The pier at Port Isaac was built during the reign of Henry VIII, probably as an investment by the Roscarrock family. At the lowest point of the tide, large stones stacked on their edges can be seen along the left side of the harbour which remain from the Tudor pier. In around 1536, the village was described as: "Porthissek, a pretty fisher village, lyeth about a three miles from the mouth of the aforesaid brook lower bywest on Severne shore. There resorteth a brook to Porthissek: and there is a pier and some succour for fisher boats.". By the reign of Elizabeth I, as well as a busy fishing port, Port Isaac had become an important centre of export, shipping slate from the local quarries to France and Belgium.
The village of Port Isaac was originally centred around a flat open space at the southern end of the harbour known as The Platt. This was used as a workplace by the fishermen, a venue for the weekly markets, and as a safe place to draw up the boats during spring tides.
By the 1800s, Port Isaac had enough Methodists to support different chapels for 2 factions of Methodism. In 1836, a Methodist Free Church chapel was built at the foot of Roscarrock Hill, above the fish cellars; meanwhile, the Weslyans worshipped in Middle Street. By 1867, the Roscarrock Hill Methodist Chapel could no longer accommodate the swelling congregation. It was therefore converted into a Sunday school and a larger chapel built next door. The chapel bell was retrieved from a wrecked ship, The Bencoolen, which sank off the Bude Coast.
Roscarrock,on a hill near Port Isaac, is named after a prominent Cornish family who owned the Manor which is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The farm is fortified with castellations which are thought may have been a deterrent for pirates. The grain store at the farm dates from the 16th Century and still stands on staddle stones.
During Tudor times, Nicholas Roscarrock was imprisoned for being a Catholic activist and tortured on the rack, which he miraculously survived, only to be imprisoned again 8 years later. After finally being released, he wrote his only surviving work, "The Lives of the Saints".
The Castor 1 was a cargo ship, nearly 60 metres in length built in the 1950s in Germany. In November 1980, she was on her way back from Londonderry to Par when her engines failed near Port Isaac. Whilst being towed into the harbour, she capsized and sank. The main wreck is lodged in the rocks just outside Port Isaac Harbour and has been broken up by the sea, scattering debris across the seabed of the harbour entrance.
The rocky cove is known as Pine Haven and at low tide there are a number of rockpools.
Rockpool fishing is quite a popular childhood pass-time as a number of species can be lured out from hiding places by a limpet tied on a piece of cotton (leave a trailing end as if anything swallows the limpet, very gently pulling both ends of the cotton will cause it to release the cotton-tied limpet from its gullet). If you are intending to put the creatures into a bucket: ensure it is large, filled with fresh seawater and kept in the shade; ideally place in a couple of rocks for the creatures to hide under; do not leave them in there more than a couple of hours or they will exhaust their oxygen supply; ensure you release them into one of the rockpools from which you caught them, preferably a large one (carefully removing any rocks from your bucket first to avoid squashing them). Species you're likely to encounter are:
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.
Do
Don't
Wild thyme grows along the coast and flowers from June to September with tiny pink flowers. During mediaeval times, the plant was a symbol of bravery, possibly due to derivation from the Greek word thumos, meaning anger or spiritedness. An embroidered motif of a bee on a sprig of thyme is said to have been given by mediaeval ladies to their favoured knight.
Coastal land management including removal of excess gorse and grazing to keep taller plants in trim has allowed wild thyme to become more widespread as well as the Cornish chough. Wild thyme is a nectar source for many bees and butterflies and the food plant for young caterpillars of the large blue butterfly.
Stonechats are robin-sized birds with a black head and orange breast that are common along the Cornish coast all year round.
The name "stonechat" comes from the sound of their call which resembles stones being knocked together.
The carpets of yellow flowers on the coast in June and July are Kidney Vetch. The flowers are red when they open and then turn yellow, and appear to be on a woolly cushion. The plant gets its common name as it was used to treat kidney troubles. Its other name - woundwort - is because it was also used to treat wounds. It is the food plant of the small blue butterfly, which is consequently quite common on the coastal heath.
During June and July, you might come across a plant on the coast with long and very bright yellow flowers, a bit like elongated gorse flowers. This is likely to Dyer's Broom (also known as Dyers Greenweed). As the name implies, the bright yellow flowers were used to dye clothing. As green was generally a more popular colour than yellow, the yellow fabric was often re-dyed with a blue dye such as woad or indigo to create green cloth. During Victorian times, there was so much demand for the dye that the plant was grown commercially. In West Cornwall, there is a variety of the plant that isn't found anywhere else in Britain.
