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Godrevy ( kw, Godrevi, meaning ''small farms'') ( ) is an area on the eastern side of St Ives Bay, west
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 ...
, England, United Kingdom, which faces the
Atlantic Ocean
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 ...
. It is popular with both the
surfing community and walkers. It is part owned by the
National Trust
The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...
, and offshore on Godrevy Island is a
lighthouse maintained by
Trinity House
"Three In One"
, formation =
, founding_location = Deptford, London, England
, status = Royal Charter corporation and registered charity
, purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons
, he ...
which is said to be the inspiration for
Virginia Woolf's novel ''
To the Lighthouse
''To the Lighthouse'' is a 1927 novel by Virginia Woolf. The novel centres on the Ramsay family and their visits to the Isle of Skye in Scotland between 1910 and 1920.
Following and extending the tradition of modernist novelists like Marcel ...
''.
Godrevy lies within the
Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
The Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers in Cornwall, England, UK; that is, about 27% of the total area of the county. It comprises 12 separate areas, designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 for ...
(AONB) and the
South West Coast Path runs around the whole promontory. There are several public car parks on the western side where the National Trust owns and operates a café.
Godrevy Head
![Godrevy Cornwall map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Godrevy_Cornwall_map.png)
The headland () is on 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 ...
coast in
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 ...
on the eastern side of
St Ives Bay and about three miles (5 km) northeast of the town of
Hayle
Hayle ( kw, Heyl, "estuary") is a port town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River (which discharges into St Ives Bay) and is approximately seven miles (11 km) northeast of Penzance. ...
. The nearest village is
Gwithian
Gwithian ( kw, Godhyan) is a coastal village in west Cornwall, England. It is three miles (5 km) north-east of Hayle and four miles (6.5 km) east of St Ives, Cornwall across St Ives Bay. Gwithian is in the civil parish of Gwinear-Gw ...
, half a mile west beyond Godrevy Bridge across the
Red River. The
promontory is roughly square in shape and faces north into the Atlantic occupying an area of approximately . In 1939, and of coastline was donated to the National Trust by D. W. Thomas of Gwithian, followed by a further of land adjoining Godrevy Farm in 1962 by Nicholas and
Charles Thomas.
[ Godrevy Head has some of the best coastal ]heathland
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...
in Cornwall, with many species of plant, animal and insect life. Part of the headland, along with the coast to the east, was designated as part of the Godrevy Head to St Agnes
Godrevy Head to St Agnes is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in north Cornwall, England], noted for both its Flora and fauna of Cornwall, biological and geological characteristics. A number of rare and scarce plant species ca ...
SSSI ( Site of Special Scientific Interest) in 1951.
The western side of Godrevy Head is bounded by rocks to the north and a wide sandy beach to the south which is popular for surfing. At the north-western corner of the headland is Godrevy Point; at the north-eastern corner is Navax Point ( kw, Penn Kynyavos, meaning ''head of the autumn dwelling''). The cliffs between the two points are approximately above sea level.
On the northern side of the headland are two coves named Mutton Cove and Kynance Cove ( kw, Porth Kynyavos, meaning ''cove of the autumn dwelling'') beyond which the Nathaga Rocks ( kw, Lethegow, meaning ''milky ones'') lie off Navax Point. On the eastern side of the headland are Castle Giver Cove ( kw, Porth Castel Gaver, meaning ''cove of the goat's castle'') and Fishing Cove.
South of Navax Point is an area of heath named The Knavocks ( kw, Kynyavos, meaning ''autumn dwelling'') which is managed by The National Trust. The grassland and gorse scrub is criss-crossed with footpaths and is home to many species of butterflies and birds, notably nesting European stonechat
The European stonechat (''Saxicola rubicola'') is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a subspecies of the common stonechat. Long considered a member of the thrush family, Turdidae, genetic evidence has placed it and its relat ...
s. The Knavocks, like other coastal heathlands in Cornwall, is managed by regularly cutting back the gorse and by grazing, the National Trust having introduced a herd of ponies for the purpose.
Beyond Fishing Cove, the coast swings to the east towards Hell's Mouth and North Cliffs. The land here rises to approximately , the highest point on this section of clifftop.
The cliffs, offshore rocks and coast around Godrevy Head form a renowned habitat for seabirds including cormorants, fulmars, guillemots, and razorbills and several species of gull. There is also a substantial population of grey seals throughout the year. Occasionally, bottlenose dolphins can be seen in the area.
Godrevy Island and The Stones
Godrevy Island lies approx three hundred yards off Godrevy Point. The uninhabited island is the site of Godrevy Lighthouse, operated by Trinity House
"Three In One"
, formation =
, founding_location = Deptford, London, England
, status = Royal Charter corporation and registered charity
, purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons
, he ...
. The island covers an area of and is home to seagulls, oystercatchers and pipits. Its vegetation is dominated by grasses, with primroses and sea thrift flowering in the spring. Landings may only be made on the island with the permission of Trinity House.
Seaward of Godrevy Island is a submerged reef known as The Stones which extends for approximately to the northwest across the eastern approach to St Ives Bay. It has been the site of many sinkings over the years but it was not until the disastrous loss of the SS ''Nile'' on 30 November 1854, with the loss of all aboard, that Trinity House was pressured to construct a lighthouse on the island. It was built in 1859 and was converted to fully automatic operation in 1939.
Geology
The rocks at Godrevy are Devonian mudstones
Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' ...
overlain with Quaternary ice age deposits. The mudstone was laid in a deep sea sedimentary basin and subject to seismic
Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...
activity, forming turbidites
A turbidite is the geologic deposit of a turbidity current, which is a type of amalgamation of fluidal and sediment gravity flow responsible for distributing vast amounts of clastic sediment into the deep ocean.
Sequencing
Turbidites were ...
. Under gravitational slumping the coarser material settled first followed by the finer material.
Overlying the turbidites are a sequence of rocks laid down during recent ice ages, and Godrevy is considered to be one of the most important Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
(2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago) sites in the south west of England. Mammal fossils are rare in Cornwall and a dog was found within the poorly sorted, coarse-grained sediments of head dated between 12,000 and 15,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of canine domestication is a dog, or possible a wolf puppy, in a human burial site in Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
from 12,000 years ago. The earliest British domestic dog remains are from Starr Carr, Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
, dated to 9,538 (± 350) BP. In order to date the skeleton and to test three hypotheses, part of a bone was sampled at the Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit using accelerator mass spectrometry
Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a form of mass spectrometry that accelerates ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies before mass analysis. The special strength of AMS among the mass spectrometric methods is its power to separate a r ...
(AMS).
The three hypotheses were:
* if the skeleton is in context with the geology (i.e. the same age as the head deposits), then the deposits are younger than previously thought,
* if the dating of the head deposits is correct, then the dog is a very early example of domestication,
* if the skeleton is younger, it is not in context with the geology.
The dog skeleton dates to 1650 AD (± 30), which implies that it is possible for a recently dead animal to be within ice age deposits but leave no indication of how it happened. Fossil occurrence within ice age deposits need to be treated with caution, and skeletal remains need to be dated by AMS to provide their actual age and geological significance.[
]
Religion
The Godrevy team ministry within the Church of England Diocese of Truro includes five churches in the St Ives district.Phillack Parish Church of St Felicitas and St Piala
/ref>
References
External links
Godrevy information at the National Trust
{{Headlands of Cornwall
Headlands of Cornwall
National Trust properties in Cornwall