"It is recorded in the fifteenth century accounts of the Borough of Plymouth that a watchman was to be paid to maintain a beacon on Rame Head, and to give news of incoming vessels. During the attempted invasion by the Spanish Armada in 1588 another entry records that two watchmen were paid to keep a look out for Spanish vessels sailing along the coast. An anti-submarine gun was mounted on a platform here during World War I and hydrophones were used to detect passing submarines. During World War II a concrete gun platform was constructed to the south of the chapel and a modification to the window in the south wall of the chapel is possibly evidence of a doorway connecting the two structures. A mobile radar installation was also sited here during WWII."
Wonderful pictures... Especially Brythen gazing out to sea and Rosie against the blue and the grey.
That looks like the sort of impossibly windswept spot that monks really liked - I expect they were quite pleased to be given it. Shame about the Vikings.
I suppose I'd been thinking of the rather materialist-seeming later medieval monks with their profitable bridge-building and huge barns, but I suppose that might be early enough that hermitage was still in vogue...
Given the number of times I heard Navigation Officers mentioning Rame Head whilst doing sitings to plot the ship's position on the chart I suspect the chapel has to remain as a navigational point, in the same way that certain towers or chimmneys get used: its on the chart and unless you can replace it you can't knock it down - so there nah!
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http://www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/a2m/iron_age/cliff_castle/rame_head/rame_head.htm
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That looks like the sort of impossibly windswept spot that monks really liked - I expect they were quite pleased to be given it. Shame about the Vikings.
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