3.1  “The Area”
3.2  Maps from CDC Community Planning Local Plans Team
3.3  Cornwall Historic Landscape Character Types
3.4  Photographs of The Point since 1900
3.5  Comparison between maps from 1815 and the present day
3.6  Buildings of architectural or historical interest
3.7  Porthgwidden
3.8  The Old Barn to Porthgwidden Farm
3.9  Former distinguished residents of Porthgwidden
3.10  Architecture, the Art of Building
3.11  The History of Housing on The Point
3.12  RIBA National Housing Medal Award
3.13  Panoramas and Views
3.14  Views over The Carrick Roads, Restronguet Wier and Restronguet Creek
3.15  Birdlife
3.16  American Servicemen stationed at Restronguet Point

3.17 Extracts from “A Child’s War in Cornwall”, reproduced by permission of the Author, John C. Harding, 

3.17.1 A dive bomber over Restronguet Creek.

3. Description and History

3.1  “The Area”

© Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Licence number 1000044268

 

The red line defines the northern boundary, the Carrick Roads the eastern boundary and Restronguet Creek the western boundary by the area covered by this Statement.

“The Area” means The Point (Restronguet Point, Harcourt and Porthgwidden) and its surrounding countryside, landscape setting and shape of the settlements within it. The Area lies to the west of Feock and within Feock Parish. Restronguet Creek is the largest of the creeks in the neighbourhood and on its western side is a haven for sheltered boating and wildlife. It separates The Point from Mylor.

The Carrick Roads, one of the deepest natural harbours in the country, form the eastern boundary of The Area, while Restronguet Creek forms the western boundary.

In the 2001 UK Census a population of 3505 persons in the Feock and Kea area was recorded. The parish comprises 2947 acres of land, 16 acres of water, 42 acres of tidal water and 306 acres of foreshore.
(GENUKI, http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/Feock/)

3.1.1  The name “Feock”

The earliest known record of Feock is found in a twelfth-century document in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, where the settlement is referred to as “Fioc”. Other spellings, in ecclesiastical documents, include “Feocko” and “Feoko”. These later spellings are assumed to be due to the priest based at the time at Glasney College, Penryn. Such priests were Latin‑speaking clerks, writing in Latin names they heard spoken in Cornish. The French historian Joseph Loth considered that Saint Feock migrated to Brittany to become known there as Saint Maeoc. (CN, January 2005)

The name of the parish is based on the name of an Irish saint, Fioc or Feoca, about whom little is known. There is a local tradition that Saint Feock lived in a small hut near a well [which still exists] in the area named “La Feock” [also known as “La Vague”] ... Feock occurs as “Ecclesiam Sancte Feoce” in 1264. (GENUKI, ibid.)

3.1.2  The name “Restronguet”

Craig Weatherhill, author of Cornish Place Names and Language (Weatherhill 1995) gives the following interpretation of the name Restronguet: “r'STRON-get”, from the M[iddle] C[ornish] “res troen goys”, meaning“hillspur with a promontory wood”. Curiously, the name seemingly retains the hard ending of the Old Cornish word “cuit”, meaning “wood”. (The Cornish language remained vernacular in this area until the mid seventeenth‑century; there are no certain dates for the periods of so‑called ‘Old’ and ‘Middle’ Cornish.) (PT)

Restronguet Point is commonly referred to by some of the older residents as “Strongwitch” or “Strong wind” and the narrow stretch of water between Restronguet Point and Restronguet Weir as “Strongwitch Gut” or “Marble Head”. (BF)

3.2  Maps from CDC Community Planning Local Plans Team

 

3.2.1 Cornwall Historic Landscape Character Types

 

3.3  Photographs of The Point since 1900

The end of The Point (“Marble Head”), c.1900.

A northwest view of the Point in 1961, showing limited development especially at its northern end.

The Point in 2005.

The end of the Point, September 2009.

