Pordenack Point, Land's End. JT Blight. 1861.
Not far south of Penn an Wlas or Land's End, here was once a part of a formidable and adventurous plan. In 1702, there would have been two feet more land above waterline. So it is not surprising that there was a proposal to form the 'Western Port of England' here. It was estimated to cost £30,000 for the Western Port of England in Sennen and a Lighthouse. The scheme was shelved and in 1705 consideration was given to erect two Lighthouses (upper and lower) at Pordenack Point. The coast would have been more sheltered by the rocks that now form The Longships group. So began in 1791 another earnest desire to light Land's End, by building a Light on Carn Bras, one of the rocks just over a mile off Land's End. The three main rocks are Carn Bras, Meinek and Tal-y-maen. The original lighthouse (picture on site) was built in 1793. Followed in 1820 by the construction of the Daymarks on Gwennap Head [Runnelstone markers]. The 'Longships Light' was re-built in 1872; an unhappy place, In six years, four lighthouse men were washed off by waves and drowned, one died on the lighthouse, one went quite mad and another tried to commit suicide by severely cutting himself. Despite his two mates stuffing the deep wounds with tow it took a few days for the storm to subside and after getting the message through and the man taken to the mainland, he died shortly afterwards.
