JCA 157 The Lizard
FGU Summary: The most southerly point of England, the Lizard is sparsely populated with just over 3%
of the area being defined as urban - settlements mainly being concentrated along the coastline. Almost
all of the Character Area lies within the Cornwall AONB, 23% is defined as LFA, and 20% is
designated as SSSI.
2 sub-units: open moorland plateau (two thirds of the JCA); gently rolling land and small valleys forming the
eastern one-third of the Character Area from the Helford River in the north, along the coastline to Black Head, and
including the inland areas of St Keverne, Tregidden, Manaccan and St Martin.
1.
Settlement & Development
Neolithic chambered tombs, Bronze Age ritual monuments, barrows and standing stones on the downs,
across which are ancient trackways to surrounding settlements. Inland there is a scattering of
prehistoric defended farming hamlets (rounds), displaying evidence for continued settlement after the 5th
century. Hut circle settlements in areas of marginal land.
Predominant settlement pattern comprises a high degree of dispersal of scattered farmsteads and
hamlets, including a high proportion of medieval or earlier origin. Some settlements comprised isolated
groupings known as townsplaces – hamlet groups of two or three farmsteads surrounded by early field
systems. This ancient pattern of settlement is intermixed with nucleated settlements (such as St
Keverne and St Martin-in-Meneage), mostly developing in 12th and 13th centuries. Evidence of deserted
settlements and from present farms indicates that farming hamlets formed the basic unit of settlement,
many of which continued to contract from the 14th to the 19th centuries to form the farmsteads of today.
Fishing villages expanded in the 19th century for the pilchard fishing industry. Some quarries for modest
industry in polished serpentine.
Traditional building in local slate and granite, including some use of cob and of thin render coats and
limewash; some thatch.
2.
Agriculture
Cattle rearing formed the major element in the agricultural economy of the area, the moors providing
abundant rough grazing. The dominance of livestock production by the early 19th century involved a
majority of the land being laid to grass, and turnips and other fodder crops being grown on arable to
feed cattle and in turn enrich the land with their manure. Cattle numbers increased still further from the
1870s.
Pre-18th century farmstead buildings predominantly comprise farmhouses, most dating from late 17 th
century. Archaeological evidence for pre-18th century farming hamlets, linear farmsteads being
characteristic of the later 18th and 19th centuries on smaller farms. Widespread rebuilding of farmsteads
from late 18th century. Some bank barns dating from late 18th to mid 19th centuries, and other 2-storey
combination barns very similar to bank barns but accessed by external steps. Many farmsteads had
cattle yards for fattening added in the mid-late 19th century. Enclosed cowhouses, generally of 19th
century date.
Predominant farmstead plans comprise dispersed layouts.
3.
Fields and Boundary Patterns
Cornish hedgebanks.
Small-scale and irregular patterns of prehistoric fields, for example to south of St Keverne and around
Lowland Point.
Farmsteads were sited in villages, in hamlets or individually with access to infield areas ploughed into
strip fields, the outfield areas located in large fields or enclosures being subject to intermittent cultivation
and sometimes retaining strip fields. Evidence from at least 14th century for piecemeal enclosure,
generally complete by 16th century and concentrated on the valley land and lower areas,
characteristically retaining curved shapes of medieval strips to at least one of the longer sides. Some of
these enclosures are quite large in scale, the result of acquisition of many strips prior to enclosure.
Larger-scale and more regular post-medieval enclosure extends to the edges of the downs and heaths.
4.
Trees and Woodland
Area generally cleared of its woodland cover by Iron Age. Stunted patches of woodland occur, such as
the elms at Cadgwith. Small woodlands and copses to east become larger towards the more sheltered
Helford river.
5.
Semi-Natural Environments
Fragments of heath and also a thin rim of heathland around the cliff tops.
6.
River and Coastal Features
Long standing areas of grassland and unimproved pasture are both rich in species and in the surviving
visible evidence of earlier cultivation and settlement.
Promontory forts such as Little Dennis Head (also supposed Civil War battery)
Remarkable group of communications structures on the Lizard, comprising lighthouse, Lloyd’s Signal
Station of 1880s and the hut from which Marconi made his first over-the-horizon radio transmissions.