Prussia Cove (), formerly called King's Cove, is a small private estate on the coast of

Mount's Bay Mount's Bay () is a bay on the English Channel coast of Cornwall, England, stretching from the Lizard Point, Cornwall, Lizard Point to Gwennap Head. In the north of the bay, near Marazion, is St Michael's Mount; the origin of name of the bay. ...

and to the east of Cudden Point, west

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England, United Kingdom. Part of the area is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest ( SSSI), a

Geological Conservation Review The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee. It is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological ...

site and is in an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

(AONB). It consists of four small coves and several cottages and houses. The names of the coves from west to east are Piskies, Bessy's, King's and Coule's. The area is accessible by foot from the

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harb ...

History

Prussia Cove is known for the 18th-century ship- wrecker and

smuggler Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

John Carter (born 1738), also known as the "King of Prussia"; thought to be from a childhood game he played and the origin of the name for the area. Evidence of smuggling can be inferred by the building of the terrace of seven listed cottages overlooking Coule's Cove and Mount's Bay. They were built in 1826 by the Coastguard and are known as Coastguard Cottages.

'Calamity at Prussia Cove' Subscriptions advertised on 21 April 1841 amounted to £279-11-51/2d. More are listed, including £1 from the Bishop of Oxford. The sum collected will be lodged in the saving's bank, Penzance, in the names of the Rev. M.N. Peters, Capt. Alexander Shairp, R.N. Capt. Thomas Mathias, R.N., and the Inspecting Commander of the Coast Guard in the Penzance district, for the time being, as Trustees for the distribution of the fund. It will be applied to apprentice, and put out to service, the children that are, and may be, of a suitable age, – in the meantime the widows (under certain regulations) will receive £1 annually for the support of each of the children, and the same for themselves. Provision is made for the parties not becoming chargeable to any parish to which they do not belong. The sum of £12 will be awarded to the parents of John Carter Richards of Prussia Cove, who lost his life on the same occasion. The parties for whom this sum has been collected, impressed with a deep sense of the great benefits conferred on them, most humbly beg to express their very grateful acknowledgement for the generous relief extended to them. Penzance Gazette 28 April 1841. On Sunday last, the bodies of Lieut. Smith and Wellspring, the chief boatman, who were so unfortunately drowned at Prussia Cove, in nobly attempting to render assistance to their fellow mariner, were picked up – the bodies were disfigured. Yesterday, that of Lieut. Smith was interred at Breage, and that of Wellspring, at Madron – the latter was carried from Penzance there by eight bearers, preceded by about twenty teetotalers, wearing white ribbon with a teetotal medal suspended – and a white flag, borne by the front member of that body: the whole joining in singing an appropriate hymn. The coffin was covered with a large flag. As the solemn and affecting procession proceeded up causewayhead, hundreds of individuals had assembled, whose mournful countenances spoke audibly of their inward feeling and many were the expressions of sorry, regret and pity which involuntarily escaped them. The liberal manner in which subscribers have come forward toward the pecuniary relief of the poor widows and children is a sufficient proof that all entertain the greatest sympathy for the afflicted.

Prussia Cove once had a small fishing industry. Mackerel were caught by seine net and seven of its small fleet of fishing boats were destroyed by a storm on 7 October 1880. Built above and overlooking the coves is a Victorian house built in 1885 for du Boulay, former Archdeacon of Cornwall in his retirement. The coastal path passes through a "circus" formed by the listed buildings of Porth-en-Alls and include a crescent shaped "Lodge". The complex was designed and built by

Philip Tilden Philip Tilden (31 May 1887 – 25 February 1956) was an English architect, active in the early twentieth century, who worked for some of the most prominent members of English High society, society, including Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George ...

in 1911 for Brian Tunstall-Behrens, but was never completed due to the Great War. In April 1947 HMS ''Warspite'' ran aground here whilst being towed to the breakers yard. She was later towed to, beached and broken up at Marazion.Le. Messurier, B. and Luck, L. (1998) ''Loe Pool and Mount's Bay''. No. 12 in The National Trust Coast of Cornwall series of leaflets.

