Cadgwith
Encyclopedia
Cadgwith is a village and fishing port in Cornwall
, United Kingdom
. It is situated on the Lizard Peninsula between The Lizard
and Coverack
.
cove. Fishing subsidised local farmers' livelihoods. Cadgwith was originally called 'Caswydh' or 'Porthcaswydh' or 'Porthkaswydh' thought to be derived from the Cornish
word for 'a thicket' probably because the valley was densely wooded. From the 16th century, the village became inhabited, with fishing as the main occupation. Subsequently houses, lofts, capstan houses, and cellars constructed of local stone or cob
walls and thatched or slated roofs were built along the beach and up the sides of the valley leading to Cadgwith's characteristic Cornish fishing village appearance. In recent times a very small Anglican church was built (dedicated to St Mary).
, spider crabs, lobsters, shark
s, monkfish
, and conger eel
are regularly landed with most being sold abroad through fish merchants but some being sold locally by the fishmonger, café, public house, and seafood snack shop.
known as The Stags, and The Manacles
which lie near Coverack
, and there are a number of other rocks off the coast of Cadgwith known as The Craggan and The Boa. Deep sea diving onto the wrecks is quite popular.
services throughout the United Kingdom are run as a charity and manned by volunteers organised by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
.
Cadgwith lifeboats were crewed by local fishermen between 1867 and 1963 as a benevolent service to all seafarers especially due to the treacherous local waters. In 1961 the service was transferred to a new lifeboat station at Kilcobben Cove, situated approximately halfway along the coast between The Lizard and Cadgwith which is more sheltered from the prevailing winds. The Lizard and Cadgwith lifeboats were merged and known as the Lizard-Cadgwith Lifeboat between 1961 and 1987 and subsequently called The Lizard Lifeboat
.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution
stationed a lifeboat
at Cadgwith in 1867. Until 1941 the station operated a 'pulling and sailing' boat, but in 1941 the motor lifeboat Guide of Dunkirk arrived. The station was closed in 1963 when a new Lizard-Cadgwith Lifeboat Station
was opened at Kilcobben Cove, which is currently being rebuilt and modernised to house a new lifeboat. The redundant lifeboat house at Cadgwith has since been used by the Cadgwith Pilot Gig
Club.
. A replacement lifeboat, also named Joseph Armstrong, came on station in June 1887. She was 37 ft (11.3 m) and 8 ft (2.4 m). With twelve oars and fifteen crew, she cost £454 and was built by Forrest Limehouse.
In 1898, a new lifeboat named Minnie Moon arrived in Cadgwith. She was 39 ft (11.9 m) and 9 in 6 in (2.9 m) wide, with twelve oars and fifteen crew. She cost £798 and was built at Thames Ironworks, Blackwall
. She holds the record for the greatest number of lives saved from one rescue: 227 lives were saved from the SS Suevic
on the night of 17/18 March 1907 which was wrecked in fog and gales on The Stag Rocks on the Maenheere Reef, off Lizard Point. Two silver RNLI gallantry medals were awarded to members of the Cadgwith lifeboat crew: Edwin Rutter, Coxswain Superintendent and Rev. ‘Harry’ Vyvyan, Honorary Secretary. Other lifeboat crews involved in the rescue included , Coverack
, and Porthleven
. The centenary of the rescue was commemorated on 17 March 2007.
The Herbert Sturmey arrived on station in 1932. She was 37 ft (11.3 m) and 9 in 3 in (2.82 m) wide, with twelve oars and fifteen crew. She cost £2000 and was built by Summers and Payne of Cowes.
The last Cadgwith lifeboat was the Guide of Dunkirk
, so called as the money was raised by the Girl Guides
of the Empire. Originally destined for the Station, she took part in the Dunkirk evacuations in 1940 where she sustained bullet holes and other damage. She was 35 ft (10.7 m) and 9 in 6 in (2.9 m) wide. She was the only Cadgwith lifeboat to have an engine and had a crew of seven. She cost £5523 and was built by Rowhedge Ironworks. She is now on display at Mevagissey
.
racing days, summer barbecues, a regatta, Morris dancing, musical bands, and regular singing by the Cadgwith Singers in the public house, the Cadgwith Cove Inn, which is thought to be over 400 years old. The South West Coast Path
traverses the village and is regularly used as destination to stop over and gain refreshment. A local fisherman runs a fishmonger's which provides fresh fish with recipes and there is a local craft shop. Along the coast path walking towards The Lizard is an interesting feature known as The Devil's Frying Pan, a cave whose roof collapsed leaving its entrance as a bridge and a boulder-filled bay which is seen to 'boil' during rough weather.
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...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The 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...
. It is situated on the Lizard Peninsula between The Lizard
The Lizard
The Lizard is a peninsula in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The most southerly point of the British mainland is near Lizard Point at ....
and Coverack
Coverack
Coverack 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....
.
