Qualla: Lizard Point

Lizard Point: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Worm That Turned, CC BY-SA 3.0. From the cliff at Lizard Point on 29 July 1588, around three in the afternoon, watchers saw something none of them had been trained to expect: the Spanish Armada, in formation, materialising out of the Atlantic. It was the first sighting of the invading fleet from mainland Britain. The news travelled north along the beacons, and within hours England knew it was at war. Lizard Point has been the country's southern eye on the sea ever since - a strategic lookout, a gateway, a hazard, and for an unlucky procession of ships, a final resting place.

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Image: Worm That Turned | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lizard Point: Britain's Southern Edge

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wusel007, CC BY-SA 3.0. At 49 degrees 57 minutes 30 seconds north, Lizard Point is the most southerly piece of mainland Great Britain - a half-mile south of Lizard village, in the parish of Landewednack, about 18 km southeast of Helston. For ships outbound from Plymouth, Falmouth, or Southampton it is o...

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Image: Wusel007 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lizard Point: The Day in 1707

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit David Johnson [1], CC BY-SA 3.0. On 21 October 1707, English and French squadrons clashed off the Point in what naval historians call the Battle at the Lizard, an engagement of the long War of the Spanish Succession. The Channel here is brutally narrow on the strategic map, and almost any fleet trying to enter o...

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Image: David Johnson [1] | CC BY-SA 3.0

Lizard Point: The Crew of the Ardgarry

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pam Brophy, CC BY-SA 2.0. On the night of 29 December 1962, the 1,074-ton coaster Ardgarry, carrying coal from Swansea to Rouen, met a storm off Lizard Point with waves over 9 metres high. She went down with all twelve of her crew. Six of them were from Northern Ireland, five from Scotland, one from Doneg...

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Image: Pam Brophy | CC BY-SA 2.0

Lizard Point: The Greatest RNLI Rescue

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit IDS.photos from Tiverton, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0. The story that locals tell first, though, is the Suevic. On 17 March 1907, the 12,000-tonne White Star liner SS Suevic struck the Maenheere Reef near Lizard Point in a strong gale and dense fog. There were 523 passengers and crew aboard. RNLI volunteers from The Lizard, Cadgwith,...

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Image: IDS.photos from Tiverton, UK | CC BY-SA 2.0