Crantock Beach is a broad sand-dune backed strand between the twin headlands of Pentire Point East and Pentire Point West, Pentire meaning headland. The dunes are dynamic and rise steeply to the gentle, undulating grassy plateau of Rushy Green.
Over the past decade there has been a noticeable, dramatic change in the dune system and beach foreshore at Crantock, for several reasons which include ineffectiveness of man-made interventions, climate change and natural processes. We are currently working with a number of partners to better understand the changes happening now and what the beach and dunes might look like in years to come. This ongoing work will help us to look after Crantock for people, nature and heritage in the long term.
The dune system is changing and is unstable in places. Please stay clear from the base of the sand cliffs and do not allow children to play near them.
Dune systems are dynamic, and change is part of an ongoing natural process, but due to the impacts of climate change, such as sea level rise and increased storminess, the speed and severity of these changes are increasing across the coastline including at Crantock.
The Cornwall Council led Making Space for Sand (MS4S) project, which is Defra funded as part of their Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme (FCRIP), will provide invaluable research to help us to understand how the beach and dune system will change and plan for the future.
At Crantock MS4S are gathering data and commissioning further reports to improve the forecasting models of the dune systems. Alongside this, ecological assessments will help identify where improvements might be made for bio-diversity and then both pieces of research will feed into a dune management plan.
1890s
By the end of the nineteenth century a retaining wall was built to discourage the river from meandering across the beach, and instead to hug the headland at East Pentire. This was to maintain a channel deep enough for ships to navigate up the river mouth.
The dunes, beach and estuary at Crantock beach are part of a dynamic system and have been continuously changing over the centuries. Folklore tells us Crantock is the lost site of Langarrow, a prosperous city of seven churches. The story goes that the people sank into sin and were punished by God with a huge storm that buried the city beneath the sands. In the nineteenth century the banks of the river Gannel were busy with shipping and industry, with traces of lime kilns and smelting works still being seen along the banks of the Gannel.
The beach foreshore looked very different in historic photos taken at the end of the nineteenth century, with no sand dune, which built up in the subsequent century, in front of where the National Trust car park now is.
Today, as the dunes have eroded, archaeology, such as old Cornish hedges, have been exposed on the south west side of the beach. By the estuary mouth where some sand is building, there is the chance that some archaeology could get buried by sand. The National Trust will be working with Crantock Heritage Group to record some of these features before they are lost through erosion, or made inaccessible.
Crantock is a striking, dynamic and popular beach. In the past couple of years, the beach area has stabilised, though the dunes are still experiencing erosion. At the moment, we don’t have all the answers, but over the next few years, we hope to have a much better understanding of the longer-term changes that we can expect to see here. In the meantime, we will continue to work with our partners to ensure that the beach and dunes continue to be cared for, for the benefit people, nature and heritage.
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