Start Point is a promontory in the

South Hams South Hams is a local government district on the south coast of Devon, England. Services divide between those provided by its own Council headquartered in Totnes, and those provided by Devon County Council headquartered in the city of Exete ...

district in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, . Close to the most southerly point in the county, it marks the southern limit of

Start Bay Start Bay is a sub-bay of the nautical definition of Lyme Bay in the English Channel in south-east Devon, England. The southernmost of three substantial Devon bays facing east it is between the Mew Stone which sits east of the River Dart's est ...

, which extends northwards to the estuary of the

River Dart The River Dart is a river in Devon, England, that rises high on Dartmoor and flows for to the sea at Dartmouth. Name Most hydronyms in England derive from the Brythonic language (from which the river's subsequent names ultimately derive fr ...

. The rocks of the point are

greenschist Greenschists are metamorphic rocks that formed under the lowest temperatures and pressures usually produced by regional metamorphism, typically and 2–10 kilobars (). Greenschists commonly have an abundance of green minerals such as chlorite ...

and mica-

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

, formed by

metamorphism 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 ch ...

of Devonian sediments during a period of mountain building towards the end of the Carboniferous period. The name "Start" derives from an Anglo-Saxon word ''steort'', meaning a tail. This root also appears in the names of birds with distinctive tails, like the redstart.

Features

As a result of the many shipwrecks in the area, Start Point lighthouse was built in 1836 to alert ships to the danger of the point and its surrounding rocks. The lighthouse and the area's birdlife make it a popular spot for visitors, and Start Point is accessible to walkers from the South West Coast Path. The Start Point transmitting station is located on top of the promontory, just north-west of the lighthouse. Built in 1939, it nowadays transmits only a single broadcast, BBC Radio 5 Live.

Features

See also