Gorran Haven is a typical fishing village with narrow mediaeval streets and a sheltered place to launch boats: the beach faces East into a bay protected by headlands to the North and South. Prior to the 19th Century, the village was known as Portheast which is thought to be a corruption of Porth Just.
Gorran Haven's small chapel, located half-way up the hill, is still dedicated to St Just.
The Chapel of St Just in Goran Haven was built in the 15th Century as a Chapel of Ease to save a long walk up the hill to the parish church in Gorran Churchtown. After the Reformation, it was closed as a place of worship, and was used instead as a fish cellar and net store. It was restored to religious worship in the 1860s.
In mediaeval times, the village at Gorran Haven was the primary fishing village of the area, dwarfing Mevagissey, and the quay has been rebuilt a number of times throughout its history. The first recorded use of seining for pilchards in Cornwall was here, in the 13th Century. Once drift netting became popular in the late 18th century, Mevagissey took over as the primary fishery and the quay fell into ruin but was rebuilt in 1886 and a period of crab and lobster potting continued until the Second World War. After the war, crab and lobster potting resumed from the bigger harbour at Mevagissey.
Roughly 70% of the edible crabs caught in the world are caught around the British Isles, most of which are sold to France and Spain. Around the UK, edible brown crabs are regarded as overfished, with the largest fishery based around Scotland. Devon and Cornwall have the most stringent regulations in the UK on the minimum acceptable size and the pots now have an escape hatch for undersized crabs. The crabs are not harmed by the pots which allows crabs carrying eggs to also be released to improve the sustainability of the fishery.
The Ramblers Association and National Farmers Union suggest some "dos and don'ts" for walkers which we've collated with some info from the local Countryside Access Team.
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Don't
Common gorse flowers have a coconut-like scent but rather than fresh coconut, it is reminiscent of desiccated coconut or the popular brand of surf wax, Mr Zoggs. However, not everyone experiences the smell in the same way: for some people it's very strong and for others it quite weak. One complicating factor is that Western Gorse flowers don't have any scent, so you need to be sniffing a tall gorse plant to test yourself.
Traditionally fishing nets were woven by hand from flax thread, and in Victorian times these were gradually replaced by cotton nets which lasted a little longer and, as the Industrial Revolution gathered momentum, were increasingly machine-woven. Since the nets were made of plant matter, during storage over the winter the fishy nets would rot away unless treated. They were therefore boiled in vats containing oak bark in a process similar to that used for tanning leather, and then laid out on the beach to dry in the sun. The tannins in the oak acted as a preservative, preventing bacterial and fungal decay. By using this process, cotton nets could be made to last up to 10 years.
The point ahead is called Turbot Point from the days when turbot were more common inshore.
Turbot is a large flatfish and has been in culinary demand for at least two thousand years in Europe due to its firm white flesh. Commercial fishing over a long period means that they are now classed as Near Threatened by the IUCN and the recommendation is that they should only be eaten occasionally due to the decline in stocks and the fishing methods used to catch them - primarily beam trawling.
Like many other flatfish, turbot can change the pattern and colour of blotches on their upper surface to blend in with their surroundings. They are at the slower end of the scale, taking several days to complete the change. It's possible that their larger size makes a quicker change less vital both in terms of the need to avoid predators and also having more reserves to survive the period until they are ready to ambush prey.
The steep cliffs near the point are known as Bodrugan's Leap.
During the War of the Roses at the end of the mediaeval period, the two men of greatest influence in Cornwall were Richard Edgcombe, allied with the Lancastrians, and Henry Bodrugan (from the manor of Bodrugan), allied with the Yorkists. Both fought at the Battle of Bosworth and when King Richard III was killed at the Battle, Edgcombe was knighted and Bodrugan escaped. After failed attempts to unseat King Henry VII, Edgcombe was sent to arrest Bodrugan who escaped to France by leaping over the cliff into the sea, and climbing aboard a waiting boat. The cliff has since become known as Bodrugan's Leap.
Colona Beach is an east-facing inlet between two reefs and is therefore sheltered from the prevailing winds. The beach is shingly at high tide and finer sand is revealed as the tide goes out. The rock platforms either side of the beach have rockpools at low tide and the reefs that extend underwater from these are covered in kelp. The kelp beds provide places to hide for fish such as wrasse.