To see a rainbow it must be sunny behind you and raining in front of you. As sunlight passes through raindrops, some is reflected back to you. Since in Cornwall the equator is to the south then the place to see rainbows over the sea is on the north coast (especially in the mornings).
Port Quin is a tiny cluster of fisherman's cottages around a sheltered inlet in Port Isaac Bay. In the early 19th century, the settlement of Port Quin had upwards of 20 houses but was then suddenly deserted. There is a local legend that one night, a violent gale sank the entire fishing fleet, leaving 32 women widowed. The name is a corruption of the Cornish "Porth Gwynn" which means "white cove". Portwenn - the Anglicised version of this - is used as the name of the fictional village in the ITV Comedy Drama series "Doc Martin". The harbour itself was used for filming the 1970s Poldark series.
The name "blackthorn" is just a general reference to the dark colour of the bark, rather than anything specific to do with the thorns which are not any darker than the rest of the wood. It's primarily a comparison with hawthorn where the bark is lighter (in fact hawthorn is also known as "white thorn" despite not having white thorns). Just to confuse things further, the flowers of blackthorn are whiter than hawthorn!
Wild fennel grows alongside the cottages and around the car park in Port Quin.
Originally from the Mediterranean, fennel has naturalised in the UK, particularly in coastal areas and is recorded as far back as the 10th century.
The Greek word for fennel is "marathon"; the name of the sporting event originates from a battle which took place in a field of fennel.
The leaves, seeds and also flowers of the wild fennel can be used in cooking. Of these, the flowers are the most potent and also the most expensive to purchase.
Whizz half a red onion, a couple of sprigs of wild fennel leaves and a clove of garlic in a (small) food processor. Whizz in one fillet of smoked mackerel (skinned), juice of half a lemon and a pinch of salt + freshly ground black pepper. Finally whizz in some cream cheese (for a paté) or crème fraîche (for a dip) a spoonful at a time until the desired consistency (thickness) is reached.
At low tide there are some rockpools on the beach. On a low spring tide, we've encountered full-grown lobsters in the rockpools here.
Lobsters are among the planet's oldest inhabitants with fossil remains dating back more than 100 million years. They are also extremely long-lived with some individuals reaching ages in excess of 80 years. A specimen of over 50 years old was caught in Cornwall in 2012 and was given to the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay - it was a metre long and weighed 4kg. The heaviest lobster recorded was caught in 1934 and weighed an immense 19kg!
The name lobster is originally from the Latin word locusta which means either locust or lobster. In mediaeval English, a word specifically for lobster (loppestre) was created, it is thought, by merging the Latin word for "locust" with the Old English word for "spider" (loppe - from which we get "lobe" for "dangly thing"). Perhaps the mediaeval rationale was that lobsters' legs are somewhat spider-like.
The tiny castellated building on Doyden Point is fittingly known as Doyden Castle. When you reach the Epphaven waymark, you can follow the track to the right that passes it to the top of the headland for views over the bay and return to the waymark to continue on the route.
On the end of Doyden Point at Port Quin, is a small castellated building known appropriately as Doyden Castle. Doyden Castle is a cliff-edge folly built in 1830 which was allegedly used for decadent gambling parties. The sheer cliff edges and (at the time) unfenced mineshafts would presumably have been more than a little hazardous for drunken revellers. It's now owned by the National Trust and let as holiday accommodation. The wine bins still remain on the lower ground floor.
The Cow and Calf are two rocks directly out from Port Quin; one rock is larger than the other - hence the name. They are the topmost part of a reef rising approximately 10 metres from the sea bed which is entirely submerged at high tide, but breaks the surface at low tide.
There were two mines at Port Quin. Near Doyden Point, there are mineshafts of Gilson's Cove Mine either side of the coast path. This was a mixed lead/silver and antimony mine from which a little copper ore was also extracted. One shaft goes down to sea level, the other deeper. Between the two shafts where the coast path runs is the remains of the platform for a horse-powered winding device, known as a whim, which was used to haul ore up from the mine. Further inland is Port Quin mine which was solely an antimony mine.
Antimony is in the same chemical group as tin, lead and mercury and was used in alloys, particularly with these metals, including solder and printing lead. Like lead and mercury, it is toxic if ingested (which wasn't known at the time), so mining it was probably not a recipe for a long life.
Dartmoor ponies, bred for hauling goods, have been recorded living on the wild and inhospitable moors since the Middle Ages. They are unsurprisingly a very hardy breed and have a lifespan of around 25 years. Over the 20th Century, their numbers declined from just over 25,000 in the 1930s to about 5,000 by the start of the 21st century when only around 800 ponies were known to be grazing the moor. Dartmoor ponies have recently found a new niche as conservation grazers. As well as on moorland, they are used by the Wildlife Trusts to graze the coast to prevent bracken and gorse taking hold.
Epphaven Cove is submerged at high tide, and is rocky until the lowest part of the tide when a sandy beach is revealed. Access involves climbing down the rock platform and negotiating the boulders at the top of the beach. At low tide, the beach merges with the adjacent beaches to form a continuous strip of sand around Lundy Bay.
Two theories have been put forward for the name "Lundy Bay".
The first is that it faces Lundy Island. This seems the less likely of the two as (unlike Morwenstow where it's very apparent) Lundy Island isn't very noticeable from this stretch of coast. Down on the beach - where the distance to the horizon is only 3 miles - Lundy Island isn't even visible.
The second theory is that the name is independently based on the Viking word for puffin island (lund = puffin + ey = island). Given Lundy Bay is close to The Mouls - which is still also known by the name Puffin Island and the occasional puffin can still be seen here - this seems more likely. Lundy Bay may have been an alternative or older name for the broader Port Quin Bay stretching out to the The Mouls before later being restricted to a specific beach. It is recorded as "Portquin Bay" on Victorian OS maps.
At the Pentire Point waymark, a reasonably short diversion (of about a quarter of a mile across 2 fields) is possible on the path to the left to visit the Porteath Bee Centre where there is also a café, returning here afterwards to continue on the route.
Porteath Bee Centre, on the road to Polzeath, has been open since 1970 and has grown from a hobby into a business. The Centre offers a shop to buy honey, a tea room for Cornish cream teas, candle making and bee supplies to start your own.
The name is likely to be from the Cornish Porth Treth, meaning "sandy cove" and presumably referring to nearby Lundy Bay. The name of the settlement of Portreath (with an "r") near Redruth has similar origins.
In 2005 a man had to be rescued from a 10ft deep patch of coastal gorse by helicopter. Whilst mountain biking home along the coast from a bar, with the assistance of a not insignificant amount of alcohol, he managed to catapult himself into the bushes where he remained stuck for 2 days before being found by a passer-by. She asked if he needed help, to which he replied "can you ring the RAF?".
Common agrimony is a native plant and a member of the rose family. It prefers less acidic soils which limits its range in Cornwall but can be found in a few places along the coast. It is recognisable by yellow 5-petal flowers on a spike which gives rise to another of its common names: "church steeples". It is also known as sticklewort as the seeds have burs that stick to passers-by. The leaves have distinctive toothed edges rather like a saw blade.
The sandy seabed with weedy rocks provides a good habitat for marine crustaceans like prawns and flatfish that feed on them such as flounder.
Flounders are one of the more common flatfish found off the Cornish coast and are quite tolerant of brackish water so are found in estuaries as well as the open ocean. They are mainly nocturnal, feeding on mussels and prawns.
The flounder can change colour and pattern within about a few hours to camouflage itself against the seabed. Using tanks with a range of natural to wildly unnatural (e.g. chequerboard) patterns, researchers have found that as well as finding the more natural patterns easier, flounders learn and become quicker at emulating patterns that they have done before. They also prefer to settle on backgrounds with a pattern that is already within their repertoire, which presumably reduces the chances of them being eaten whilst learning a new pattern.
The lead mines on Pentire Point now form a National Trust car park near Pentire Farm. There were mines producing lead, antimony and silver here for around 400 years, with the production finally stopping at the Pentire mine in 1857 and the Pentireglaze mine in 1875. The ore cerrusite (lead carbonate) can contain over 75% lead and is often found in considerable quantities. Between 1850 and 1875, the Pentireglaze mine produced nearly 1000 tons of lead ore and over 19,000 ounces of silver.
To get 360 degree panoramic views of the coastline, you can take a short diversion along the path on the right to the top of Com Head. On your left is the Rumps headland with The Mouls islet. To your right is Doyden Point at Port Quin. Behind you is the Camel Estuary; the headland with the daymark is Stepper Point.
Large daisy-like flowers on the coast are likely to be oxeye daisies, also known as the dog daisy or moon daisy - the latter is said to be because they are so bright that they appear to glow in the evening. The flowers of oxeye daisies are edible and can be used in salads or deserts. The flower buds can also be pickled in vinegar and spices and used like capers.
As you walk along the coast, you'll likely see a number of gulls gliding along the cliff edges. The large ones, with black feathers all along their back and a red mark on their bill, are Greater Black-backed Gulls.
The Greater Black-backed Gull is the largest member of the gull family and a bird of formidable size, with a wingspan of nearly 6ft. Unlike other gulls, the Greater Black-backed Gull is highly predatory. Young birds are a significant portion of its diet and it tends to live amongst other seabirds where it can eat the neighbours. It has also been known to swallow whole rabbits and even eat young lambs. It often steals food from other seabirds using its large size to intimidate them into dropping it, and consequently it is sometimes referred to as a pirate.
About a mile out into the bay on your right, lies the wreck of the SS Sphene.
The SS Sphene was a steam-powered coal coaster that sank in Port Isaac Bay in 1946 after hitting the reef around The Mouls in bad weather. The remains of the ship now rests on the sandy seabed in 22 metres of water. At the start of the 21st century, the wreck was snagged by a trawler which ripped off the winch and foredeck. Despite this and some collapse of the midships due to corrosion over the decades, the wreck is still fairly intact and popular with divers as it hosts a lot of marine life.
The twin-headed promontory known as The Rumps is formed from hard basaltic rock and projects north into the Atlantic Ocean. Its two headlands lie east-to-west: The Mouls lies off the eastern headland; the western headland is named Rumps Point.
The name in Cornish is Din Pentir, meaning "fort at Pentire". Three ramparts (banks and ditches) span the narrowest part of the promontory. These date from the late Iron Age and were once topped by wooden palisades.
The island off The Rumps headland on the Western side of Port Isaac Bay is called The Mouls. It is the protruding part of a large surrounding reef which rises from the sea bed some 30 metres below the surface. At mid-tide, strong currents rush through this shallow channel between The Rumps and The Mouls which are often visible on the surface. The Mouls is also referred to as Puffin Island as it is one of the last remaining breeding places for Atlantic puffins on the coast. Other seabirds including gannets also breed here.
The Puffin population in Cornwall has declined dramatically from a population of many thousands at the start of the 20th century to around 30 birds by the year 2000. Puffins are long-lived birds that only produce one egg per year so anything which quickly kills off a lot of the adults has a catastrophic effect on the population. Their demise is likely to be due to lack of food (in particular sandeels) though it's not completely clear how much of this is due to overfishing (and associated damage to the marine habitat by e.g. beam trawlers) and how much is due to the timing of plankton blooms being affected by climate change (resulting in lack of sandeel food).
The name "thrift" has been suggested to arise from the plant's tufted leaves being economical with water in the windy locations where it is found. It's common all along the Cornish coast and in April-June produces pale pink flowers, hence its other common name: "Sea Pink". The plant grows in dense circular mats which together with its covering of pink flowers gives rise to another less common name: "Ladies' Cushions".
Ocean sunfish can sometimes be seen on hot summer days basking on the surface, with their fin flapping out of the water as they lie on their side sunbathing. They are extremely weird-looking fish, resembling a large round dinner plate with no real tail, just two large fins at the top and bottom and two smaller ones on the sides (doing the flapping). The average weight of a full grown adult sunfish is a tonne - the largest known bony fish, which is particularly impressive on a diet principally of jellyfish.
The reefs around the headland provide a habitat for lobsters and crabs. Buoys and flags are likely to mark strings of pots.
Crabs and lobsters can re-grow lost legs and claws, and will even cut off their own leg or claw if damaged so that a new one can regrow. This has lead to one method of fishing, which is intended to be sustainable, where just the claws are removed and the crab is returned to the water. However, it has been found that a significant proportion of crabs die when have been declawed, which makes the practice controversial. The survival rate is significantly improved if just one claw is removed, so it's possible that there may be a middle ground with improved sustainability.
The sea carrot is technically the same species as a wild carrot, from which the carrot was domesticated, but is shorter, stouter and more splayed-out than a wild carrot. The two converge the further north and east that you go in Britain: West Cornwall is therefore the pinnacle of sea carrot evolution.
Kestrels are primarily vole specialists. If there are a shortage of voles they will feed on smaller rodents such as mice and shrews, lizards and even on insects if larger prey are not available. Particularly in urban areas where there aren't many voles they will also take birds such as sparrows and even those as large as starlings.
From the top of the headland, you can often see gannets flying to The Mouls and sometimes diving for fish on the reefs around the island.
Gannets are the largest sea birds in the North Atlantic with a wingspan of up to 2 metres and are easily recognisable by their long white wings with black tips. Gannets can dive from up to 30 metres, achieving speeds of up to 100kph as they strike the water, enabling them to catch fish much deeper than most seabirds. To achieve this they have air sacs in their face and chest, which act as cushioning when they hit the water. Also they have no external nostrils, instead they are situated inside the mouth.
Promontory forts are only found in the South West of England and are thought to be introduced from Brittany due to the strong links between the Celtic communities. Although many do contain the foundations of Iron-Age roundhouses, it is thought unlikely that the wind-beaten areas on clifftops were permanent residences. Although the initial assumption was that the ramparts were purely functional and for defence, another possibility is that the ramparts were used as a status symbol, making a statement about the power and importance of the owners. If this were the case, the locations could have been used for a range of functions including religious, social, or trade.
Because bluebells spread very slowly, they're considered to be an indicator of ancient woodland sites. In areas where trees are not very old, the fact there are bluebells around can indicate that there has been a wood on a site for a very long time. Even if there are no trees there at all, bluebells tell us that there was woodland there some time in the past. The bluebells along the coast are a relic of the gnarled oak woodland that used to grow here before it was cleared for grazing. There is still a patch of the ancient oak woodland left along the coast at Dizzard.
The name "Pentire" is common on the coast for the simple reason that it means "headland": in Cornish pen means head or top and tir means land. Some Anglicised names such as "Pentire Point" (i.e. Headland Point) are somewhat tautological.
This headland is a good place to spot dolphins on their way in or out from the Camel Estuary.
Both Common Dolphins and Bottle-nosed Dolphins are quite frequently encountered off Cornwall. Bottle-nosed Dolphins are the species found in marine parks and are the saloon car of the dolphin world: quite large (adults are 7-12ft long), plain grey and tend to cruise at fairly low speeds though they can do short bursts of over 30km/h. Common Dolphins are their sports car cousins: a little smaller (adults are 6-8ft long) with a flashy hourglass-shaped "go faster" stripe of gold at the front and light grey at the back and can swim up to 60km/h. The considerable intelligence of dolphins includes the ability to learn new behaviours from each other and cooperate with other dolphins or even human fishermen to catch fish.
The poet Laurence Binyon wrote "For the Fallen" in 1914 while sitting on the cliffs here between Pentire Point and The Rumps. The stone plaque was erected at the spot in 2001 to commemorate this and quotes the stanza popularly known as The Ode.
The middle of the three islands around the Camel Estuary, which is almost exactly 1km offshore from Pentire Point, is called Newland and is home to seabirds such as cormorants and shags. The reef which surrounds the island contains some large gullies over 10 metres deep and some Pink Sea Fans several metres in height.
In Cornish, glas or glaze means a grey-greeny-blue colour. "Grey-green headland" could well refer to the colour of the slate along this section of the coast.
In 1843, the brig known as Hope, from Fishguard, was laden with copper ore and got into distress in a gale off Port Isaac Bay. Fires were lit in Port Isaac to guide the ship in, but it's thought the crew attempted to make a run for the more sheltered estuary at Padstow. They reached Hayle Bay at the entrance to the estuary, but here the ship was driven against the shore at Pentireglaze and all seven crew drowned.
Another ship of the same unfortunate name was wrecked off the Cornish coast in 1887. A floating corked bottle was found near the shore of St Just Bar in Falmouth Harbour which contained the following message:
"To who picks this bottle up out of the deep sea can say it is from a shipwrecks crew. I am, myself, Capt. Two Bars, of the lost schooner, and put it in the paper to let my wife know as I am drowned; God bless all my children and my dear wife, and I will meet them in Heaven. God love them. The crew is G. Smith, J. Brown, G. Emery, J. Russel, and C. Hucker. - 1st January 1887, schooner 'Hope, 'from England."
You might have noticed that Hayle Bay is marked on maps as not at Hayle near St Ives but at Polzeath. Although this might look like the cartographer had a prior engagement with local scrumpy, there is another explanation: Heyl is Cornish for "Estuary". Further up the River Camel at Wadebridge is Egloshayle, which translates to something along the lines of "church by the estuary".
The casts of sand visible on the beach at low tide are made by lugworms
The coiled casts of sand that can be seen in damp areas on many Cornish beaches are from lugworms. These resemble earthworms (but have gills) and are rarely seen as they live in U-shaped burrows beneath the sand. The worm typically stays in one burrow for several weeks before moving a short distance under the cover of high tide to make another one. The worms are a fairly popular fishing bait but are more tricky to dig out than one might expect as their burrows are quite deep.
The name Polzeath comes from the Cornish words for "dry" and for "pool/harbour", perhaps because there is a beach at all stages of the tide. Down the left side of the beach, there are some good rockpools at low tide. The rest of the beach is very flat and sandy, which can make for some long rides (and paddles!) if you are surfing. This also means that in the shallows, the waves are small which makes it safer for small children to paddle or surf than some of the steeper beaches further north. The beach is patrolled by lifeguards and there is usually a separately flagged Malibu area to avoid surfers mowing down swimmers.
The tide goes out and comes in a long way so bear that in mind to avoid floating picnics. In the event of such a catastrophe or for those more inclined, there are a number of cafés around the beach and even a grocery shop. There is often an ice cream van on the beach in the summer, so parents may want to be armed with change to avoid diplomatic incidents.
Surfing in the UK became popular in the 1960s, driven by the music of The Beach Boys and the Hawaiian influence in California. However there were pioneer surfers in Cornwall and the Channel Islands shortly after the First World War. In the 1920s, the young men of Perranporth were provided with coffin lids by the local undertaker for use as surfboards.
Port Isaac is a pretty fishing village with narrow winding alleys running down the steep hillside to the harbour. Particularly noteworthy is the number of 18th and 19th century white-washed cottages and granite, slate-fronted houses, many officially listed as of architectural or historic importance. Port Isaac was a busy coastal port from the Middle Ages to the mid 19th century, where cargoes like slate, coal and timber were shipped in and out. The stone pier was built in Tudor times, and the rest of the harbour in the 19th century. The economy was also heavily based around the pilchard trade.
Lundy Bayis situated on the east side of The Rumps headland and consists of 3 small beaches. The leftmost two are sometimes known as Lundy Beach and between them there is a collapsed cave, forming an arch opening onto the beach. At high tide, the beaches are rocky, but at low tide, beautiful golden sand is revealed.
Due to the north-facing bay and steep cliffs, it's quite sheltered from a southwesterly wind. The result is that when there is a good size swell, there can be some quite clean surf here near low tide when the westerly-facing beaches are blown out. The beach slopes more steeply than many of the west-facing surf beaches, so rides tend to be short.
The Mote (now a restaurant) was the first Inn in Port Isaac, built in 1542 and originally called the Mote Inn. It later became the Bristol Inn and then The Commercial.
Following the construction of the pier, a busy period of development began within Port Isaac which lasted until the beginning of the seventeenth century, though by the end of the Tudor period, most of the present day streets were already laid out.
Fern Cottage is a mid to late 19th century building on Roscarrock Hill in Port Isaac, overlooking the harbour. For many years this was a relatively unremarkable house (especially by Port Isaac standards) but it is now one of the most visited and photographed in Port Isaac. The reason is that it features as the house and surgery of the central character, Dr Martin Ellingham in the ITV comedy drama, Doc Martin. Only the exterior is used in filming; the interior shots are done in the studio.
The Old School in Port Isaac was built in the mid 1870s, designed by Cornwall's most famous architect Silvanus Trevail who also designed Tintagel's Castle Hotel. The old school closed in the mid 1970s when it was replaced by a new primary school on Mayfield Road, and is now Old School Hotel and Restaurant. It has been returned to its former purpose, as the Portwenn primary school where the character Louisa Glasson (played by Caroline Catz) teaches in the ITV Comedy Drama, Doc Martin.
The house named The Dolphin also gives its name to Port Isaac's Dolphin Street on which it is situated. It was formerly the Dolphin Inn which was originally built in 1770s and extended to the front and rear in the mid nineteenth century.
The Golden Lion, at the foot of Fore Street in Port Isaac, was built in the 18th Century, along with two other inns. The larger stones at the base of the inn could indicate it stands on the site of a former quay. It is thought that contraband was stored in the cellars during the 18th Century. It features as "The Crab and Lobster" in the ITV comedy drama series, Doc Martin.
The first Methodist chapel was built in Port Isaac in 1750, during the time when John Wesley was visiting the town. The building no longer exists, though a shed on Middle Street contains a window which may well have been re-purposed from it. A new Weslyan Methodist Chapel was built in the mid-1800s, at the eastern end of Middle Street, which is now a private house.
By 1500, Port Isaac had a flourishing pilchard industry and was considered one of the most important fishing harbours on the north coast. Salted pilchards and pilchard oil were exported to Italy. A number of fish cellars were built in Tudor times and their remnants were uncovered when the foundations were dug in the 1820s for the Victorian fish cellars which now occupy the same sites. The sheds where the women cleaned and salted the pilchards now house the fish merchant and tiny aquarium. It's still an active fishing port with locally landed fish available for sale at the fish merchants.
John Watts Trevan was the village doctor and writer who lived in Port Isaac in the early nineteenth century, which he described as: "Port Isaac a small fishing town but the longest and most thickly inhabited place in this parish it contains about one hundred and forty dwelling houses inhabited mainly by seafaring people being as mean dirty and tumultuous place as can well be conceived." The house where he lived (now named Trevan House), was built a decade before, in the early 18th century.
Victoria House in Port Isaac is a 17th century merchant's house that John Wesley is reputed to have preached from. The house was the victim of a serious fire in the late 1990s but has since been repaired, retaining the 18th century Venetian window from which Wesley may well have addressed the crowd. The façade is quite eye-catching, with the nineteenth century shop front surmounted by the late eighteenth century Palladian window.
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, is reported to have visited Port Isaac 14 times in the mid to late 18th century. It's thought that Wesley House acquired its name because this is where he stayed on at least one of those visits. John Wesley described Port Isaac as "the liveliest place in the [Methodist] circuit". Given that the lifestyle advocated by Wesley wasn't exactly hedonistic, we can assume his meaning of "lively" probably didn't involve the large amounts of ale and sea shanties that were likely to have featured in Port Isaac in earlier times! It's possible that the formidable Church Hill from Port Isaac to the parish church in St Endellion may have fuelled the locals enthusiasm for attending Methodist services in Port Isaac and thus foregoing the Sunday trek.
Free water refill opposite the Waterfront restaurant
Waves pounding into a cave compress the air inside. This can often be seen venting quite explosively from a cave as a blowhole. Inside the cave, the force from the air being rapidly compressed and decompressed gradually fractures the rock. Eventually this is unable to support the weight of the roof of the cave. Once this collapses, the sea washes away the soil and smaller stones leaving just the largest boulders which are slowly smoothed by the wave action.
In late June and July, lady's bedstraw produces clusters of tiny pale yellow scented flowers. The plant has long, thin stems with a star of very narrow leaves at intervals along the stems, a bit like rosemary, or its relative, goosegrass, but is softer than either.
The name has arisen from its use to stuff mattresses as the scent was pleasant and also repels fleas. In Scandinavia, the plant was used as a sedative during childbirth. The plant was also used to produce red and yellow dyes. The light orange colour of Double Gloucester cheese originates from this. The flowers were used in place of renin to coagulate milk but no records remain for the method of how to do this.
Sea beet is also known as "wild spinach" and is the ancestor of sugar beet, beetroot and Swiss chard. It can be eaten raw or cooked. The leaves are at their best during March and April and become tougher as the year goes on.
Sea beet has been cross-bred with domesticated crops to re-introduce some of the disease resistance from the tougher wild plant that were lost in the domesticated plants. It is also able to withstand quite high sodium levels in the soil which allows it to grow in salty conditions on the coast.
Red-and-black-spotted Burnett moths can often be seen feeding on nectar-bearing flowers alongside the coast path. The red colour is a warning that they contain hydrogen cyanide. The larvae normally create it by breaking down more complex cyanide compounds from the birdsfoot trefoil on which they feed. However they are also able to synthesise it themselves in environments where it isn't readily available from food plants.
The red campion produces a blaze of pink flowers along hedgerows in the spring with the most intense flowering period occurring between late April and the end of June. A scattering of flowers continue throughout the rest of the summer. In the mild Cornish climate, a few plants can often be seen flowering during winter months.
Despite being called red campion, its flowers are most definitely pink - varying quite widely in shade from vibrant deep pinks to very pale. The colour is produced by red anthrocyanin compounds which are also responsible for red autumn leaves and red tinges on new growth in some plants as well as flower colours. In red campion, the intensity of the colour is controlled by a pair of genes and several other genes control the exact balance of anthrocyanin compounds within the petals. These are passed down the generations and so pale pink parents are likely to produce pale pink offspring.
The second part of the Latin name of red campion - dioica ("two houses") - refers to the plants' gender. Whereas many plants produce male and female parts on the same plant, entire plants are dedicated on one gender or the other in this case. The male plants' flowers can be recognised from five yellow stamens sticking out from a protruding ring in the centre of the petals. The female plants' flowers have no protruding ring and instead have 5 curly white stigmas. These produce a white froth to trap pollen.
Red campion is also known as "red catchfly". The flowers are an important nectar source for larger pollinating insects including butterflies, bees and hoverflies. Much smaller flies drawn to the nectar can become stuck in the froth on the stigmas of the female flowers but this is not intentional by the plant (it doesn't eat them).
Red Campion seeds ripen between June and August. The seed capsule has teeth at the end which fold back when the seeds are ripe, allowing them to escape when it is shaken by the wind (known in botanical circles as "the pepper pot mechanism"). Each seed weighs only one thousandth of a gram, allowing it to be carried as far as possible by the wind. Nevertheless many end up falling quite close to the parent which is why red campion often occurs as a cluster of plants.
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.
Red campion is also known by a few local names including Johnny Woods (from its habitat) and Ragged Jack (from its flower shape). Some are colour references such as Scalded Apples, and particularly in the southwest, Red Riding Hood. Cuckoo-flower is a reference to the time of year that it flowers. Another name - "Batchelors' buttons" - suggests it was once worn as a buttonhole by young men.
The roots of red campion contain saponins (soapy compounds) which protect the plants against microbes and fungi. These compounds make it easier for large molecules such as proteins to enter cell membranes. This has the potential to increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy against cancer by allowing immunotoxins to enter the cancer cells more easily.
The small blue pom-pom-like flowers have common names which include blue bonnets, blue buttons, blue daisy and Iron Flower but it is best known as sheep's bit. The name is said to originate because sheep enjoy eating it. Confusingly, it is sometimes known as "sheeps bit scabious", yet it is not at all closely related to the group of plants normally known as "scabious".
Sheep's bit flowers are rich in nectar and are a favourite with bees and butterflies. The flowers are highly reflective to ultraviolet which is thought helps to attract insects. The reason that insects can see UV but we can't is that insects' eyes have colour receptors that are tuned to different wavelengths than ours but also the lens of the human eye blocks UV light.
Ragwort is fairly easy to recognise as a relatively tall plant with yellow flowers standing above surrounding grass.
Ragwort has gained a bad reputation as when consumed in large quantities over a period of time by grazing animals such as horses, compounds in ragwort can cause irreversible liver damage. However, the plant is very bitter and therefore grazing animals generally avoid it unless there is absolutely nothing else to eat. It poses much more danger in hay because it loses its bitter taste when dried.
The leaves of ragwort have an unpleasant smell and so common names include stinking willy, stinking nanny and mare's fart.
Ragwort was rated in the top 10 nectar-producing plants in a survey for pollinating insects on UK agricultural land. The plant has also become known as "Benyon's Delight" following Facebook comments describing it as a "vile poisonous weed" by Richard Benyon, the then government minister responsible for biodiversity.
At high tide, Pentireglaze Haven is a small, sandy beach. As the tide goes out, it merges with Polzeath to a large stretch of sand. The beach is a letterbox shape, enclosed by the headland to the north and by the rocky platform of New Polzeath to the south so it's a little more sheltered than Polzeath but still faces west into the surf.
The beach at Port Quin is accessed by slipways either side. The top of the beach is pebbly and this quickly gives way to a large rock platform. As the tide goes out, pockets of sand are also exposed. A stream runs down the centre of the beach making the rocks it passes over weedy and slippery.
On 15 December 1979, the wind had been blowing westerly force 11 since the previous day and that morning had reached force 14 on the anemometer at RAF St Mawgan. Padstow lifeboat station was informed that the Greek vessel Skopelos Sky, three miles north west of Trevose Head, had transmitted a mayday distress signal and needed immediate help. The cargo had shifted in the huge sea and consequently the ship had a dangerous list. Due to the massive waves, which the lifeboat's coxwain described as "like being an insect in a ploughed field", rescue with the lifeboat was impossible as one moment it was alongside the ship's deck and the next beside the propellers. Consequently, the ship's crew had to be rescued by helicopter. The last man remaining aboard - the captain - was winched clear of the deck, seconds before the ship was hit by a huge breaker and rolled onto the rocks at Doyden Head. The ship has now been totally smashed to pieces by the sea with some wreckage buried in the sand and some amongst the cliffs.
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