Malpas is a riverside village, and former port, in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of St Clement, in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England, United Kingdom. It is situated two miles (3 km) southeast of the city of

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

, on the confluence of the

Truro River The Truro River () is a river in the city of Truro in Cornwall, England, UK. It is the product of the convergence of the two rivers named Kenwyn and Allen which run under the city: the Truro River (named after the city) flows into the River ...

and the

Tresillian River The Tresillian River is a tributary of the River Fal in Cornwall. It rises in the Clay Country and is fed by springs between Summercourt and Mitchell. It runs south-west, alongside the B3275, through Ladock to Tresillian, where it passes under ...

. The village is a popular centre for boating with navigable waterways to

, Falmouth and the sea. Historically, Malpas is known for its ferry service to the

Roseland peninsula The Roseland Peninsula, or just Roseland, (, meaning ''the promontory'') is a district of west Cornwall, England. Roseland is located in the south of the county and contains the town of St Mawes and villages such as St Just in Roseland, St J ...

and there is a myth that this crossing was used by

Iseult Iseult ( ), alternatively Isolde ( ) and other spellings, is the name of several characters in the legend of Tristan and Iseult. The most prominent is Iseult the Blonde, or Iseult of Ireland, the wife of Mark of Cornwall and the lover of Trista ...

. Ferries and boat trips still operate from Malpas. Ships were built in Victorian times from Messrs Scoble's boat yard and timber was discharged here. Cargo for Truro was unloaded from ship to barge for transport to the city. Malpas lies within the

Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The Cornwall National Landscape (formerly the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) covers in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom; that is, about 27% of the total area of the county. It comprises 12 separate areas, designated under the Na ...

(AONB). The Truro River from the city to the village form part of the Malpas Estuary SSSI (

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

). It is an important habitat of tidal

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal ...

s, which are feeding grounds for

wildfowl The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating o ...

and

wading birds Birders in Canada and the United States refer to several families of long-legged wading birds in semi-aquatic ecosystems as waders. These include the families Phoenicopteridae (flamingos), Ciconiidae (storks), Threskiornithidae (ibises and s ...

. The banks of the estuary are also noted for its

flora Flora (: floras or florae) is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. The corresponding term for animals is ''fauna'', and for f ...

. The Malpas Wassail is a song collected from a group of local singers in 1951. It was included in the Topic Records album ''Songs of Ceremony'' and also recorded by the Watersons for their album ''For Pence and Spicy Ale'' (and then included in their ''The Definitive Collection'' HPO 6004).The Malpas Wassail
Mainly Norfolk

References

Populated coastal places in Cornwall Ports and harbours of Cornwall Villages in Cornwall {{Cornwall-geo-stub