3.4 Google Earth

© Google 2007, The Point, (Ref TR3 6RB)

Google Earth images are photographs taken by satellites and aircraft sometime in the last three years and are updated on a rolling basis. Google Earth combines data of different resolutions to offer a seamless viewing experience and some locations may look a little out of focus.  Using resolution imagery (greater than 1-meter per pixel which provides an aerial view of approximately 1500 feet) for thousands of cities and more are on the way. Google Earth takes advantage of the 3D graphics capabilities standard on most computers. A photograph can be enlarged on screen to view an individual property. (Google Earth)

©2007 Europa Technologies
©2007 Infoterra Ltd and Bluesky

Eye Altitude 769m

Pointer       50° 11’48.98”N
Pointer         5° 03’25.28”W
Elevation 0m Streaming 100%

3.5  Comparison between maps from 1815 and the present day

The map above left, held at Trelissick and dated c.1815, is entitled “The Plan of the Manors, Estates and Premises in the Parishes of Feock, Kea and St. Just belonging to R. A. Daniel Esq., of Trelissick”.

The map on the right a copy of the Ordinance Map of the present day.

Tenants of Mr Daniell’s land on The Point at that time included those with the names Stephens, Looweartha, Harracrack and James Williams. The lane on this map ends approximately three quarters of the way down to the end of The Point. The small rectangular outline on the western shoreline of The Point (forming part of the green perimeter on OS map extract above) is Marble Head Quay. The small lane which connected the quay to the roadway opposite Laundry Cottage is not shown, but still exists as an access to ChyaenaGarth and Bodelvan. Beyond Marble Head Quay, a footpath which gave access to the end of The Point is now closed.

Two centuries ago, when roads were unmade, the quay would have been well used for the transport of goods by water, to and from The Point. The lane, now a CCC Highway, continues almost to the end of The Point and then continues in the form of a CCC registered footpath. It is bounded mainly by traditional Cornish hedges, low gates and grass verges. From Harcourt, a lane, which later becomes a footpath, leads to the Penpol boatyard. This boatyard is still operational, but outside the area under consideration.

3.6  Buildings of architectural or historical interest

These are the three Grade 2 listed buildings on The Point. Details may be found in Appendix 3.

The Clockhouse at Porthgwidden, courtyard and kitchen garden walls.

 

Left: Harcourt Farm House, garden wall and gatepiers to north.

Right: Marble Head Quay.

3.7  Porthgwidden

Porthgwidden, built in 1829 by Edmund Turner, a Truro MP.

The figure of Canon Tom Philpotts stands in the central niche of the south porch of Truro Cathedral. When he died the bishop paid tribute, to ‘A Life of Service; more than half that life was centred on Porthgwidden.

The name, meaning the ‘White Haven’ is mentioned as early as 1248 but the first reference to the house is in 1829 when it is described as ‘newly erected’. In 1840 it was described as a’ Spacious and elegant Mansion, late residence of Edmund Turner, M.P., with a productive garden, orchard, meadow and arable land, delightfully situated……. eligible site for marine villas. The house with about 8 acres of walks and pleasure gardens.

It was bought in 1842 with the land on the south-east side of the road to Restronguet Point by John Phillpotts. He was the brother of the Bishop of Exeter (whose diocese included both Devon and Cornwall), a barrister and M.P. for Gloucester for 17 years.

Tom Phillpotts his son, was born in 1806 and was ordained by the Bishop of Lincoln in 1830. In 1844 he became vicar of Feock and moved to Porthgwidden.
When he moved to Feock he found that the church was in a rural area and that many of his parishioners were in the growing port of Devoran, two miles away; so in 1847 a Church School was built there (with the aid of the National Society and subscriptions) and it was licensed for services. At the same lime the Feock School was rebuilt.

At some time, probably earlier when the family was at home, the house had been considerably enlarged and the stable block erected, (the clock tower is dated 1855).
Part of Parc-an-gollan and the Treefield were turned into a large walled garden and a range of glasshouses was built in it. (This may have been after the arrival of Mr Cross the gardener in 1869). Cottages above Loe Vean were acquired from the Gilberts and remodelled. The one standing back from the road (now called Gunfield Lodge) has a tiled inscrip6on let into the end wall, ‘T.P. 1875’. Both cottages were divided into two and the one on the road is said to have been occupied by the gardeners. Mr Cross must have had a considerable staff under him to tend the extensive and well laid out grounds. After Tom Phillpott’s death a choice collection of orchids together with stove and greenhouse plants were sold and were listed in the Gazette of October 2, 1890. There was a goldfish pond. A boat house was built near the beach,

