Port Quin (, meaning ''white cove'') is a small cove and

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

between Port Isaac and Polzeath, in north

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England.

Geography

Facing the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, the narrow rocky inlet of Port Quin provides a naturally sheltered harbour for sea-going vessels. The cove gives its name to Port Quin Bay, a stretch of coast that extends from Kellan Head to The Rumps. Port Quin lies within the Cornwall National Landscape, formerly Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Almost a third of Cornwall has AONB designation, with the same status and protection as a

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

History

The name of the hamlet is believed to come from the Cornish words "Porth" (harbour) and "gwynn" (white). Its earliest mention is when Laurence de Porquin took his name from the village in 1327. During the

medieval period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

, boats from Port Quin often sailed to Wales, trading

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

manure Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the fertility of soil by adding organic matter and nut ...

antimony Antimony is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Sb () and atomic number 51. A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and building

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

. The cove was from where granite from Lundy Island - used to build the tower of the parish church at

St Endellion St Endellion () is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and hamlet in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The hamlet and parish church are situated four miles (6.5 km) north of Wadebridge. The parish takes its name from Saint Ende ...

- was unloaded. The local economy was based primarily upon the

pilchard Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it comes ...

season that operated from August to December. Fresh catches were pressed in several large sheds in the village before the separated fish oil and flesh were transported for sale. Farming and small mines were also important sources of revenue. The size of the remaining fish cellars indicates that Port Quin was once a prosperous village. But by 1841 it was entering decline, a

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

recorded it had a population of 94 people and 23 houses. The community was slowly moving to neighbouring villages because of poor pilchard and

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

seasons and the closure of local mines. Many emigrated (via

Padstow Padstow (; ) is a town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town is situated on the west bank of the River Camel estuary, approximately northwest of Wadebridge, ...

) to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. As Port Quin dwindled to the size of a hamlet, its demise gave rise to the local legend of disaster at sea. There are several variations on the legend, each focussing on the men being drowned at sea. One version states that one Sunday - breaking the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

- all the men of village put to sea but were lost in a great storm that destroyed the entire fishing fleet. A different source describes how all of the men were out in a single fishing vessel but omits the storm. In February 1700, the East India ship ''Thornton'' was wrecked at Port Quin. On the south-west side of the inlet is Doyden Point, on which is situated Doyden Castle, a castellated

folly In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings. Eighteenth-cent ...

built about 1830 by a Samuel Symons, a late

Regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

bon viveur from

Wadebridge Wadebridge (; ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town straddles the River Camel upstream from Padstow.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 200 ''Newquay & Bodmin'' The pe ...

. In the 1841 census, there were 23 households reported as living in Port Quin. There are two old mines in the immediate area around Port Quin. Port Quin Mine worked a small

lode In geology, a lode is a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills or is embedded in a fracture (or crack) in a rock formation or a vein of ore that is deposited or embedded between layers of rock. The current meaning (ore vein) dates from th ...

Antimony Antimony is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Sb () and atomic number 51. A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...

with an

adit An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) or stulm is a horizontal or nearly horizontal passage to an underground mine. Miners can use adits for access, drainage, ventilation, and extracting minerals at the lowest convenient level. Adits are a ...

about 400m upstream from the beach and two shafts further up the slope. Gilson's Cove Mine was located on the cliff tops beyond Doyden and worked a lode producing

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

, the far end of which can be seen in the cliffs at Reedy Cliff north-east of Port Quin.

Present day

The harbour is surrounded by three local farms Roscarrock, Trevigo and Scarrabine all run by local families. Part of Port Quin and a few small fields around the hamlet are owned by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

; the Trust rents out several of the stone cottages as self-catering holiday accommodation. The

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harb ...

closely follows the coastline of the inlet. Port Quin is popular with walkers and kayakers and there is a small car park, which during the Summer season has a small mobile vintage cafe, on the lane which leads from Port Quin to the village of Trelights. There is a sea kayaking company based in the harbour called Cornish Coast adventures that runs tours between Easter and October and explores the old antimony mines and the local coastline.

Television

Various locations around Port Quin were used in the 1970s by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

for filming an

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

of Winston Graham's '' Poldark'' novels. Quin House in Port Quin was used in the first series and Doyden Folly was portrayed as a gatehouse. Roscarrock and its environs were also widely used. In the following decade another

of a classic novel based in

, '' Jamaica Inn'', also included filming at Doyden Folly. In 2011, Doyden Castle was used as ''Pentire Castle'' in the ITV series ''

Doc Martin ''Doc Martin'' is a British medical comedy-drama television series starring Martin Clunes as Doctor Martin Ellingham. It was created by Dominic Minghella developing the character of Dr Martin Bamford from the Nigel Cole comedy film '' Saving ...

''.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

* {{refend Hamlets in Cornwall Beaches of Cornwall Folly castles in England St Endellion