Wikiloc | Penberth Cove - Treen Cliff

1 - Penberth Cove

Penberth (Cornish: Benbryhi) is a valley, coastal village and cove on the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall, England. It is approximately 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Penzance. Most of the village is within the parish of St Buryan and the boundary with St Levan follows the Penberth river.

2 - Penberth Cove

Penberth Cove was once home to a pilchard fishing industry and is one of the last remaining traditional fishing coves in Cornwall, with a handful of local fishermen still making their living from fishing for mackerel, lobster and crab. There was also a cut flower industry, the produce being sent to London via train from Penzance.

3 - Penberth Cove

The pilchards caught at Penberth Cove were pressed on site for their oil and to preserve them in the Big Cellar at the back of the cove.

4 - Penberth Cove

Penberth's first regatta was held on Saturday, 27 August 1881. There were races for 20 feet (6.1 m) and 18 feet (5.5 m) boats to the Runnel Stone and back, rowing races for 4-oared "crabbers", sculling races for punts, a 400 yards (370 m) swimming race and the greasy pole contest with a leg of mutton dangling from the top. There was also a duck hunt, where three birds "were flung"; one of the birds was difficult to catch and was allowed to escape. Music was provided by the Buryan Artillery Volunteers.

5 - Penberth Cove

ST LEVAN FAIRIES Down in Penberth Cove lived an old woman who was an especial favourite with these little people. She was a good old creature, and had been for many years bedridden. These Small Folk were her only company. Her relations dropped in once a day, rendered her the little aid she required, and left food by the bed-side. But day by day, and all the day long, the Small Folk vied with each other to amuse her. The men, she related, were for the most part dressed in green, with a red or a blue cap and a feather--"They look for all the world like little sodgers." As for the ladies--you should have heard the old woman tell of the gay ladies, with their feathers, hooped petticoats with furbelows, trains, and fans, and what saucy little creatures they were with the men! No sooner was the old woman left alone than in they came and began their frolics, dancing over the rafters and key-beams, swinging by the cobwebs like rope-dancers, catching the, mice and riding them in and out through the holes in the thatch. When one party got tired another party came, and by daylight, and even by moonlight, the old bedridden creature never wanted amusement.

6 - Pedn Vounder

Pedn Vounder is a tidal beach on the south coast of the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall, England. It is immediately to the west of the Logan Rock headland, below Treen Cliff. The name is from the Cornish 'pen' (head, end) and 'an vounder' (of the lane). Access to the beach is either by boat, or on foot from the coastal path along the cliffs. The top of this path may be approached from Porthcurno, approximately 0.75 mi (1.21 km) to the west, or from Treen, approximately 0.62 mi (1.00 km) to the north. The final stage of the descent from the coastal path requires some climbing down steep rocks at the western end of the beach. It is sometimes possible to walk from Porthcurno beach along the shore, during low water of a spring tide. In common with some of the other secluded coves on the Penwith peninsula, this beach is an unofficial naturist beach. Signs on the cliff above the beach warn that swimming off the far side of the sand bar is dangerous due to strong currents. In 1880, a wooden hut was built above the beach to house a submarine communications cable from Brest, France. It connected with a land line running via the Trereen valley, and by Burnewhall to Sheffield and on to Newlyn and Penzance. At this time Porthcurno was known world-wide as the British terminal of submarine telegraph cables.