In 1890 Tom Phillpotts was seriously ill and went to Newquay hoping to benefit from the change of air, but he became worse and in June was brought back to Porthgwidden. At his special request, he was driven round the Cathedral on his way home. He died on Saturday July 20 and was carried to his grave in Feock churchyard on the 22nd, followed by his family, the clergy and choir of the Cathedral and by many other mourners. On the following Sunday tribute was paid to him at the Cathedral services; in the evening the Bishop preached his memorial sermon. ‘A Life of Service’. His grave is unmarked but the Lychgate at Feock commemorates him and his thirty years’ work as vicar there.

Porthgwidden was left to his daughter Emma (Mrs A. Tremayne) and her children and they let it to a series of tenants. In 1891 the Hon. John Boscawen lived there while Tregye was being enlarged; in 1896 Mr and Mrs H. Bolitho occupied it; a few years later Mr W.H. Spotiswood lived in it and laid out a private golf course in the fields between the gardens and Laundry Cottage and beyond to the Point.

Between I908 and 1919 the Trefusis family, including Lady Mary, who did so much for the British Folk Dance Society, now the The English Folk Dance and Song Society were the tenants.

At some period a generator was installed at the Harcourt Home Farm and electricity was conveyed to the house and to Laundry Cottage through heavy underground cables. (In 1910 Henry Edward was the electrician at Trelissick and may have undertaken the work).

Between 1923 and 1930 Mr and Mrs K. Neale were the owners and Polgwynne was built in part of the grounds.

Mr Barry Simpson of Devoran writes, “1 once had a conversation on Porthgwidden with Jack Neale, whose family lived there before 1935. I believe that they were ship-owners in South Wales. He told me that, when his father sold the property he imposed a running covenant to the effect that there should be no further building to the west of the house. He didn’t say who was instrumental in having this removed”.

In 1935 it had passed to Mr and Mrs K. Holman and during the 1939-45 war they made it a centre for local Red Cross activities.

Mrs Holman sold the property in 1956 and applications for development were made. A change of use to a nursing home received conditional permission but an application for a hotel was refused.

In May 1961 the conversion of the house into flats was agreed. This was started by Mr B. Burton, who sold to Lt..Col. D.F. Grant who completed the conversion in 1971.

Before this the stables and Coach house had been converted into Clock House, which includes the walled garden with the fishpond and the magnificent camellia and magnolia, all of which may date back to the Rev. Tom Phillpotts.

Dr George W. Lee O.B.E. set up a consortium of the leaseholders and undertook the onerous negotiations, now made easier by law, resulting in the purchase of the freehold by the leaseholders with the formation of the company which now runs the house and grounds. He was its first Chairman and remained so from 1975 until September 1990. During that time much was accomplished by way of bringing the house and grounds into its present good state.

Dr Lee died aged 87 in February 1993, having lived at Porthgwidden longer than anywhere else. People tell that they remember him for his gentlemanly behaviour and how he always raised his hat to the ladies! He was generous, courteous and impeccably honest. Porthgwidden Estate Ltd. was incorporated on June 18 1974.
Much restoration work has been carried out on the house itself; the grounds which were neglected have been restored to some semblance of their former glory.

The present owners are intent that this gracious residence, set off by its terraces and parkland with views over Carrick roads, shall in these changing times, retain as much as possible of the original character.

(Extract from, and refer  to page 61 of the”Feock with Devoran and Carnon Downs in the 19th Century”.for a complete list of references)

3.8 The Old Barn to Porthgwidden Farm
(previously known as Harcourt Home Farm)

Left: Two views of the Old Barn, Porthgwidden Farm, Harcourt, converted to a dwelling in 1973 (painting by Peter Mansfield). Right: The former Porthgwidden Farm buildings, now the site on which Creekview is built (photograph by Ray Archer).

