Pentewan
Pentewan
| |
---|---|
Location within Cornwall | |
OS grid reference | SX 019 472 |
Civil parish | |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | ST AUSTELL |
Postcode district | PL26 |
Dialling code | 01726 |
Police | Devon and Cornwall |
Fire | Cornwall |
Ambulance | South Western |
UK Parliament | |
Pentewan (Cornish: Bentewyn, meaning foot of the radiant stream) is a coastal village and former port in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at grid reference SX 019 472 3 miles (4.8 km) south of St Austell at the mouth of the St Austell River. [1]
Pentewan is in the civil parish of Pentewan Valley and the ecclesiastical parish of St Austell.
Pentewan lies within the
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.
Tramway and railway
In 1829, Sir Christopher Hawkins made further improvements by linking the harbour to St Austell by means of a horse-drawn
Mines and quarries
Pentewan stone
Pentewan Quarry was the source of a fine building stone, a variety of elvan. Many medieval churches in Cornwall, including those at Botusfleming, Duloe, Fowey, Golant, Gorran, Lostwithiel, Mevagissey, St Austell, and St Columb Major, were wholly or partly constructed out of the stone,[5] as were some later buildings such as the eighteenth century Antony House. In 1985 blocks of Pentewan stone were recovered from the beach near the quarry to restore St Austell church.[6]
Tin mining
'Happy-Union', a stream work for
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.
Natural History of Pentewan
Pentewan was likely once visited by[9] gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) as 2 of the 7 European gray whale fossils were found here.[10][11] The gray whale prefers shallow seas and the shallow seas over the continental shelf of the South Western Approaches is one of the widest in north-western Europe. The first gray whale to be seen in the Atlantic in centuries was sighted in 2010. The Northwest Passage was then ice-free[12] and so apparently a gray whale from the Pacific Ocean made it to Europe.[13] More whales are likely to follow.[14] In 2005 it was proposed to reintroduce them to Pentewan,[15][16] which would likely attract throngs of tourists to the beaches.
The submerged forests of Pentewan are another interesting part of its past natural history.[17] This forest was submerged so quickly that oysters are now found fastened to its tree stumps.
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.[2] Bombs fell near Pentewan in 1941[18] and an air raid on the port in August 1942 destroyed the Methodist chapel[19] and damaged several houses.[20]
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.[21] 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.[2] 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 is a Pentewan resident.
References
- ISBN 978-0-319-23149-4
- ^ a b c d e "Cornwall Industrial Settlements Initiative | Historic Cornwall" (PDF). 11 December 2020.
- ^ "Pentewan Railway 2 Information and Photographs". Aditnow.co.uk. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ "The Clay Trails of Cornwall". Claytrails.co.uk. Archived from the original on 21 October 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ Cox, J. Charles (1912) Cornwall (County Churches). London: G. Allen & Company, p. 10
- ISBN 0-7506-3898-2; p. 53
- ^ Colenso, J. W. (1828) "A description of the Happy-Union tin stream work at Pentuan", in: Trans. Royal Geological Soc. Cornwall; no. 3 & 4, pp. 29–39
- Hitchins, F.(1824) The History of Cornwall, p. 474
- ISBN 9780444417343.
- ISBN 9780080923727.
- ^ Van Deinse, A.B.; Junge, G. C. A. (1936). "Recent and older finds of the California grey whale in the Atlantic". Temminckia. 2: 161–188.
- ^ McGarrity and Henning Gloystein, John (27 September 2013). "Big freighter traverses Northwest Passage for 1st time". Reuters.
- S2CID 43914291.
- PMID 21937490.
- .
- ^ Hooper, Rowan (18 July 2005). "US whales may be brought to UK". BBC News. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
- ^ French, C.N. (1999). "The 'Submerged Forest' palaeosols of Cornwall" (PDF). Geoscience in South-west England. 9: 365–369. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
- ^ "WW2 People's War – "When Bombs Fell" – The air-raids on Cornwall during WW2 : Part 4 – 1941 May to August". BBC. 7 January 2006. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ "WW2 People's War – A childhood in Pentewan and the bombs seemed to follow me". BBC. 2 August 2005. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ "WW2 People's War – "When Bombs Fell" – The air-raids on Cornwall during WW2 : Part 6 – 1942 (complete year)". BBC. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ Malcolm Surl. "Schools designed by Silvanus Trevail". Luxsoft.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
External links
- Pentewan at Curlie