Bass Point is a headland on the coast of Cornwall, England. It is at the southern tip of the Lizard peninsula, in the civil parish of Landewednack. [1] The headland was a communications centre during the Victorian era, with the Lloyds Signal Station, opened in 1872 for shore to ship communications, and Marconi's experiments with wireless at the Lizard Wireless Station.
The National Trust owned headland is 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east of the Lizard Point, the most southerly point on mainland Great Britain. Between the two headlands is the Lizard Lighthouse and Housel Cove and less than a mile to the north is Church Cove. Bass Point can be reached via the A3083 from Helston to Lizard village and then walking along Lloyds Road to the coast. The South-west coastal footpath crosses the headland, which is part of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. [1]
Before the advent of the telegraph, ships had no means of communication with their owners and could only send messages by semaphore when they were close to the shore. The telegraph reached Falmouth in 1857 and G. C. Fox & Company built a signal station at Bass Point with the intention of laying a telegraph cable from Falmouth. The Post Office intervened and the Lloyds Signal Station was opened on 1 April 1872. Initially communications between ship and shore were by flags and the messages were then sent to Helston by post or by horse rider. On 2 June 1872 a cable reached the signal station and the Post Office opened an office at the station. Night signals by coloured lights, gun, rocket and steam whistles began in November 1872 and William Broad & Sons of Falmouth opened an office next door. The companies combined their operations in 1875 and by 1877 over one hundred vessels a month were using the station. [2] It has been restored to recreate the original radio room and may be visited. [3]
Marconi constructed two wireless stations on the Lizard, with the main, larger station being at Poldhu on the west coast. In 1900 he made the first ever ′over the horizon′ radio signal to the Isle of Wight. [4]
The former HM Coastguard station at Bass Point was the first location refurbished by the National Coastwatch Institution in 1994, following the deaths of two local fishermen close to the point.[ citation needed ]
Bass Point is part of the Caerthillian to Kennack coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and since August 2016 is included within The Lizard National Nature Reserve (NNR). In recent years the National Trust has removed Hottentot fig ( Carpobrotus edulis ), an introduced plant, which forms mats covering the coastal grassland. [4]
The Lizard is a peninsula in southern Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at SW 701115; Lizard village, also known as The Lizard, is the most southerly on the British mainland, and is in the civil parish of Landewednack, the most southerly parish. The valleys of the River Helford and Loe Pool form the northern boundary, with the rest of the peninsula surrounded by sea. The area measures about 14 by 14 miles. The Lizard is one of England's natural regions and has been designated as a National Character Area 157 by Natural England. The peninsula is known for its geology and for its rare plants and lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
SOS is a Morse code distress signal, used internationally, originally established for maritime use. In formal notation SOS is written with an overscore line, to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" are transmitted as an unbroken sequence of three dots / three dashes / three dots, with no spaces between the letters. In International Morse Code three dots form the letter "S" and three dashes make the letter "O", so "S O S" became a common way to remember the order of the dots and dashes. IWB, VZE, 3B, and V7 form equivalent sequences, but traditionally SOS is the easiest to remember.
The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for 630 miles (1,014 km), running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises and falls with every river mouth, it is also one of the more challenging trails. The total height climbed has been calculated to be 114,931 ft (35,031 m), almost four times the height of Mount Everest. It has been voted 'Britain's Best Walking route' twice in a row by readers of The Ramblers' Walk magazine, and regularly features in lists of the world's best walks.
Helston is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately 12 miles (19 km) east of Penzance and 9 miles (14 km) south-west of Falmouth. Helston is the most southerly town on the island of Great Britain and is around 1.5 miles (2.4 km) farther south than Penzance. The population in 2011 was 11,700.
Niton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Niton and Whitwell, on the Isle of Wight, England. It is west of Ventnor, with a population of 2,082. It has two pubs, several churches, a pottery workshop/shop, a pharmacy, a busy volunteer-run library, a medical centre and two local shops including a post office. The post office includes a pub and café that serves as a local meeting place. The village also offers a primary school with a co-located pre-school and nursery.
Poldhu is a small area in south Cornwall, England, UK, situated on the Lizard Peninsula; it comprises Poldhu Point and Poldhu Cove. Poldhu means "black pool" in Cornish. Poldhu lies on the coast of Mount's Bay and is in the northern part of the parish of Mullion; the churchtown is 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the south-east. On the north side of Poldhu Cove is the parish of Gunwalloe and the village of Porthleven is a further 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) to the north.
Porthcurno is a small village covering a small valley and beach on the south coast of Cornwall, England in the United Kingdom. It is the main settlement in a civil and an ecclesiastical parish, both named St Levan, which comprise Porthcurno, diminutive St Levan itself, Trethewey and Treen.
Lizard Point in Cornwall is at the southern tip of the Lizard Peninsula. It is situated half-a-mile (800 m) south of Lizard village in the civil parish of Landewednack and about 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Helston.
Kynance Cove is a cove on the eastern side of Mount's Bay, Cornwall, England. It is situated on the Lizard peninsula approximately two miles (3 km) north of Lizard Point. The cove became popular in the early Victorian era, with many distinguished visitors including Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and the poets Alfred Tennyson and Algernon Swinburne. The BBC has described Kynance Cove as "one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in the South West". The South West Coast Path, which follows the coast of south west England from Somerset to Dorset passes by on the cliffs overlooking the cove.
Mullion is a civil parish and village on the Lizard Peninsula in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The nearest town is Helston approximately 5 miles (8 km) to the north.
Mullion Cove, or Porth Mellin, is a small community on the West Coast of the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, England, and on the eastern side of Mount's Bay. The Cove forms part of the parish of Mullion, and is accessible by road from Mullion village, 1 mile (1.6 km) to the northeast, and also via the South West coast path. It lies within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
A signal station is a form of Aids to Navigation that is defined by the IHO simply as "A signal station is a place on shore from which signals are made to ships at sea". While this broad definition would include coastal radio stations and fog signal stations, the term is most often used for shore installation that use visual signals to communicate with ships at sea.
Gwennap Head is a headland on the south coast of the Penwith peninsula, Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is within the parish of St Levan and approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Land's End, and less than 1 mile (1.6 km) north-west of Porthgwarra, the nearest village. The area of Gwennap Head is designated as part of the Penwith Heritage Coast and also designated as part of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The South West Coast Path closely follows the coastline around the headland.
Cornwall's rugged landscape and scenery have been used by film and television companies as a backdrop for some of their productions.
The Deutschland incident of 1902 occurred in March of that year, and resulted from the refusal of Marconi Company coastal radio stations to provide services to shipboard stations that were operated by competing companies.
The Lizard Lifeboat Station refers to several Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat stations located on the Lizard in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The first was established at the southernmost point of the peninsula in 1859. Since then successive stations have all been in operation at different locations on The Lizard. The current station is located at Kilcobben Cove 0.5 mi (0.80 km) east of the village of Lizard.
Carricknath Point to Porthbean Beach is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Cornwall, England, UK, noted for its biological interest.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Cornwall: Cornwall – ceremonial county and unitary authority area of England within the United Kingdom. Cornwall is a peninsula bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall is also a royal duchy of the United Kingdom. It has an estimated population of half a million and it has its own distinctive history and culture.
Presented below is an alphabetical index of articles related to Cornwall:
