Our work at Mullion Cove

Stormy weather hitting the breakwater at Mullion Harbour — Storms hitting the breakwater at Mullion Harbour | © Bill Scolding

Mullion Harbour, located on the west coast of the Lizard Peninsula, has been withstanding the Atlantic waves since the 1890s, when it was built by Lord Robartes in an attempt to create a commercial port. The harbour did not function well for larger vessels, but it did work well to shelter the local fishing fleet. Today, it provides a haven for a few commercial fishing boats, outdoor activity providers, recreational boats, and a dozen seafront properties. The Cove attracts around 80,000 visitors a year.

This ageing structure is vulnerable to increasing pressure from coastal change, which is being accelerated by climate change, and we are working with the local community, statutory organisations, and other stakeholders to adapt.

Mullion Harbour Study

The National Trust has cared for Mullion Harbour since 1945. In that time, we've spent over £2 million repairing the harbour walls, with more than 80 percent of that spending since 1995, as winter storms have become more frequent.

In 2004, looking to an uncertain future with a predicted increase in the frequency and strength of storms, along with rising sea levels and growing cost implications, the National Trust commissioned the Mullion Harbour Study, which was completed in 2006. Working with a group of stakeholders (including users of the harbour, members of the local community, statutory organisations, and other stakeholders), the study examined the harbour structure and the impact of coastal change and a changing climate on its future management.

The study concluded that the 100-year-old harbour was in better condition than was thought, but that going forward, the increased prevalence of storms, predicted sea level rise, and general wear and tear would mean that repairs and maintenance alone would not be able to counteract the increasing environmental pressures the ageing harbour was, and still is, under.

A long-term strategy and management plan for Mullion Harbour was developed with the local community, statutory organisations, and other stakeholders after the comprehensive Harbour Study was completed. It was agreed that money would be spent on regular maintenance and repairs until a ‘tipping point’ or ‘threshold’ was reached, when it would no longer be viable to repair the continual and increasing damage to affected parts of the harbour structure.

It is hard to predict when future ‘thresholds’ will be reached, what they will look like, or how we’ll need to respond. What we do know is that we’ll see various ‘thresholds’ over time. It was agreed that at these junctures, the focus would move towards adapting affected parts of the harbour to enable more sustainable management of the harbour structures in the face of increasing environmental pressures.

People inspect damage to the breakwater at Mullion Harbour — Inspecting the breakwaters at Mullion Harbour | © John Miller

Adapting the harbour structure

Unfortunately, in 2023, parts of the southern breakwater reached a ‘threshold’. This is not the first threshold we’ve seen on the southern breakwater; it has had regular damage since its construction and has undergone several adaptations. The most recent ‘threshold’ and adaptation was in 2014, after which some repairs were made in concrete. The same area, the tip of the southern breakwater, has endured more damage, and like-for-like repairs are not sustainable. Efforts are now focused on adapting this structure with input from the local community and statutory bodies.

We are currently working with the local community, statutory bodies, and other stakeholders to explore how to adapt the southern breakwater to ensure it remains safe while enabling more sustainable management in the face of increasing environmental pressures. This approach will provide the greatest flexibility to accommodate future changes as we continue to find ways of adapting to, rather than fighting, the quickening pace of change we are seeing around our coast.

In the meantime, we are focusing our maintenance efforts on the more robust and stronger western and northern quays. Every year, we work with the local harbour group and specialist contractors to undertake condition surveys and carry out repairs, while local volunteers help us with small but vital repairs and maintenance.

You can read more about how we're adapting for climate change in our new report, A Climate for Change: Adaptation and the National Trust.

Adapting for Climate Change