Cape, Cot and Kenidjack

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St. Just-in-Penwith, Cornwall is the most westerly town in Britain and is all but surrounded by the sea. On a misty winter’s day you could be forgiven for driving right through St. Just wondering what attractions, if any it may hold. However St. Just’s proximity to the coast and abundance of superb walks makes it the ‘real Lands End’ for many.

“. . a treeless granite tin-streaming town on a windy height.” - John Betjeman describing St.Just.

Cot Valley is a beautiful wooded valley with a small stream running through its centre. The gentle bracken covered slopes take you down to Porth Nanven - the pebbly beach at Cot. The oval sea-washed boulders at Porth Nanven have proved so attractive to visitors that it is now against the law to make off with such prizes in order to protect these egg shaped stones - remnants of an old raised beach.

Taking the cliff path from Cot Valley high up to Carn Gloose leads to stunning views from Lands End and Sennen round to Cape Cornwall - the only Cape in England. Rising 229 feet out of the sea, the nineteenth century stack at its summit is a fitting monument for the tin mining industry. The pebbly beach at Cape Cornwall is Priests Cove and still tempts locals and visitors in the summer months to roll out their beach mats whilst children paddle in the man-made salt water pool. The slip at Cape is still functioning as a fishing slipway and fishermen can be seen to set out to sea from there all year round barring the worst of the winter storms. The Brisons - a large rock formation and underwater reef some 2 miles off the coast and which has caused many a shipwreck, has reminded generations of observers of an old man snoring on his back. With the Brisons so close and with the Isles of Scilly, perched on the horizon, it is a clear reminder of how close we are to the end of England.

A walk from Cape on the cliff path to Kenidjack gives a good vantage point of the foreshore below, where summer swimmers and the occasional ‘skinny dipper’ can be seen in the naturally formed pool which is left filled with freezing cold water at low tide. The overgrown remains of Kenidjack Castle - an iron-age cliff fort occupies a central location on the headland while the pebbly beach at Kenidjack is called Porth Ledden and offers one of the most beautiful views of Cape Cornwall. It is also an excellent site to view seals. The walk back upstream, taking one of the many winding paths past small dry stone wall fields, leads you back to St. Just.

Cape Cornwall

Porth Nanven (Cot Beach)

(photos by Mike Jay)

Dramatic cliffs, wooded valleys, streams, clear views of the Scillies, disused engine houses, winding paths, an abundance and variety of flora, birds and wildlife, tucked away little cottages, hidden tracks and the ever present changing tides and swells of the sea - this is the magic of Cot, Cape and Kenidjack - and it’s all within ten minutes walk from The Great Atlantic Map Works Gallery.

The integrity and passion of the artists featured in this collection is evident in their skill of capturing their own experiences of the landscape in their paintings. Not only are they sharing with us a pretty view but allowing us to feel the early morning mist on our faces or enjoy the warmth of the sun before it sinks below the horizon. The scene is a constantly changing one and the challenge of capturing the moment before the tides change, the clouds sweep past or the wind changes direction is an ever present one. The initial gust of wind, cry of a gull or break of a wave are all important factors to their work and get translated into the painting to make us believe that we too are teetering on the edge of the cliff with only a blade of grass and a granite outcrop between us and the ocean.