The rocky platform forming the other side of the beach is known as Chapel Point.
The three houses on Chapel Point were designed and built by the architect John Campbell during the late 1930s. He bought the land in 1932 and planned to build 20 houses, but war broke out after the first three and put a stop to building. After the war ended, he returned to Mevagissey to complete his project but the Planning Permission had lapsed so he was forced to resubmit the plans, which were then rejected. After months of updating and redrawing, he finally completed the plans in August 1947, and walked along the coast to deliver these by hand to the planning office. One the way home, he lost his footing, fell into the sea and drowned. The plans were approved, described by a government official as "the most beautifully presented and the most painstakingly put together of any that I have seen", but were never carried through. Had they been completed, the result would have been what has been described as "unique in terms of 20th-century architecture". One of the three houses that was completed, known as The Gatehouse, has been described as "a gleaming white house that seems like a castle in spite of its small size".
After a storm, the residents here sometimes awake to find seaweed on their roof!
As you cross the field, the lighthouse on the quay at Mevagissey comes into view. During Victorian times as pilchard stocks declined, species such as mackerel were caught from Mevagissey.
Mackerel come inshore during the summer and autumn to feed on prawns and small fish such as sandeels. They often occur in large shoals which at the surface can make the sea appear to "boil", often accompanied by excited seabirds. Although they cruise at a speed of around 2 knots, mackerel can reach 10 knots in short bursts.
At high tide they can sometimes be caught on rod and line from the quays at Gorran Haven and Mevagissey.
Throughout the 19th century, mackerel was fished commercially off Cornwall and by the end of the 19th century, there were hundreds of drift netters. These decimated the mackerel stocks and by the 1930s, mackerel were so scarce that the fishery had virtually closed. By the 1960s, the mackerel had recovered and were plentiful for the next couple of decades. More recently, they have noticeably declined again which is thought to be due to intensive trawling in Scottish and Icelandic waters. The South West Handline Fisherman's Association operate a more sustainable fishing model, and readers are encouraged to buy line-caught fish.
The name "Portmellon" is from the Cornish Porthmelyn meaning "mill cove". In 1880s it was still known as Portmellin but by the 1920s this had changed to Portmellon. The first recorded settlement was the mill of Portmelyn which was still present on an 1888 map, but by 1907 it had disappeared.
The RNLI stationed a lifeboat at Portmellon in 1869. Once the outer harbour was built at Mevagissey, the lifeboat was moved there. When the Mevagissey lifeboat was itself later decommissioned in favour of the longer range boat at Fowey, the lifeboat winch was acquired by Mitchell's boat yard and used to launch boats from Portmellon.
The remains of a prehistoric forest has been exposed beneath Portmellon beach a few times over the last couple of centuries with recordings in the 1880s, 1970s and 1980s when the trees were carbon dated at just over 2000 years old. The forest included Oak, Birch, Hazel and Alder.
Whilst moles look a little like mice, they are not rodents and are highly adapted to digging and living in tunnels. Using their curved claws, they can dig 15 feet of tunnel in an hour and typically extend their network by around 60 ft per day. Moles also have twice as much blood as mammals of a similar size and a special form of haemoglobin that allow them to tolerate high levels of carbon dioxide in the low-oxygen environment within their tunnels.
The genus name for campions - Silene from the often-drunk Greek woodland god Silenus whose name derives from the Greek word for saliva. The name is thought to be based on the froth on the female flowers used to trap pollen although its habitat preference including semi-shade within woodland also fits fairly well.
Bracken is both poisonous and carcinogenic to many grazing animals which will avoid it if at all possible. Eating bracken is not recommended as it is thought that the carcinogenic properties may also apply to humans based on the circumstantial evidence that Japan, where young bracken fronds are a delicacy, has the highest levels of stomach cancer in the world.
Bluebells are also known by folk names based on their shape including Lady’s Nightcap and Witches’ Thimbles.
Other common names for the bluebell include "wild hyacinth" and "wood hyacinth" as they are related to the hyacinth family. Their Genus name Hyacinthoides also means "hyacinth-like".
Black fungi that resemble lumps of coal are known as coal fungus but also King Alfred cakes due to a legendary baking disaster by the regent. The dried fungus can be used with a flint as a fire starter - a spark will ignite the inside which glows like a piece of charcoal and can be used to light dry grass. There is evidence that prehistoric nomadic tribes used glowing pieces of fungus to transport fire to a new camp.
