walls, used as animal rubbing posts, gateposts and stream crossings. Many were rescued and moved into churchyards during Victorian times. A number were also moved from their roadside locations into churchyards.
In 1923, the five masted sailing ship, the Adolf Vinnen, was wrecked on the Lizard just three months after she had been launched. Although the ship was also equipped with two massive diesel engines, these were unable to make headway against the southerly gale and she was driven into Green Lane Cove below the signal station. The crew of 24 were all rescued from the clifftop using a breeches buoy secured with a line fired on a rocket. The wreck now lies roughly 12 metres below the surface, broken into two main pieces.
The breeches buoy is a piece of life-saving equipment devised in the 1860s. It is essentially a zip-line to which a "cradle" (consisting of a lifebelt with a pair of attached shorts) is connected. The flotation device provided a backup if the line broke or sagged into the sea. The breeches - whilst not glamorous - were an effective way of preventing the person being rescued from being washed off the zip-line by breaking waves.
A lightweight line was first sent from the shore to the wrecked ship possibly via a kite, rocket or mortar. This was then used to haul out a more heavy-duty rope (known as a "hawser") on which the zip-line could run. Lighter ropes were also secured to the cradle from each end so it could be hauled in each direction to bring each crew member ashore and then send it back for the next one.
One of the challenges with the mode of rescue was length of time needed for transferring the crew one-by-one. During this period the vessel could roll, drift away or sink. Training the rescue team to operate at the maximum speed possible was therefore important.
In 1913, the Cromdale - a large elegant iron-hulled sailing ship - was on her way back from Chile with a cargo of nitrates. She entered The Channel in thick fog and ran straight into Bass Point under full sail. Fortunately, the sea was calm so the crew were able to board lifeboats and row safely to shore. However, the ship was badly holed and when the weather changed, it broke up within a week. The ribs and steel masts of the ship still lie in rocky gullies off the point roughly 10 metres below the surface.
In March 1935, the French steam trawler Le Vieux Tigre ran aground at Bass Point. She grounded so close to the shore that men in the signal station heard the shouts of the crew as the boat hit the rocks. Rockets were fired and the Lizard lifeboat was launched and rescued most of the crew. The skipper and four of the crew refused rescue, electing to stay onboard but the vessel soon sank and they managed to escape in a small boat. The remains of the wreck are scattered so widely that some parts of are mixed with those of the Mosel.
Red mullet are a warm-water fish normally found in the Mediterranean but venture into Cornish waters during the summer and are likely to become more common with global warming. They have two long barbels which are sensory, a bit like fingers, which they use to feel along the bottom to locate worms and crustaceans.
Unlike grey mullet which is a member of the perch family, red mullet is a member of the goatfish family and only distantly related. Also unlike grey mullet, they are fast-growing fish and able to reproduce when only two years old. They therefore have great potential for a sustainable fishery.
The beach at Housel Bay is granite boulders at high tide but as the tide goes out some white sand is revealed. The beach is divided by a protruding cliff which cuts the right side (facing the sea) off at high tide. The beach is relatively sheltered from the wind both by the headlands either side and because it faces southeast away from the prevailing westerly winds. There are very strong currents around Lizard Point but as the beach is at the back of quite a deep bay, it is also sheltered from the worst of these. However, the close proximity to Lizard Point means that it still gets plenty of swell coming up the Channel from the Atlantic so there are sometimes reasonable sized waves breaking onto the rocky shore.
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