Goonhilly Downs

Last updated

Goonhilly Downs
Site of Special Scientific Interest
Goonhilly Downs - geograph.org.uk - 1003656.jpg
Goonhilly Downs
Cornwall UK mainland location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Cornwall
England location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Goonhilly Downs (England)
Location Cornwall
Grid reference SW720200
Coordinates 50°02′22″N5°10′15″W / 50.0394°N 5.1709°W / 50.0394; -5.1709
InterestBiological
Area1,271 hectares (12.7 km2; 4.91 sq mi)
Notification 1951 (1951)
Natural England website
Arthur the oldest telecommunication dish at Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station, on the Downs Goonhilly Arthur.jpg
Arthur the oldest telecommunication dish at Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station, on the Downs

Goonhilly Downs is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) that forms a raised plateau in the central western area of the Lizard peninsula in southern Cornwall, England. [1] It is one of 229 English national nature reserves designated by Natural England with an area of almost 1,270 hectares. [2]

Contents

Features

Dry Tree menhir - a standing stone at Goonhilly Downs Goonhilly Downs menhir.jpg
Dry Tree menhir - a standing stone at Goonhilly Downs

Situated just south of Helston and the Royal Naval Air Station RNAS Culdrose, the Goonhilly Downs are famous for being the location of the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station, at one time the largest in the world. The huge satellite dishes are an iconic landmark, and can be seen for miles. The downs themselves are largely an area of sparse heathland, based on serpentinite geology. The site for the satellite station was chosen since the serpentine rock base could bear the weight of the heaviest of satellite dish. [3]

Goonhilly Downs is also home to a 12 megawatt wind farm consisting of six wind turbines each of two megawatts. [4]

This is home to rare plants, such as Cornish heath, which has been adopted as the county flower. [1] [5] A forested area of the downs is known as Croft Pascoe and this larger area includes the Croft Pascoe Pool. [6]

A large standing stone known as the Dry Tree menhir can be found on the ex- RAF Dry Tree site on the downs. RAF Dry Tree was used during the Second World War, and is near to the satellite station. [7]

The name Goonhilly comes from the Cornish language, and means "hunting downs", from goon, "down, moor", and helghi, "to hunt". (See "Cornish place names translated".)

Part of Lizard SAC

Goonhilly Downs is one of six Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) that form the almost 3,086 hectares of the Lizard SAC. [8] The others, all SSSIs are Baulk Head to Mullion, Caerthillian to Kennack Sands, Coverack to Porthoustock, Kennack to Coverack, and Mullion Cliff to Predannack Cliff.

Approached from the Helston direction and half a mile before the Satellite dishes is the former Goonhilly Craft Shop and Tea Room, now converted to a private dwelling. Set back from the road, the building was constructed in the early 1960s by a local farmer. The land was originally part of the nearby Trelowarren estate. Planning permission was granted to build a 4-bedroomed bungalow and petrol station/garage known locally as 'Telstar'; (Telstar is the name of various communications satellites, including the first ever such satellite able to relay television signals.) 'Telstar Cafe' used to have a petrol station but petrol is now sold at Helston supermarket garages. 100,000 people a year visited BT's nearby FutureWorld@Goonhilly (now closed) and many of them also called into the Craft Shop and Tea Room before making their way back from Goonhilly.

Goonhilly Downs also serves as a landing point for the SEA-ME-WE 3, the longest submarine cable on Earth.

Nearer to Mullion are other triple SIs including the North Predannack Downs Nature Reserve, owned and managed by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. This reserve is prime Cornish heath (Erica vagans) with ponds and willow fen. Early Bronze Age barrows are present, and there are several ancient 'turf-hut' circles. There are remains of buildings which were part of RAF Dry Tree and later RAF Trelanvean, used during the Second World War. Both the adder – a venomous snake, and the European stonechat – a passerine bird are commonly sighted here. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station</span> Radiocommunication site in Cornwall, England

Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station is a large radiocommunication site located on Goonhilly Downs near Helston on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, England. Owned by Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd under a 999-year lease from BT Group plc, it was at one time the largest satellite earth station in the world, with more than 30 communication antennas and dishes in use. The site also links into undersea cable lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Lizard</span> Peninsula in southern Cornwall, England

