The Armed Knight is a rocky islet off Land’s End, on Cornwall’s far western coast. It rises from the sea near the Longships reef and lighthouse, forming one of the most recognisable features in the view from the cliffs. The rocks are part of a dramatic coastal landscape shaped by Atlantic weather, dangerous waters, and long maritime history. For visitors looking out from the headland, the Armed Knight marks the edge of land before the open ocean. The name is linked with an older landmark once known as Spire Rock, or Careg an Pell in Cornish, meaning the distant rock. This natural stone tower stood on or near the westernmost part of the headland and was remembered as a striking feature of the coast. Local tradition says that it survived until 1648, when a powerful storm broke it apart and sent it crashing into the sea. The later name “The Peal” may preserve an echo of this lost rock. The fall of Spire Rock became part of local historical memory. Some people later treated its destruction as a warning sign, especially because King Charles I was executed the following year in 1649. Stories also claimed that the rock had once carried an iron rod or spire, sometimes linked with the Romans or with King Athelstan. These claims cannot be proved, but they show how the landmark became associated with ideas of power, conquest, and warning. After Spire Rock disappeared, the name and meaning attached to it seem to have shifted to the offshore rocks now called the Armed Knight. Antiquarian writers also recorded traditions of a watchtower or sea mark at Land’s End, used by mariners navigating this dangerous coast. Whether these accounts refer to Spire Rock, another natural feature, or a built structure is uncertain. What is clear is that the headland was long understood as a place of guidance, danger, and observation. The Armed Knight also connects with wider legends of lost land around Land’s End, especially the story of Lyonesse. This drowned kingdom was said to have once stretched between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly before being swallowed by the sea. Tales of collapsed rocks, vanished landmarks, and land lost beneath the waves all belong to the same coastal imagination.