By using their tail as a parachute, squirrels are able to survive falls from high trees. This allows them to attempt risky jumps between treetops that don't always work out. They are one of the few mammals that can (but not always) survive an impact at their terminal velocity i.e. if a squirrel jumped out of an aeroplane, it may well survive.
The tawny owl is largely nocturnal so you're less likely to see one than to hear it, but if you do it's brown speckled and about the size of a pigeon. However, they make the well-known "twit-twoo" sound. The "twit" (which is more like "ke-wick") is their version of "hello?" and the "twoo" (or "hoo-hoo-oooo") is a male territorial call. The two calls together are likely to be to a male responding "you'm on my land!" to another owl.
Catkins begin to form on hazel trees from November onwards and in February these reach full size and flower before the leaves appear. The word is from the Dutch katteken (meaning "kitten") as the catkins resemble small cats' tails.
The name stitchwort dates from mediaeval times when it is likely to have been believed that it had powers to cure an exercise-induced stitch. Other common names for Greater Stitchwort include "star-of-Bethlehem" (due to the shape and perhaps Easter flowering time) and "poor-man's buttonhole" for budget weddings. It is also known as "wedding cakes" but that may be more due to the colour than anticipation of what a buttonhole might lead to. The seed capsules can sometimes be heard bursting open in the late spring sunshine which gives rise to names such as "snapdragon" and "popguns".
Hazel has evolved to be pollinated by the wind. The catkins give the wind access to the pollen and the pollen grains themselves repel each other so they do not clump together and are individually carried on air currents. Insect-pollinated plants have instead involved sticky pollen that bees can collect more easily.
The area planted with trees is known as Sanctuary Wood.
Sanctuary Wood was created as part of the Woodland Trust’s "Woods on your Doorstep" project in 2000. It occupies an area spanning both sides of the Portmellon valley that adjoins the West Bodrugan woodland reserve. Wide rides and open glades have been left between the planting to provide views and varied habitats as the woodland matures.
Cow parsnip can be mistaken for giant hogweed as the leaves are similar in shape and flowers look similar. The most obvious way to tell them apart is size. Cow parsnip reaches a maximum of 6-7 feet tall whereas even by the end of May, giant hogweed is massive and can reach 15ft tall by July. Another distinguishing feature is that cow parsnip has a groove in the top of the stem holding each leaf but you should not touch the plant to examine it.
Giant hogweed is regarded by some as the most dangerous plant in the UK (although hemlock is also a good contender). If you encounter giant hogweed, avoid touching it and children and dogs should be kept away from it as the sap contains a chemical which is extremely phototoxic. When activated by sunlight, this binds to the DNA in skin cells and kills them. Skin reaction starts as an itchy rash and can develop into third degree burns and scarring. It also makes the affected areas susceptible to severe sunburn for several years.
The plant gets its name as it can grow more than 10 feet tall, topped with white umbrella-shaped flowers. Due to the similar style of flowers, it is also known as giant cow parsley although the giant hogweed leaves are much more solid with a toothed edge, more similar to cow parsnip (normal hogweed). It is typically found near water or on waste ground.
The plant was introduced to Britain by Victorian botanists in the 19th century as an ornamental plant and has escaped from gardens into the wild. It has been spreading across the UK (as one plant produces 50,000 seeds) but is still very rare in Cornwall. A project to eradicate it along the Tamar River system is helping to stop further spread into Cornwall.
If you find giant hogweed in Cornwall (and are sure it's not normal hogweed), take a photo and report it to invasives@cormacltd.co.uk
The reason that trees trouble GPS receivers is that branches and leaves absorb the frequencies of radio waves used to transmit GPS signals, so summer is also slightly worse than winter. The result is that GPS receivers lose the signals from some of their satellites and therefore the position accuracy degrades. Newer phones tend to fare better as they have access both to more satellites and to newer satellites with more powerful signals. The first smartphones only supported the American GPS satellites. Subsequent phone generations added support for Russian GLONASS and Chinese BeiDou satellites. Most recently, support has been added for the European Galileo satellites.
The name "buttercup" is thought to have come from a mediaeval belief that cows eating the flowers gave butter its yellow colour. In fact this couldn't be further from the truth as the plant contains toxins which make it taste acrid and is therefore avoided by grazing animals.