History
The village has its origins in medieval times as a collection of fish cellars in a sheltered south-east facing coastal valley with a shingleShingle beach
A shingle beach is a beach which is armoured with pebbles or small- to medium-sized cobbles. Typically, the stone composition may grade from characteristic sizes ranging from two to 200 mm diameter....
cove. Fishing subsidised local farmers' livelihoods. Cadgwith was originally called 'Caswydh' or 'Porthcaswydh' or 'Porthkaswydh' thought to be derived from the Cornish
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
word for 'a thicket' probably because the valley was densely wooded. From the 16th century, the village became inhabited, with fishing as the main occupation. Subsequently houses, lofts, capstan houses, and cellars constructed of local stone or cob
Cob (building)
Cob or cobb or clom is a building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe. Cob is fireproof, resistant to seismic activity, and inexpensive...
walls and thatched or slated roofs were built along the beach and up the sides of the valley leading to Cadgwith's characteristic Cornish fishing village appearance. In recent times a very small Anglican church was built (dedicated to St Mary).
Geography
Cadgwith has two beaches separated by a promontory called "The Todden", thought to mean laying ground in Cornish. To the north-east is the larger beach, made mostly of shingle with a shallow slope, referred to as Cadgwith Cove, Big Beach, The Cove, Fishing Beach, or the Working Cove; all the fishermen work from this beach. The other smaller beach on the south-west side is a mixture of sand and large boulders and is called Little Cove or Little Beach and used as the swimming beach by locals and holiday-makers. The Todden, maximum height about 9m above sea level, provides a view of the beaches and the village. There is a natural passage through The Todden which connects the beaches. Pointing seaward from The Todden are two rocks called The Island and The Mare. At low tide the beaches are connected by a strip between the Todden and The Island. Cadgwith is sheltered from prevailing winds from the south-west or west, but easterly or south-easterly winds can produce rough seas and swells. During stormy weather waves can break over The Island. Rough seas can reach the low-lying buildings and homes. The sea has eroded large areas of The Todden and access to the promotory by a narrow pathway has been preserved by sea wall defences funded by Cornwall Council and The Tham Trust.Fishing
Cadgwith owes its existence to the fishing industry. Pilchard fishing occurred until the 1950s using large seine boats and seine nets, which was a system used to enclose the large shoals of pilchards, and coordinated by the use of lookouts, known as huers (from the Cornish 'Hevva, Hevva!' ('Here they are!)), positioned on the cove's two headlands. In 1904, a record 1,798,000 pilchards were landed over four days. Due to overfishing and climate changes pilchards are no longer found in large enough numbers to sustain pilchard fishing in Cadgwith, instead brown edible crabsEdible crab
Cancer pagurus, commonly known as the edible crab or brown crab, is a species of crab found in the North Sea, North Atlantic Ocean and perhaps in the Mediterranean Sea. It is a robust crab of a reddish-brown colour, having an oval carapace with a characteristic "pie crust" edge and black tips to...
, spider crabs, lobsters, shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
s, monkfish
Monkfish
Monkfish is the English name of a number of types of fish in the northwest Atlantic, most notably the species of the anglerfish genus Lophius and the angelshark genus Squatina...
, and conger eel
Conger
Conger is a genus of marine congrid eels. It includes some of the largest types of eels, ranging up to 3 m in length, in the case of the European conger...
are regularly landed with most being sold abroad through fish merchants but some being sold locally by the fishmonger, café, public house, and seafood snack shop.
Wrecks
The Lizard Peninsula has a treacherous coastline due to a combination of submerged rocks and weather factors (gales, storms, or fog). There are numerous wrecks on the rocks off Lizard PointLizard Point, Cornwall
Lizard Point in Cornwall is at the southern tip of the Lizard Peninsula. It is situated half-a-mile south of Lizard village in the civil parish of Landewednack and approximately 11 miles southeast of Helston....
known as The Stags, and The Manacles
The Manacles
The Manacles are a set of treacherous rocks off The Lizard peninsula in Cornwall close to Porthoustock, which is a popular spot for diving due to the shipwrecks around them. The name derives from the Cornish for 'church stone', the top of St Keverne church being visible from the area.The rocks...
which lie near Coverack
Coverack
Coverack 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 there are a number of other rocks off the coast of Cadgwith known as The Craggan and The Boa. Deep sea diving onto the wrecks is quite popular.
Lifeboats
LifeboatLifeboat (rescue)
A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...
services throughout the United Kingdom are run as a charity and manned by volunteers organised by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....
.
Cadgwith lifeboats were crewed by local fishermen between 1867 and 1963 as a benevolent service to all seafarers especially due to the treacherous local waters. In 1961 the service was transferred to a new lifeboat station at Kilcobben Cove, situated approximately halfway along the coast between The Lizard and Cadgwith which is more sheltered from the prevailing winds. The Lizard and Cadgwith lifeboats were merged and known as the Lizard-Cadgwith Lifeboat between 1961 and 1987 and subsequently called The Lizard Lifeboat
The Lizard lifeboat station
The 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...
