Lizard Point, Cornwall to discover more about the local rocks. The first sighting of the Spanish Armada on mainland Britain was off Lizard Point at 3 pm on 29 July 1588. This was one of the greatest invasion fleets in history and consisted of 120 ships armed with over 1,000 cannon and with 29,000 men on board. The Battle at the Lizard, a naval battle, took place off The Lizard on 21 October 1707. The bulk coaster carrier MV "Ardgarry" (1957) was lost in a heavy storm, in over 30 ft (9m) high waves, off Lizard Point on 29 December 1962. All 12
History of Cornwall on the later development of stone-built fortified homesteads known in Cornwall as "Rounds". In the wake of the Roman withdrawal from Great Britain in about 410, Saxons and other Germanic peoples were able to conquer and settle most of the east of the island over the next two centuries. In the west, Devon and Cornwall held out as the British kingdom of Dumnonia. Dumnonia had close cultural contacts with Christian Ireland, Wales, Romano-Celtic Brittany and Byzantium via the West Atlantic trade network, and there is exceptional archaeological evidence for Late Antique trading contacts at the stronghold of Tintagel in Cornwall.