7 - Treen Cliff

Treen Cliff is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) located on the Penwith Peninsula in Cornwall, England, UK, 6 miles (9.7 km) south-west of Penzance. First notified in 1951, with a revision in 1973, and a further notification on 1 July 1986, it is 49.3 hectares (122 acres) in area, stretching from grid reference SW387220 to SW402225. Designated for both for its biological and geological interest, part of the site, Treryn Dinas, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument consisting of a "cliff castle" with four ramparts and ditches and the Logan Rock. It is within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the Penwith Heritage Coast and is part owned and managed by the National Trust. The SSSI extends from Porthcurno beach in the west to Penberth Cove in the east. Several rare plant species occur and the site is of particular importance for its maritime heath. At the last site assessment on 12 August 2010, the SSSI was described as "Unfavourable recovering" because scrub and bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) encroachment are diminishing the interest, and the site needs to be grazed. Removal of sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) would enhance the site as well as the control of other invasive species. Maritime cliff habitat types, National Vegetation Classification, (NVC) MC1 and MC5 need to be added to the notifiable features. The main habitats are maritime heath and maritime grassland, heath, scrub, flush and deciduous woodland. The maritime heath is dominated by heather (Calluna vulgaris), bell heather (Erica cinerea) and western gorse (Ulex gallii). Maritime grassland occurs on the steeper cliff slopes and is dominated by red fescue (Festuca rubra), with spring squill (Scilla verna), wild carrot (Daucus carota), kidney vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) and sea plantain (Plantago maritima). The Red Data Book western clover (Trifolium occidentale) and the nationally rare hare's foot clover (Trifolium arvense) grow here as well as hairy bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus subbiflorus) and bird's-foot fenugreek (Trifolium ornithopodioides). Large areas are covered by scrub, dominated by gorse (Ulex europaeus) and blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) and provide habitat for invertebrates and birds. Common dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) parasitises the gorse. A number of wet flushes occur along the coast dominated by common reed (Phragmites australis). A small area of woodland dominated by elm (Ulmus glabra) and sycamore has developed on abandoned horticultural plots. A description by Jean Lawman sums up the area eloquently: Also in June, many of the cliffs are bright with Oxeye Daisies Leucanthemum vulgare and they are particularly abundant around Logan Rock and Porth Curnow area where they mix with foxgloves and button like, mauve Sheepsbit Jasione montana. The spectacle of all these flowers strewn along the cliff edge, with the classically beautiful Pednevounder beach below and the rugged headland of Treryn Dinas in the distance, must be one of the loveliest in Cornwall. Rock sea lavender (Limonium loganicum) is an endemic plant that is found only along this part of the coast from Carn Les Boel to the Logan Rock. all the colonies are within a SSSI but may be vulnerable from climbers or walkers on the lower slopes where it occurs. A nationally rare invertebrate, the weevil Anthonomus rufus, occurs on the cliffs and is associated with blackthorn the larvae almost certainly in the flower buds. Formerly widespread in coastal Britain, now localised. There are butterfly colonies of the silver-studded blue (Plebejus argus), small pearl-bordered fritillary (Boloria selene) on Cribba Head in the eastern part of the site as well as the thrift clearwing (Synansphecia muscaeformis) a day–flying moth.

8 - Porthcurno Lookout

About halfway along the main coastal footpath from Porthcurno to Logan Rock another path loops off to the cliffs above Pedn Vounder beach. Beside this is a pyramid built from granite blocks and painted white, about 3 metres (9.8 feet) tall. For navigation, it replaced a brightly coloured hut which housed the termination of another submarine telegraph cable connected to the French port of Brest owned by La Compagnie Française de Telegraphe de Paris à New York, which was laid in 1880. Overhead lines carried the signals to and from Penzance which had the cable office. Some of the stone ducting which was built up on the cliffside to protect the cable is still visible from the footpath nearby. This was part of the first cable connection from the UK to the American continent passing from Porthcurno to Brest and then via the trans-Atlantic cable first to Saint-Pierre and Miquelon near the coast of Canada, and then a further 500 km (310 mi) to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. In 1919, another Compagnie Française cable was laid to Porthcurno but this was terminated in the Cable Hut at the top of the beach a few hundred yards to the west where it remained in operation until 1962. The Logan Rock headland, about 30 minutes walk from Porthcurno to the east along the coastal footpath around Porthcurno Bay is famous for the 80 ton granite rocking stone (Logan Rock) perched at the top of the middle outcrop of rocks on the small rocky peninsula. Millennia of erosion had balanced it so finely that one person could move it easily. In 1824, a group of sailors led by Lieutenant Hugh Calville Goldsmith, nephew of the poet Oliver Goldsmith, and the worse for drink climbed up to Logan Rock armed with crowbars and dislodged it, allowing it to fall down the cliff. Such was the disgust of the local people at this blatant act of vandalism, that they complained to the Admiralty and Goldsmith was ordered to replace the rock at his own expense. It took seven months, 60 labourers and cost Goldsmith £130 8s d at 1824 prices (equivalent to £12,208 in 2021) to replace it. The original invoice for equipment and labour is now displayed on the wall of The Logan Rock public house in the nearby village of Treen. Just to the north of the peninsula is evidence of an Iron Age cliff fort called Treryn Dinas, a scheduled monument comprising about five ramparts, ditches and some evidence of round dwelling huts. There is a small rocky island off the Logan Rock peninsula called Horrace and another smaller granite island called Great Goular which is only visible at low tide.

