Bossiney Haven ( kw, Porth Boskyny, meaning ''cove at

Bossiney Bossiney ( kw, Boskyny, meaning ''Cyni's dwelling'') is a village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is north-east of the larger village of Tintagel which it adjoins: further north-east are the Rocky Valley and Trethevy. Until 1832 t ...

'') is a small cove in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Tintagel Tintagel () or Trevena ( kw, Tre war Venydh, meaning ''Village on a Mountain'') is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England. The village and nearby Tintagel Castle are associated with the legends surroundin ...

. It is on the north coast of

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, United Kingdom and a mile east of Tintagel and three miles west of

Boscastle Boscastle ( kw, Kastel Boterel) is a village and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Forrabury and Minster (where the 2011 Census population was included) . It is south of Bude and northeast of Tint ...

. The

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises a ...

closely follows the coast above the cove. Bossiney Haven is part of the Tintagel Cliffs Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) designated for its geological and wildlife interests. The cove is at the northern point of the Tintagel

Geological Conservation Review The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological a ...

site, chosen because it is a good example of a longitudinal coast, and for its hard rock coastal landforms. The cove is open to northerly winds off the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and is flanked by the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

cliff castle of Willapark to the north. At low tide it is linked to Benoath Cove. An unusual part of the cliff is known as the Elephant Rock, where a high vertical arch has formed almost separating a ″narrow trunk of rock from the mainland″. This feature shows the relationship of vertical jointing to cliff features. The cove has a sandy beach which is completely covered by the tide at high water At the right hand side of the cove there is a cave that is about 60 feet in height at the entrance but only 15–20 wide. It opens up into a large cavern with two more caverns which become very dark. The cave continues after this point but the floor becomes rock and very uneven. It has been said there is a waterfall in the cave. Access to the beach is by steep steps, a route which is not suitable for wheelchairs or push chairs. There is no lifeguard coverage.

References

{{reflist Beaches of Cornwall Tintagel Coves of Cornwall