Site of Special Scientific Interest | |
Location | Cornwall |
---|---|
Grid reference | SV911094 |
Coordinates | 49°54′19″N6°18′10″W / 49.9053°N 6.3029°W |
Interest | Biological and Geological |
Area | 16.1 hectares (0.161 km2; 0.0622 sq mi) |
Notification | 1971 |
Natural England website |
Peninnis Head (Cornish : Penn Enys, meaning Island Head) is the southernmost point of St Mary's, Isles of Scilly. [1] The headland is within the Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and part of the Heritage Coast. It is also a Geological Conservation Review site for its Quaternary geomorphology and was first designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1971 for both its biological and geological interests. [2] All of the land designated as Peninnis Head SSSI is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. [3] On the tip of the headland is a squat lighthouse built in 1911 by Trinity House as a replacement for the 17th century lighthouse on St Agnes. [4]
The Gilstone, a prominent rock off the eastern side of Peninnis Head, should not be confused with a rock of the same name in the Western Rocks.
The headland is composed of coarse–grained Hercynian granite which has weathered to form cairns and natural sculptures with names such as the Pulpit Rock. In places head deposits have accumulated and thin podzolic soils have formed over the granite which is ideal for the formation of waved maritime heath vegetation. Peninnis Head is a Geological Conservation Review site because of the lack of glacial features which makes it possible to compare with sites, such as on Tresco in the north of the islands, where the granite has had some contact with glacial ice. [2]
Western gorse ( Ulex gallii ), heather ( Calluna vulgaris ) and bell heather ( Erica cinerea ) are the main components of the waved maritime heath and on the deeper soils bracken ( Pteridium aquilinum ), European gorse ( U. europaeus ), bramble ( Rubus fruticosus ) and honeysuckle ( Lonicera periclymenum ) are encroaching and devaluing the vegetation which is why the condition of the SSSI is considered to be unfavourable recovering. Grazing under a HLS agreement should help the vegetation to recover. [5] Two unusual plants (for the Isles of Scilly) in the species–rich maritime grassland are spring squill ( Scilla verna ) and thyme ( Thymus polytrichus ). [4] The dominant species are red fescue ( Festuca rubra ), Yorkshire fog ( Holcus lanatus ), thrift ( Armeria maritima ), sea beet ( Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima ), common sorrel ( Rumex acetosa ), common scurvygrass ( Cochlearia officinalis ) and buck's–horn plantain ( Plantago coronopus ). The nationally scarce early meadowgrass ( Poa infirma ) and western clover ( Trifolium occidentale ) also occur. [2] [6]
Lichens
The headland is exposed to salt–laden winds and sea spray, and a number of lichens grow at the extreme tip. They include the common sea ivory ( Ramalina siliquosa ), the nationally scarce Roccella fuciformis , R. phycopsis , and golden hair-lichen ( Teloschistes flavicans ); and the BAP species ciliate strap-lichen ( Heterodermia leucomela ). [4]
During the Second World War (1939–45) a Radio Direction Finding Station (RDF) was built on Peninnis Head. The first hostile enemy action in the islands occurred on 21 August 1940 when aircraft bombed the RDF. The installation was attacked on several occasions and was destroyed just over a year after the first attack. [7]
Peninnis Lighthouse was built in 1911 to replace the lighthouse in the centre of the island of St Agnes, which had been in operation since 1680. The light helps vessels to enter Hugh Town harbour via St Mary's Sound. Originally powered by acetylene (provided from tanks in the adjacent one-storey building) it was electrified in 1992. [8]
Tresco is the second-biggest island of the Isles of Scilly. It is 297 ha (1.15 sq mi) in area, measuring about 3.5 km (2.2 mi) by 1.75 km (1.09 mi).
St Mary's is the largest and most populous island of the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago off the southwest coast of Cornwall in England, United Kingdom.
Godrevy is an area on the eastern side of St Ives Bay, west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, which faces the Atlantic Ocean. It is popular with both the surfing community and walkers. It is part owned by the National Trust, and offshore on Godrevy Island is a lighthouse maintained by Trinity House which is said to be the inspiration for Virginia Woolf's novel To the Lighthouse. Godrevy lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the South West Coast Path runs around the whole promontory. There are several public car parks on the western side where the National Trust owns and operates a café.
Bryher is one of the smallest inhabited islands of the Isles of Scilly, with a population of 84 in 2011, spread across 134 hectares (1.34 km2). Bryher exhibits a procession of prominent hills connected by low-lying necks and sandy bars. Landmarks include Hell Bay, famous for shipwrecks in the 18th and 19th centuries, Shipman Head, which was fortified in the Iron Age and where the tumbled ramparts of an Iron Age castle remain, and All Saints' Church, originally constructed in 1742. The island has two quays, Church Quay and Bar Quay.
Aire Point to Carrick Du SSSI is a Site of Special Scientific Interest on the Penwith Peninsula, Cornwall, England. It is 5.98 square kilometres in extent, stretching from grid reference SW360279 to grid reference SW513410. The site is designated both for its biological and its geological interest.
Round Island Lighthouse, in the Isles of Scilly was designed by William Tregarthen Douglass for Trinity House and completed in 1887. At the time of building it was one of three lights in the Isles of Scilly, the others being the Bishop Rock and St Agnes lighthouse. The light was modernised in 1966, automated in 1987 and the island designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1995. It is now managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, and except for the maintenance of the Grade II listed lighthouse, landing is not allowed.
