Prussia Cove
Encyclopedia
Prussia Cove formerly called the King's Cove, is a small private estate on the coast of Mount's Bay
and to the east of Cudden Point, west Cornwall
, UK. Part of the area is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Geological Conservation Review
site and is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
(AONB). It consists of four small coves and several cottages and houses. The names of the coves from west to east are Piskies, Bessy's, King's and Coule's. The area is accessible by foot from the coastal footpath
.
and smuggler John Carter (b. 1738), also known as the "King of Prussia"; thought to be from a childhood game he played and the origin of the name for the area. Evidence of smuggling can be inferred by the building of the terrace of seven listed cottages overlooking Coule’s Cove and Mount's Bay. They were built in 1826 by the Coastguard
and are known as Coastguard Cottages. Built above and overlooking the coves is a Victorian house built in 1885 for du Boulay, former Archdeacon of Cornwall in his retirement. The coastal path passes though a "circus" formed by the listed buildings of Porth-en-Alls and include a crescent shaped "Lodge". The complex was designed and built by Philip Tilden in 1911, but never completed due to the Great War.
In April 1947 HMS Warspite ran aground here whilst being towed to the breakers yard. She was later towed to, beached and broken up at Marazion
.
which can be clearly seen from most of Mount's Bay. Together with Little Cudden and Piskies Cove, the area is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI) and is listed, for its national importance, in the Geological Conservation Review
. The SSSI notification reads:
The vegetation consists of small patches of coastal grassland with colonies of the Silver-studded Blue (Plebejus argus), Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene) and Grayling (Hipparchia semele) butterflies. Gorse (Ulex europaeus) and bramble (Rubus fruticosus) dominate on the more fertile soils. Above the headland is ″The Lookout″ built by the Government in the 1914-18 war for coastal observation and now used as holiday accommodation.
starring Judi Dench
and Maggie Smith
was filmed there.
and Hilary Tunstall-Behrens in 1972. The master class seminars are said to be "... an opportunity to broaden their (students) musical horizons and to make new contacts; stimuli which are vital to a developing artist". Former students and participants of the seminars are to be found among the world's leading soloists and leaders of the great orchestras of the world.
Mount's Bay
Mount's Bay is a large, sweeping bay on the English Channel coast of Cornwall in the United Kingdom, stretching from the Lizard Point to Gwennap Head on the eastern side of the Land's End peninsula. Towards the middle of the bay is St Michael's Mount...
and to the east of Cudden Point, west 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. Part of the area is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Geological Conservation Review
Geological Conservation Review
The Geological Conservation Review is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological and geomorphological features of Britain...
site and is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
(AONB). It consists of four small coves and several cottages and houses. The names of the coves from west to east are Piskies, Bessy's, King's and Coule's. The area is accessible by foot from the coastal footpath
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...
.
History
Prussia Cove is known for the 18th century ship-wreckerWrecking (shipwreck)
Wrecking is the practice of taking valuables from a shipwreck which has foundered near or close to shore. Often an unregulated activity of opportunity in coastal communities, wrecking has been subjected to increasing regulation and evolved into what is now known as marine salvage...
and smuggler John Carter (b. 1738), also known as the "King of Prussia"; thought to be from a childhood game he played and the origin of the name for the area. Evidence of smuggling can be inferred by the building of the terrace of seven listed cottages overlooking Coule’s Cove and Mount's Bay. They were built in 1826 by the Coastguard
Her Majesty's Coastguard
Her Majesty's Coastguard is the service of the government of the United Kingdom concerned with co-ordinating air-sea rescue.HM Coastguard is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of all civilian maritime Search and Rescue within the UK...
and are known as Coastguard Cottages. Built above and overlooking the coves is a Victorian house built in 1885 for du Boulay, former Archdeacon of Cornwall in his retirement. The coastal path passes though a "circus" formed by the listed buildings of Porth-en-Alls and include a crescent shaped "Lodge". The complex was designed and built by Philip Tilden in 1911, but never completed due to the Great War.
In April 1947 HMS Warspite ran aground here whilst being towed to the breakers yard. She was later towed to, beached and broken up at Marazion
Marazion
Marazion is a civil parish and town in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the shore of Mount's Bay, two miles east of Penzance and one mile east of Long Rock.St Michael's Mount is half-a-mile offshore from Marazion...