Cudden Point to Prussia Cove SSSI

Cudden Point is a prominent headland, owned by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

which can be clearly seen from most of Mount's Bay. Together with Little Cudden and Piskies Cove, the area is designated as a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI) and is listed, for its national importance, in the

. The SSSI notification reads:

″This is the best example in Cornwall of a mildly
metamorphosed Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...
, differentiated tholeiitic intrusive greenstone that retains good
relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...
igneous textures and mineralogy. It is characteristic of relatively large intrusive
dolerite Diabase (), also called dolerite () or microgabbro, is a mafic, holocrystalline, subvolcanic rock equivalent to volcanic basalt or plutonic gabbro. Diabase dikes and sills are typically shallow intrusive bodies and often exhibit fine-grain ...
-
gabbro Gabbro ( ) is a phaneritic (coarse-grained and magnesium- and iron-rich), mafic intrusive igneous rock formed from the slow cooling magma into a holocrystalline mass deep beneath the Earth's surface. Slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro is ch ...
sills in Cornwall and unique in that it is of tholeiitic composition and not alkaline. It is also internally differentiated and contains rare relicts of primary brown
amphibole Amphibole ( ) is a group of inosilicate minerals, forming prism or needlelike crystals, composed of double chain tetrahedra, linked at the vertices and generally containing ions of iron and/or magnesium in their structures. Its IMA symbol is ...
. The sheared and deformed marginal facies has a chemistry indicative of
contact metamorphism Metamorphism is the transformation of existing rock (the protolith) to rock with a different mineral composition or texture. Metamorphism takes place at temperatures in excess of , and often also at elevated pressure or in the presence of c ...
by hidden, shallow granite extension from the nearby Godolphin
diapir A diapir (; , ) is a type of intrusion in which a more mobile and ductilely deformable material is forced into brittle overlying rocks. Depending on the tectonic environment, diapirs can range from idealized mushroom-shaped Rayleigh–Taylor ...
.″

The vegetation consists of small patches of coastal grassland with colonies of the silver-studded blue (''

Plebejus argus The silver-studded blue (''Plebejus argus'') is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It has bright blue wings rimmed in black with white edges and silver spots on its hindwings, lending it the name of the silver-studded blue. ''P. argus'' can be ...

''), small pearl-bordered fritillary ('' Boloria selene'') and grayling ('' Hipparchia semele'') butterflies. Gorse (''

Ulex europaeus ''Ulex europaeus'', commonly known as gorse, common gorse, furze or whin, is a species of flowering plant native to Western Europe. Description Growing to tall, it is an evergreen shrub. The young stems are green, with the shoots and leaves ...

'') and bramble (''

Rubus fruticosus ''Rubus fruticosus'' L. is the ambiguous name of a European blackberry species in the genus ''Rubus'' (part of the rose family). The name has been interpreted in several ways: *The species represented by the type specimen of ''Rubus fruticosu ...

'') dominate on the more fertile soils. Above the headland is ″The Lookout″ built by the Government in the 1914–18 war for coastal observation and now used as holiday accommodation.

Culture

In 2004, the British period drama '' Ladies in Lavender'' starring

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Widely considered one of Britain's greatest actors, she is noted for her versatility, having appeared in films and television, as well as for her numerous roles on the stage ...

and

Maggie Smith Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (28 December 1934 – 27 September 2024) was a British actress. Known for her wit in both comedic and dramatic roles, she had List of Maggie Smith performances, an extensive career on stage and screen for over seve ...

was filmed there.

International Musicians Seminar

The International Musicians Seminar (IMS) Prussia Cove held at Porth-en-Alls was founded by the Hungarian violinist, Sándor Végh and Hilary Tunstall-Behrens in 1972. The master class seminars are said to be "... an opportunity to broaden their (students) musical horizons and to make new contacts; stimuli which are vital to a developing artist". Former students and participants of the seminars are to be found among the world's leading soloists and leaders of the great orchestras of the world. Musicians play a series of spring and autumn concerts in local venues such as St Pol de Léon's Church, Paul and St Buryan's Church.

References

External links