Coverack
| Coverack Cornish: Porthkovrek | |
| Cornwall | |
|---|---|
 Coverack Old Lifeboat Station and Harbour Wall | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SW781183 |
| Location: | 50°1’27"N, 5°5’54"W |
| Data | |
| Postcode: | TR12 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Cornwall |
Coverack is a coastal village and fishing port in Cornwall, on the east side of the Lizard peninsula, about nine miles south of Falmouth.
The Cornish name Porthkovrek means 'cove of the stream'.
Coverack has several hotels and a youth hostel, in which has been installed a magnificent staircase salvaged from the wreck of the SS Mohegan which foundered on The Manacles.
The area is a centre for watersports, particularly wind surfing, sailing and diving. The nearby rocks known as The Manacles have been the site of many shipwrecks and as a consequence are now a favourite diving destination.
Geography
Near the South West Coast Path is Poldowrian Garden which includes a prehistoric settlement discovered in 1965, dated by archaeologists at 5500 BC. Finds from the site are available for viewing.[1]
The roads to Coverack cross Goonhilly Downs (famous for the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station.
'Coverack Cove and Dolor Point Site of Special Scientific Interest' is one of the most famous geological localities in Cornwall, providing an almost continuous section across a mantle-crust boundary.[2] Other nearby SSSI are 'Coverack to Porthoustock SSSI' and 'Kennack to Coverack SSSI'.
Coverack is within the 'Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty', as is almost a third of the county.
Coverack lifeboat
The RNLI stationed a lifeboat at Coverack in 1901 following the wreck of the SS Mohegan on The Manacles in 1898 with the loss of more than 100 lives. A boat house with a slipway was built on the harbour. The all-weather lifeboat was withdrawn in May 1972 and replaced by a D-class inshore inflatable. The station was closed completely in October 1978 following the allocation of a faster boat to Falmouth Lifeboat Station.[3]
Christmas swim
Every year on Christmas Day, all the local villagers and many holiday makers turn out to watch volunteers go swimming in the harbour in aid of charity. This tradition has gone on for nearly 50 years and raised thousands of pounds for Cancer Research.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Coverack) |
References
- ↑ "Poldowrian Garden". Gardens of Cornwall. http://www.gardensofcornwall.com/site/outdoor-kids/poldowrian-garden-p501163. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
- ↑ cove and dolor point SSSI listing and cove and dolor point.pdf designation
- ↑ Leach, Nicholas (2006) [2000]. Cornwall's Lifeboat Heritage. Chacewater: Twelveheads Press. p. 38. ISBN 0-906294-43-6.