Found in the Old Barn at the time of its conversion to a dwelling in 1973 were the remains of a mechanism involving gear wheels. This suggested that grain milling might have taken place there, perhaps powered by the generator. The remaining land occupied by cowsheds, pigsties and paddocks was sold as a plot for a dwelling, now Creekview. (TR)

3.9 Former distinguished residents of Porthgwidden

1829. Edmund Turner M.P., 1842. John Plllpotts. A barrister, M.P. for Gloucester, 1850. The Reverend Tom Phillpotts, later Canon Phillpotts, benefactor, and leading member of the community in many areas., 1890. On the death of her father Canon Phillpotts, the house was left  to Mrs A. Tremayne, 1891.She let the house to the Hon John Boscawen whilst Tregue was being enlarged, 1896. let to Mr and Mrs H. Bolitho C 1900. Let to W.H. Spotiswood. 1908. let to the Trefusis family. 1923. Purchased by Mr and Mrs K. Neale. 1935. Purchased by Mr and Mrs K. Holman. 1956. Property sold for redevelopment. 1975, Dr George W. Lee O.B.E. set up a consortium of the leaseholders, resulting in the purchase of the freehold with the formation of the company which now runs the house and grounds. He was its first Chairman and remained so from 1975 until September 1990.

The following former residents were influential at a national level and greatly influenced.the social life on the Point. Is it a coincidence that they were almost all concerned with design in one form or another?
(JBC, March 2007).

3.9.1 Former Distinguished residents of The Point

H N Pelmore Esq. The Clock House.

From St Edward’s School, Oxford, Hugh graduated from Battersea Polytechnic and joined the family company of Baker Perkins in Peterborough. He gained first hand experience of manufacturing before becoming European Sales Manager, organising expositions in Switzerland, Belgium and other countries.

At the outbreak of World War 2, he became Transport Officer for the Portsmouth dockyard due to his previous driving experience. However, he had always wanted to fly and joined the RAF instead of promotion in the RNVR. His flying training started in Canada and on return to England he flew over 20 aircraft types, including Mosquitoes, Lancasters and Sunderlands.

His driving experience included BMW’s, ERA’s and most significantly, successfully racing his 4½ litre Bentley at Brooklands in the mid to late 30’s. His elder brother Keston also raced there and it was Keston’s idea, enthusiastically assisted by Hugh, to start the Bentley Drivers’ Club in 1936, from which time it has grown into a thriving club with nearly 4,000 members worldwide.

Whilst with Baker Perkins, Hugh lived in Elton Hall near Peterborough and his interest in historic property and its restoration and preservation was kindled. From Elton, Hugh, with his wife Jenny moved to Putney when Hugh started the export company for Baker Perkins. They moved on to East Horsley and renovated the family home. Hugh retired from business life in 1964 and they moved to Polperro where the gardens and walls of Kit Hill were created over nine years.

They bought Clock House in 1959 and spent three years planning the conversion and reconstruction. Hugh directly oversaw the craftsmen and applied his engineering skill to some challenging parts of the structure, the long room ceiling being one example. Hugh and Jenny moved in to the still unfinished house in 1965 and completed the work three and a half years later.

The workmanship carried out at Clock House has stood the test of time and all the pitch pine joinery works as well forty years on, as it did when it was carefully installed. Clock House is a true memorial to the vision, skill and talent of Hugh Pelmore.

(Barry Pelmore and Jenny Pelmore, 03.03.08)

Jeremy Fry, The Boathouse.

Jeremy Joseph Fry, engineer and arts patron: born Bristol 19 May 1924; product designer, Frenchay Products Ltd

1954-57; founder and chairman, Rotor Engineering Co 1957-84; Chairman, Theatre Royal, Bath 1979-84;

Chairman, Arnolfini Gallery 1985-93; Chairman, Northern Ballet Theatre
His designs included a car, a ‘sea truck’, a four-wheel-drive wheelchair and a highly successful valve actuator - and he started James Dyson, 23 years his junior, out on his own inventing career. He rebuilt a village in France, moved a palace in India, rescued the Theatre Royal in Bath and reorganised the Northern Ballet Company.
The second son of the last chairman of the Fry’s chocolate concern, Cecil Fry, who had enraged the many Fry aunts and cousins by arranging for the sale of the company to Cadbury’s, the arch-enemy. Jeremy was educated at Gordonstoun, joined the Royal Air Force and was qualifying to become a pilot in North America when the Second World War ended.

