January at Poldhu Cove: Part 8 (Final)

The last day of our sojourn down west and we decided to walk the stretch that we didn't do yesterday. We took the bus from Porthleven to Praa Sands and then walked back. Simple, apart from the wind, ups and downs, sea spray and rain. But it was another great 5 mile walk with the pounding sea and crashing waves on our right all the way. At the end of it, we allowed ourselves a little triumphalism as it meant that we have walked the stretch of coast all around Lands' End and The Lizard, from St Ives to Helford Passage. Hooray for us for clocking up 40 miles this week.

Our customary start to a walk - nosh - this time overlooking the outer harbour at Porthleven.  

Just past Rinsey Head, lurking in the mist, is Wheal Prosper. Producing mainly tin, with a little copper, it ceased production around 1860. A notice board informed us that it had been used for one of the locations in the original 'Poldark' series. It is said that, on moonless nights, the cries of Demelza can still be heard screaming to be given a better script.

A little further on and we come to the engine houses and stacks associated with

Wheal Penrose and Wheal Rose, both tin and copper mines. It is rumoured that Demelza was left at the bottom of one of their mineshafts until she agreed to shut up about the scripts and get on with what she was being paid for - hamming it up.

No, not Demelza being lowered down a mineshaft but a school party enjoying some rock climbing. I say enjoying but the young lady at the end of the rope did not sound very happy. Either that or she was doing a 'Demelza' and over-acting.

Pretty much the sort of view that accompanied us all the way.

No, not Demelza but my IWC heading towards the waves.

No, not something Demelza-related but a cross erected in memory of the many mariners drowned in the sea off this part of the coast. But that's not all...

...as it also commemorates the passing of the Gryll's Act of 1808. Never heard of it? Neither had we until we came across it. A little more detail is warranted as it relates to something I've mentioned in a couple of recent blogs - the fate of HMS Anson:
 The Burial of Drowned Persons Act 1808, also known as Grylls' Act, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (citation 48 Geo III c.75). The act provides that unclaimed bodies of dead persons cast ashore from the sea should be removed by the churchwardens and overseers of the parish, and decently interred in consecrated ground. This act was amended by the Burial of Drowned Persons Act 1886 (citation 49 & 50 Vict c.20), to extend its applicability to bodies found in, or cast on shore from, all tidal or navigable waters.
The passage of the 1808 act was one of the consequences of the wreck of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Anson in Mount's Bay in 1807. Prior to the passage of this act it was customary to unceremoniously bury drowned seamen without shroud or coffin and in unconsecrated ground. However the burial in this manner of the many dead from the Anson, and the length of time that many of the bodies remained unburied, caused controversy and led to a local Porthleven solicitor, Thomas Grylls, drafting a new law to provide more decent treatment for drowned seamen. This law was introduced to parliament by John Hearle Tremayne, Member of Parliament for Cornwall, and was enacted in 1808.

It looks like a church but isn't, the Bickford-Smith Institute in Porthleven at the harbour entrance is currently  used as a snooker club and houses the town council offices. One other thing to mention about Porthleven harbour is the fact that it is highly unusual for Cornwall in that it faces south-west. Meaning that the prevailing winds blow straight into the harbour and, because of this, Porthleven’s development as a port has always been severely hampered.

We ended as we started with more nosh - and I did get my crab sandwich, accompanied by a very tasty gravadlax and pickled fennel salad. I did ask for a Demelza Special but the waitress told me that they had run out of ham.