two short legs to allow for traditions he travelled up Walks on and around the the rock projecting at the through the south west to foot of the east wall.” Glastonbury with his uncle, Phoenician tin merchant

The church is open daily Joseph of Arimathea. Olver Photo: Lucy Photo: Julie Horsley from 7.30am until dusk. From the well retrace From the gate turn right your steps to the drive, in North and drop onto the path, this time taking the lane which skirts the woods opposite, which heads at the foot of , to south towards the estuary, Photo: Tim Wayne follow it through the golf turning right onto the road course, watching out for at the bottom to return to golf balls as you go. the car park. Wildlife: There is plenty of wildlife to see around North When you come to For a shorter route back Cornwall including, Turnstones, Red Admirals and the footbridge, there is a from the footbridge, Cormorants. choice of routes. without a detour to the Jesus Well, pick up the Other Useful Information Carrying along the tarmac way marked footpath, drive through the golf which returns to the car Nearest Refreshments: There are numerous restaurants, Photo: Malcolm Woods course will bring you park via the golf course. pubs and teashops in Rock eventually to a small path, Take care to stay on the which leads to the Jesus path, which is marked out Nearest toilet: There are public toilets in Rock Quarry Car Sir John Betjeman Walk Well, where Enodoc lived with white stones, and be Park and baptised his converts. on your guard throughout A gentle walk through the dunes beside the golden for flying golf balls. OS Explorer Map: 106 & beaches on the eastern bank of the , The well is also said taking in Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman’s grave to have been visited When you reach the in the churchyard of the tiny St Enodoc Church. The by Jesus in his teens, road, turn right and then when according to some right again to return to the route passes Brea Hill, site of the Bronze Age burial car park. mounds and later a Roman encampment, and there is an optional detour to the holy well used by the Welsh hermit Enodoc to baptise his converts. The walk is mostly flat and travels through sandy grassland.

Distance: 3¾ miles (6KM) Start & Finish: Rock Quarry Car Park Start Postcode / Grid Ref: PL27 6LD / SW 927 757 Difficulty Level: Easy Terrain: The walk is mostly flat and travels through sandy grassland

This leaflet was produced by the Team working in partnership with John Bray Cornish Holidays who have helped to fund the improvements on this walk. This is one of the many walks that can be found at johnbray.co.uk www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk DIRECTIONS: There are also many wild It is a small detour here herbs, as Betjeman noted up to the church, where Sir From Rock Quarry Car in the same poem: “As John Betjeman’s grave is Park take the path at the winds about the burnished on the right just after the far end, on the estuary path through ladies’ finger gate. Take advantage of side, and go through into thyme and bright varieties the seating dotted around the dunes to pick up the of saxifrage…” the churchyard to enjoy South West Coast Path the estuary views, which heading to your right, This richness of plant so inspired him. above the beach and life encourages an equal towards the sea. diversity of insects: “Hover- St Enodoc, sometimes flies remain more than known as St Gwinnodock, The Late Poet Laureate a moment on a ragwort was a hermit who arrived Sir John Betjeman, buried bunch,” says Betjeman, here from Wales and lived at St Enodoc Church a and talks of “Red Admiral in a cave near the Jesus little way ahead, called this basking with their wings Well, on the far side of the shoreline “a mile of shallow apart”. golf course, and tradition pools and lug worm casts”. has it that he baptised the There are long stretches When the path forks, converts at the well. After of golden sand on both bear left, to carry on above his death his shrine was sides of the estuary, and the water towards Brea moved to the site of the between them stretches Hill. present church here dated the , which has from around the twelfth been responsible for many Brea Hill was a Roman century. a shipwreck. Local legend encampment, providing a attributes this to the wrath good lookout point over The current church is of the Mermaid of Padstow the Camel; but the Romans’ thought to date from (see the were by no means its first around the fifteenth Walk), who placed a curse residents. Bronze Age century. Between the on all sailors venturing people were also drawn fifteenth and nineteenth here after a local lad shot to it for its vantage point, a going around the shoreline exposure Harbour Cove road for a short distance centuries it was so her, mistaking her for a millennium or two before towards . slates and Polzeath slates, until you come to the deeply buried in drifting seal. them, and there are burial As you near the beach at and both of these are private road signposted to sand that the vicar and mounds on its summit , a path snakes unusually rich in fossils, St Enodoc Church. his parishioners had to Rock Dunes are a Site of from that period, and downhill onto the sand. which have helped to descend into the sanctuary Special Scientific Interest rough paths leading up the give an accurate date Follow the lane through the roof to attend for the number of unusual hillside towards them. A detour via this path to the local rock beds of between the houses and to services. The sand was species, which thrive in the takes you down over some the geological Devonian onto the little footpath removed and the church maritime grassland. These As you approach Brea fascinating rock, and from period. beyond, leading out onto restored in the nineteenth include rare plants like Sea Hill, various paths head there you can head across the heath. Stay with the century. According to a Spurge, with its waxy green away around the back of it the beach to the car park If you opt to stay on the path, ignoring the paths later incumbent’s son, “the leaves climbing long thin on your right, and down to at the far end. path above the beach, that cross yours and the sands had blown higher stems like ladders to the the beach on your left, but follow it to the car park at others that fork from it, than the eastern gable, tiny yellow flowers growing ignore these and carry on The area is also a Site the far end of the beach. until you get to St Enodoc the wet came in freely, the in cups at the top, as well along the path around the of Special Scientific Interest Church, on your left, about pews were mouldy-green as the Dense Silky-Bent front of the hill, climbing for its rock, which are of In the car park turn a quarter of a mile beyond and worm eaten and bats Grass with its knobbly gently over its lower considerable geological right through onto Daymer Daymer Lane. flew about, living in a belfry. stalks and hairy heads. slopes. From here keep significance. These are Lane. Carry on along this The communion table had