Gribben Head

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title: "Gribben Head" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["headlands-of-cornwall", "national-trust-properties-in-cornwall", "daymarks", "fowey"] description: "Headland on the south coast of Cornwall, England" topic_path: "general/headlands-of-cornwall" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gribben_Head" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Headland on the south coast of Cornwall, England ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Gribben,_Polridmouth.jpg" caption="The Gribben and Polridmouth"] ::

Gribbin Head () is a promontory on the south coast of Cornwall, England, UK, owned and managed by the National Trust. It separates St Austell Bay from the estuary of the River Fowey and is marked by a large tower used to aid navigation of ships approaching the local harbours. The nearest town is Fowey. The western point of the headland is called Little Gribbin.

Gribbin Head is the most southerly part of the parish of Fowey. To the north, and facing west across St Austell Bay is the small village of Polkerris, beyond which is the harbour at Par. To the east is Polridmouth cove and the Fowey estuary, where the town of Fowey itself is situated. Inland, to the north, is the Menabilly estate, built for the Rashleigh family but later home to author Daphne du Maurier.

The 75 m high promontory forms a part of the South Coast (eastern) section of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The South West Coast Path passes around Gribbin Head on its way from Minehead in Somerset to Poole in Dorset.

Gribbin Tower

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Gribbin_Tower_-geograph.org.uk-_1239648.jpg" caption="Gribben Tower managed by the National Trust"] ::

The 84 ft high square beacon tower was erected by Trinity House in 1832 to distinguish the Gribben from Dodman Point and St Anthony’s Head, and thus make navigation into Fowey and the harbours of St Austell Bay safer. It was never lighted, but is painted in broad red and white bands as a daymark. It has been a Grade II Listed Building since 1974.

The tower featured in the first episode of the BBC TV series The Coroner

Wildlife and ecology

Once part of the Menabilly Estate and owned by the Rashleigh family, grazing was removed from the site in 1967 and the headland reverted to scrub. Since 1988 the National Trust has been removing the scrub, and re-introduced grazing by cows owned by a tenant farmer. A herb rich grassland including early purple orchid (Orchis mascula) now surrounds the tower. The Rashleigh's planted two small woodlands for cover and the ground is covered in ramsons (Allium ursinum) and other flowering plants in the spring. The eastern wood is a rare example of a coastal elm woodland.

References

References

1. Pamphlet -- The National Trust Coast of Cornwall - Fowey. This leaflet is No. 21 of a series of 22 which covers all the coastal properties belonging to the National Trust in Cornwall. Copyright The National Trust (Cornwall) 1990. 2nd edition 1994. Reprinted 2000.
2. link. (15 May 2013 : [http://www.magakernow.org.uk/idoc.ashx?docid=79ba408d-7c02-499e-8cd6-b18dd48de58d&version=-1 List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel] {{webarchive). link. (2013-05-15 . [[Cornish Language Partnership]].)
3. Ordnance Survey 1:25000 Explorer Map 107
4. Keast, John. (1987). "The Story of Fowey". Dyllansow Truran.
5. Mason, John. (1991). "Walk the Cornish Coastal Path". Bartholomew.
6. "Where is the Cornwall AONB?". Cornwall AONB.
7. {{cite rowlett. engsw. (2010-05-03)
8. Ward-Jackson, C. H.. (1986). "Ships and Shipbuilders of a Westcountry Seaport: Fowey 1786-1939". [[Twelveheads Press]].
9. {{NHLE
10. "Visiting Cornwall".
11. "Gribbin Head".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::