The popular Holywell cave, which featured in the BBC series Poldark, has collapsed after a cliff fall in Cornwall. The collapse at the historical landmark in Holywell Bay, Newquay, is thought to have happened overnight on Saturday.
The cave, also known as St Cuthbert's Cave, was tucked under the southern cliffs of Kelsey Head. Coastguards and the RNLI confirmed the incident, and lifeguards cordoned off the cave, according to witnesses.
Kev Richens, from Swindon in Wiltshire, was visiting Holywell on Sunday as part of a week-long family holiday and saw the aftermath. He said he had visited Holywell every year for more than 10 years and had only been in the cave two days earlier.
Chris Barnard, who lives near Callington, Cornwall, said he and his wife previously ran Poldark tours because the cave was one of the filming locations for the BBC drama. He said he was shocked when he first heard of the collapse, and sad because it was now "gone forever".
Barnard said: "I was shocked when I first saw the photographs because it's such an iconic location and such a popular location. The fact it's gone is not nice… it's gone forever. The collapse must have happened overnight because, if people were inside, it could have been a catastrophe."
According to the National Trust website, external, Holywell was one of the filming locations in the BBC's Poldark series. Barnard said that since 2015, when they first launched Poldark Tours Cornwall, they showed thousands of people from around the world the cave up until 2024.
Barnard, a professional landscape photographer, said he had frequently been inside the cave at different times of the day, and it held great significance as he had scattered his dog's ashes off the coast at Holywell Beach. He said the cave had "amazing geology" and when the light hit the rocks, the colours were "beautiful".
The bay itself also featured in the opening sequence of the Pierce Brosnan James Bond movie Die Another Day, external.
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Holywell Cave Cordoned Off Following Cliff Fall