Lizard Point, Cornwall

Lizard Point is for many ships the starting point of their ocean passage and a well known shipping hazard. The Lizard Lighthouse is situated at Lizard Point. Immediately below the lighthouse, situated in what used to be a hotel, is the YHA Lizard Youth Hostel. Lizard Point is situated within Caerthillian to Kennack SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), noted for its biological and geological interest.{{cite web |title=Caerthillian to Kennack |url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1004373.pdf |publisher=Natural England |access-date=18 November 2011 |year=1993}} Polpeor Cove is a small cove to the east of Lizard Point.Ordnance Survey Landranger Series of Great Britain; Land's End, The Lizard & The Isles of Scilly, sheet 203. 1983

The area is famous for its carved serpentine items,{{cite journal|last=Dickens, Charles |title=Cornish Stone |journal=Household Words|date=9 September 1854 |volume=10 |issue=233 |page=96 }} which range from ornaments to the pump handles in the Five Pilchards public house, in Porthallow. The geology of Lizard is of particular interest, being interpreted as an ophiolite, a piece of ocean floor, with a number of planned walks available from local tourist authorities to discover more about the local rocks.

The first sighting of the Spanish Armada on mainland Britain was off Lizard Point at 3 pm on 29 July 1588.{{cite book |author=Lovett, A. W. |title=Early Habsburg Spain, 1517–1598 |year=1986 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-822139-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/earlyhabsburgspa0000love/page/184 184] |url=https://archive.org/details/earlyhabsburgspa0000love/page/184 }}{{cite book |author=Fry, Plantagenet Somerset |title=The Kings & Queens of England & Scotland |year=1990 |publisher=Grove Press |isbn=978-0-8021-1386-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/kingsqueensofeng00some/page/108 108] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/kingsqueensofeng00some/page/108 }}

The Battle at the Lizard, between the English and the French navies during the War of the Spanish Succession, took place off The Lizard on 21 October 1707.{{cite book |author=Stewart, William |title=Admirals of the World: A Biographical Dictionary, 1500 to the Present |year=2009 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-3809-9 |page=112 }}{{cite book |author=Grant, R. G. |title=Battle at Sea: 3,000 Years of Naval Warfare |year=2011 |publisher=Penguin |location=New York City |isbn=978-0-7566-5701-7 |page=149 }}

The 1,074 gross ton bulk coaster carrier MV Ardgarry (1957) was lost in a heavy storm, in over 30 ft (9m) high waves, off Lizard Point on 29 December 1962. All 12 crewmen perished and were never found.{{citation |title=5 Saved in Ship Fire: 2 Vessels Missing with 22 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=5 January 1963 |page=1 }} She was built by James Lamont & Co at the Port Glasgow shipyard.{{citation |url=http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=10622 |title=mv ARDGARRY |publisher=Clydeships.co.uk }}{{citation |title=Lloyd's register of shipping: Register book. Register of ships, Volume 2 |year=1958 |page=71 }} The Ardgarry was carrying coal from Swansea and headed to Rouen in France. Six of the crew were from Northern Ireland, five from Scotland, and one from Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.{{citation |title=A voyage of discovery: Belfast brothers in quest to trace relatives of shipmates who perished with their dead |date=6 January 2008 |newspaper=Belfast Telegraph}} Found again in 2006, the ship's bell was recovered, and a memorial service was held by family members in August 2008.{{citation |title=Family memorial to lost sailors |publisher=BBC News |date=10 August 2008 }}

On 15 January 2004 the French fishing trawler Bugaled Breizh (child of Brittany) sank 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 British or Dutch submarine which was conducting NATO exercises in the area at the time.{{citation |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4378899.stm |title=French trawler Bugaled Breizh 'was sunk by sub' |publisher=BBC News |date=24 March 2005 }}

{{main|The Lizard Lifeboat Station}}

File:Disused lifeboat slipway, Polpeor Cove - geograph.org.uk - 1705882.jpg

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) operates The Lizard lifeboat station at Kilcobben Cove,{{cite web |title=Lifeboat Station : The Lizard |url=http://www.rnli.org.uk/rnli_near_you/southwest/stations/thelizardcornwall/ |work=RNLI.org.uk |publisher=Royal National Lifeboat Institution |access-date=4 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111203144852/http://rnli.org.uk/rnli_near_you/southwest/stations/TheLizardCornwall |archive-date=3 December 2011 }}{{cite web |title=The story of our station |url=http://thelizardlifeboat.org.uk/station.htm |publisher=The Lizard Lifeboat |access-date=4 December 2011 }} 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 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 Suevic 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 Lizard, Cadgwith, Coverack and Porthleven 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.{{citation |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/6439857.stm |publisher=BBC News |title=Biggest RNLI rescue is remembered |date=11 March 2007 }}

{{Portal|Cornwall}}

{{Commons category}}

• Land's End, westernmost point of mainland England
• Marshall Meadows Bay, northernmost point of England
• Ness Point, easternmost point of England

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{{Headlands of Cornwall}}

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Category:Lizard Peninsula

Category:Headlands of Cornwall

Category:Tourist attractions in Cornwall

Category:Extreme points of the United Kingdom