Cape Cornwall ( kw, Kilgoodh Ust, meaning "goose back of St Just") is a small headland in West

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, UK. It is four miles north of

Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

near the town of St Just.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' Until the first

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

in the early 19th century, Cape Cornwall was believed to be the most westerly point in Cornwall.Joseph, Peter. 2006. ''Cape Cornwall Mine. British Mining No. 79.'' Sheffield: Northern Mine Research Society; p. 111. . Most of the headland is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. National Coastwatch has a look-out on the seaward side. The only tourist infrastructure at present is a car park (owned by the National Trust), public toilets, and a refreshments counter during the summer. The Brisons, two offshore rocks, are located approximately one mile southwest of Cape Cornwall. They mark the starting line of the annual swimming race ending at Priest Cove.

Etymology

The name Cape Cornwall appeared first on a maritime chart around the year 1600. The original Cornish name, ''Kilgoodh Ust,'' has fallen out of use. In English it translates to "goose-back at St Just", a reference to the shape of the cape. An alternative name, ''Pen Kernow,'' is a recent translation back to Cornish of the English. A cape is the point of land where two bodies of water meet. Cape Cornwall is one of only two capes in the United Kingdom, the other being

Cape Wrath Cape Wrath ( gd, Am Parbh, known as ' in Lewis) is a cape in the Durness parish of the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. It is the most north-westerly point in mainland Britain. The cape is separated from the rest of the ma ...

in North West Scotland.

Early history

Pottery found in

cists A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle Eas ...

on the Cape have been dated to the Late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. The presence of another cliff castle nearby (Kenidjack) may indicate that the area was important in the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

. On the landward side of the Cape is the remains of the medieval St Helen’s Oratory, which replaced a 6th-century church. A

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a " sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mo ...

now installed in the porch of St Just church may be from this building.

19th century to present

Cape Cornwall Mine, a

tin mine Tin mining began early in the Bronze Age, as bronze is a copper-tin alloy. Tin is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, with approximately 2 ppm (parts per million), compared to iron with 50,000 ppm. History Tin extraction and use can ...

on the cape, was operated intermittently between 1838 and 1883. The mine's 1864 chimney near the peak of the cape was retained as an aid to navigation. In the early 20th century the former

ore dressing In the field of extractive metallurgy, mineral processing, also known as ore dressing, is the process of separating commercially valuable minerals from their ores. History Before the advent of heavy machinery the raw ore was broken up using ...

floors were for a time converted for use as greenhouses and wineries. In 1987 the mine site was purchased by the

H. J. Heinz Company The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six contin ...

of the United States (and British plants) and donated to the nation. The remains of Cape Cornwall Mine are designated as part of the

Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is a World Heritage Site which includes select mining landscapes in Cornwall and West Devon in the south west of England. The site was added to the World Heritage List during the 30th Session of the U ...

, a

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

References

External links

Cape Cornwall at DMOZ
{{Headlands of Cornwall National Trust properties in Cornwall Headlands of Cornwall Penwith St Just in Penwith