Lizard Point in
CornwallCornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is 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 has a population of , and covers an area of...
is at the southern tip of the
Lizard PeninsulaThe Lizard is a peninsula in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at ....
. It is situated half-a-mile (0.8 km) south of
Lizard villageLizard is a village on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately ten miles south of Helston, and is Britain's most southerly settlement....
in the
civil parishIn England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
of
LandewednackLandewednack is a civil parish and a hamlet in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The hamlet is situated approximately ten miles south of Helston.Landewednack is the most southerly parish on the British mainland...
and approximately 11 miles (18 km) southeast of
HelstonHelston 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 east of Penzance and nine miles southwest of Falmouth. Helston is the most southerly town in the UK and is around further south than...
.
Lizard Point is the most southerly point on mainland
Great BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
at 49°57' N. With the exception of parts of the
Isles of ScillyThe Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...
it is the
southernmost partThis is a list of the extreme points of the United Kingdom: the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location. Traditionally the extent of the island of Great Britain has stretched "from Land's End to John o' Groats" .This article does not include references to the...
of
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
History and geography
Lizard Point is for many ships the starting point of their ocean passage and a notorious shipping hazard. The
Lizard lighthouseThe Lizard Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Lizard Point in Cornwall, United Kingdom, built in 1752. A light was first exhibited from that point in 1619, but demolished in 1630. Trinity House took responsibility for the station in 1771...
is situated at Lizard Point. Immediately below the lighthouse, situated in what used to be a hotel is the
YHAThe Youth Hostels Association is a charitable organisation, registered with the Charity Commission, providing youth hostel accommodation in England and Wales...
Lizard Youth Hostel. Lizard point is situated within
Caerthillian to KennackCaerthillian to Kennack is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, England, UK, noted for both its biological and geological interest...
SSSI (
Site of Special Scientific InterestA Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
), noted for its
biologicalCornwall 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...
and
geologicalThe Geology of Cornwall is dominated by its granite backbone, part of the Cornubian batholith, formed during the Variscan orogeny. Around this is an extensive metamorphic aureole formed in the mainly Devonian slates that make up most of the rest of the county...
interest.
The area is famous for its carved
serpentineSerpentinite is a rock composed of one or more serpentine group minerals. Minerals in this group are formed by serpentinization, a hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle...
items, which range from ornaments to the pump handles in the local
public houseA public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
; the Lizard Inn. The geology of Lizard is fascinating, with a number of planned walks available from local tourist authorities in order to discover more about the local rocks.
The first sighting of the
Spanish ArmadaThis article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
on mainland
BritainEarly modern Britain is the history of the island of Great Britain, roughly corresponding to the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Major historical events in Early Modern British history include the English Renaissance, the English Reformation and Scottish Reformation, the English Civil War, the...
was off Lizard Point at 3 pm on 29 July 1588. This was one of the greatest invasion fleets in history and consisted of 120 ships armed with over 1,000 cannon and with 29,000 men on board.
The Battle at the Lizard, a naval battle, took place off The Lizard on 21 October 1707.
Lifeboat service
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) operates
The Lizard lifeboat stationThe Lizard Lifeboat Station is a lifeboat station operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution . It is located at Kilcobben Cove on The Lizard peninsula in Cornwall, United Kingdom...
at Kilcobben Cove, two miles (3 km) northeast of Lizard Point. A Tyne class lifeboat is housed in a large boathouse at the base of the cliff. The station features a
funicularA funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...
line to transport lifeboat crews from the boathouse to the clifftop station car park.
The biggest rescue in the RNLI's history was 17 March 1907 when the 12,000 tonne liner
SS SuevicThe SS Suevic was a steamship built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the White Star Line. Suevic was the fifth and last of the "Jubilee Class" ocean liners, built specifically to service the Liverpool-Cape Town-Sydney route. In 1907 she was shipwrecked off the south coast of England, but in the...
hit the Maenheere Reef near Lizard Point. In a strong gale and dense fog RNLI lifeboat volunteers rescued 456 passengers, including seventy babies. Crews from
The LizardThe Lizard is a peninsula in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at ....
,
CadgwithCadgwith is a village and fishing port in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the Lizard Peninsula between The Lizard and Coverack.-History:...
,
CoverackCoverack is a coastal village and fishing port in Cornwall, England, UK. It is situated on the east side of the Lizard peninsula approximately nine miles south of Falmouth....
and
PorthlevenPorthleven is a town, civil parish and fishing port in Cornwall, United Kingdom, near Helston. It is the most southerly port on the island of Great Britain and was originally developed as a harbour of refuge, when this part of the Cornish coastline was recognised as a black spot for wrecks in days...
rowed out repeatedly for sixteen hours to rescue all of the people on board. Six silver RNLI medals were later awarded, two to
Suevic crew members.
Bugaled Breizh sinking
On 15 January 2004 the
FrenchThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
fishing trawler
Bugaled BreizhThe MFV Bugaled Breizh is a French trawler from Loctudy, Finistère, whose sinking with the loss of life on January 15, 2004 remains unresolved...
(child of
BrittanyBrittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
) was sunk off Lizard Point with the loss of five lives. There were claims at the time by French marine accident experts that the vessel may have been pulled under when her nets became entangled in a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
or
DutchThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
submarine which was conducting
NATO exercises in the area at the time.