Trivia Answer to "The Lizard"

    Two correct answers!!!  You must be from here or have visited The Lizard in thepast.  Either way, Kuddos!!!

     The Lizard is a peninsula of Cornwall, and contains the most southerly point of mainland Cornwall and of the island of Great Britain, Lizard Point. The peninsula measures approximately 14 miles x 14 miles.  Historically a particularly hazardous stretch of coastline, it was also known as the "Graveyard of Ships".

   The name 'Lizard' is most probably a corruption of the Cornish name 'Lys Ardh', meaning 'high court'; it is purely coincidental that much of the peninsula is composed of a rock called serpentinite. The Lizard peninsula's original name may have been the Celtic name 'Predannack' ("British one") as during the Iron Age (Pytheas c. 325 BC) and Roman period, Britain was known as Pretannike (in Greek) and as Albion (and Britons the 'Pretani').  The rocks of the Lizard are extremely metamorphosed and folded in many places. The Lizard is important from a geological point of view as it is Britain's most complete example of an ophiolite; a large proportion of the rock is serpentinite.

There is evidence of early habitation with several burial mounds and stones. Part of the peninsula is known as the Meneage (land of the monks). There are several towns and villages on the peninsula.  Helston once headed the estuary of the River Cober, before it was cut off from the sea by Loe Bar in the 13th century. It was a small port which exported tin and copper. Helston was certainly in existence in the sixth century when it was inhabited by Saxons.   The name comes from the Cornish 'hen lis' or 'old court' and 'ton' added later to denote a Saxon manor; the Domesday Book refers to it as Henliston (which survives as the name of a road in the town). It was granted its charter by King John in 1201. It was here that tin ingots were weighed to determine the duty due to the Duke of Cornwall when a number of stannary towns were authorised by royal decree.

     By the 14th century, a hamlet of fishermen's dwellings had established itself around the cove at Porthleven, named from the old Cornish 'porth' (harbour) and 'leven' (level or smooth). It grew with miners and farm workers; and building of a harbor began in 1811. In 1855 the harbor was deepened, and a boatbuilding industry began, lasting until recently. The port imported coal, limestone and timber, and exported tin, copper and china clay. The harbor also heralded the start of Porthleven's golden days of pilchard fishing.

     Mullion has the 15th century church of St Mellanus, and the Old Inn from the 16th century. The harbor was completed in 1895 and financed by Lord Robartes of Lanhydrock as recompense to the fishermen for several disastrous pilchard seasons.  The small church of St Peter in Coverack, built in 1885 for £500, has a serpentinite pulpit.

     Well folks, that's The Lizard in jolly ole' England.  Best of luck on the next trivia question!!!!