He studied at the Architectural Association under Leonard Manasseh. who became one of his idols, but left before qualifying, to join his brother David in his Frenchay Products Company, producing one-off prototype components for the aviation industry, and to found the Parsenn Car Company, named after his favourite ski-run, to design, build and race a 500cc car. Jeremy also kept a small sailing boat on Hayling Island and went skiing as often as possible, often in parties with Alec lssigonis and other engineers.

He founded Rotork in 1957, and most of its early business was carried out in the Middle East, with valve actuators installed in the hazardous areas of oil refineries, loading jetties and pipelines, so there was a challenge to make the equipment both explosion-proof and waterproof.

One evening, while on a trip in Saudi Arabia, sitting down after work, Fry noticed a puddle accumulating on the seat of the next bench from the condensation caused by the falling temperature; his observations led to a radical redesign of actuators, with a sealed weatherproof and explosion-proof housing. This was the beginning of Rotork’s spectacular growth, with businesses or licence agreements in six countries, unusual for such a small company in the early Sixties. Rotork equipment filled a small but critical role in nuclear generating plants.  Fry decided to open an assembly plant in the United States. Rather than starting up in a conventional business park, he bought a 40-acre site of marshy wilderness close to Cambridge, Maryland, and would spend nights there trawling for soft-shell crabs on board a skipjack - the only working sailing boat in the US.

As the company developed, Fry started a splinter design group, Rotork Marine, and in 1970, with James Dyson, fresh from the Royal College of Art, designed the Sea Truck, a flat-bottomed boat that used air to reduce friction as it moved through the water. For several months, Fry operated a fleet of Sea Trucks to deliver supplies during the great floods in Bangladesh. Fry and Dyson also worked together on a wheelchair with four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering and on adapting the industrial cyclone separation system into a domestic vacuum cleaner.

The two parted company amicably; Fry was disappointed when the innovative wheelchair design failed to become a commercial success. Dyson went on to make a great success of the vacuum-cleaner business. Dyson credits Fry as his mentor and acknowledges his influence as a designer and an engineer

In 1978 he turned his restless energy to the beautiful old Theatre Royal in Bath, fallen into the last stages of dilapidation, bought it (reputedly for about £150,000), established a trust to restore it and three years later triumphantly reopened an entirely refurbished state-of-the-art theatre with a gala performance in the presence of Princess Margaret.

Soon after, in 1985, he became Chairman of the Arnolfini Gallery, the arts centre in Bristol, and invited the young and at that time unknown architect David Chipperfield to undertake a complete revamp of the building, and the artist Bruce McClean to design the café and bar, with spectacular results.

From 1989, Fry was also Chairman of the Northern Ballet Theatre Company based in Manchester and, when the city reduced its funding to the company, he and his trustees moved the whole operation across the Pennines to Halifax. With the dancer Christopher Gable as Artistic Director he helped make the company one of the best known in the country with a reputation for experiment and innovation.

When he was 70, Fry said “I have one more project in me. I want to create a garden that will mature while I am still alive’ He had in mind a house and few acres in Sri Lanka but, in the event, wound up on a hillside in Kerala with two coffee plantations, living in a rajahs palace. Cheated by officials and neighbours, bullied by the local labour unions in Kerala, Fry dismantled the palace, trucked it over the Continental Divide to Tamil Nadu and rebuilt it in the middle of a less ambitious spread growing bananas and pepper, and there he spent his last days. He had become thin and frail, suffered several minor strokes and lived the life of a hermit.
He returned to England for medical and dental treatment from time to time and found life increasingly difficult. However, his 8Oth birthday party, surrounded by friends and admirers in Le Grand Banc, was a triumph.
Andy Garnett © 2006 independent News and Media Limited. www.news.independant,co.uk

H.W.J. (Jim) Heck, Mariners, now Malojo.

