Mawgan Porth

Mawgan Porth is more than a beach village between Newquay and Padstow. Behind the sand and surf is one of Cornwall’s most important early medieval sites.

Historic England records an early medieval settlement at Mawgan Porth, first discovered in 1934 when building trial pits uncovered walls and a burial. The settlement dates from around AD 850 to at least 1050 and appears to have been abandoned as sand encroached. Because it was not repeatedly built over, the site survives unusually well.

These aerial prints place Mawgan Porth in its wider setting: the beach at the mouth of the valley, the Atlantic swell, the cliffs at either end and the fields beyond. A good choice for anyone drawn to coastal views with both openness and history beneath the surface.