Not to be confused with the other Willabury Cliff Castle, about 4 kilometres to the East, at Boscastle. However they do share a lot - the coastline, having only one line of defence, and amazing scenery. This is a huge cliff castle, but doesn’t look easy to defend, especially when compared to the other local examples at Tintagel and Boscastle.
I arrived via the cliff path from Tintagel, which was quite steep in places, and parts of which were being used by cattle (honest! the local farm, approx SX057888, seemed like a bit of a mess when I walked through it on the way back). The field boundaries are also interesting because twice I saw walls go right down to the cliff edge! One was a normal thick stone wall, and one (just west of Willapark) was just a wall of upright slate slabs.
Willapark is very visible as you walk the path but it never seems to get closer! Eventually you reach a gate with a National Trust ‘Willapark’ sign, and after more walking you come to a wall and suddenly the whole of the coastline up to Firebeacon Hill opens out in front of you, plus the white building of Boscastle Cliff castle is just visible in the background as well - stunning.
The castle is surprisingly flat and very large. A moulding modern wall stands on top of the mutilated rampart , the entrance through which is now unidentifiable. A lot of the thick gorse was being cleared - until it’s clear it’s giving great yellow blooms which almost makes up for it ferocious thorns. I walked right over to the north edge, overlooking its little sister Lye Rock which harbours lots of seagulls. My view of seagulls changed today. I spent quite a while taking in the view and then ten minutes flat on my back just watching the seagulls hover and swoop on the brash wind - it was sublime and reminded me of the scene in American Beauty when they watch a video of a plastic bag ‘dancing’ in the wind.
Log in |
Register
England
0 discussions
Show map (inline Google Map)
Add an image 
Posted by pure joy
Top of page