Mousehole rock pool

In our search for rock-cut swimming pools, we visited Mousehole on a baking hot day in September. Amongst the rocks to the north-east of the village is the large paddling pool which was constructed in the 1950s/1960s.

Mousehole paddling rock pool with St Michael’s Mount in the distance

Although large – perhaps 12m x 12m square, the pool is not deep. At low tide it was knee-deep to an adult. As the tide came in, this rose to about thigh deep and so do not expect to be achieving Olympic times. It is also slippery underfoot.

Around Perranporth

We visited Perranporth at spring low tide on a bright May day to find the rock-cut swimming pool on Chapel Rock. It turned out to be very easy to find in a wonderful location.

Perranporth pool

We could not miss Chapel Rock which dominates the centre of the immense Perranporth beach, its St Piran flag flying proudly straight out in the stiff wind. A hazy sandstorm was blowing from the direction of the Watering Hole.

Sancreed to Carn Euny

A few degrees from Sancreed Beacon

On a bright Spring day at the end of April, we set off from Sancreed Beacon following an excellent route provided by iWalk Cornwall. This had it all: ancient monuments, a splendid church, a holy well, and a fogou (than which there is nothing better).

The route took us off to look at the end of the Drift reservoir before returning us to Sancreed itself, passing through some lovely green lanes, resplendent with bluebells, white leek and that soft green of spring, eventually emerging by Sancreed church.

The Menabilly seawater pool

Out for a post-Easter walk we came across a most charming small natural seawater pool just off Menabilly beach. At about four metres by three metres and perhaps just under a metre deep, it hardly qualifies to stand alongside the other great pools around the coast but it appears to be completely natural and was filled (at a very low tide) with water so clear that it was difficult to see the surface.

Part of its charm is that it is set within a single circle of rocks which appears crenellated like a miniature castle, almost as though the mermaids had created their own small pool. Many of the larger pools, such as that at Boat Cove, Pendeen, seem to have their own ‘children’s’ pool. Here is one on its own.

You can find it here (if the tide is out)

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Another Stackhouse bath?

A recent re-visit to Stackhouse Cove revealed a surprising discovery: there may be a third bath to add to the two we have written about before.

We have not found any mention of this in any literature and so it is very speculative but it is undoubtedly a very nice open air sea water bath. The only disadvantage is that it is only exposed at fairly low tides.

Stackhouse cove showing the positions of the three baths

Bath 1 is the fresh water bath, cut into the cliff for Mrs Stackhouse (which we were pleased to see was attracting a fairly regular stream of admiring visitors).

Bath 2 is the sea water bath on the eastern side of the cove which shows clear evidence of man’s intervention in its creation.

The cup-marked stones of Stithians

There is something very romantic about things emerging from under the waters: think the Lady of the Lake brandishing Excalibur, or a sunken town. Places such as the fabled Atlantis, Port Royal in Jamaica, Heracleon in Egypt, and storm-tossed Dunwich, generate stories of sunken church bells and ghostly apparitions. Some monuments escaped inundations: Abu Simnel was moved to avoid the rising waters of the Aswan dam while the architects of Rutland Water chose to protect Normanton church with a bund. As things stand, Venice will one day be faced with similar decisions if St Mark’s Square is not to slip below the Mediterranean waves.

The loss of Port Royal was instant and catastrophic; Dunwich took longer as the erosion of the coastline took centuries. For others it was the actions of man: the planned flooding of a river valley to create a reservoir.

Trevone swimming pool

Our research into the rock-cut pools of Cornwall took us (on a distinctly damp day) to the large pool at Trevone. This was made famous recently when it featured in the BBC series of Enid Blyton’s Mallory Towers when some young actresses had to pretend that a distinctly stormy Cornish day was just the time to go swimming in cold water. They carried it off splendidly despite the usual Blytonesque bullying of another girl.

This is one of the larger sea pools around the coast.

Rock-cut swimming pools around Pendeen

It being New Year’s Day, we felt the need to get out and explore something new. Continuing our recent theme of searching for rock-cut swimming pools, and advised by another article in Cornwall Live, we set out for the environs of Pendeen to search for three we had not seen before. These were all man-made or man-improved, often by local miners, probably in the C20. As it was a viciously cold bright day, we felt no necessity to pack our swimming things.

The Tivoli Gardens in Lerryn

A chance encounter with a posting on Cornwall Live’s website took us on a bright October day in search of another Cornish curiosity: the Tivoli gardens in Lerryn. The website tells the story well.

It describes ‘fountains, arches, bandstand and swimming pool, appearing unexpectedly through the trees and undergrowth’ on the edge of a remote Cornish village. We agree with the undergrowth and degree of surprise but the plurals are perhaps generous.

The Rashleigh bath at Polridmouth

We have been seeking out a series of early rock-cut baths mentioned in an article by Michael Tangye . The third beach he mentions is Polridmouth on the Menabilly estate. This, he says, is later than the earlier ones at Stackhouse and Portreath, and was constructed for Jonathan Rashleigh (1820-1905) ‘for health reasons’.