Gribben Head

Gribben Head stands on the south coast of Cornwall, a narrow promontory owned by the National Trust. It divides St Austell Bay from the River Fowey estuary and ends in two points, the larger Gribbin and the smaller Little Gribbin. A red-and-white tower rises eighty-four feet above the headland, built in 1832 as a daymark for ships bound for Fowey. The South West Coast Path winds round the cliffs, linking Minehead to Poole along the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. To the west lies the village of Polkerris and the harbour at Par, while to the east Polridmouth cove opens onto the Fowey estuary.

The tower was erected by Trinity House to avoid confusion with Dodman Point and St Anthony’s Head. Though never lit, its bold stripes make it visible by day and it became a Grade II listed building in 1974. The headland once belonged to the Rashleigh family of Menabilly, later home to Daphne du Maurier. In 1967 grazing stopped and scrub spread, but the National Trust began clearing it in 1988 and reintroduced cattle from a tenant farmer.

Around the tower a herb-rich grassland now flourishes, dotted with early purple orchids. Ramsons and other spring flowers carpet the ground, while two small woodlands planted by the Rashleighs shelter the slopes. The eastern wood is one of the few surviving coastal elm woodlands in the region. The cliffs and cove provide views across the estuary to Fowey and along the bay to Par.