Porthleven
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Porthleven (; ) is a town,
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
and fishing port in
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. The most southerly port in Great Britain, it was a
harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...
of refuge when this part of the Cornish coastline was infamous for wrecks in the days of sail. 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 ...
from
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
to
Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
passes through the town. The population at the 2011 census was 3,059.


History

Methleigh was the site of a fair and annual market from the year 1066. After the Norman Conquest, the Bishop of Exeter held the manor of Methleigh, but the Earl of Cornwall possessed the right to hold the fair. At the time of the Domesday Survey there were of arable land, of pasture and of underbrush. The population consisted of 15 villeins, 4 smallholders and 3 serfs. Until 1844 Porthleven was within the parish of Sithney. The parish Church of St Bartholomew was built in 1842. The name Porthleven is probably connected with St Elwen or Elwyn, whose chapel existed here before 1270. It was rebuilt about 1510, but destroyed in 1549. There were also chapels at Higher Penrose and Lanner Veor (the latter founded in 1377) and a holy well at Venton-Vedna. The Vicar of Porthleven in the 1850s was the Rev. Thomas Lockyer Williams, a Tractarian who introduced practices into the parish which provoked dislike in the Rev. Canon John Rogers of Penrose, Rector of Mawnan and a canon of Exeter. For local-government purposes, Porthleven was included within the nearby town of Helston, until many years of growth gained it a
town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland In 2002, 49 urban district councils and 26 town commissi ...
of its own. Its population at the
United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th Census in the United Kingdom, UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194. The 2001 UK census was organise ...
was 3,190. Porthleven's most recognisable building is the Bickford-Smith Institute next to the pier and harbour entrance. It was built on the site of the old Fisherman's Arms and was opened on 16 December 1884. The
clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...
on the west corner is high. The building originally had a reading room, a committee room, a curator's living room and two bedrooms. The Institute was
grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
on 18 March 1991 and currently houses the town council and a snooker club. It featured (along with various other scenes from the town) as the incident room in an episode of the TV detective series ''Wycliffe''. A picture of the building against a large breaking wave sometimes appears in the background of BBC UK weather forecasts, particularly when windy conditions and rough seas are expected. The Institute has a plaque to
Guy Gibson Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson, (12 August 1918 – 19 September 1944) was a distinguished bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He was the first Commanding Officer of No. 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam ...
VC, leader of the Dambuster Raid, on the wall facing the harbour. Gibson was born in India, but saw Porthleven – his mother's home town, where his parents were married – as a home town as well. He visited there while on leave during the war, sometimes attending the Porthleven Methodist Church. His name is marked on the community's war memorial (he was killed in 1944) and a street (Gibson Way) is named after him.


The harbour

William Cookworthy acquired leases on the Tregonning Hill quarries and shipped
china clay Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedron, tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen ...
to his
porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...
factory in Plymouth. In 1826, 150 tons of china stone and 30 tons of china clay were exported, and in 1838, 500 tons of china stone. By 1876, 970 tons were exported and in 1883, 1002 tons. Granite was also exported, from the quarries at Coverack Bridges and Sithney. Fifty-two fishing boats were built between 1877 and 1883, employing at times up to twenty people. They ranged in length from to and were built not only for Mount's Bay ports, but for others in the UK and in South Africa. Overnight on 12–13 December 1978, Police Constables Joseph James Childs and Martin Ross Reid of
Devon and Cornwall Police Devon and Cornwall Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial counties of Devon and Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly) in South West England. The force serves approximately 1.8 million people over an ...
were killed when their patrol car was swept into the harbour during a heavy storm. A stone memorial was erected on the south-facing harbour wall.


Lifeboat

Due to the prevailing westerly winds, it was easy for a ship under sail to be trapped in Mount's Bay and wrecked nearby. The
Royal National Lifeboat Institution The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat (rescue), lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on s ...
opened Porthleven Lifeboat Station in 1863. A boat house was built at Breageside, from where the boat was taken to the water on a carriage. The ''Agar Robartes'' was replaced by the ''Charles Henry Wright'' (named after the donor) in November 1882. A boat house on the west side of the harbour entrance was opened in 1894, with a slipway to ease launching. The station was closed in 1929, as the neighbouring stations at and had been equipped with motor lifeboats that could cover the whole bay. The slipway was dismantled and the boat house used as a store for a while. It has since become the Shipwreck Centre museum.


