Charlestown or Cornish equivalent Porth Meur, which means ‘great cove’ is a mecca for tourism as a village and port on the south coast of Cornwall,
The port developed in the late-18th century from the fishing village of West Polmear. Despite the tourism Charlestown is relatively unchanged. Charlestown grew out of the small fishing village of West Polmear (Porthmear), then consisting of a few cottages and three cellars for processing the fishing catch of pilchards. Before the harbour was built, trading vessels landed and loaded on the beach. Charles Rashleigh began the construction of a harbour and dock in 1791. The first dock gates were completed in 1799 where, to maintain water levels in the dock, a leat was constructed, by water brought from the Luxulyan Valley. In 1793, a gun battery was built as a defence against possible French attacks. Volunteers from Rashleigh's estate formed an artillery company until 1860, when the original four 18-pound cannons were replaced by 24-pound models. The Crinnis Cliff Volunteers became part of the 1st Cornwall (Duke of Cornwall's) Artillery Volunteers, and the battery continued to be used for practice until 1898. . The port was built to facilitate the transport of copper from nearby mines: Crinnis Hill Mine to the east of the village exported some 40,000 tons of copper ore between 1810 and 1813. As the mines became exhausted and their output dropped, the port was used to export china clay from the region's quarries. Following the death of Charles Rashleigh in 1823 the fate of Charlestown was caught up in the financial problems of his estate. Joseph Dingle, once a servant and footman employed by Rashleigh, became superintendent of works when the construction of the harbour began, but had systematically embezzled money from the project. Despite competition from the port at Pentewan, which opened in 1826, and from Par, which opened shortly afterwards, Charlestown prospered from the rapid expansion in the export of china clay until the onset of the First World War. By the 1990s, the size of vessels used for the transport of china clay had outgrown the harbour,
Size: 3456px × 4608px
Location: Charlestown, Cornwall, England
Photo credit: © Philip Chapman / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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