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Pentewan (, meaning ''foot of the radiant stream'') is a coastal village and former port in south
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 at south of
St Austell Saint Austell (, ; ) is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. At the 2021 Census in the United Kingdom, census it had a population of 20,900. History St Austell was a village centred ...
at the mouth of the
St Austell River The St Austell River (, meaning ''the little white river'') properly known as the River Vinnick, but historically called The White River, is a long river located in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. . The river has also been known as t ...
. Pentewan is 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
Pentewan Valley Pentewan Valley is one of four new civil parishes created on 1 April 2009 for the St Austell district of mid Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The population including Gracca, Lavalsa Meor, London Apprentice and Lower Porthpean at the 2011 ...
and the
ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
of St Austell. Pentewan 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).


Village and harbour

The village and its harbour date back to medieval times, when Pentewan was mainly a fishing community, with some stone-quarrying, tin-streaming, and agriculture. Leland, writing in 1549, referred briefly to 'Pentowan' as "a sandy bay witherto fischer bootes repair for socour". Between 1818 and 1826, local land- and quarry owner Sir Christopher Hawkins substantially rebuilt the harbour, partly to improve the existing
pilchard Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it comes ...
-fishery and partly to turn the village into a major
china clay Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedron, tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen ...
port. At its peak, Pentewan shipped a third of Cornwall's china clay, but continual problems with silting (caused by tin and clay mining) and the rise of the rival ports of Charlestown and
Par Docks Par Docks is an Imerys-owned Harbor, harbour in the village of Par, Cornwall, Par, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, which was used for the export of Kaolinite, china clay from the numerous Imerys sites in the clay-rich region of Mid-Cornwall. ...
meant that Pentewan's status as a port lasted for little more than a century. The last trading ship left in 1940. After that, the harbour entrance gradually silted up, though it was still possible for small boats to enter the harbour in the 1960s. Now, although the water-filled basin remains, Pentewan harbour is entirely cut off from the sea.


Tramway and railway

In 1829, Sir Christopher Hawkins made further improvements by linking the harbour to St Austell by means of a horse-drawn tramway that hauled china clay from the quarries on St Austell moor and
tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...
from the
Polgooth Polgooth () is a former mining village in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies mainly in the parish of St Mewan and partly in the parish of St Ewe. The nearest town is St Austell two miles (3.5 km) to the north-east. "The gr ...
mines for shipment from Pentewan. Coal was shipped in and transported to the mines and (later) to the St Austell
gasworks A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...
. In 1874, the engineer John Barraclough Fell replaced the tramway with a
narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...
. This operated until 1918, when the rails and locomotives were requisitioned by the
War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...
. The
Pentewan Railway The Pentewan Railway () was a Narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge railway in Cornwall, England. It was built as a horse-drawn tramway carrying Kaolinite, china clay from St Austell to a new harbour at Pentewan, and was opened in 1829. In 1874 t ...
was almost entirely a mineral line, but did occasionally transport passengers on special excursions. A Sunday school outing was described by A.L. Rowse in his memories of a Cornish childhood. Part of the old railway line, from
London Apprentice London Apprentice () is a village in south Cornwall, England, UK, on the banks of St Austell River in the Pentewan Valley (where the population of the 2011 census was included) approximately two miles (3 km) south of St Austell. The vill ...
to Pentewan, is now a
footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as Motor vehicle, motorized vehicles, bicycles and horseback, horses. They ...
and
cycle path A bike path or a cycle path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "C ...
.


Mines and quarries


Pentewan stone

Pentewan Quarry was the source of a fine building stone, a variety of
elvan Elvan is a name used in Cornwall and Devon for the native varieties of quartz-porphyry. They are dispersed irregularly in the Devonian series of rocks and some of them make very fine building stones (e.g. Pentewan stone, Polyphant stone and Cat ...
. Many medieval churches in Cornwall, including those at Botusfleming, Duloe,
Fowey Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, 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, ...
,
Golant Golant () is a village in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is on the west bank of the River Fowey and in the civil parish of St Sampson. Golant is about north of Fowey and east of St Austell. Golant church is dedicated to St ...
, Gorran,
Lostwithiel Lostwithiel (; ) is a civil parish and small town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom at the head of the estuary of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,739, increasing to 2,899 at the 2011 census. The Lostwi ...
,
Mevagissey Mevagissey (; ) is a village, fishing port and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.< ...
, St Austell, and
St Columb Major St Columb Major is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Often referred to locally as ''St Columb'', it is approximately southwest of Wadebridge and east of Newquay Ordnance Survey: Landran ...
, were wholly or partly constructed out of the stone, as were some later buildings such as the eighteenth century
Antony House Antony House is an early 18th-century property in the care of the National Trust. It is located between the town of Torpoint and the village of Antony in the county of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is a Grade I listed building. The hou ...
. In 1985 blocks of Pentewan stone were recovered from the beach near the quarry to restore St Austell church.


