The Great Headlands of South West England
- Martin Hesp
- 6 hours ago
- 8 min read
There’s an old saying among mariners that the land is “never so dangerous, nor ever so welcome”, as when it thrusts its great stony snout out into the deep Atlantic swells. For those of us who prefer to keep our boots on dry ground, however, the great promontories of the South West peninsula represent something altogether different. They are our ultimate vantage points, the natural balconies from which we can survey the grandest maritime theatre in northern Europe.
Which is why I once devoted an entire newspaper series to the great headlands of the West Country. If the West region’s coast is a glittering coronet, then its headlands are the crown jewels.
The Wild Side of the South West Coast
We have wonderful sandy bays, sheltered coves and picture-perfect harbours, but in summer many of those honey-pot locations can become too far busy and crowded. Headlands, by their nature and geography, act as a bold antidote to all that. Many are difficult to reach - you cannot easily wheel a family cool-box out to the end of a razor-backed promontory. You’re probably going to have to walk, following ancient tracks worn deep by coastguards, smugglers, miners, and sheep.
And the rewards are worth it. Because headlands offer a sense of adventure. I often think they’re like little bits of a foreign country - rocky strewn embassies from another place.
Out on those tall bold limbs, you’re treated to a real sense of wilderness. The sea is not merely a backdrop, it envelops you on three sides. At times it will fling white foam flying hundreds of feet up sheer cliff faces - or you might watch tides passing at a rate of knots you’d normally only see in mountain rivers.
Wildlife on the Great Promontories
In such places nature still rules supreme. Headlands act like aerial motorway service stations for seabirds. Stand on almost any of our high peninsulas in spring or summer and you will see fulmars gliding effortlessly on the updrafts, their stiff wings shearing inches from the rock. Further west, you might catch the flash of a red bill and the distinctive tumbling flight of a chough. Headlands are great places for spotting a peregrine falcons. Below, in the surf and kelp forests, the dark, shiny heads of grey seals bob in the wash. If you’re really lucky, you might even spot dolphin, basking sharks, tuna, or even whales, surfacing.
Headlands Written in History
Headlands are also repositories of human drama. Because they command the sea lanes, mankind has always fortified them, put lights or beacons on them, or exploited them in some way. Most of our major headlands has a human story to tell… Many have Iron Age cliff castles - you’ll see the remains of their earthen ramparts crossing the narrowest necks of land.
Others boast Victorian lighthouses and mournful foghorn stations that once warned sailing ships off deadly lee shores, as well as eerie, concrete ruins of Second World War radar stations and gun emplacements.
Brean Down is one of the first great headlands you encounter in the region. This great finger of carboniferous limestone juts one and a half miles out into the muddy waters of the Bristol Channel like a beached whale. Walk its high, grassy spine and you feel as though you are marching straight out to sea, with the Mendip Hills at your back and the Welsh coast just across the water. At its tip sits the Palmerston Fort, built in the 1860s to defend the Bristol Channel against French invasion - a complex of barracks and gun emplacements that later witnessed secret weapons testing during the Second World War.
The Great Headlands of North Devon
Further west on Exmoor’s coast, there’s vast and vertiginous Foreland Point, near Lynmouth, where some of the highest cliffs in England rear up from the exceptionally fierce tidal races. Steep heather-clad slopes curve scarily downwards to suddenly drop 1000 feet into the sea. Down at the end of the headland sits the white tower of the North Devon Foreland Lighthouse, serviced by a zigzag road that would give a mountain goat pause for thought.
Sail on along the North Devon shore, and you’ll eventually reach the light at Bull Point where the coast changes direction to turn south. You’ll immediately encounter Morte Point - literally “the Point of Death” - jutting its jagged ridge of slate out from the sands at Woolacombe. It has claimed scores of vessels over the centuries, yet on a calm August morning in a heatwave - walking through the yellow gorse, with wheatears flitting across the turf - it is hard to imagine a more tranquil place. Same goes for the tall and majestic Baggy Point next door.
Around Bideford Bay, Hartland Point stands as a sentinel marking the place where the Bristol Channel finally gives way to the Atlantic. Here, vast eons of geological time are on display - contorted strata twist in impossible zigzags - and all this drama is crowned by a lighthouse that once relied on a cable car to haul supplies down the vertical cliff face.
Cornwall's Mythical Headlands
South-west in Cornwall, the headlands take on a mythical quality. Few places blend geology and myth quite as potently as the dark promontory at Tintagel. Connected to the mainland by only a slender isthmus - now dramatically spanned by a footbridge - this slate-ribbed headland rears up out of the Atlantic like an impregnable fortress. Which, of course, it once was. Visitors are drawn by both the romantic legend of King Arthur and the ruins of Richard of Cornwall’s 13th-century castle.
A few miles down the coast, guarding the entrance to the Camel Estuary, we can explore the magnificent twin-headed bastion of Pentire Point and The Rumps. The point itself offers one of the grandest panoramas in the South West, stretching from Trevose Head north to the heights of Lundy Island.
