Cawsand and Kingsand are two adjoining hamletshere on the Rame Head peninsula, overlooking Plymouth Sound in the mouth of the Tamar estuary. Comparatively untouched by the modern world, the villages have narrow streets, old cottages, pubs and restaurants. Cawsand Bay is a safe harbour for anchoring yachts and there is a slipway at Cawsand .
The villages are only three minutes walk apart, and each has its own small shelved shingle beach. There is a dog ban is on Cawsand beach between Easter and October. but dogs are allowed on Kingsand beach all year. Cross Keys Inn at Cawsand
Originally this was the border between Saxon England and Celtic Cornwall, with a small stream marking the border. A major smuggling centre two hundred years ago, when it was estimated that 17,000 casks of brandy a year were smuggled.
In March 1587 the Spanish landed a raiding Party at Cawsand which tried to burn down the village, but one man with a musket put them to flight.
In the Civil War Maker Church tower was fortified by the Royalist garrison of Mount Edgcumbe and was captured by the Plymouth Parliamentary forces in May 1644.
In the 18th century Maker Church tower was an Admiralty signal station with its own crew, passing messages by semaphore to Devonport Dockyard. Massive Fortifications of many centuries still dot the peninsula.
Cawsand is said to be the birthplace of one John Pollard, who served on the Victory during the Battle Of Trafalgar, and who is credited with killing the man who fired the fatal shot at Nelson. And indeed Nelson himself anchored in the bay here in 1801.
There is a seasonal ferry making 4 trips a day from Cawsand Beach to Plymouth’s Barbican.
The Coastal Path runs past Penlee Point and Rame Head with its 11th century monks' chapel and and offers views to the sandy beaches of Whitsand Bay.
Cawsand, Cornwall, Genealogical information, on Genuki