The inaugural meeting of what was then known as the South West of England Branch  of the Royal Town Planning Institute took place on the fourteen of May 1945 at the old Council House Bristol. This was some 31 years after the National Institution was formed. Mr H.W.J. Heck was appointed the first Chairman
Three days later on the seventeenth of May, 1945 the National Council of the Institute confirmed the foundation of the Branch; it became the second regional branch following the Midlands, formed in 1943

The principal initiative for a branch to be formed in the South West was taken by H. W. J (Jim) Heck, then the South West Regional Planning Officer for the Ministry of Town and Country Planning with offices in Bristol. He was the first Branch Chairman from 1945/46 and then again in 1960/61 and 1961/62, by which time he was the appointed first Cornwall County Council Planning Officer.
www.southwest.rtpi.org.uk

H.W.J. Heck set up the department, appointed highly qualified planners and architects. The architects were experienced in building design, colour and graphic design. He encouraged the approval of high quality building design. Cornwall received more architectural awards in his time than all the other areas of the South West.
In 1974 the responsibility for planning was devolved to the newly formed district councils. Later the planning department and the architects department were incorporated within the Department of Planning, Transportation & Estates.
JBC.08.08.07

Vic "VG"Roberts, The Beeches

Vic Roberts, who played for Swansea as a wing forward in 1951 and won 16 caps for England from 1947-1956, as well as appearing for the 1950 Lions side in Australia and New Zealand. Roberts was a vice-president of the Barbarians and as a player was a visitor to South Wales for the Easter tour matches for some 50 years as player and selector.

He was born in Penryn and was a regular performer in the Cornwall side always playing robustly, but also usually having a huge grin on his face. When his job in Customs and Excise brought him to Swansea he alternated with internationals Cleni Thomas, Oil Johnson and Roger Blyth for a back-row place, as well as making appearances in the Welsh Civil Service side.

He was first capped by England in 1947, scoring a try against France on his debut. He played four times in 1949, three in 1950, four in 1951 (whilst with Swansea), but was not capped again until 1956 when he played all four games in the Championship.

He toured with the Lions, though not making the test side, and appeared for Harlequins and Penryn, having been a Lieutenant in the RNVR in World War Two.
A most popular man, he lived latterly in Restronguet Point, Feock, Cornwall and Guildford.

http://www.wru.co.uk/ll 180.php

J. Philip Smith CBE, Laundry Cottage.

J Philip Smith (known as Phil Smith) was born in 1915. He attended the de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School (1934-1936) and worked for the de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited in Hatfield, Hertfordshire throughout his working life (from 1937-1980).

Between 1937-1944 he worked on Moth Minor, Mosquito and Vampire aircraft; from 1944-1947 on the Dove; and from 1947-1954 on the DH 110.
His positions included Deputy Chief Designer (1954); Divisional Director and Chief Engineer (1963); Executive Director and Chief Engineer; Director and Chief Engineer (1968).

He was awarded the CBE in 1975. Smith's achievements include being one of the first passengers to exceed Mach 1 in the prototype DH 110 which he designed and designing the 121 Trident which in its day was the fastest civil airliner.
In the Churchill Archives Centre. The collection of papers includes Smith's files on individual aircraft including the Airbus; plans and technical drawings and correspondence relating to the aircraft industry and aircraft design. The papers were deposited at Churchill Archives Centre by J Philip Smith and Margaret Smith.
http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk

Mr Fred Fairbrother, FRIC.

Mr. Fred Fairbrother and his wife lived at “Casanton”. He graduated in The Honours School of Chemistry at Manchester University In 1908, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry in 1957, He spent his career in education, finishing as headmaster of the Cedars School Leighton Buzzard. He had a lifelong interest in growing roses, was a member the national Rose Society for many years and became President in 1959. His book “Roses” was published in collaboration with the RHS in I962. Mr. Fairbrother used to coach me in maths and chemistry during school holidays (I went to the Truro High School for Girls) and after each tutorial he would take me round his garden overlooking  the Carrick Roads and demonstrate the intricacies of rose breeding. His wife had a particular interest in breeding delphiniums. 

