BOATS, HARBOUR etc

BOATS list from the Newlyn Archive of some FISHING BOATS boats by name – includes Porthleven

PORTHLEVEN HARBOUR
There was a sand bar across the entrance to the cove (like Loe Bar now). This sand bar caused a shallow pond to form behind it (like a miniature Loe Pool) and the freshwater pond was known as the Owan. The pond was crossed by a simple rough stone , probably granite, clapper bridge. (large flat stones placed on stepping stones to upgrade the crossing to a bridge to provide pedestrians with a dry crossing over a wet place.)

In 1811 an Act of Parliament set up the Porthleven Harbour Company to build, maintain and operate the most southerly harbour in Britain. ‘Harbour’ meant a pier, quays, wharves, warehouses, dwelling houses and whatever else Porthleven Harbour Company considered necessary. The company was to be able to compulsorily purchase all the land and existing buildings within 130 feet of the wall of the proposed harbour basin in order to undertake the work.

The area which would become the harbour included: seven fields, seven orchards, five meadows, withy (willow) fields, a pig moor and a quarry, along with a mill, warehouse, kiln and capstans, plus a stable, barn, ‘mowhays’ (a Cornish word for a yard or enclosure in which haystacks were built) and more than three dozen houses and a pub, the Fisherman’s Arms.

Some of the leasehold fishermen’s cottages were low in the valley and close to sea-level behind the sand bank at the entrance to the cove. This would have serious consequences when the sand bar was removed and future houses would need to be built higher in Buenos Aires Row (later to become Bay View Terrace). Thirty-nine families were displaced when their dwellings were demolished as part of the harbour development.

Melanie Claire PZ 464