West Cornwall Cottage Holidays

Lamorna

Still privately owned, Lamorna Cove is synonymous with the Newlyn School of Art and in particular S J “Lamorna” Birch. Other late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries artists of the Newlyn School including Alfred Munnings, Laura Knight and Harold Knight. The author Derek Tangye lived in Lamorna where he wrote his famous books "The Minack Chronicles". Today, the cove attracts visitors from all over the world eager to trace the footsteps of this widely read author. The cove is dominated by the breakwater which was built mainly to export granite from the valley which was used in the construction of the Thames Embankment. There is also a pub in the valley called the Lamorna Wink. The name derives from a smuggling signal (a lamp on and off from the upstairs window) which would signal to smugglers out in the cove that the coast was clear and that there were no revenue men about!