Page:The Cornwall coast.djvu/132

CHAPTER VII THE LIZARD TO HELSTON MR. NORWAY says that it would be hard to find an uglier spot than Lizard Town, but of course he fully admits the grandeur of the coast of which it is the small metropolis. The name, which first applied only to the most southern headland, was not given from any fanciful resemblance to a Lizard, but appears to be a corruption of the Cornish words Lis-arth, lis being the secular enclosure, the palace or court, as distinct from Ian the sacred enclo- sure, and arth meaning high. Lizard Town is a cluster of houses, growing in number to meet an increasing popularity, of which Landewednack is the church town, about half a mile distant ; it is served by motor-buses from Helston, and in time there will doubtless be a branch line of the railway here. Housel Bay, formerly House- hole, is the bathing-place, with a large modern hotel standing close to the cliffs ; on the east is Lloyd's signal station, and on the west the light- house. Vessels that used to call at Falmouth for sailing orders, or for other information, now receive these instructions by signal from Lloyd's station here, flags being employed by day and lights by night ; a wireless telegraph has also 126