Trevose Head Lifeboat Station - geograph

Trevose Head ( kw, Penn Trenfos, meaning ''farm of the wall's headland'') () is a headland 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 of north

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. It is situated approximately west of

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, ...

. 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 ...

runs around the whole promontory and is 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 s ...

and the Trevose Head Heritage Coast. In clear weather, visitors to Trevose Head can see virtually the whole length of the north Cornwall coast; to the north, the view extends beyond the Cornwall county boundary to

Hartland Point Hartland Point is a high rocky outcrop of land on the north-western tip of the Devon coast in England. It is three miles (5 km) north-west of the village of Hartland. The point marks the western limit (on the English side) of the Bristol C ...

(), Devon; to the south, it extends beyond St Ives to the headland at Pendeen Watch ().

History

The ruins of St Constantine's chapel can be visited at hole 3 of Trevose Golf Club along an ancient right of way. The club is situated between

Constantine Bay Constantine Bay ( kw, Eglos Costentin, meaning ''church of St Constantine'') is a village and beach on the Atlantic coast of north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately three miles (5 km) west of Padstow and is ...

and

Mother Ivey's Bay Polventon Bay ( kw, Poll Fenton, meaning ''pool of a spring''), Mother Ivey's Bay is a bay and bathing beach on the north coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The bay is on east side of the headland, Trevose Head and within the parish of St Merryn. ...

, behind Booby's Bay. Trevose Head 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 ...

, is on the north-west corner of the headland and the

Padstow lifeboat Padstow Lifeboat Station is at Trevose Head west of Padstow, in Cornwall. It is run by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), and the current lifeboat is a Tamar class boat called ''Spirit of Padstow''. History * 4 January 1827 - ...

is stationed on the east side of Trevose Head. The lighthouse was first lit on 1 December 1847; initially there was an upper and lower light with the lower light no longer used after 1882. The last of the resident keepers left the lighthouse on 20 December 1995 following automation. A lifeboat was established at Padstow before 1825 and in 1967 the lifeboat station was moved from Hawkers Cove to Trevose Head due to silting of the

River Camel The River Camel ( kw, Dowr Kammel, meaning ''crooked river'') is a river in Cornwall, England. It rises on the edge of Bodmin Moor and with its tributaries its catchment area covers much of North Cornwall. The river flows into the eastern Ce ...

. The present station was completed in July 2006 and came into service shortly after. In September 1940, during

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, there is a record of bombs being dropped on Trevose Head, although it is suspected that these were jettisoned rather than the headland being deliberately targeted. Approximately of Trevose Headland was put up for sale in March 2016, comprising of agricultural land and of coastal rough grazing and slope. The area had been in the ownership of the same family since circa 1900.

Natural history

The headland is within the ''Trevose Head and Constantine Bay''

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI) which is designated for both its biological and geological interests. Wild asparagus (''Asparagus prostratus'') grows on the cliffs of Dinas Head and shore dock (''

Rumex rupestris ''Rumex rupestris'', commonly known as shore dock, is a species of flowering plant belonging to the family Polygonaceae. Its native range is Western Europeand is one of the world's rarest dock species.Lousley JE, Kent DH. 1981. ''Docks and Knotwe ...

'') at the base of the cliffs. The cliffs are also important for breeding northern fulmar (''Fulmarus glacialis''), razorbill (''Alca torda'') and guillemot ( ''Uria aalge'').

References

External links

Trinity House information on Trevose Lighthouse

Padstow Lifeboat Station
{{coord, 50.54785, -5.03191, type:landmark_region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SW853764), display=title Headlands of Cornwall Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1951