9 - Porthcurno Beach

The cliffs and coastline around Porthcurno are officially designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Part of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and widely considered as some of the most visually stunning in the United Kingdom. Porthcurno beach and bay enclosed by the Logan Rock headland has been listed among the ten most beautiful bays in the World. The cliffs are enjoyed by walkers using the many public footpaths in the area and the protected South West Coastal Footpath passes through the area often within just a few yards of the clifftops. Coastal areas around Porthcurno, including those formerly owned by Cable and Wireless, are now owned, preserved and maintained by the National Trust and the remainder by the local parish council on behalf of Cornwall Council. The nearby cliffs rise to 60 m to 70 m above mean sea level and are formed from a bedrock of prismatic granite; over the geological timescales having been eroded, shaped and divided vertically and horizontally sometimes almost into rounded cubic blocks. An ancient bridleway, probably an early route to Porthcurno beach via the nearby Trendrennen Farm, about half a mile to the east of the village, has been opened by the Ramblers Association. This was probably used by horse-drawn carts to collect seaweed which was used for land fertilisation. Porthcurno beach and bay, a few hundred yards south of the village is situated in the shelter of the Logan Rock headland just less than one mile (1.6 km) to the east. The beach is noted for its sand of crushed, white sea shells, privacy and isolation rather than movement of ships. Porthcurno Bay has been described as "floored by glorious white sand that shines through translucent water". Sometimes combinations of wind, tides and sea currents can change the 'sandscape' dramatically in a few hours, but the volume of sand is sufficient that it is unusual for the beach to be completely inundated by the sea at high tide. To the immediate east of Porthcurno beach, on the other side of Percella Point is a small tidal beach called Green Bay. Sometimes this is accessible with caution from Porthcurno beach at low tide. Another tidal beach called Pedn Vounder lies further to the east between Porthcurno and the Logan Rock headland for which footpath access is by a steep and rugged path leading down from the cliff path. Often a sand bank forms off Pedn Vounder at low tide. Unlike the nearby fishing coves of Penberth and Porthgwarra, about one and a half miles (2.4 km) to the east and west respectively, Porthcurno has no known recent history of commercial fishing activity.

10 - Porthgwarra Cove

Porthgwarra (Cornish: Porth Gorwedhow, "very wooded cove") is a small coastal village in the civil parish of St Levan, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom situated between Land's End and Porthcurno. Access to the cove is via a minor road off the B3283 road at Polgigga and leads to the car park in the village. Public conveniences include a pay telephone, a small shop and café. The South West Coast Path passes through Porthgwarra, approximately 90 minutes walk from Land's End and 45 minutes from Porthcurno.

11 - Porthgwarra Cove

The cove and slipway are privately owned, but the public are permitted to quietly and respectfully enjoy them. Swimming in the cove is quite safe, provided swimmers do not go beyond the headland where there are dangerous, strong sea currents. At the foot of the cove's slipway is a tunnel dug by tin miners from St Just to give farmers horse-and-cart access to the beach to collect seaweed to use as a fertiliser. A second tunnel, leading seawards, is the fishermen's access to the tidal 'hulleys' built in the rocks to store shellfish. The 'hulleys', which ceased being used about 20 years ago, had wooden floors and topcovers with trapdoors and were used to store shellfish prior to taking the catch to market once or twice a week. The rope laid down the beach is used to steady boats while landing.

12 - Porthgwarra Cove

Porthgwarra is best described as a place to simply relax and enjoy the view. There’s not that much else to do, but sometimes that’s the idea! Take a lazy paddle in the water or stretch out in the sun with a good book. The sand can be seen at low tide only, but it's easy and safe to swim from the slipway when the tide is in. If you’re not in the mood for swimming, there are plenty of rock pools to explore and tunnels to discover.

13 - Porthgwarra Cove

Porthgwarra is one of Cornwall’s most beautiful beaches. Made famous by Ross Poldark, the secluded bay is known for its dramatic cliffs and smuggling history. Porthgwarra was used as a landing point for contraband goods, and the area is still said to be haunted by the ghosts of smugglers and their victims. Today, Porthgwarra is a popular Cornish landmark for tourists and locals alike, who come to enjoy the beautiful scenery and peaceful atmosphere.

Penberth Cove - Treen Cliff - Porthgwarra

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