August 17th The First Motor Coach toThe Lizard
     

Until the middle of the 19th century, there was no more than a track to The Lizard and walkers travelled on top of the double hedged paths, dry stone walls enclosing deeply compressed earth, many of which still remain. This changed with the introduction of larger wagons and carriages which required roads of greater width although the surfaces were still very much rough and ready.

With the advent of the railway to Penzance, there had been suggestions to extend the railway via a branch line to The Lizard.  The geology and geography of the Lizard, together with the limited number of potential passengers, made the proposal unfeasible and so the motor coach was seen as a suitable alternative. 

The road only became properly established in the late 19th century and, on this day in 1903, the Great Western Railway arrived at The Lizard for the first time with passengers who had alighted Helston Railway Station and this was a great spectacle since at the time no motor cars in the village. ‘Hill’s Hotel ’, the public house at the destination point remains almost exactly unchanged since this event but is now known as ‘The Top House’.



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