The Church of St Gennys provides a clue to the treacherous
nature of the water off the coast of the small coastal village of Crackington
Haven. The graveyard includes memorials
to seamen who have lost their lives over the years in a series of
shipwrecks. One such was the Swedish brigantine
William which lost 7 men in a storm in 1894.
Just six years later a further 7 men were lost when the steamer City of
Vienna and the barque Capricornia were lost to storms. The harbour here used to be used for importing
coal and limestone from Wales, and for exporting the slate that was quarried here, but it has reverted to a sleepy cove with a
pebble and sand beach, a pub and a bistro.
Pencarrow Point towers over the beach at a height of over 400 feet, and
there is spectacular coastal walking to be had over a stretch of coast towards
Boscastle given to the National Trust in 1959 by Wing Commander A. G. Parnall
to commemorate the airmen who died during the Battle of Britain, including his
brother. Crackington Haven suffered extensive damage
from flooding in the great flood of 2004, of which Boscastle was the more
famous victim – more about this in the next post. The area around the village has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty as well as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The latter is partly due to the geology, with the carboniferous rocks giving rise to the name 'The Crackington Formation'.
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| Coombe Barton Inn at Crackington Haven - geograph.org.uk - 905111. Photo by Rob Wilcox, via Wikimedia Commons. |
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