Vicar’s Final Gift Secures Stunning Cornwall Coastline

A stretch of coastline near Fowey has been secured for people and wildlife, thanks to a bequest from a long-serving Cornish vicar.

The National Trust has acquired 13.66 hectares of coastal land known as Alldays Field, using funds left to its Neptune Coastline Campaign by the late Reverend Anthony Mapplebeck.

📷Circa 1960 Bell ringing team Veryan Church Back row Will Dowrick Stuart Rawling, Rev. Mapplebeck, Charlie Jarvis, Cyril Truscott. Front row Fred Reynolds Hedley Reynolds Ernest Johns Ron Harris

Land secured for nature and access

The newly acquired site, roughly the size of 19 football pitches, was purchased from Cornwall Council and will remain open to the public while being managed for nature.

Its position makes it particularly important. The land is bordered on three sides by countryside already cared for by the National Trust, with the sea forming its southern edge. This creates an opportunity to link habitats together, helping wildlife move more freely and strengthening natural corridors.

By joining up existing areas, the Trust says it can support more resilient habitats and help nature adapt to environmental change.

The South West Coast Path runs along the southern boundary of the field, and a connecting path links Coombe Farm Coast Path to Love Lane. This ensures continued public access along this section of coastline.

📷Circa 1960 Bell ringing team Veryan Church

A legacy rooted in Cornwall

Reverend Anthony Mapplebeck, who died in 1994, spent much of his life serving communities in Cornwall.

Born in Coulsdon in 1916 and raised in Croydon, Anthony was educated at Cambridge, receiving his BA in 1938 and MA in 1942. He was ordained as a deacon in 1940 and became a priest in 1949.

He is understood to have served as a curate in Bodmin before becoming vicar of Veryan, later moving to St Peter’s Church in Mevagissey, where he served from 1955 until retiring in 1981.

Parishioners remembered him as an “erudite and reserved man” who carried out his duties with “quiet dedication”. One resident recalled meeting him in 1961 ahead of their wedding and later preparing for confirmation under his guidance.

After retiring, Anthony remained in Mevagissey, living modestly in a cottage believed to have been gifted by a parishioner. He never married and is understood to have lived with his mother for a time during his years in Veryan.

His will also included bequests to churches in both Veryan and Mevagissey.

📷Darby and Joan club late 1940s early 1950s

Coastline protected for future generations

The land was secured through the National Trust’s Neptune Coastline Campaign, launched in the 1960s to protect coastal areas across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Andy Simmons, National Trust Area Ranger for South East Cornwall, said:

“Places like this matter because they give people room to breathe and nature room to recover. By joining this land with what’s around it, we can look after the coast as a whole – supporting wildlife, keeping paths open and making sure this landscape stays welcoming and alive for everyone who visits.

“It feels especially fitting that this land was secured thanks to someone who dedicated his life to serving Cornish communities and who loved walking the coastal paths himself.”

The site will now be managed alongside nearby land at Coombe Farm and Covington Woods, with a focus on enhancing existing habitats and creating new spaces for wildlife to thrive.

📷An aerial perspective of a tree planting program at Coombe Farm, Cornwall

📷An aerial perspective of a tree planting program at Coombe Farm, Cornwall

📷An aerial perspective of a tree planting program at Coombe Farm, Cornwall

📷Revd Mapplebeck at Veryan, on the occasion of the dedication in 1954 of the churchyard extension by the then Bishop, Edmund Robert Morgan

📷Revd Mapplebeck on the quay in Mevagissey