Lizard (Cornwall)
Lizard Town is the most southerly village in England. It boasts a famous pasty shop and several serpentine turners plying their craft during the holiday season. The Serpentine found on the Lizard is a unique metamorphic rock veined in green, red and white. It easily can be worked and polished into decorative lamp and candle holders.
Cottages at Church Cove on the Lizard Peninsular
The coastline around the Lizard peninsular is lined with steep cliffs, rocks and reefs, and at its centre lie bleak areas of open moorland. The South West Coast Path runs around the coastline and there is a further network of ancient trails that crisscross the moorland, making the whole area ideal for trekkers and walkers. Especially in springtime when the wildflowers are in bloom. The moorlands, in particular, are home to wild nesting birds and many rare plant and insect species. The whole area is so unique and attractive is has be designated as and AONB.
Up from the centre of the moors rise the great satellite dishes of the Goonhilly Earth Station. The station was initially developed from an idea put forward by Arthur C. Clark in 1945, who was the first to envisaged the possibility of satellites orbiting the earth, sending and receiving information.
Lizard Lighthouse © Hannah Benney
The rocky coastline around the Lizard is notoriously
hazardous for shipping and particularly an area called
'The Manacles' to
the east (also known as The Ships Graveyard) which
is strewn with treacherous semi-submerged rocks.
The Lighthouse at Lizard Point is one
of the most powerful in Britain, constantly warding
ships away from their potential doom.
Map of Lizard Cornwall
South West England
