Wherrytown

Coordinates: 50°06′40″N 5°32′28″W / 50.111°N 5.541°W / 50.111; -5.541

Wherrytown is a small settlement in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Situated on the east side of the Laregan River, between Newlyn and Penzance, and formerly in the civil parish of Madron, it was incorporated into the Borough of Penzance in 1934.[1][2]

The village bore the brunt of the Ash Wednesday storm on 7 March 1962, with most of the buildings destroyed along with nearly one mile of the seafront from the Battery Rocks to Tolcarne heavily damaged. The only Wherrytown building to survive was the Mount's Bay Inn.[2] At low spring tides, and after storms partially fossilised trees can be exposed.[3] The South West Coast Path follows the shore.

Submerged forest

Rooted oak stump visible low tide, Spring 2015

Offshore surveys of Mount's Bay have found submerged, erosional plains and valleys containing deposits of peat, sand and gravel. The deposits indicate cyclical changes from wetland, to coastal forest, to brackish conditions have been occurring over the past 12,000 years as sea levels rose.[4] Either side of Penzance, on the beaches at Ponsandane and Wherrytown, evidence of a ′submerged forest′ can be seen at low tide in the form of several partially fossilised tree trunks.[5] Divers and trawlers also find submerged tree trunks across Mount’s Bay and the forest may have covered a coastal plain 2 to 5 kilometres further south than today. The samples of peat and wood around Penzance have been radiocarbon dated and indicate that the forest was growing from at least 6,000 to around 4,000 years ago when rising sea levels finally killed the trees.[4] Artefacts dating from the Mesolithic (10,000 to 5,000 BCE) have been found indicating some occupation contemporary with the forest. Marshes formed and were overlain by sand, gravel and by sand dunes which formed natural barriers to the sea. The Western Green (a sand dune system, now under Penzance promenade) was such a barrier. Storms sometimes destroyed the barriers depositing sand and gravel over peat beds in Marazion Marsh, and in the foundations of buildings in Wherrytown. The submerged forest in the intertidal area between Wherrytown and Long Rock is of national importance and is a Cornwall Geology Site.[4]

Wheal Wherry

A record book from the Angarrack smelting house refers, in 1713 and 1714 to "Penzance Work" and "Wheal Kathleen", although the actual sites are not known. Joseph Hawkins, writing in 1818, states that the reef at Wherrytown had been worked for tin from around the beginning of the 18th century, although he did not give any description or further details.[6] Daniel Defoe, staying in Penzance in circa 1722 wrote in A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain – " .... the veins of lead, tinn, and copper ore, are said to be seen, even to the utmost extent of land at low water mark, and in the very sea .... ". In 1762 one-tenth of the Wherry bounds (the boundaries of a tin mine) formed part of the security for a mortgage to Rachel Hawkins of Penquite, Golant.[6]

In or about 1778, Thomas Curtis of Breage sank a shaft on the rocks below the high tide mark. The shaft was protected by a stone breakwater and a wooden turret, to keep the sea out. On the death of Curtis in 1791 the mine was acquired by Thomas Gundry, along with unnamed partners, and a steam engine was built onshore to drain the mine. The operations are said to have come to a halt in 1798, when an American ship broke its moorings and drifted on to the rocks and demolishing the shafthead.[2][7][8] An account, published in 1809 of the mine closure blames a storm, and a book published in 1820 blames high tides, storms and the ″declining state of the lode″ as the reasons why the adventurers decided to abandon the mine in 1798.[9][10] Neither book blames an American ship for the closure of the mine, although the 1809 account may refer to a storm on 2 January 1796 which is said to have driven a ship out of the harbour at Penzance, and stranded her on a nearby rock.[6] £70,000 worth of tin ore was sold in total.[7]

A proposal to reopen in 1823 came to nothing[2] and in 1836 a new company was formed building a new pier and installing a 40-inch engine onshore. Operations ceased in 1840 and the engine sold at auction. The last attempt was in 1967 when a temporary quay was built to the end of the nearby Laregan rocks .[7]

Serpentine works

The derelict site was bought by three Penzance businessmen; John Bromley, Richard Millet and John Organ, and a large building erected. Serpentine was brought from the Lizard, across Mount's Bay to Penzance, and the finished goods were shipped out of Penzance harbour. A tour of the works, in 1846, by Prince Albert and the royal family, resulted in an order for mantelpieces and pedestals for Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. By 1848 the company employed thirty-seven men.[11]

The Great Exhibition of 1851 showcased products from all of the world and was visited by six million people. John Organ was one of the prize winners; for a pair of 13 ft (4.0 m) serpentine obelisks which were replicas of Cleopatra's Needle, and a carved font which was later exhibited in New York. A large Bacchanalian vase hand-carved by Arthur Harvey of Penzance was also exhibited. The exhibition brought serpentine to the attention of the British public and orders increased. Products included columns, fireplaces, obelisks, pedestals, pilasters and urns and customers included the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Darnley, the Marquis of Westminster and further items for the Royal Family. Chatsworth House. Hampton Court and Westminster Abbey were all destinations for objects, as well as numerous private and public buildings. The increase in demand and subsequent increases in administration and marketing necessitated the opening of offices. A partnership was formed in 1851 with a group of London businessmen to form the London and Penzance Serpentine Company, with offices at 5 Waterloo Place, Pall Mall. The following year John Organ was the general manager of the company when the London partners bought control.[11]

There was a further major craft exhibition in London in 1862 where items were shown, but there was now competition from the Lizard Serpentine Company based at Poltesco, and from Mr Pearce's workshop in Truro. At the height of the stones popularity there was at least eleven working quarries on the Lizard and Poltesco was soon to gain commercial superiority. As the company at Poltesco expanded, production at Wherrytown declined and the London and Penzance Serpentine Company closed in 1865.[11]

The building was demolished in 1916.[12]

Other buildings

Bodilly & Co built a large flour mill near to the site of the Wheal Wherry Mine engine house in 1874. The mill was disused by 1906 and in 1920 demolished. The site was taken over and used as a bus depot by Western National and is now a Lidl supermarket.[7]

In 1878 Col Heberden RA, IAAF inspected the 10th Battery of the DCAV (Duke of Cornwall Artillery Volunteers) in the drill hall, Wherrytown.[13]

Lifeboat station

The first lifeboat in Cornwall was stationed at Penzance harbour in 1803, and in 1862 there was local controversy when, on several occasions, the boat did not launch. Proposals to move the lifeboat to Newlyn would have been unpopular with the residents of Penzance and as a compromise the lifeboat station moved to Wherrytown. A new timber lifeboat house was opened in 1867 at the bottom of Alexandra Road, near the Coastguard Station and the lifeboat was stationed there until 1885, when the lifeboat returned to Penzance.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 Land's End ISBN 978-0-319-23148-7
  2. 1 2 3 4 Pool, P. A. S. (1974) The History of the Town and Borough of Penzance. Penzance: Corporation of Penzance.
  3. ↑ "Ancient Cornish forests exposed after storms". Cornwall Wildlife Trust. 20 February 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Howie, Frankie (March 2014). Penzance's 4000 year old Fossil Forest. Cornwall Geoconservation Group.
  5. ↑ Pool, P. A. S. (1974) The History of the Town and Borough of Penzance. Penzance: The Corporation of Penzance.
  6. 1 2 3 Joseph, Peter. So Very Foolish. A History of the Wherry Mine, Penzance. The Trevithick Society. p. 44. ISBN 978 0 904040 95 1.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Laws, P. (1978) The Industries of Penzance. Cornwall: Trevithick Society
  8. ↑ Bart, Arthur (June 1949). "The Wherry mine, Penzance, its history and its mineral productions.". The Mineralogical Magazine and Journal of The Mineralogical Society. XXVIII (205): 517–536.
  9. ↑ Brayley, E; Britton, J (1809). The Beauties of England and Wales; or, original delineations, topographical, historical, and descriptive, of each county. p. 491.
  10. ↑ Thomas, J (1820). The History of Mount's Bay. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 Sagar-Fenton, Michael; Smith, Stuart B (2005). Serpentine. Mount Hawke: Truran. ISBN 1 85022 199 5.
  12. ↑ Bird, Sheila (1987). Bygone Penzance and Newlyn. Chichester: Phillimore & Co Ltd. ISBN 0850336333.
  13. ↑ "Local News". The Cornishman (11). 3 October 1878. p. 7.
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