Battery Rocks are a rocky headland situated to the west of the harbour of Penzance

Penzance

Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...

, Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall 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...

, UK. The rocks take their name from a gun battery

Artillery battery

In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...

 that was situated there from 1739, following a petition by Penzance Borough

Borough

A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....

 council for protection from French

Military of France

The French Armed Forces encompass the French Army, the French Navy, the French Air Force and the National Gendarmerie. The President of the Republic heads the armed forces, with the title "chef des armées" . The President is the supreme authority for military matters and is the sole official who...

 naval attacks.

History

Of the Battery, Craig Weatherhill

Craig Weatherhill

Craig Weatherhill is a Cornish author both of fiction and non-fiction works about Cornwall.-Biography:Raised in St Just in Penwith and then in Falmouth, after serving in the forces he developed a career in conservation and architecture. In his younger days, the 6' 3" Weatherhill was a goalkeeper,...

, local self proclaimed historian and amateur archaeologist wrote:

"The 18th century gun battery site is in fact a good deal older than that and is almost certainly the site mentioned in the report to King Philip of Spain

Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....

 written by Don Carlos de Amezola, commanding officer of the fleet of four Spanish warships that raided Mousehole, Newlyn and Penzance in August 1595.

Captain de Amezola wrote the following words in this report:

‘At the same time, the sergeant major Juan de Arnica, on the order of Captain Carlos de Amezola, went with twelve musketeers and arquebusiers in a launch to capture the piece of artillery that was in the fort in Penzance. Although there were English (sic) men who came to its defence, the sergeant major got the piece on board and brought it to the flagship’.
No other gun battery site is known on the coast at Penzance and this is almost certainly the Battery Rocks site that is the subject of this report. "
Of course this could be considered spin by an individual intensly opposed to the construction of a ferry terminal adjacent to the headland.

Geography

Battery Rocks and the adjacent tidal beach, , are an integral part of the Pen Sans--Holy Headland--after which Penzance is named although the site of the church of StAntony, which once stood somewhere on the headland will almost certainly be buried under the modern structures of the Lido/ Jubilee pool.

Battery Rocks have been a favourite location for local swimmers for as long as can be remembered, even at the heart of winter! They are also occasionally visited by some purple sandpipers who over winter in the south west as well as many other European coastlines.

The Rocks are the setting for the Penzance war memorial and the Grade II Listed Jubilee Pool, an art deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

 lido, one of the very few surviving--described in the listing notes as one of the finest examples.

The Battery Rocks are under threat from the "Route Partnership" scheme, which intends to transform this tranquil location into a freight yard. It has recently been the subject of much local campaigning. however the controversial scheme has now achieved planning consent.