Western Gear

The Grade I listed church dates to the 13th and 15th centuries. St. Germanus, a bishop of Auxerre in Late Antique Gaul is supposed to have landed in the neighbourhood when he came to Britain to suppress the Pelagian heresy in about 429. The church underwent restoration in 1848and again in 1883–1885, the latter at the sole expense of Kenelm William Edward Edgcumbe, the 6th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe.

As with many old lych gates, there is a bier or lych stone to rest the coffin on until the clergyman's arrival.

Part of the South West Coast Path.

The NCI (National Coastwatch Institution) are a voluntary organisation keeping a visual watch along the UK coastline. It was formed after many of HM Coastguard's visual watch stations were closed. NCI Ramehead is a cream painted, single storey building with a flagstaff. It is adjacent to a Coastguard radio mast.

There was a hillfort atop Rame Head in the Iron Age, and the site was granted to Tavistock Abbey in the 10th century. Circumstantial evidence suggests that there was a late Celtic hermitage here, but nothing is known for certain about the origins of the chapel until 1397 when the chapel was licensed for Mass. Like many hilltop churches, Rame Head Chapel was dedicated to St Michael the Archangel. The chapel is an extremely simple single-cell rectangular building, built of slate and granite rubble under a gabled roof. There is a single door on the north (landward) side. It was restored by the 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe in 1882 but fell into disuse in the early 20th century and has remained a ruin since then. Link

Looking towards St Michael's Chapel on the coastline.

Rame Head stands guard over the western approach to Plymouth Sound. There is a small chapel at the top.

The church is situated between the tiny village of Rame and the headland of the Rame Peninsula. I understand that the church has no mains power and is lit by candlelight for services.

This conical shaped headland has a distinctive triangular outline from whichever direction and is an easily recognisable guide point for seafarers. The building on top is a chapel which has been there since the 14th century.

This chapel, situated on top of Rame Head has been in existence since the 14th century. The structure in the foreground is the side of a concrete platform on which was situated a WWII radar station.

At the end of one of the military roads built on the Rame Peninsula are the remains of Penlee Battery, now a nature reserve. The Battery was built in the late 1800's and was used up until the end of World War Two. The overgrown and derelict buildings now make an ideal home for many types of wildlife.

View from Rame Head north west with Whitsand Bay in the background.

An old building which over the centuries has been a hermits chapel, a lookout post and a WW2 gun emplacement camp.

Rame Head and the shoreline, seen from a passing yacht.

See Link

On the highest point of Rame Head at 97 metres above sea level. Next stop Brittany! Picture taken from Ramehead Common.