Page:The Cornwall coast.djvu/31

 THE PLYMOUTH DISTRICT 25 the picturesque spot, once haunted by smugglers, is now, during the summer months, a lively play- ground of the excursionist. It is said that Rich- mond, afterwards Henry YII., landed at this spot on his first attempt against Richard Crookback, his fleet having been scattered by a storm. South- ward is Penlee Point, and westward Rame or Ram Head. This is the most southern point of East Cornwall, and the nearest land to Eddystone. There is an old saying — "When Dodman and Ram-head meet," Dodman being the extreme point of Mevagissy Bay ; and, as Ray tells us : " These are two fore- lands, well known to sailors, nigh twenty miles asunder, and the proverb passeth for the peri- phrasis of an impossibility." The Head, which is nearly insular, has a chapel dedicated to St. Michael on its summit. St. Michael was widely claimed as a patron of lofty and exposed places (such as the two St. Michael's Mounts) ; it was considered his especial function to disperse and set at naught all evil forces of tempest and thunderstorm. Rame Church, dating from the thirteenth century, is about a mile inland ; it occupies the site of a still earlier building. White- sand Bay (generally called Whitsand), which stretches westward towards Looe, has many memories of the past to offer those who, in summer, come hither in large numbers. It was here that Drake and Howard first confronted the Armada, after the memorable but possibly fabulous game of bowls. Whether the Spaniards intended making for Plymouth or no is not quite certain; but it is certain that the English-