Most southerly point of England
Web: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cornwall/lizard-point Web: www.visitcornwall.com/regions/the-lizard
Lizard Point 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 about eleven miles south-east of Helston.
Lizard Point is the most southerly point on mainland Great Britain. With the exception of parts of the Isles of Scilly, it is the southern-most part of England and the wider United Kingdom.
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. Polpeor Cove is a small cove to the east of Lizard Point.
The area is famous for its carved serpentine items, 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 3pm on 29th July 1588.
The Battle at the Lizard, between the English and the French navies during the War of the Spanish Succession, took place off The Lizard Peninsula on 21st October 1707.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) operates The Lizard lifeboat station at Kilcobben Cove, two miles north-east 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.
1321 A cargo (including jewels) worth £6,000 was lost when the sailing vessel 'St. Bartholomew' was lost near Lizard Point.
1618 A merchantman of unknown name is wrecked on Lizard Point. It is later called either the "Rill Cove Wreck" or the "Lizard Silver Wreck" due to the large amount of coins recovered from the site.
1669 The French ship 'San Salvador' is wrecked on Lizard Point. This wreck may be the ship the Ferdinand Research Group discovered in 1969 below Angrouse Cliff near Mullion Cove.
1721 The 127 foot HMS 'Royal Anne', the last oared fighting ship built for the Royal Navy, hit rocks off Lizard Point while en route to the West Indies with Lord Belhaven, the new Governor of Barbados. 182 crew and 25 gentlemen died and there were only three survivors.
1809 HMS 'Primrose', an 18-gun Cruiser, was wrecked and sank after striking the Manacle rocks off The Lizard, with only one of the 126 on board surviving. Also on the same night HMS 'Dispatch' was wrecked on the same reef.
1882 The German passenger liner 'Mosel' was wrecked on Lizard Point, but no lives were lost.
1886 The 2,924 ton steamship 'Suffolk' was wrecked near Lizard Point in dense fog. The forty five persons aboard were all saved.
1907 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.
1913 The four-masted steel barque 'Queen Margaret', laden with 4500 tons of wheat from Australia hit the Maenheere Rock of Lizard Point and was wrecked.
1913 The square rigger 'Cromdale' was wrecked on Lizard Point.
1923 The five-masted schooner 'Adolf Vinnen' was wrecked on Lizard Point in a gale during her maiden voyage.
1935 Wreck of French Trawler 'Le Vieux Tigre' on Lizard Point.
1935 Wreck of 15,000 ton Oil Tanker 'D. L. Harper' on Lizard Point.
1962 The 1,074 gross ton bulk coaster carrier MV 'Ardgarry' was lost in a heavy storm, in over 30 feet high waves, off Lizard Point. All twelve crewmen perished and were never found. The 'Ardgarry' was carrying coal from Swansea and headed to Rouen in France. Found again in 2006, the ship's bell was recovered, and a memorial service was held by family members in August 2008.
2004 The French fishing trawler 'Bugaled Breizh' 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.
2012 The tug 'Aquarius' sank 45 miles off the Lizard with one of the three crew missing.
2013 The French fishing vessel 'Panamera' sank off Lizard Point. There was no loss of life amongst her French and Portuguese crew.
2024 A French yachtsman was airlifted to safety after a mast on his yacht broke off in stormy conditions off Lizard Point.
Cadgwith Helston Kynance Cove Lizard Lighthouse
Mullion Cove The Coastal Footpath Cornish Lifeboat Stations
Goonhilly Earth Satellite Station Lizard Peninsula Lizard Point Youth Hostel