Picturesque fishing village
Web: www.cadgwith.com
Web: www.visitcornwall.com/things-to-do/beaches/perranporth-beach
Located on the east side of the Lizard Peninsula between The Lizard and Coverack, Cadgwith ticks all the boxes of a picturesque Cornish fishing village. The village has two beaches separated by a rock promontory called The Todden. To the north-east is the larger of the two beaches which is also where the local boats are moored. The other beach is somewhat smaller and also generally more sandy. The sheltered nature of Cadgwith make it a great destination at any time of the year.
Cadgwith owes its existence to the fishing industry. Pilchard fishing occurred until the 1950's using large seine boats and seine nets,
Like most coastal villages in Cornwall, Cadgwith now relies on tourism. There are however a number of boats that operate from the village. It is still a working fishing village and it is often possible to see the fishermen taking their boats from the sea and mooring them back on the beach, they no longer go out for pilchard, but crab, lobster, mackerel and mullet are regularly landed at the naturally protected cove.
There is no old church here, but in recent times a very small Anglican church was built dedicated to St. Mary.
Just outside the village is the ancient St. Ruan's Holy Well.
Devil's Frying Pan lies a little way to the south, a hole 200 feet deep where the sea foams over a mass of stone and shingle.
There are numerous shipwrecks on the rocks in the area, many on The Manacles reef which is near here.
A lifeboat station was located here from 1867, with 400 lives recorded as having been saved. Until 1941 the station operated a 'pulling and sailing' boat, but in 1941 the motor lifeboat 'Guide of Dunkirk' arrived. The Cadgwith station was closed in 1963 after the merger, in 1961, of the Lizard and Cadgwith lifeboats
The South West Coast Path traverses the village and is regularly used as destination to stop over and gain refreshment.
The film 'Ladies in Lavender' starring Dame Judi Dench and Maggie Smith was filmed here in 2004.
The village was made famous in 2011 by Monty Halls' series 'The Fisherman's Apprentice' which featured the cove and the many fishermen that work here.
Coverack Helston Lizard Peninsula Lizard Village The Coastal Footpath