Gorran_Haven

Gorran Haven

Gorran Haven

Human settlement in England

Gorran Haven (Cornish: Porthust)[1] is a fishing village, in the civil parish of St Goran, on the south coast of Cornwall, England, UK. It is about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Mevagissey and lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).[2]

Quick Facts Population, OS grid reference ...

Overview

Gorran Haven seaweed
Gorran Haven, Cornwall at low tide on a summer afternoon.

The village lies in a cove between two sandy beaches.[2] Vault Beach (also known as Bow beach) is south of Gorran Haven and Great Perhaver Beach is to the north, both beaches are naturist beaches.[3][4]

Gorran Haven was an ancient fishing harbour; its first pier was built in the 15th century. In the 18th and 19th centuries it became a port handling merchandise brought from Fowey by barges and lighters. The pier was rebuilt in the 1820s and reconstructed in 1888.[5] There are two churches in the village, Haven Church (previously Mount Zion), and St Just Church. St Just Church had been used as a fish cellar for over a century. In 1812 the Congregationalists of Mevagissey moved into the Haven using St Just as their Meeting House and referring to it as the old Chapel Cellar. Haven Church is a non-denominational church.[6]

The Cinema Museum in London holds home movies of the village in the 1950's.

Notable residents

  • Sir Richard Dearlove (1945– ), civil servant, was born in and spent his early childhood in the village.
  • Charles William Peach (1800–1886), naturalist and geologist, lived in the village and worked in the surrounding landscape,[7] there is a plaque to his memory in the village.
  • Ben Peach (1842–1926), son of Charles, geologist, was born in the village.[8]
  • Colin Wilson (1931–2013), author, lived in the village for over 50 years.[9][10]

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Place-names in the Standard Written Form (SWF) Archived 15 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine : List of place-names agreed by the MAGA Signage Panel Archived 2013-05-15 at the Wayback Machine. Cornish Language Partnership.
  2. [2]
    Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 204 Truro & Falmouth (Roseland Peninsula) (Map). Ordnance Survey. 2009. ISBN 978-0-319-23290-3.
  3. [3]
    "Great Perhaver Beach". Cornwall Beach Guide. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  4. [4]
    "Vault Beach (Gorran Haven)". Cornwall Beach Guide. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
  5. [5]
    Todd, Arthur Cecil; Laws, Peter (1972). The industrial archaeology of Cornwall. David and Charles. p. 226. ISBN 9780715355909.
  6. [6]
    "Haven Church - Who we are". www.havenchurch.co. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  7. [7]
    Oldroyd, David (23 September 2004). "Peach, Charles William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21665. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  8. [8]
    Oldroyd, David. "Peach, Benjamin Neeve (1842–1926)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/37839. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  9. [9]
    Ezard, John (9 December 2013). "Colin Wilson obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  10. [10]
    Lachman, Gary (2016). Beyond the Robot. TarcherPerigee. p. XII. ISBN 978-0399173080.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Gorran_Haven, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.