Where is St Just in Penwith?
St Just is England’s most westerly town, lying in the parish of St Just-in-Penwith. Nearby villages and hamlets Botallack, Truthwall, Bojewyan, Carnyorth, Pendeen, Tregeseal, Kelynack, Nancherrow, and Trewellard all belong to the very same parish.
Situated within the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and adjacent to one of only two natural capes in the country, it’s no wonder that St Just holds broad appeal for those looking to live in a unique and fascinating landscape!
The nearest easily accessible sandy beach to St Just is at Sennen. Sennen is a village with a cove at the bottom of a very steep hill that has a long sweep of golden sand backed by dunes.
Penzance is approximately 7 miles from St Just, while if you take the scenic coastal road in the other direction from St Just, you will get to St Ives after just under 13 miles.
Shops, Galleries, Cafes and All the Essentials!
St Just is a vibrant, busy and working community full of essential everyday shops, art galleries, cafes and a variety of other businesses. It is a community that very much supports its local businesses and the town has everything you need when living in St Just.
The main square is called Market Square and has two convenience stores (Co-op and Premier Stores), a greengrocers, a butchers, three pubs and a couple of coffee shops/cafes. Running off Market Square in one direction is Fore Street which has further shops and businesses; namely an antique shop called Bygones, Clemo’s home and hardware store, Windswept Gallery (specialising in sustainable and reclaimed art), Jane Adams Gallery and Rich Guy’s studio and framers, not forgetting the fourth pub in St Just – the Star!
Leaving Market Square in the other direction, you enter in to Bank Square; dominated by the memorial town clock with its pretty railings and flower boxes. On the corner opposite the town clock is the town’s Post Office and newsagents with one of three cashpoints – it’s a popular spot for locals living in St Just to stop and have a natter. Set behind the newsagents is a terrace of properties and nestled in amongst these is the Cafe Dog and Rabbit; a popular venue for breakfasts and lunches with indoor and outdoor seating. Further down North Row, you will stumble across the increasingly popular Jackson Foundation Gallery; started by local artist Kurt Jackson.
Back in Bank Square, you will find various other businesses, including Lotus ReTreat offering luxury beauty treatments, G-Cut hairdressers and Andrew Exelby Estate Agents (worth a stop to look in the window!). Take a wander down Cape Cornwall street, and you will pass the Copper Kettle cafe with its sunny terrace garden, Cook Book Cafe and the Maker’s Emporium – an eclectic mix of arts and crafts made by local crafters all in one fantastic space. Also down Cape Cornwall street is St Just’s chinese takeaway (Red Star) and further down you will find Shelleys Hair and Beauty for a little pamper session.
Properties & Streets in St Just
As is common in Cornwall, most houses and cottages in St Just hark back to the era of tin mining and are primarily formed in terraces of granite-built cottages with slate rooves.
St Just is a small town, but was once extremely prosperous through the mining industry, meaning its population grew rapidly. This resulted in fairly intensive development for the time – something that now has left St Just with quite unusual quirks.
Many terraces in St Just are pedestrian-only – good examples are Princess Street, Carrallack Terrace and Pleasant Terrace. Some properties benefit from parking, some even garages – it is quite rare to find a property with both a garden and a garage in St Just!
Essential Amenities in St Just
St Just parish has a population of around 4,000 people, this includes villages like Pendeen, Carnyorth, Kelynack, Tregeseal and Trewellard. St Just town benefits from a primary and a secondary school – both rated GOOD in their latest Ofsted reports, a GP surgery and chemist, a community library, fire station, bus station and a church dating back to the 1300’s. The town also has a number of chapel buildings: the largest and most iconic of which is named the Miners’ Chapel which can be found at the end of Chapel Street (funnily enough). This chapel is a Wesleyan chapel dating back to 1833.
As well as the Co-operative and Premier convenience stores in St Just, you have various indpependent shops including Stones fruit and veg, McFaddens Butchers, Vivian Olds Butchers as well as a fish and chip shop and a chinese takeaway!
Nearby to St Just
St Just benefits from being within approximately a mile of the coast and there are any number of beautiful coastpath walks within easy reach when you live in St Just.
Cape Cornwall is one of only two capes in the United Kingdom and is one of the most beautiful spots in which to enjoy a tea/coffee and a pasty. Just beyond the Cape out at sea is a rock formation called the “Brisons” – they are now most famously known for their use in the credits of BBC’s Poldark.
Further West from Cape Cornwall, you come to a lush valley called Cot Valley – full of sub-troical flora and fauna, this vibrant green valley splashed with golden heathers and brush leads walkers straight down to Porth Nanven. Porth Nanven is a very popular spot with wild swimmers and photographers – the huge granite boulders here resemble dinosaur eggs and the sunsets from here are nothing short of epic!
