Lotte Brundle
Let’s voyage offshore to a savagely windy night in 1669. Dark waves pounded the hull of a passing Spanish galleon trapped in the eye of the tempest. The ship, which went by the name San Salvador, could only cope for so long. By daybreak, it was wrecked on the rocks, its crew lost and its bounty of silver coins sunk. Over the centuries that followed, these dollar pieces washed up on the coast around the hamlet of Gunwalloe, ghostly monetary mementoes of a long-gone storm.
The path to Dollar Cove beach at Gunwalloe.
Thus runs the legend around Dollar Cove, in Gunwalloe, Helston, on the Lizard peninsula’s north-west shoreline. Its history, however, stretches back even longer. Gunwalloe is one of Cornwall’s very oldest settlements, being the region’s first entry in the Domesday Book of 1086, and even has remnants of Bronze Age archaeology among its tussocky dunes and slopes.
Fans of Aiden Turner's rather rugged turn in the BBC hit series Poldark may remember the scene where he brought sailors and goods ashore after a shipwreck. That was filmed at Dollar Cove.
Waves breaking at Dollar Cove.
The Cornish coast looked particularly inviting as the backdrop to Aidan Turner's character in Poldark.
Today, the cove itself is a wild, rocky place, backed by low-slung hills. Its beauty is of the craggy kind and, as somewhere to find relative calm, it’s usually a safe bet. Does shipwrecked coinage still appear on the sands? There’s only one way to find out.
Visiting Dollar Cove
With a large National Trust car park nearby, Dollar Cove is perfect to visit if you're driving. While you're at it, it may be worth paying a visit to A its next-door neighbour, Church Cove, which, alongside the former location, makes us Gunwalloe Beach. Church Cove also has a small café and toilets and Loe Pool isn't very far away if you wanted to make a day of it.
Church Cove and Dollar Cove from above.
Church Cove is a twee vision, and close by for a visitor from Dollar Cove.
Idyllic views and well worth a visit.
Loe Pool is Cornwall's largest natural lake.
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