Downderry
Downderry photos (158 available)
Downderry maps (2 available)
Map of Cornwall
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Downderry books (10 available)
Truro Town Walk Guide
Paperback
St Austell Bay Photographic Memories
Paperback
Newquay to St Ives Photographic Memories
Paperback
- 2 photos on Downderry appear in 2 Frith books - View photos of Downderry
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Downderry and Cornwall
Downderry memories
Read and share memories of Downderry and Cornwall inspired by Frith photos
Hessenford
I have just read the memory of the fishing trips and the use of the jeep to tow the fishing boat down the beach to launch it into the sea at Downderry. I also remember that jeep as if it were yesterday. My Grandmother, Marjorie Buckley, was the Headmistress of Hessenford School in the 40's and 50's (maybe into the 60's before she finally retired) and I spent alot of my youth living with her and on family holidays in Hessenford. I spent 9 months with my Grandparents towards the end of the war, as my home town, Redditch, had been badly bombed by the Germans. My Grandather died, I think in 1947, and is buried in the graveyard at the ...read more here
Contributed by David Styler
Fishing with Billy
Billy was a hero to we boys. In the daytime you could go crabbing with him; at night, out drifting. He drove an old open jeep and at times you would see five, six or even seven boys clinging to parts of this ex-US vehicle as it bounced its way up the slipway, or tore through the Cornish lanes on the way to Looe, where he kept his bigger boat, the "Ella".
A shake, or an alarm clock at 5.00am. Pull on my boots and a thick woollen jumper. It would be pitch dark, nothing stirred in the village. As I made my way the five hundred yards to the centre of the village, my heart would be in my ...read more here
Contributed by D'Arcy Blank
Cornwall memories
Hessenford
I have just read the memory of the fishing trips and the use of the jeep to tow the fishing boat down the beach to launch it into the sea at Downderry. I also remember that jeep as if it were yesterday. My Grandmother, Marjorie Buckley, was the Headmistress of Hessenford School in the 40's and 50's (maybe into the 60's before she finally retired) and I spent alot of my youth living with her and on family holidays in Hessenford. I spent 9 months with my Grandparents towards the end of the war, as my home town, Redditch, had been badly bombed by the Germans. My Grandather died, I think in 1947, and is buried in the graveyard at the ...read more here
A memory of Downderry contributed by David Styler
Fishing with Billy
Billy was a hero to we boys. In the daytime you could go crabbing with him; at night, out drifting. He drove an old open jeep and at times you would see five, six or even seven boys clinging to parts of this ex-US vehicle as it bounced its way up the slipway, or tore through the Cornish lanes on the way to Looe, where he kept his bigger boat, the "Ella".
A shake, or an alarm clock at 5.00am. Pull on my boots and a thick woollen jumper. It would be pitch dark, nothing stirred in the village. As I made my way the five hundred yards to the centre of the village, my heart would be in my ...read more here
A memory of Downderry contributed by D'Arcy Blank
Extracts From Downderry & Cornwall books
The balconied St Germans Hut was a shooting box belonging to the Earl of St Germans, set high on the cliffs about a mile east of Downderry. In the 1920s a visiting permit could be obtained from the steward at the family seat of Port Eliot, St Germans, and ‘if warning be sent to the Hut, a simple meal can be prepared.’
An extract from from"Cornwall County Memories".
The house on the right, outside which the rather formidable-looking woman is standing, is reputed to be the oldest in Downderry. The subject of her conversation with the equally stern-looking woman with the donkey cart is probably not last night’s party.
An extract from from"English Villages".
This is what children of all ages like best: fishing about in the rock pools at low tide. The long village of Downderry stands precariously on a shelf between the inland hills and a sea-washed cliff edge.
An extract from from"Cornwall County Memories".
This scene has hardly changed for many years; the
beach at Polridmouth is still only accessible on foot.
Although we are just around the corner from St Austell
Bay, this photograph gives us a good view of the
prominent day mark erected in 1832 on the Gribbin
Head as an aid for shipping entering the bay.
An extract from from"St Austell Bay Photographic Memories".
The old pilchard-curing
cellar, or ‘palace’, beside the
shore in the foreground was
one of the largest in
Cornwall. However, by the
time of this early
photograph the harbour
seems already deserted by
the fishing fleet, perhaps in
favour of Mevagissey on the
far side of the bay.
An extract from from"St Austell Bay Photographic Memories".