Penhale Camp

Penhale Camp is the site of a 940-acre military training base, so great care should be taken when visiting the area, and restriction notices should be observed. According to local legend, the old town of Langarroc, a supposedly beautiful place with seven fine churches, lies buried beneath the dunes of Penhale Sands. The town gained its wealth from mining and it also proved to be the cause of the town’s undoing, as, during a great storm that lasted three days, Langarroc and its inhabitants were engulfed - some said as retribution for their ungodly ways. On stormy nights it is said that ghostly cries for help can still be heard above the sound of the wind and the waves. Before the planting of marram grass, sandstorms did much damage in this part of Cornwall, so the legend may be based on a real sandstorm which obliterated a late Iron Age settlement. Ancient human skeletons have been found in the area, adding substance that there was a settlement here in the distant past.

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