The colorful rock formations of Holywell Cave, a staple of the Newquay coastline, vanished in the night. A cliff fall beneath the southern cliffs of Kelsey Head at Holywell Bay triggered the collapse, effectively erasing the site known locally as St Cuthbert’s Cave. Coastguards and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution confirmed the incident, which occurred overnight when the beach was empty. This timing is the only saving grace; had visitors been inside, the outcome could have been fatal.
Witnesses found the entrance buried. Lifeguards immediately cordoned off the beach to prevent access, sealing off a location that had drawn crowds for decades. The cave’s fame wasn’t just geological. It served as a filming location for the BBC’s Poldark and appeared in the opening sequence of the James Bond film Die Another Day. For years, it was a stop on guided tours, making its sudden disappearance a shock to the local tourism industry.
Kev Richens, a visitor from Swindon, spotted the damage while on a family holiday. He had visited the cave just two days prior. “I was shocked,” said Chris Barnard, a local photographer who ran Poldark Tours Cornwall until 2024. Barnard, who had spent years capturing the cave’s shifting colors, noted the finality of the event. “The fact it's gone is not nice... it's gone forever,” he told the BBC. The loss represents more than a structural failure; it is the end of an era for a landmark that defined the visual identity of the Cornish coast for many travelers.