Bass Rock

Downderry's shingly beach is similar to that at nearby Seaton - if you want sand you have to travel a few miles further east to Whitsand Bay. Guarding the end of that bay is the peninsula of Rame Head, seen in the distance in this image. It has a little abandoned chapel on top which can be seen as a pimple in this image. (see SX4148 : Chapel, Rame Head)

A zoomed shot from an adjacent grid square gives a view of Downderry which emphasises its location on a precarious platform of soft rock above the sea.

On the road between Downderry and Trellidon. Marked with camp site symbol on the map

Taken from the Coastguard Cottages, now converted into homes and holiday homes, on top of the low cliffs at Downderry. The foreshore lies below sandy cliffs near the slipway - flat rocks covered with seaweed. Looking south, out to sea. An old one, but the atmosphere is unchanged when the tourists are away.

The problem with Downderry village is that much of it is built on this stuff. This cliff is made of 'Glacial Head Deposits'. During the ice age when the sea level dropped considerably and the shoreline retreated several kilometres, the high sea cliffs here were subject to a lot of erosion by repeated freeze-thaw action. The resulting rubble piled up at the bottom of the cliff and eventually slumped further down to form a nice fertile sloping plain in front of the cliff. A good place to put a village like Downderry. This deposit is very easily eroded by the sea and this low cliff at Downderry shows that it is in the process of being eroded. The only reason there is any of this left here at all is because the underlying hard rock platform over which the tide washes is slightly higher here and moderates the effects of the sea. Global warming however is slowly increasing sea levels making it more likely that winter storms will start to take much more of this land and put houses in danger.

See SX3153 : Sea Cliffs at Downderry for more information about these cliffs.

On the South West Coast Path looking towards Cobland Hill at the western side of this grid square. This section of the Coast Path is relatively new, previously walkers had to take the road at the top of the hill. The lack of a good path can probably be explained by the steep unfriendly cliffs hereabouts. The coast path has its origins in paths used by Revenue officers to check on smuggling activities. Where the cliffs were too steep to get goods ashore there was no need to watch them, hence no footpath.

Periglacial weathering processes in the ice age have left many cliff faces in south-east Cornwall with a steep high slope before plunging down into a steep cliff face. This high slope is of little use to modern farmers and so is left to scrub and heathland with lots of gorse, blackthorn and bracken which harbours a lot of wildlife.

The high land here behind the slope of the cliff face is some 120 metres high and is usually used as pasture. Inland, from here the land drops away into a steep valley draining into the Lynher River.

Downderry is in the foreground, from there the view takes in the sweep of the bay round to Looe Island.

These houses have been built high above the village on the steep cliff slope. Here the foundations are of hard Devonian slates and not the soft glacial head deposits found lower in the village.

Near the bottom of Tregunnus Lane the road doubles back on itself as it looses height rapidly before entering Downderry. This is not a place to come off the road, there is nothing but a cliff beyond the edge.

The village of Downderry is strung out along a road which parallels the coast. Here the road is quite wide but in many places it is a narrow single track road causing some traffic problems.

With the temperature climbing into the upper 20s and not a hint yet of a sea breeze, walking the coast path here is getting to be very hot work indeed.

The Church of St Nicolas Downderry began as a mission church to service the growing population of the village. The building dates from 1905. The bent-over shape of the tree in front of the church is interesting as it may indicate a response by the tree to being battered by strong southwesterly gales in the winter in this exposed coastal location.

Housing on the steep hillside seen from the main road through the village.

What a day for photographing sea sodden rocks - the wind and rain was pushing in from the channel to make it a most memorable experience. Here's the pic at close range clearly showing what is depicted on the map.