Porth Nanven

Coordinates: 50°07′01″N 5°42′04″W / 50.117°N 5.701°W / 50.117; -5.701 Porth Nanven (grid reference SW355307) (also locally known as Penanwell and occasionally as Cot Valley Beach) is a beach in the far west of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is located half-a-mile west of the town of St Just.

The beach is at the seaward end of the Cot Valley and is part of the Aire Point To Carrick Du Site of Special Scientific Interest.^[1]^[2]

Porth Nanven has sometimes been referred to as 'Dinosaur Egg Beach' in the media because of a remarkable deposit of ovoid boulders covering the beach and foreshore. These boulders come in all sizes, from hen's egg to a metre or more in length, and have proved so tempting as souvenirs that they are now legally protected by the National Trust which owns the beach.

Many visitors assume that these weirdly shaped boulders are the work of the sea, which they are, but the sea of 120,000 years ago. Sea levels have changed several time since then and are now much lower than they were back then, causing the ancient beach to be suspended in the cliff high above the present level. Stand on the beach and look back towards the cliff, and you will see a wall of the rounded rocks waiting to break away and join those on the beach today.

Work was completed in December 2005 on diverting and treating the sewage which used to be deposited offshore here; it is now safe to swim in the cove.

References

↑ [e http://www.english-nature.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/2000041.pdf. English Nature citation
↑ Natural England website

Gallery of images

Porth Nanven where the Cot Valley meets the sea
Porth Nanven looking inland
Nanven Beach with The Brisons on the horizon
Above the current beach (rounded rocks) can be seen a layer of pebbles from about 120,000 years ago. Above them are head deposits, angular pieces from 100,000 to 20,000 years ago

Ceremonial county of Cornwall

Cornwall Portal

Unitary authorities	Cornwall Council Council of the Isles of Scilly

Major settlements	Bodmin Bude Callington Camborne Camelford Falmouth Fowey Hayle Helston Launceston Liskeard Looe Lostwithiel Marazion Newlyn Newquay Padstow Par Penryn Penzance Porthleven Redruth Saltash St Austell St Blazey St Columb Major St Ives St Just in Penwith St Mawes Stratton Torpoint Truro Wadebridge See also: List of civil parishes in Cornwall

Rivers	Allen Camel Cober De Lank Fal Fowey Gannel Gover Hayle Helford Inny Kensey Looe Lynher Menalhyl Ottery Par Pont Pill Port Navas Red Seaton St Austell Tamar Tiddy Truro Valency

Topics	History Status debate Flag Culture Economy Places Population of major settlements Demography Notable people The Duchy Diocese Politics Schools Hundreds/shires Places of interest full list...

Penwith North Cornwall

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/17/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.