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

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 per cent 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 looked at 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, 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 drawn together 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 is no longer viable to repair the continual and increasing damage to affected parts of the harbour structure.

It was, and still is, hard to predict when these ‘thresholds’ will be reached, what they will look like or how we’ll need to respond; and it’s likely that we’ll see various ‘thresholds’ over the course of time. It was agreed that at these junctures, the focus would move towards adapting affected parts of the harbour to improve resilience and sustainable management 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’. 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 whilst improving its resilience and 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. This year specialist contractors have undertaken surveys and large-scale repairs, whilst harbour users and local volunteers have helped us with small,but vital, repairs and maintenance to improve the structure's resilience to winter storms.

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