Praa Sands ( kw, Poll an Wragh), (formerly Prah Sands) commonly pronounced pray or prah, is a white-sand beach and coastal village in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, England. It is in the parish of Breage and lies off the A394 road between

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map ...

and

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situ ...

. Formerly serving the local mining industry, it is now mostly a tourist-orientated area. The beach is popular with surfers and walkers. Towards the south eastern end of the beach is a WW2 Type 24 pillbox. Originally this was constructed on top of the cliffs but it has been subjected to

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landwar ...

and has settled down onto the beach.

Geography

Praa Sands is situated in a sheltered indentation within

Mount's Bay Mount's Bay ( kw, Baya an Garrek) is a large, sweeping bay on the English Channel coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom, stretching from the Lizard Point to Gwennap Head. In the north of the bay, near Marazion, is St Michael's Mount; the origin ...

; it has a long, wide, sandy, south-facing beach that is lapped by large waves for the area. The beach, which has shallow water and is guarded by seasonal lifeguards, attracts surfers and holidaymakers. Adjacent to the beach are retail outlets serving the holidaymaker. Praa Sands 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). The western side of Praa Sands beach contains Folly Rocks

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 ...

, which is noted for its geological aspects, including a granite porphyry.

History

On 1 February 1882 a pumping engine at Sydney Cove (part of Mount's Bay Consols) was fired. In September 1882 it was reported in

The Cornishman ''The Cornishman'' is a weekly newspaper based in Penzance, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom which was first published on 18 July 1878. Circulation for the first two editions was 4,000. An edition is currently printed every Thursday. In early Fe ...

newspaper that an engine house was nearly complete and the engine was being put in. During

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, after an air battle against eight German aeroplanes over the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

, a

Sunderland flying boat The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North East ...

was heavily damaged. The crew returned 800 miles to the Cornish coast, where pilot Colin Walker landed and beached the aircraft at Praa Sands. The people of Praa Sands took the crew into their houses and gave them medical assistance. Walker received the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

and several of the other crew members also won medals. On 2 June 2013, a memorial was opened on the green at Praa Sands. Praa sands was a favourite site for testing WW2 craft including canoes. On 2 February 1943 the DNC telegraphed the order with the CP contract to Saro’s Ltd

Saunders-Roe Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aero- and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight. History The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took a ...

for the single prototype Mk2* canoe (collapsing vertically) with outriggers. It was completed in three weeks and ready for the Cornwall surf trials at Praa Sands. Trials of this prototype ever produced in this form, subsequently, without outriggers, a Mk2**, a three man version[collapsing verticallyof the Mk2 was], as well as the Mk2, Mk3 (May-Luard) and a kayak were held at Praa Sands in Cornwall in March 1943, which coincided with trials of surf boats. The trials were to observe the behaviour of the canoes in surf. The RMBPD provided an up-to-date version of the Mk2 two man canoe which was the canoe used during the Frankton Raid, undertaken by the Cockleshell Heroes MBPD The Mk2 was the first purpose-built 'commando' canoe; it was 15ft long and collapsed vertically to around seven inches.Cockleshell Canoes, Quentin Rees

References

Beaches of Cornwall Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall Villages in Cornwall {{Kerrier-geo-stub