The Longships is the name given to a group of rocky

islet An islet is a very small, often unnamed island. Most definitions are not precise, but some suggest that an islet has little or no vegetation and cannot support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/or hard coral; may be permanent ...

s situated approximately 1 miles (2 km) west of

Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

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. The islets are marked by the

Longships Lighthouse Longships Lighthouse is an active 19th-century lighthouse about off the coast of Land's End in Cornwall, England. It is the second lighthouse to be built on Carn Bras, the highest of the Longships islets which rises above high water level. I ...

, the current structure being first lit in December 1873. The islets are very popular for

recreational diving Recreational diving or sport diving is diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually when using scuba equipment. The term "recreational diving" may also be used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of r ...

, the sea has clear water with prolific marine life and flora.

Geography

The Longships lie off the

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

headland of Land's End and the contact area between the granite

pluton In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

and the ″country rocks″ is just offshore. The reef is within a

metamorphic aureole Metamorphism is the transformation of existing rock (the protolith) to rock with a different mineral composition or texture. Metamorphism takes place at temperatures in excess of , and often also at elevated pressure or in the presence of chem ...

formed after the granite intruded the earlier Devonian rocks between 268 and 275 million years ago, during the

Permian period The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleozo ...

. Much of the Longship group is submerged at

high water Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...

but the three largest islets in the group – Tal-y-Maen, Carn Bras, and Meinek – remain above the high water mark. Two smaller rocks known as Kettle's Bottom are situated midway between Longship and the coast. The Longships islets (but not Kettle's Bottom rocks) are 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 ...

Sennen Sennen (''Cornish: Sen Senan'' or ''Sen Senana'') is a coastal civil parish and a village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Sennen village is situated approximately eight miles (13 km) west-southwest of Penzance.Ordnance Survey: Landra ...

Names of the rocks

The names of the rocks that make up the reef have meanings in the

Cornish language Cornish (Standard Written Form: or ) , is a Southwestern Brittonic language, Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. It is a List of revived languages, revived language, having become Extinct language, extinct as a livin ...

. *Cein (Cornish: Keyn, meaning ''back, ridge, or keel'') *Farkell Carn (Cornish: Karn Forhel, meaning ''forked rock-pile'') *Tal-y-maen (Cornish: Tal an Meyn, meaning ''brow of the stones'') *Carn Bras (Cornish: Karn Bras, meaning ''big rock-pile'') *Herly (Cornish: Hir Legh, meaning ''long ledge'') *Plassek (Cornish: Plosek, meaning ''foul one'') *Meinek (Cornish: Meynek, meaning ''stony place'')

Shipwrecks

It is not known how many ships have been lost in and around Land's End but there are hundreds recorded and probably thousands unknown. One of the earliest recorded on the Longships, is an unidentified ship lost at the Long Shipps in 1532 reported by the bayliffe John Penheleg. Other wrecks include: * 1898: S.S. Bluejacket, * 1901, November: 'Mary James.' Built 1862 by Richard Tredwen in

Padstow Padstow (; kw, Lannwedhenek) is a town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England. The town is situated on the west bank of the River Camel estuary approximately northwest of Wadebridge, ...

. For most of her life owned by the St. Just family of Harvey James and made many voyages to Wales with copper ore, bringing back coal for the mines. Sank after dismasting.Jenkin, C. J. (2009) ''Newlyn''. 'A view from Street-an-Nowan'. Penryn: R. Booth Ltd.

Gallery

File:Longships Lighthouse.jpg, Longships Lighthouse in the distance File:Longships Lighthouse 2.jpg, Longships Lighthouse

References

{{Cornwall, state=collapsed Reefs of the Atlantic Ocean Reefs of England Uninhabited islands of Cornwall Sennen