Protected areas

Three of the four
Sites of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...
(SSSI) close to Porthleven, and the
Geological Conservation Review The Geological Conservation Review (GCR) is produced by the UK's Joint Nature Conservation Committee. It is designed to identify those sites of national and international importance needed to show all the key scientific elements of the geological ...
(GCR) sites are designated for their geological interest. They are Porthleven Cliffs SSSI, Porthleven Cliffs East SSSI, and Wheal Penrose SSSI. The Giant's Rock, within Porthleven Cliffs SSSI, is a
glacial erratic A glacial erratic is a glacially deposited rock (geology), rock differing from the type of country rock (geology), rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by gla ...
of unknown origin and unknown means of arrival, is near the entrance of Porthleven harbour. Wheal Penrose SSSI is a disused lead mine to the south with "examples of typical lead zone mineralisation". The fourth, Loe Pool, is Cornwall's largest natural lake, formed by a barrier beach known as Loe Bar which dams the River Cober. Porthleven (like almost a third of Cornwall) lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).


Sport and leisure

Porthleven has exploited its location and powerful swells to become one of Britain's best-known
surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...
spots, described as "Cornwall's best reef break". Waves often exceeding break on a shallow
reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...
that was shaped by blasting the harbour. Kayaking is also popular. RNLI lifeguards patrol the beach in the holiday season. The beach is separated from the harbour by a granite pier in front of the Porthleven Institute and clock tower. When the
tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...
is out it is possible to walk about three miles east along Porthleven beach. There is also a coastal path with views of the beach below. Porthleven Bowling Club is based at Methleigh Parc and affiliated to Bowls Cornwall and Bowls England. It was founded in 1959 and has lawn bowling and short-mat bowls facilities. The club and its members compete within Cornwall and nationally, and there are in-house competitions. Porthleven has a
non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...
club in the South West Peninsula League, which operates at levels 10 and 11 of the
English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the ...
. The club's home ground is at Gala Parc. The traditional place for
Cornish wrestling Cornish wrestling () is a form of wrestling that has been established in Cornwall for many centuries and possibly longer. It is similar to the Breton people, Breton Gouren wrestling style. It is colloquially known as "wrasslin’"Phillipps, K C: ...
prize tournaments held in Porthleven in the 19th century was the "Wrestling Field", now marked by a plaque.The Cornish Telegraph - Thursday 28 July 1881. More recently tournaments have been held in the Recreation Ground. The restaurateur Rick Stein opened a restaurant in the town, now taken over by fellow chef, Michael Caines.


Twinning

Porthleven is twinned with Guissény in
Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
, France.


Notable residents

Porthleven was the birthplace of the Victorian theologian Pender Hodge Cudlip and of David Jewell, an
independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...
headmaster in the late 20th century. Porthleven was the home town of the Dambusters' commanding officer
Guy Gibson Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson, (12 August 1918 – 19 September 1944) was a distinguished bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He was the first Commanding Officer of No. 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam ...
. There is a road named in his memory. The Porthleven-born
motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...
driver Chris Craft competed in the
24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...
race for over a decade, including a third-placed finish in
1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
, as well as two races in
Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
.


See also

* Ship Inn, a Grade II listed public house


References


Gallery

File:Porthleven-osm.jpg, OpenStreetMap of Porthleven File:Sunset 6.jpg, Sunset behind Porthleven clock tower and overlooking Mount's Bay File:Stormy Sea2004.jpg, Waves hitting the Pier File:Porthleven Harbour2004.jpg, Porthleven Harbour File:Porthleven_Beach,_Cornwall_UK.jpg


External links


Cornwall Record Office Online Catalogue for PorthlevenPorthleven Museum
- local archives {{authority control Civil parishes in Cornwall Ports and harbours of Cornwall Populated coastal places in Cornwall Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall Surfing locations in Cornwall Towns in Cornwall