.
Cudden Point to Prussia Cove SSSI
Cudden Point is a prominent headland, owned by the National TrustNational Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
which can be clearly seen from most of Mount's Bay. Together with Little Cudden and Piskies Cove, the area is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A 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...
(SSSI) and is listed, for its national importance, in the Geological Conservation Review
Geological Conservation Review
The Geological Conservation Review is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee and is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological and geomorphological features of Britain...
. The SSSI notification reads:
″This is the best example in Cornwall of a mildly metamorphosed, differentiated tholeiitic intrusiveIntrusionAn intrusion is liquid rock that forms under Earth's surface. Magma from under the surface is slowly pushed up from deep within the earth into any cracks or spaces it can find, sometimes pushing existing country rock out of the way, a process that can take millions of years. As the rock slowly...
greenstoneElvanElvan is a name used in Cornwall and Devon for the native varieties of quartz-porphyry. They are dispersed irregularly in the Upper Devonian series of rocks and some of them make very fine building stones...
that retains good relict igneous texturesIgneous texturesIgneous textures include the rock textures occurring in igneous rocks. Igneous textures are used by geologists in determining the mode of origin igneous rocks and are used in rock classification...
and mineralogy. It is characteristic of relatively large intrusive doleriteDiabaseDiabase or dolerite is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. In North American usage, the term diabase refers to the fresh rock, whilst elsewhere the term dolerite is used for the fresh rock and diabase refers to altered material...
-gabbroGabbroGabbro refers to a large group of dark, coarse-grained, intrusive mafic igneous rocks chemically equivalent to basalt. The rocks are plutonic, formed when molten magma is trapped beneath the Earth's surface and cools into a crystalline mass....
sillsSill (geology)In geology, a sill is a tabular sheet intrusion that has intruded between older layers of sedimentary rock, beds of volcanic lava or tuff, or even along the direction of foliation in metamorphic rock. The term sill is synonymous with concordant intrusive sheet...
in Cornwall and unique in that it is of tholeiitic composition and not alkaline. It is also internally differentiated and contains rare relicts of primary brown amphiboleAmphiboleAmphibole is the name of an important group of generally dark-colored rock-forming inosilicate minerals, composed of double chain tetrahedra, linked at the vertices and generally containing ions of iron and/or magnesium in their structures.-Mineralogy:...
. The sheared and deformed marginal faciesMetamorphic faciesThe metamorphic facies are groups of mineral compositions in metamorphic rocks, that are typical for a certain field in pressure-temperature space...
has a chemistry indicative of contact metamorphism by hidden, shallow granite extension from the nearby Godolphin diapirDiapirA diapir is a type of intrusion in which a more mobile and ductily-deformable material is forced into brittle overlying rocks. Depending on the tectonic environment, diapirs can range from idealized mushroom-shaped Rayleigh-Taylor instability-type structures in regions with low tectonic stress...
.″
The vegetation consists of small patches of coastal grassland with colonies of the Silver-studded Blue (Plebejus argus), Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene) and Grayling (Hipparchia semele) butterflies. Gorse (Ulex europaeus) and bramble (Rubus fruticosus) dominate on the more fertile soils. Above the headland is ″The Lookout″ built by the Government in the 1914-18 war for coastal observation and now used as holiday accommodation.
Culture
In 2004, the British period drama Ladies in LavenderLadies in Lavender
The film's original music was written by Nigel Hess and performed by Joshua Bell and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Hess received a Classical BRIT Awards nomination for Best Soundtrack Composer....
starring Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
and Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE , better known as Maggie Smith, is an English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 59 years...
was filmed there.
International Musicians Seminar
The International Musicians Seminar (IMS) Prussia Cove held at Porth-en-Alls was founded by the Hungarian violinist, Sándor VéghSándor Végh
Sándor Végh was a Hungarian, later French, violinist and conductor. He was best known as one of the great chamber music violinists of the twentieth century.- Education :...
and Hilary Tunstall-Behrens in 1972. The master class seminars are said to be "... an opportunity to broaden their (students) musical horizons and to make new contacts; stimuli which are vital to a developing artist". Former students and participants of the seminars are to be found among the world's leading soloists and leaders of the great orchestras of the world.