During Victorian times and earlier, small amounts of land in Cornwall were measured by the goad - a unit of nine feet in length, derived from the name of the staff used to drive oxen.
An English acre was less generous (at 43,560 square feet) than a Cornish acre (51,840 square feet). Although both were defined as 160 smaller land units, the English equivalent to the Cornish goad was a perch but this was 5.5 yards (16.5 ft) rather than the two-goad length used in Cornwall of 6 yards (18 ft). It is thought that the reason the perch ended up as a non-round number of feet is that it was originally measured from 20 averaged-sized human feet in Saxon times when nutrition wasn't great.
Six bells were cast for Gorran Church in 1772 but two of these were damaged and replaced in the 20th century. The remaining four and their original oak frame survived to the 21st Century but were in need of repair to continue in active use. Whilst the church was attempting to raise money to repair the bells, they were offered a set of free bells by a church in Kent which had been closed for nearly 40 years. The bells from the old Kent church are known as The Victoria Peal, consisting of eight bells cast in 1897 to commemorate the diamond jubilee, with the tenor bell weighing in at over one-and-a-quarter tonnes. This meant that Gorran's Georgian bells could be taken out of service and preserved and that Gorran Church now has one of the finest peals of bells in all of Cornwall.
Rabbits have a number of wild predators including foxes, polecats and stoats. Buzzards and weasels will also take young ones. Domestic cats are also capable of tackling a full-grown rabbit. Rabbits have evolved to be able to detect predators early and then run very fast. The location of their eyes on the sides of the their head gives them almost 360 degree vision and they can also can turn their ears 180 degrees to pinpoint the location of a sound.
All parts of the alexanders plant can be eaten and it is a good source of iron and vitamins A and C. The flavour has been described as somewhere between parsley and angelica. However, foraging alexanders is not recommended unless you are experienced at identifying it because novices can confuse it with hemlock (the most poisonous plant in the UK - just a few leaves from this can kill you).
Christianity in Roman Britain began in the 4th or 5th century AD. However there were no known cities west of Exeter, so the spread into Cornwall is likely to have been very limited. The majority of Cornwall is likely to have remained Pagan until "The Age of Saints" - the late 5th or early 6th century - when the Irish missionaries including St Piran and St Petroc settled in Cornwall.
The church at Gorran is dedicated to St Goronus who is said to have come here from Bodmin at the time when St Petroc was also in Bodmin. The church building lies on a Norman foundation and was mostly rebuilt in the 15th Century, with the exception of the south aisle which is thought to date from the 14th century and North Door from the 13th. The tower was added later in the 15th century, replacing an earlier steeple which had fallen into disrepair. 53 of the carved mediaeval bench ends have been retained and the font is also thought to be from the late mediaeval period.
Comfreys are a genus of flowering plants in the borage family. Common comfrey is native to the UK and has cream, pink, purple or blue flowers. Also now even more common than common comfrey is Russian comfrey, formed when common comfrey hybridises with prickly comfrey - an introduced Asian plant. This tends to have bluer flowers than common comfrey but the colour is still quite variable.
Although the plant's medicinal use in classical and mediaeval times gave rise to common names such as "knitbone", it has been found to contain compounds which are toxic to humans with the potential to cause liver damage and cancer. Being hit by another axe was probably of more immediate concern in mediaeval times.
For bumblebees, it's an excellent source of nectar.
For a settlement to be considered a village rather than a hamlet it needs to have both a place of worship and a meeting place such as a pub or village hall. There's no clear definition of when a village is considered a town. Many once had markets but now the size of population or presence of a town council can be triggers. However, there are also exceptions to both - one village in England has a population of over 17,000! There are also exceptions to a city needing a cathedral (e.g. Plymouth) - one can instead be created by the King.
There are several different reasons why passing walkers should never feed horses. A range of plants can make horses ill and many human foods such as chocolate also contain cumulative poisons that build up over time. The horse could also have allergies to a normally safe plant or have an underlying medical condition such as blood sugar issues. A horse may have behavioural problems that feeding it can make worse, and singling a horse out for "special" attention can also cause it to be attacked by jealous herd members. Some horses may also accidentally bite a hand containing food even when held flat.
