Rame Head

Coordinates: 50°18′40″N 4°13′23″W / 50.311°N 4.223°W / 50.311; -4.223

Rame Head or Ram Head (Cornish: Penn an Hordh) is a coastal headland, southwest of the village of Rame in southeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is part of the larger Rame Peninsula.

History and antiquities

The natural site was used for a promontory fort ('cliff castle') in the Iron Age and the narrow neck of land was further excavated on the landward side with a central causeway, still visible. The eastern part retains traces of round house platforms, though damaged by wartime construction. The headland has a prominent chapel, dedicated to St Michael, as are many early Christian headland sites in the region, accessible by a steep footpath. The chapel was first licensed for Mass in 1397 and is probably on the site of a much earlier, Celtic, hermitage. It remains as an intact shell and was originally lime-washed so that it stood out on the headland. Earl Ordulf, who was the owner of vast estates in the West Country and was the uncle of King Ethelred, gave Rame to Tavistock Abbey (which Ordulf had founded) in 981, meaning the parish was technically in Devon until the modern period.

Rame Head (Victoria)

Rame Head or Ram Head (37°46′S 149°29′E / 37.767°S 149.483°E / -37.767; 149.483) is a coastal headland in eastern Victoria, Australia. It is within the Croajingolong National Park.

The local aboriginal people call the headland Konowee or Kouowee. James Cook (Captain Cook) named today's Rame Head as he passed by on 20 April 1770. Cook named the point Ram Head, after a point that can be seen going into Plymouth Sound, Cook wrote the name without an "e" and that spelling was adopted by Aaron Arrowsmith, George Bass, Matthew Flinders, James Grant, Louis de Freycinet and even John Hawesworth when commissioned by the Admiralty to edit Cook's papers and journal and that spelling became official when the Admiralty published Matthew Flinders' charts dated January and February 1814. The Royal Navy (and later Royal Australian Navy) used the old spelling "Rame" in the mid 1800s; while Ram Head still continues to be used also. In 1971, the Victorian Government gazetted the point as "Rame" to match its Cornish namesake.