Tin mining

'Happy-Union', a stream work for
tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...
, was opened near Pentewan in 1780 and was worked down the valley towards the sea. A second working, 'Wheal Virgin', went up the valley. The tin streamers considered both to be places where "the old men had been", since they uncovered charcoal ashes, human remains, and bones of animals "of a different description from any now known in Britain". John William Colenso (father of the bishop of the same name) invested his capital into these workings but the speculation proved to be ruinous when the investment was lost following a sea flood. The Happy-Union closed in 1837, Wheal Virgin around 1874.


History


The Domesday Book and the Manor of Pentewan

Pentewan was originally known as 'Lower Pentewan', 'Higher Pentewan' being a separate and earlier settlement to the south-west of the village, centred on Barton Farm. In 1086, Higher Pentewan was listed in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
as the Manor of 'Bentewoin', one of many Cornish manors held by Robert, Comte de Mortain. It was subsequently held by the families of Pentire, Roscarrock, Dart, and Robartes (the Earls of Radnor), then by Sir James La Roche, the MP for
Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordered ...
(1768–80), and (in 1792) by the Rev.
Henry Hawkins Tremayne The Reverend Henry Hawkins Tremayne (1741–1829) was a member of a landed family in the English county of Cornwall, and owner of the Heligan estate near Mevagissey, with significant interests in the Cornish tin mining industry. He is credited a ...
of nearby Heligan.


Second World War

A pill box was erected in the harbour and the beach mined as part of the dragon's teeth anti-tank defences. Bombs fell near Pentewan in 1941 and an air raid on the port in August 1942 destroyed the Methodist chapel and damaged several houses.


Natural history

Pentewan was probably once visited by grey whales (''Eschrichtius robustus'') as two of the seven known European grey whale fossils were found here. The grey whale prefers shallow seas and the shallow sea over the continental shelf of the South Western Approaches is one of the widest in north-western Europe. The first grey whale to be seen in the Atlantic in centuries was sighted in 2010. The
Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic ...
was then ice-free apparently allowing a grey whale from the Pacific to reach Europe. More whales are likely to follow. In 2005 a proposal was made to reintroduce them to Pentewan. The submerged forest of Pentewan is another interesting part of its past natural history. This forest was submerged so quickly that oysters are now found fastened to its tree stumps.


The village today

Since 1945, Pentewan has been dominated by the large 'Pentewan Sands' caravan and camping site that covers much of the beach to the west. The village itself contains the Ship Inn (owned by the St Austell Brewery), a post office, and several shops. Pentewan Board School, designed and built in 1877/78 by Silvanus Trevail, is now a restaurant. Many of the older buildings, as well as the harbour, are constructed out of Pentewan stone. Some – including All Saints Church, completed in 1821 – were built by Sir Christopher Hawkins as part of his long campaign to improve the village. A former village pub was named The Hawkins Arms, but has now been converted to a guest house called 'Piskey Cove'. Tourism is the only substantial industry remaining in the village. Session guitarist
Tim Renwick Timothy John Pearson Renwick (born 7 August 1949) is an English guitarist. He is best known for his association with Al Stewart in his early career and for his long-standing role as lead guitarist for the Sutherland Brothers & Quiver. His single ...
is a Pentewan resident.


Cornish Wrestling

Cornish wrestling Cornish wrestling () is a form of wrestling that has been established in Cornwall for many centuries and possibly longer. It is similar to the Breton people, Breton Gouren wrestling style. It is colloquially known as "wrasslin’"Phillipps, K C: ...
tournaments have been held in Pentewan for centuries. Eg there is a recorded tournament in Pentewan in 1302.Tripp, Mike: ''Cornish Wrestling A History'', Federation of Old Cornwall Societies (Cornwall) 2023, p. 19.Eyre Roll, 1302: National Archives (Kew), JUST 1/117A, membrane 54d rown pleas, hundred of Powder


References


External links

{{authority control Villages in Cornwall Populated coastal places in Cornwall Ports and harbours of Cornwall Beaches of Cornwall Manors in Cornwall