Porthpean, 1890
Photo ref:
27635
Photo ref:
27635
More about this scene
Perhaps originally a retreat for the locals, being only a couple of miles from the town of St Austell, Porthpean had become a 'charming seaside resort, much frequented in the summer months as a boating and bathing place' by the late Victorian period. Its mild climate was considered almost equal to the south of France!
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A Selection of Memories from Porthpean
For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. Here are some from Porthpean
Sparked a Memory for you?
If this has sparked a memory, why not share it here?
My father, Charles Axford, found a mine on the beach in the morning. As it was a hot summers day he carried it into the back room upstairs of the Watch House as he knew many people would be coming & informed the coastguard. After school I went down for a swim and undressed & dressed in the front room of the upstairs of the Watch House. At 6 o'clock the bomb squad arrived from Plymouth ...see more
I spent many happy hours on Porthpean beach, both with my family and my friends during the summer holidays. I remember the anti invasion devices well as we used them as monkey bars. After the war they became very rusty with many sharp rusty edges to get snagged on. I also remember during the war years that a few miles off the beach were some bombing targets and we used to watch bomber pilots practising ...see more
The tall building at the bottom left hand side of the slipway leading down to the beach was used by a Mr Axford who had two or three wooden rowing boats that he hired out by the hour. He would sit on a bench outside the boathouse and having paid the appropriate monies one was issued with a pair of oars and allocated a boat. My dad bought one of Charlie's boats in the early '50's which we kept on ...see more
During the invasion scare of WW2, Porthpean beach was protected from seaborne landings by the Germans by having anti-landing craft defences built along the length of the beach at I believe, the low tide mark. This consisted of an A-frame structure constructed from scaffold piping. Possibly this had mines attached but I have found no confirmation of this. Additionally, on the slope leading ...see more
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