Cornish Cottages: Porthleven, Cornwall

A little history: Some say that Porthleven means level or smooth habour, and that it probably gets its name from when the harbour was a flat marshland on the banks of a stream. However, a more likely explanation is that the name is a compound of the two words: porth and elvan. The word porth in Cornish means port and elvan is the Celtic Saint who came to these shores in the 5th century along to preach the Christian faith. The place, St. Elvan, was about one and a half miles from Porthleven on the road to Sithney. There is still an area to the north of Porthleven called St. Elvan and the new pilot gig is named St. Elvan. In the 14th century, Porthleven was a small hamlet of fisherman's cottages, separated from the sea by a simple bar of shingle where the boats were kept. By the 1700s the fishermen were joined by miners and farm workers. As the mines needed coal and other supplies, and the fishing fleet badly needed a safer refuge for their boats, the building of the present harbour was started in 1811.

This excellent book tells you more about the harbour: Porthleven - the history of England's most southerly mainland port. Shirley Salmon wrote in the local paper, the West Briton "I picked up this publication for a quick scan prior to reading it … an hour later I was still scanning" From various Porthleven outlets like the Post Office. £5.99. 80 A4 page paperback, or by post from the Author: Tony Treglown, 2 Wayside Close, Kington Langley, Chippenham, Wilts. SN15 5NY.

A Port of Refuge: There are a vast number of wrecks around this coastal area because ships are driven by prevailing south westerly gales and mountainous seas and became trapped in Mounts Bay with little hope of escape. This determined the need for a safe refuge harbour at Porthleven. Following the wreck of HMS Anson on the Loe Bar in 1807 (see below), Tobias Roberts, (a local man who was awarded a medal for his bravery in saving many sailors lives), set about providing a 'Port of Refuge'. In 1811 approval was granted in Parliament for building of the 'Prince of Wales Harbour' at Porthleven, adjacent to Loe Bar. The existing sand bar at the mouth of the valley with its little stone bridge was removed and work on the harbour began. It took 14 years, with some of the workforce being prisoners from the Napoleonic wars. A Norwegian ship 'Charlotte Johanne', is believed to have been the first full cargo landed at Porthleven in 1815, but once the inner basin had been made deeper, trade increased dramatically. In August 1825, the opening was celebrated with a magnificent feast of roast beef and plum pudding!

Cornish Cottage: Porthleven

The Anson: The coastline around Porthleven has received more than its full share of ship wrecks, some of them outstanding disasters. One of the saddest of these was the Royal Navy 44 gun frigate HMS ANSON (left), which foundered on the Bar Sands in 1807, two years after the battle of Trafalger, with the loss of about 100 lives. On Christmas Eve she was towed out of Falmouth where she had taken on provisions, and immediately encountered poor weather. After passing the Lizard she received the full force of a rising gale which eventually drove her onto the Bar. The wreck was witnessed by Henry Trengrouse, the Helston cabinet-maker. The terrible loss of life spurred him on to devise at his own expense a line-throwing apparatus to be propelled across any stricken vessel by a rocket, as well as inventing the cork filled lifejacket. His successful experiments in 1816 paved the way for saving the lives of thousands of seamen. Like the great Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick before him, he died in poverty during 1854. The lyrics of a song written by Richard Grendall record Henry's inspiration for his invention:

Henry Trengrouse and His Rocket
'Twas four days after Christmas day, in 1806 recorded,
A ship was driven across the bay, no shelter where, afforded,
Then hove she to, hard by Loe Bar, some way below Porthleven,
And they that watched her from the shore, they cried "My God! The Anson!"
Chorus: Heave a line! Heave a line. Heave a line there! Heave a line! Heave a line! Heave!
You poor sailors.
So near was she and yet so far, no way was found to reach her,
While thundering waters burst and tore, nor long delayed to breach her,
There stood a man who wept to see those poor drowned helpless creatures,
Henry Trengrouse was he, a name well known to sailors.
Upon the cliff, above the bay, above those cruel billows,
There stands a cross to mark the grave of all those hapless fellows,
But Anson's men, though many grieved, 'twas not in vain they perished,
For 'twas through them Trengrouse conceived the "Rocket Apparatus".
'Twas four days after Christmas day, in 1806 recorded,
A ship was driven across the bay .... no shelter where .... afforded.

Cornish Cottage: Porthleven

It was the custom at this time to dispose of bodies cast up by the sea by burying the remains in a convenient pit on the cliff top. The name Gravesend in Porthleven is evidence of this custom. Even today it is said bits of bones are discovered! The disposal of unfortunates suffering these fates, especially those from the Anson, so angered the public that Parliament passed an act the next year ensuring that in future bodies cast up by the sea should be buried in churchyards and parochial cemeteries. A memorial to the dead of the Anson was erected in 1949. It is very easy to find, you can approach it from Porthleven and walk across the sands at low tide. It's a pretty hard walk and you have to watch out for the tide coming back in. An easier way is to drive to Chyvarloe and then walk about a mile and a quarter along the top of the cliffs. This walk ends up with a terrific view of the Loe Bar. If you go in rough weather you will understand why the crew of the Anson had so little chance of escape, the fury of the waves may astound you.

Building and rebuilding the Harbour: The Harbour has had a difficult history as, unusually, it faces southwest into the prevailing wind and is subject to very severe winter gales. It is not only perilous an undertaking for vessels entering or leaving in stormy seas, but the breakwater and quays have been subject to extreme damage. The first harbour was entirely destroyed by a storm; it was rebuilt and the breakwater and closed dock area added in the 1850's. There was a natural progression was into boat building, which began around the 1850s. The large slip was the launching site for many clippers and schooners that traveled the world. By 1855 the harbour was leased out, which lead to a deeper inner basin that was protected by massive timber gates being built, still in use today. It was after this that there was an upturn in Porthleven's fortunes and by the 1880's there was a fleet of Pilchard boats working from here and together with boatbuilding, sailmaking, imports and exports, the harbour became a very busy place. With the imports of coal, limestone and timber, and the exporting of tin, copper and china clay, the harbour prospered. General merchandise began to be imported in the 1860's for two grocers in Helston supplying goods such as flour, oats, butter and rock salt.

In the 1920's, depression came to the fishing trade in Porthleven leading to smaller catches of fish and poor markets, which in turn reduced the number of fishing boats. The installation of engines on the boats reduced the number of crew members needed and shipwrights became less in demand for boat building or repairs. The sail, rope and net manufacturers were in turn affected. The population of the village, which had been 2400 in 1883, dropped to 1600 by 1912. There is still a boatyard in the village round the former site of the old village pond, which undertakes marine renovations and repairs. For further history and photographs look at this site.