Gugh could be described as the sixth inhabited island of the Isles of Scilly, but is usually included with St Agnes with which it is joined by a sandy tombolo known as "The Bar" when exposed at low tide. The island is only about 1 km (0.62 mi) long and about 0.5 km (0.31 mi) wide, with the highest point, Kittern Hill at 34 m (112 ft). The geology consists of Hercynian granite with shallow podzolic soils on the higher ground and deeper sandy soils on the lower ground. The former Gugh farm is just north of the neck across the middle of the island between the two hills. The two houses were designed and built in the 1920s by Charles Hamlet Cooper.
St Bees Head is a headland on the North West coast of the English county of Cumbria and is named after the nearby village of St Bees.
St Helen's is one of the fifty or so uninhabited islands in the archipelago of the Isles of Scilly and has an approximate area of 0.1885 square kilometres. On the south side of the island is one of the earliest Christian sites in Scilly, an early medieval religious complex, which is thought to be the remains of St Elidius Hermitage, an 8th-century chapel lived in by Saint Lide,. There are also the remains of an isolation hospital used to quarantine sailors with plague. The island is the major part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest and some features have been given the designation of scheduled ancient monument. Access to the island is through chartered or private boat, although there are some season trips throughout the summer. St Helen's is currently managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust.
Teän is an uninhabited island to the north of the Isles of Scilly archipelago between Tresco, 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) to the west, and St Martin's, 300 metres (330 yd) to the east. Approximately 16 hectares in area, the island consists of a series of granite tors with the highest point, Great Hill, rising to 40 metres (130 ft) at its eastern end. The low-lying land is overlain with glacial till and outwash gravels with glacial erratics abundant on the north coast beaches, which indicates the southern limit of outwash from an ice sheet for which it is designated a Geological Conservation Review site.
Rosevear is the largest of the group of rocks known as the Western Rocks, Isles of Scilly. The islands are on eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean on the south-west approaches to the island of Great Britain and are renowned for the numerous shipwrecks in the area and the nearby Bishop Rock lighthouse. All the uninhabited islands are owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and are managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, which looks after the archaeological and historical remains on the islands, as well as the flora and fauna. Landing is not allowed on the island.
White Island is one of the larger unpopulated islands of the Isles of Scilly, part of the United Kingdom, and lies off the coast of the northernmost populated island of the group, St Martin's, to which it is joined by a tidal causeway, or isthmus. The island is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Geological Conservation Review site and is managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust on behalf of the Duchy of Cornwall.
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 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.
Boscastle to Widemouth is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Cornwall, England, noted for its biological and geological characteristics. The Dizzard dwarf oak woodland is unique and of international importance for its lichen communities, with 131 species recorded.
Wingletang Down is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the southern side of the island of St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly, England, UK, which is noted for its biological characteristics. All of the land designated as Wingletang Down SSSI is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. The site is managed by the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust and is within the Isles of Scilly Heritage Coast and the Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is the only site in Great Britain and Ireland for the small fern, least adder's–tongue. As of 11 September 2009 the SSSI was considered to be in ″unconditional recovering″ condition because European gorse and bramble are at unacceptable levels.
The Eastern Isles are a group of twelve small uninhabited islands within the Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, part of the Scilly Heritage Coast and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) first designated in 1971 for its flora and fauna. They have a long period of occupation from the Bronze Age with cairns and entrance graves through to Iron Age field systems and a Roman shrine on Nornour. Before the 19th century, the islands were known by their Cornish name, which had also become the name of the largest island in the group after the submergence of the connecting lands.
Porth Hellick is a tidal inlet on the south coast of St Mary’s, the largest island in the Isles of Scilly.
Zennor Head ; is a 750-metre (2,460 ft) long promontory on the Cornish coast of England, between Pendour Cove and Porthzennor Cove. Facing the Atlantic Ocean, it lies 1 kilometre north-west of the village of Zennor and 1.6 kilometres east of the next promontory, Gurnard's Head. The granite (Killas) cliffs rise over 200 feet (60 m) from the sea and the highest point of the headland is 314 feet (96 m) above sea level, with an Ordnance Survey triangulation station. Zennor Head is on the South West Coast Path, which follows the cliff edge closely, skirting the entire perimeter of the headland. The promontory is part of the Penwith Heritage Coast, and is the largest coastal feature in the United Kingdom that begins with the letter "Z". It gets its name from a local saint, Senara. Zennor Head was mined for copper and tin in the Victorian Era. There is no longer any residential or commercial occupancy on the headland, but it is occupied by a variety of coastal animals and plants, such as kestrels and gorse.
Castle Down is a windswept plateau of maritime heath in the northern part of the island of Tresco, Isles of Scilly. The area has a number of designations including Castle Down (Tresco) Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI); is part of the Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; part of the Isles of Scilly Heritage Coast; and part of Plantlife's Isles of Scilly Important Plant Area. The Castle Down Site of Special Scientific Interest is entirely owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. There are a number of Schedule Ancient Monument's ranging in age from Bronze Age cairns to castles built in the 16th and 17th centuries to protect the anchorage of New Grimsby harbour.
Peninnis Lighthouse is situated on Peninnis Head, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly.