Duporth ( Cornish: ''Dewborth''; also Duporth Holiday Village) was situated on Porthpean Road, just outside

St Austell St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958. History St Austell wa ...

in south

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England, UK. For over 50 years, it was a holiday resort, until its closure in 2006. The site has now been sold to private developers and now contains new houses in the traditional Cornish cottage style.

History

Duporth Holiday Village was built on the site of the old Duporth estate and manor which was owned by

Charles Rashleigh Rashleigh is a surname of a prominent family from Devon and Cornwall in England, which originated in the 14th century or before at the estate of Rashleigh in the parish of Wembworthy, Devon. The principal branches were: *Rashleigh of Rashleigh, D ...

, who developed Charlestown. The site was sold in 1933 to Seaside Holiday Camps Ltd and the camp opened by the

Whitsun Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost. It is the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Ho ...

of 1934. During the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the camp was requisitioned by the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

and the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

and

American Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

were stationed there. After the war it returned to being a holiday camp.

Butlins Butlin's is a chain of large seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families. Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one in Ireland and o ...

bought the camp in 1972 and it opened as one of their Smaller ''Freshfields'' sites. In 1985,

The Rank Group The Rank Group is a gambling company based in the United Kingdom. Rank was involved in the cinema and motion picture industry until 2006, and continues to use the Gongman logo originally used by the Rank Organisation's film distribution subsidi ...

owner of Butlins at that time, also bought

Haven Holidays Haven Holidays is a chain of holiday parks in the United Kingdom. It operates self catering static caravan holiday parks with many also including touring and camping facilities. The company operates 41 sites in the UK in predominantly coastal ...

and certain sites including Duporth rebranded to the sister company (There is some anecdotal evidence that in the early 1980s Duporth was branded under another sister company's name, ''Warner Holiday Camps''. The Manor was demolished in 1989 after it became uneconomical to repair. Duporth was owned by Haven Holidays until 1999, then sold several times into private ownership. The capacity of the park was around 1200, with a combination of chalets and caravans, and self-catering and half board holidays.

Geography

The Duporth site lies midway between the fishing port of Charlestown and Porthpean, approximately from St Austell town centre. The entrance into the park was just near a crossroads on Porthpean Road: one direction coming from St Austell and going to Porthpean, one road going to the small village of Tregorrick and the other going to Charlestown. The village of Duporth is accessed from Charlestown Road next to the caravan entrance into Duporth Holiday Village. Houses in Duporth itself have views across

St Austell Bay St Austell Bay ( kw, Baya Ti war Dreth) is a bay on Cornwall's south coast which is bounded to the east by Gribbin Head and to the west by Black Head. Since 1 April 2009, it has also been the name of a civil parish, one of four new parishe ...

. The port of

Fowey Fowey ( ; kw, Fowydh, meaning 'Beech Trees') is a port town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, with the local ch ...

is just around the corner (to the east) from St Austell Bay and ships can often be seen making their way in and out of the harbour, and with tall ships regularly travelling in and out of the small harbour at Charlestown it is not unusual to see dolphins following them in.

Two Coves

Two Coves is the name given to the new residential development at Duporth. It comprises two, three, four and five bedroom houses and apartments in the traditional Cornish style. Estate access is being maintained to Duporth beach via a lockable gate with security coding. However, there is also direct public access from the South West Coast Path. Both from Charlestown to the north and Porthpean in the south; many steps are involved in either direction. Residents on the Duporth Bay residential development now also have their own private (gated) footpath access via numerous steps to the northern beach end. This affords pedestrian access to Charlestown (over boulders) but only safely around low tide times.

References

External links

Two Coves by Midas Homes
{{authority control Villages in Cornwall Beaches of Cornwall Butlins freshfields