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Keverne</span> Human settlement in England

St Keverne is a civil parish and village on The Lizard in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porthleven</span> Port in England

Porthleven is a town, civil parish and fishing port near Helston, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly port in Great Britain, it was a harbour of refuge when this part of the Cornish coastline was infamous for wrecks in the days of sail. The South West Coast Path from Somerset to Dorset passes through the town. The population at the 2011 census was 3,059.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lizard Point, Cornwall</span> Human settlement in England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coverack</span> Coastal village and fishing port in south Cornwall, England

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mullion, Cornwall</span> Human settlement in England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mullion Cove</span> Village in the United Kingdom

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Predannack Airfield</span> Former RAF base in Cornwall, England

Predannack Airfield is an aerodrome near Mullion on The Lizard peninsula of Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The runways are operated by the Royal Navy and today it is a satellite airfield and relief landing ground for nearby RNAS Culdrose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flora and fauna of Cornwall</span>

Cornwall is the county that forms the tip of the southwestern peninsula of England; this area has a mild and warm climate regulated by the Gulf Stream. The mild climate allows rich plant cover, such as palm trees in the far south and west of the county and in the Isles of Scilly, due to sub-tropical conditions in the summer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helston Railway</span> Former branch line in Cornwall, England, now a heritage railway

The Helston Railway is a heritage railway in Cornwall which aims to rebuild and preserve as much as possible of the former GWR Helston Railway between Nancegollen and Water-Ma-Trout on the outskirts of Helston. It is operated by the Helston Railway Preservation Company using members of the Helston Railway Preservation Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mullion Island</span>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poltesco</span> Hamlet and valley in Cornwall

Poltesco is a hamlet and valley in the parish of Grade-Ruan, on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, UK. The lower part of the valley is owned by the National Trust and was once the site of a stone industry that exported carved ornaments to the rest of Britain and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAF Dry Tree</span> Former Royal Air Force early warning station in Cornwall, England

RAF Dry Tree was a Royal Air Force early warning radar station for detecting enemy aircraft during the Second World War. It was built in 1940 on Goonhilly Downs, on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, a short distance to the south-east of the Goonhilly Earth Station. It was named from the standing stone on the land known as the Dry Tree menhir.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of Cornwall</span> Overview of and topical guide to Cornwall

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:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mar Field Fen</span> Site of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire, England

Mar Field Fen is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, north of Masham, North Yorkshire, England, in a rural area known as Marfield. It is situated on land containing woodland carr, fen, spring-fed marshy grassland and drier calcareous grassland, between the River Ure to the east and Marfield Wetland nature reserve to the west. As "one of the best examples of fen habitat in the Vale of York," it is a protected habitat for a variety of plants, including the common butterwort, a carnivorous plant. There is no public access to this site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirk Deighton SSSI</span> Site of Special Scientific Interest in North Yorkshire, England

Kirk Deighton SSSI is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Alton's Field, Kirk Deighton, North Yorkshire, England. This site has been recognised as having one of the largest known breeding populations of great crested newts in the United Kingdom. It is a Special Area of Conservation, and is listed for protection under a number of directives. This ordinary-looking grassland field, with a couple of ponds in it, is ideal habitat for the newts, which use the grassland for foraging, the ponds for breeding, and surrounding walls, hedges and woodpiles for hibernation. The site is not accessible to the public, and it is not permissible to survey the ponds without a licence.

References

  1. 1 2 "Goonhilly Downs" (PDF). Natural England. 1989. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  2. ↑ "SSSI detail". designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  3. ↑ "Our Media Details". www.goonhilly.org.
  4. ↑ "Goonhilly replaces wind turbines". BBC News. 19 August 2010.
  5. ↑ Cornwall County Council, "The County Flower Archived 2008-09-30 at the Wayback Machine ."
  6. ↑ "Geograph:: Croft Pascoe Pool, Goonhilly Downs © habiloid". www.geograph.org.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  7. ↑ "Dry Tree Menhir | HELSTON HISTORY" . Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  8. ↑ "Designated Sites View". designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  9. ↑ "North Predannack Downs | Cornwall Wildlife Trust". www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.