It is also a place of quiet contemplation… A plaque here marks the spot where Laurence Binyon sat in 1914 to compose his famous lines, For the Fallen. Half a mile east, you’ll see The Rumps - a dramatic, double-horned snout of rock defended by the distinct ditch-and-bank ramparts of a massive Iron Age cliff castle.
In the far west vast numbers flock to Land’s End, but those of us who prefer quiet places head a few miles north to Cape Cornwall - England’s only official cape. Dominated by the lone chimney of the old St Just United mine, the Cape feels wonderfully elemental. Out to sea, there’s The Brisons - a reef of tall rocks infamous for shipwrecks - while inland the eerie, post-industrial beauty of the tin and copper mining landscape rises to the granite heights of the West Penwith moors.
The Wild Headlands of South Cornwall
Turn the corner, and the south coast eventually shifts from granite to the darker serpentine, quartz, and slate. The Lizard, mainland Britain’s most southerly point, offers a completely unique landscape. The bleak, but fascinating, plateau of magnesium-rich rocks supports all manner of rare plants - and always around the skirts of this vast headland you’ll see amazingly clear turquoise waters lapping in sheltered ‘zawns’ or coves. It was here that Marconi sent his pioneering radio signals across the ocean, forever changing global communications.
Few headlands possess quiet the brooding majesty of the Dodman. Jutting out into Veryan Bay like the prow of a gargantuan stone battleship, this 400-foot-high bulwark is the loftiest promontory on the entire south Cornish coast. The footpaths across its broad, wildflower-strewn plateau carry you through the formidable earthen ramparts of an ancient Iron Age cliff castle, but it’s the seaward tip that will really impress.
There, perched on the cliff edge, stands a granite cross erected in 1896 by the local parson of Caerhays to serve as a navigational beacon or a warning to mariners. Stand beside that monolith on a breezy day, with the sweeps of Mevagissey Bay opening to the east and the coastline unfurling towards the Lizard in the west, and you’ll understand why this peaceful, wind-scoured giant inspires the few who do find their way to the end.
And who could forget Rame Head, the great conical guardian standing at the gateway to Plymouth Sound? Topped by the simple stone shell of a 14th-century chapel dedicated to St Michael, Rame Head offers some of the finest maritime views to be seen anywhere. From here, watchers have kept vigil for centuries, looking out for the Spanish Armada, the return of Drake and Nelson, and the countless grey warships that have slipped in and out of Plymouth naval docks over the generations.
The Headlands of South Devon
Cross to South Devon and we come to the wild schist headlands of Prawle Point (home to countless shipwrecks and strange ancient raised beaches) and its near neighbour, Start Point. The latter thrusts its sharp spine of rock down to a splendid white lighthouse. Together these twin headlands act as gatekeepers to Lyme Bay and the English Channel, while the high limestone plateau of Berry Head guards Torbay.
Rising nearly 200 feet above the waves, it is home to one of Britain’s largest guillemot colonies. Berry Head also boasts a pair of Napoleonic-era forts and the shortest lighthouse in the country (it’s so high up, it needed only a stubby tower to project its light 19 miles).
East along the Jurassic Coast, the white chalk stacks and dramatic red cliffs of East Devon and Dorset eventually give way to the massive headland of Portland Bill.
Portland Bill and the Eastern Edge of the South West
It really does feel like a nation apart - a vast, wind-scoured block of pale limestone jutting far into the English Channel, where the notorious Portland Race can turn into a cauldron even on a calm day.
What unites these great promontories (apart from the National Trust which owns most of the headlands mentioned) is their power to restore the human spirit. In an age when modern life can feel increasingly inauthentic and confusing, these seaborne bastions remain more-or-less unchanged.
Walk out to the end of one and you can leave your worries behind. Stride, with your face to the Atlantic - the turf springing beneath your boots, the cry of gulls overhead - and you’ll hear the endless, timeless, rhythm of the ocean breaking against rock that has stood firm for hundreds of millions of years… That is when you’ll know, for sure, that headlands are among the finest places we have - the magnificent jewels of our coastal crown.
FAQ
What are some of the best headlands to visit in South West England?
Some of the most spectacular headlands described by Martin Hesp include Foreland Point, Morte Point, Hartland Point, Tintagel, Cape Cornwall, the Lizard, the Dodman, Rame Head, Prawle Point, Start Point and Berry Head.
What makes the headlands of South West England special?
The great headlands combine dramatic cliffs, Atlantic views, wildlife, geology and human history. Many also contain ancient cliff castles, lighthouses, fortifications and the remains of historic industries.
Where can you find wild coastal walks in South West England?
The South West has an enormous variety of coastal walking, including headland walks on Exmoor, North Devon, Cornwall, South Devon and the Jurassic Coast. The more remote promontories can offer a greater sense of wilderness than the region's busiest beaches and harbours.
Which South West headlands are good for wildlife?
Headlands can be excellent places to see seabirds such as fulmars, choughs and peregrine falcons, while seals, dolphins, basking sharks, tuna and whales may sometimes be seen from the coast.
What is the most southerly point of mainland Britain?
The Lizard in Cornwall is the most southerly point of mainland Britain. Its unusual geology and clear turquoise waters make it one of the most distinctive landscapes on the South West coast.
