Praa Sands

Praa Sands (Cornish: Poll an Wragh),[1][2] (formerly Prah Sands) commonly pronounced pray or prah, is a white-sand beach and coastal village in Cornwall, England. It is in the parish of Breage and lies off the A394 road between Helston and Penzance.[3] Formerly serving the local mining industry, it is now mostly a tourist-orientated area.

Geography
The beach at Praa Sands

Praa Sands is situated in a sheltered indentation within Mount's Bay; it has a long, wide, sandy, south-facing beach that is lapped by comparatively large waves for the area. The beach, which has shallow water and is manned by seasonal lifeguards, attracts surfers and holidaymakers. Adjacent to the beach are traditional retail outlets serving the holidaymaker.

Praa Sands lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). The western side of Praa Sands beach contains Folly Rocks Site of Special Scientific Interest, which is noted for its geological aspects, including a granite porphyry.[4][5]

History

On 1 February 1882 a pumping engine at Sydney Cove (part of Mount's Bay Consols) was fired. In September 1882 it was reported in The Cornishman newspaper that an engine house was nearly complete and the engine was being put in.[6][7]

During World War II, after an air battle against eight German aeroplanes over the Bay of Biscay, a Sunderland flying boat was heavily damaged. The crew returned 800 miles to the Cornish coast, where pilot Colin Walker landed and beached the aircraft at Praa Sands. The local people of Praa Sands took the crew into their houses and gave them medical assistance. Walker received the Distinguished Service Order and several of the other crew members also won medals. On 2 June 2013, a memorial was opened on the green at Praa Sands.[8]

References
Praa Sands
  1. "Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF)". Archived from the original on 15 May 2013. List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Pane
  2. "List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel". Cornish Language Partnership. Archived from the original on 15 May 2013.
  3. Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 Land's End ISBN 978-0-319-23148-7
  4. "Folly Rocks" (PDF). Natural England. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  5. French, C. "The 'submerged forest' palaeosols of Cornwall" (PDF). Geoscience in south-west England. 9. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  6. "Starting An Engine At Sydney Cove". The Cornishman (187). 9 February 1882. p. 8.
  7. Johnny-Come-Fortnight (21 September 1882). "Mining Notes". The Cornishman (219). p. 5.
  8. "Crew of Praa Sands WWII crash plane remembered". BBC.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.