Blue tits prefer a habitat with scattered trees so hedgerows and garden bushes are perfect. Great tits thrive in a similar habitat but also in broadleaf woodland. Coal tits prefer conifers so are the most likely member of the family to be seen in denser forestry plantations.
National Cycle Route 3 runs 338 miles from Bristol to Land's End. The route is a mixture of lanes, byways and some tracks not open to road traffic including the upper section of the Camel Trail from Wenfordbridge to Dunmere.
Parc Vean means "small field" in Cornish. Even after the Cornish language was no longer spoken, the word vean continued to be used as a dialect word for "small" within English in some communities. An example is the beach named "Vean Hole" on the Tintagel side of Trebarwith Strand.
Gorran Haven has two sandy beaches, separated by a rocky promontory, facing east into a sheltered bay. The northern beach, known as Little Perhaver Beach, merges with the main beach at low tide but can be accessed at high tide via a steep flight of steps connecting to a footpath which departs from the road a short distance uphill from the chapel. For this reason it tends to be a fair bit quieter than the main beach.
The beach at Portmellon is covered at the highest point of the tide but most of the time there is a beach. The beach is sandy but much of it is covered in green weed. On low spring tides, an area of clear sand beyond the weed is revealed. During storms, waves break against the sea wall at high tide, resulting in plumes of spray.
The seal species most frequently seen along the Cornish coast is the grey seal. Common seals are also sometimes seen. Seals are not closely related to other marine mammals. The skeleton of an adult male grey seal (apart from the limbs) closely resembles that of a leopard. However, as you might be able to guess from their facial features, seals are most closely related to dogs, bears and otters. In fact, a dog is very much more closely related to a seal than a dog is to a cat.
Seal pups have been seen in every month of the year but the majority are born in the autumn and early winter. Female seals mate soon after weaning their pups whilst the males are still around defending and patrolling the beaches. For just over three months the fertilised embryo does not attach to the wall of the uterus and does not develop. There then follows a gestation period of just under 9 months. This evolutionary strategy - known as delayed implantation - results in the pups being born at the same time every year.
Research by the Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust has found that the majority of seals in Cornwall are tourists, stopping over on their way to somewhere else. Very few seals spend the whole year in one place and some of those visiting Cornwall have been identified in Wales and others in France.
Grey Seals are one of the rarest seal species in the world and the biggest land breeding mammal in the UK. Roughly half of the world population of grey seals is found in Britain, a large proportion of which are found in Cornwall. They are big animals with the larger males often over 10ft long; the females are somewhat smaller at around 6ft and usually lighter colours than the males. The Latin name for the grey seal translates to the somewhat unflattering "hooked-nosed sea pig" and the alternative common name of "horsehead seal" isn't much better.
Seals are easily disturbed by the presence of humans (and dogs) and this is can be the difference between life and death for seals in several different ways. Perhaps the most obvious is that a panicking seal is liable to injure itself rushing for the water. When breeding, even mild disturbance can lead to mothers abandoning their pups which then starve to death. More subtly, disturbance also causes seals to burn up their precious energy reserves. Even in a "good" year, 75% of young seals can end up dying due to insufficient energy reserves (95% in a very bad year!). If a seal looks at you, this should ring alarm bells as it means you're too close. To watch seals responsibly, it's important to keep your distance (at least 100m), avoid being conspicuous (e.g. on the skyline) and minimise noise.
The Cornwall Seal Group Research Trust gather information about the numbers of seals in each location to study migration behaviour. Each seal has a unique pattern of spots which is like a fingerprint, allowing individuals to be identified so photos are also very useful.
If you see one or more seals, take a photo if possible but never approach the seals to take a photo - use a zoom from a clifftop. Send the location, date, number of seals and photos if you have them to sightings@cornwallsealgroup.co.uk.
In the 1990s, Gorran Haven gave rise to the Cornish funk-rock band Rootjoose. Their live performances were legendary in many Cornish pubs and live music venues across the UK. They signed a record deal which resulted in some singles that very nearly reached chart success, making it into the UK Top 75 three times but just missing the Top 40. Just at the moment when Radio 1 had discovered Rootjoose, Zoe Ball had become a fan and one of their singles was due to be re-released with the promise of air-play, their record company pulled the plug to concentrate on dance music instead. Their track Place So Near is perhaps most geographically appropriate.
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