Porthloo

Porthloo
Porthloo beach
Porthloo  Porthloo shown within Isles of Scilly
OS grid reference	SV909114
Unitary authority	Isles of Scilly
Ceremonial county	Cornwall
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ISLES OF SCILLY
Postcode district	TR21
Dialling code	01720
Police	Devon and Cornwall
Fire	Isles of Scilly
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	St Ives
List of places UK England Cornwall

Coordinates: 49°55′23″N 6°18′27″W / 49.9231°N 6.3076°W / 49.9231; -6.3076

Porthloo (sometimes spelled Porthlow, (Cornish: Porth Logh, 'cove of the deep water inlet')) is a hamlet on the island of St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly. It lies about half a mile northeast of Hugh Town and is a popular tourist spot with hotels, guest houses and restaurants.

The only golf club on the Isles of Scilly is situated to the north of Porthloo. The course consists of nine holes, each with two tees. The club was founded in 1904 and is open to visitors.^[1]

Beach

Porthloo Beach faces west - there are two tidal islets called Taylor's Island and Newford Island which are to the north and south of the beach respectively. At the top of the beach is a small remnant sand dune system with the grassy area behind used for boat standing and boat building. Due to the disturbance hairy buttercup (Ranunculus sardous), along with other arable weeds appear here in one of its few sites on Scilly, and the only known site for wall–rue (Asplenium ruta-muraria) in the Isles of Scilly is just to the south.^[2] Porthloo is within an Area of Outstanding Beauty, is a Geological Conservation Review site and was designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in 1996. The 0.66 hectares (1.6 acres) site is notified for a succession of Quaternary sediments listed below with youngest at the top of the list:

• Aeolian loess deposits dated to 18,000 years BP (before present)
• Head deposits with breccia recognised as the type locality and known as the Porthloo Breccia. Dated to the Late Devensian 30,000 BP the pollen from organic layers indicate a tundra climate
• Storm beach laid down during the Ipswichian interglacial which started 130,000 years ago and ended about 114,000 years ago.^[3]

Boat yard

The Duchy of Cornwall runs a "boat park" at Porthloo.^[4]

References

External links

Media related to Porthloo at Wikimedia Commons

• Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust

Isles of Scilly Inhabited islands St Mary's St Agnes Tresco Bryher St Martin's Gugh Uninhabited islands Annet Bishop Rock Crim Rocks Eastern Isles English Island Great Ganilly Gweal Norrard Rocks Rosevear Round Island Samson St Helen's Teän Western Rocks White Island Zantman's Rock Topics Environment History People Schools Transport