.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....
stationed a lifeboat
Lifeboat (rescue)
A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...
at Cadgwith in 1867. Until 1941 the station operated a 'pulling and sailing' boat, but in 1941 the motor lifeboat Guide of Dunkirk arrived. The station was closed in 1963 when a new Lizard-Cadgwith Lifeboat Station
The Lizard lifeboat station
The 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...
was opened at Kilcobben Cove, which is currently being rebuilt and modernised to house a new lifeboat. The redundant lifeboat house at Cadgwith has since been used by the Cadgwith Pilot Gig
Cornish pilot gig
The Cornish pilot gig is a six-oared rowing boat, built of Cornish narrow leaf elm, long with a beam of four feet ten inches.It is recognised as one of the first shore-based lifeboats that went to vessels in distress, with recorded rescues going back as far as the late 17th century.The original...
Club.
History of the Cadgwith lifeboats
The first lifeboat was Western Commercial Traveller. She was 33 ft (10.1 m) and 8 in 1 in (2.46 m) wide. She had a crew of thirteen and was rowed by ten oars. She cost £290 and was built by Woolfe and Shadwell. In 1878, the Western Commercial Traveller was renamed Joseph Armstrong after the late Chief Superintendent of the locomotive and carriage developments of the Great Western RailwayGreat Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
. A replacement lifeboat, also named Joseph Armstrong, came on station in June 1887. She was 37 ft (11.3 m) and 8 ft (2.4 m). With twelve oars and fifteen crew, she cost £454 and was built by Forrest Limehouse.
In 1898, a new lifeboat named Minnie Moon arrived in Cadgwith. She was 39 ft (11.9 m) and 9 in 6 in (2.9 m) wide, with twelve oars and fifteen crew. She cost £798 and was built at Thames Ironworks, Blackwall
Blackwall, London
Blackwall is an area of the East End of London, situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets on the north bank of the River Thames.The district around Blackwall Stairs was known as Blackwall by at least the 14th century. This presumably derives from the colour of the river wall, constructed in...
. She holds the record for the greatest number of lives saved from one rescue: 227 lives were saved from the SS Suevic
SS Suevic
The 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...
on the night of 17/18 March 1907 which was wrecked in fog and gales on The Stag Rocks on the Maenheere Reef, off Lizard Point. Two silver RNLI gallantry medals were awarded to members of the Cadgwith lifeboat crew: Edwin Rutter, Coxswain Superintendent and Rev. ‘Harry’ Vyvyan, Honorary Secretary. Other lifeboat crews involved in the rescue included , Coverack
Coverack
Coverack 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 Porthleven
Porthleven
Porthleven 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...
. The centenary of the rescue was commemorated on 17 March 2007.
The Herbert Sturmey arrived on station in 1932. She was 37 ft (11.3 m) and 9 in 3 in (2.82 m) wide, with twelve oars and fifteen crew. She cost £2000 and was built by Summers and Payne of Cowes.
The last Cadgwith lifeboat was the Guide of Dunkirk
Guide of Dunkirk
The Guide of Dunkirk was a lifeboat whose construction was funded by the Girl Guides in 1940. She was self-righting and designed for launch from a beach. As one of the "Little Ships" of Dunkirk she was used in the evacuation of Allied soldiers from Dunkirk in World War II. Between 1941 and 1963 she...
, so called as the money was raised by the Girl Guides
Girl Guides
A Guide, Girl Guide or Girl Scout is a member of a section of some Guiding organisations who is between the ages of 10 and 14. Age limits are different in each organisation. It is the female-centred equivalent of the Scouts. The term Girl Scout is used in the United States and several East Asian...
of the Empire. Originally destined for the Station, she took part in the Dunkirk evacuations in 1940 where she sustained bullet holes and other damage. She was 35 ft (10.7 m) and 9 in 6 in (2.9 m) wide. She was the only Cadgwith lifeboat to have an engine and had a crew of seven. She cost £5523 and was built by Rowhedge Ironworks. She is now on display at Mevagissey
Mevagissey
Mevagissey is a village, fishing port and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately five miles south of St Austell....
.
Tourism
Tourism is the major source of income in the village nowadays, due to the decline in the fishing industry, and many of the houses are let as holiday accommodation. Cadgwith has long been popular as a holiday destination, especially during the summer when there are numerous local events: gigCornish pilot gig
The Cornish pilot gig is a six-oared rowing boat, built of Cornish narrow leaf elm, long with a beam of four feet ten inches.It is recognised as one of the first shore-based lifeboats that went to vessels in distress, with recorded rescues going back as far as the late 17th century.The original...
racing days, summer barbecues, a regatta, Morris dancing, musical bands, and regular singing by the Cadgwith Singers in the public house, the Cadgwith Cove Inn, which is thought to be over 400 years old. The South West Coast Path
South West Coast Path
The South West Coast Path is Britain's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Since it rises and falls with every river mouth, it is also one of the more...
traverses the village and is regularly used as destination to stop over and gain refreshment. A local fisherman runs a fishmonger's which provides fresh fish with recipes and there is a local craft shop. Along the coast path walking towards The Lizard is an interesting feature known as The Devil's Frying Pan, a cave whose roof collapsed leaving its entrance as a bridge and a boulder-filled bay which is seen to 'boil' during rough weather.