Cornish Walk: Church Cove

Imagine a church made of wine. There are such things dotted around the world on coasts where sailors have been close to drowning. Having survived they build a shrine in thanks to their Lord, and if the ship in which they were travelling happens to have been carrying wine – they ritualistically pour some into the mortar mix.  

There’s a lonely church with a similar yarn in Cornwall - St Winwaloe’s is at Gunwalloe, on the west coast of the Lizard peninsula and it is probably closer to the sea than any other church in the Westcountry. When the tide is up and there’s a blow from the west, spray must beat against its ancient door, which is situated just a few feet above and beyond the sandy acres of Church Cove.

While staying at the amazing Mullion Cove Harbour apartments we enjoyed this walk exploring the region south of Halzephron Cliff along the littoral to the south of Mullion Cove, taking in Church Cove and its temple and neighbouring Poldhu Cove. 

To find the area in question, travel south from Helston alongside the giant Culdrose airbase and turn right, taking signs for Gunwalloe. This is a cul-de-sac of a lane that takes you down to the coast. At the end of this road you’ll come to Church Cove. Once there, you’ll see a large car park behind the farm at Winnianton - and one walking option is to do the short but highly enjoyable figure-of-8 hike that took me just over an hour. 

And what an hour it was – one of those bright-light-treatment jobs that make you feel exhilarated to be alive. First though, the boring bit. I walked back up the hill I’d just driven down so that I could reach the top of Halzephron Cliff and turn south once again. This is not so bad as you may think because, after a narrow bit, the roadside sward widens into a pleasant path.

Eventually the road reaches the cliff-side and this is where you turn sharp left along the coast path. It’s called Halzephron by the way, because the prefix comes from the Cornish “als” – or Hell (“ephron” comes from the Cornish “yfarn” for cliff). And hell it is – or would be if you happened to be swashing about the base of the cliff in a storm. Many ships have come to grizzly ends below these crags.

The beach at Jangye-ryn

The coast path takes you out along this small but fearsome headland and around the point at Pedngwinian. Now the path turns south east to descend slowly around the ramparts of a rough, rocky beach called Jangye-ryn.

You are now back to more-or-less where you parked your car, but do not think of going home yet because next comes one of the strangest and most unexpected bits of the Cornish coast. Jangye-ryn is separated from Church Cove by the small but noble headland which protects St Winwaloe from the waves. 

Looking down on Jangye-ryn

This promontory raises its grassy and flower-strewn head on a 60 foot shoulder of rock that ascends abruptly from the salty lowlands that lurk behind both beaches and play host to the church. Apparently there was a settlement here way back on Domesday times and there was a church of sorts – but the present building dates back to around the 14th or 15th centuries. 

St Winwaloe

I walked around the mini-headland so that I could enjoy aerial views of both bays and the church and its graveyard. One of the oddest things about St Winwaloe is that its small tower is completely separate from the main building, being set snug against the steep inner bank of the headland.

It’s an incredibly romantic place – if I were to shoot a movie about swashbuckling smugglers of yore, I’d definitely use the church as a location. The sense of romance is somewhat underlined by the wedding confetti which blows about in the wind near the gate – certainly it would seem to be a suitably enigmatic place in which to get hitched.

St Winwaloe

Noticing a public right of way ascending inland from the church up over the gold course, I climbed the National Trust owned Towans (as the course is known) and then joined the lane south down to Poldhu Cove. The trust owns much of the land around here, and a good thing too. I read somewhere that Church Cove used to become one giant car park in summer when vehicles were allowed on the beach and this was having a ruinous effect on the fragile environment. 

Much the same applied to Poldhu Cove, but now cars have been prevented from parking there too, and marram grass has been planted to stabilise the dunes.

Having reached Poldhu it’s simply a matter of joining the coast path and heading back north to Church Cove. As you go, you may ponder over which sailor built the sea-borne church in gratitude to his Maker. No one knows if the legend is true, but it’s a fact that the King of Portugal’s treasure ship – the St Anthony – went down near here in 1527 and that an unidentified Spanish ship was wrecked just north of the church in the 1780’s. 

Legends of gold, silver and grateful sailors have been associated with the location ever since, but then, it’s that sort of place.

Fact File: 

Basic hike: Parking at Winnianton, walk back up road to Halzephron Cliff, join coast path back to Church Cove – then take right of way across golf course inland (beware low flying balls) and join road down to Poldhu Cove before eventually taking coast path back to start.

Recommended map: OS Explorer 103 The Lizard, or National Trust Lizard West Coast leaflet.

Distance and going: three and a half miles, easy going.