ANNE MARTIN,Feock resident 1939 to 1958 , PRINCE GEORGE, British Columbia, Canada, by email, July 9th, 2010

 

Dr George W. Lee, O.B.E., D.Sc., C.Eng, F.R.I.C.S., M.I.Chem.E., F.Inst.F.
Porthgwidden.

Dr George W. Lee was born in 1905 and educated at the University of Leeds, where he entered the School of Chemistry in 1923.

His first industrial appointments were in the field of low temperature carbonisation, in which there was much activity at that time. He then joined the Appleby Frodingham Steel Company. He was appointed Chief Technical Officer of the Coke Producers Federation in 1939 and following the outbreak of war was transferred to London as Chief Technical Officer of the British Coking Industry Association. In 1944 Dr Lee was appointed the first Director of the newly formed British Coke Research Association, dividing his activities for the next few years between its establishment and planning of the Research Association and planning for new coking plants rendered necessary by the obsolescence of the industry due largely to wartime activities.

Dr Lee was responsible in great measure for securing the decision to build the Coke Research Centre at Chesterfield and for the planning, building and setting to work of the Centre in 1958. The Coke Research Centre was unique in being, so far as is known, the only establishment in the world at which research on oven coke was carried out, on the spot, on all scales from the sub atomic to what was in effect the commercial level.

The flow of valuable papers concerned with the application of research results to industry issued by The British Coke Research Association since 1958 is adequate justification for the decision to finance and build this well known research centre,
The University of Leeds awarded Dr. Lee the degree of Doctor of Science in 1964. He was appointed OBE in 1966 for his services to industry and research.

He was awarded the British Carbonisation Science Medal in 1970, and in 1972 received the Joseph Becker Gold Medal Award of the American Metallurgical Society for distinction in Coal Carbonisation and research on metallurgical Coke.
He retired from the British Coke Research Association in June 1970. He and his family moved to Porthgwidden.

There Dr George W. Lee O.B.E. set up a consortium of the leaseholders and undertook the onerous negotiations, now made easier by law, resulting in the purchase of the freehold by the leaseholders with the formation of the company which now runs the house and grounds. He was its first Chairman and remained so from 1975 until September 1990. During that time much was accomplished by way of bringing the house and grounds into its present good state.

Dr Lee died aged 87 in February 1993, having lived at Porthgwidden longer than anywhere else. People tell that they remember him for his gentlemanly behaviour and how he always raised his hat to the ladies! He was generous, courteous and impeccably honest.

(Details supplied by his daughter, Dr Jenny Kemp).

William (Bill) Tench, Seaways

William Tench, former head of the UK Accident Investigation Board once described the job of the accident investigator as “…a fascinating challenge, occasionally exciting but always involving patient, even monotonous examination of every aspect of the accident – the tedium of which may erode those qualities of tenacity, imagination and perseverance which are fundamental to the effective investigator.”
(Tench, 1985)

Captain John Cook, a colleague, said,” I and Bill Tench worked for a long time introducing the cockpit voice recorder onto civil aircraft. I had already spent two years producing the first agreement on behalf of the Pilots Association with the first airline ever to have an agreement for carriage of the flight deck recorders. After that with Bill Tench we produced the cockpit voice recorders. Chinook ZD 576 crash, minutes of Evidence. FRIDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2001

He was the founder of “Boat Check”, the free boat watching service for all boat owners in the Creek. This continues to be a “flagship” operation of The Restronguet Creek Society. (Barry Simpson, August 2007).

3.10 Architecture, the Art of Building

3.10.1 Theory of Architecture

Vitruvius

 

• Commodity, firmness and delight: the ultimate synthesis

(EncycIopedia Britannica)

• It has been generally assumed that a complete theory of architecture is always concerned essentially in some way or another with these three interrelated terms, which, in Vitruvius’ Latin text, are given as firmitas, utilitas, and venustas (i.e.,structural stability, appropriate spatial accommodation and attractive appearance)

(Sir Denys Lasdun)

• A client should not in his wildest dreams, be able to imagine the architects design.

(Bill Dunster, one of Britain’s foremost green architects, Sunday Times, 01.04.07)

• “We are talking about people pulling down houses built in the 1960s and l970s, and replacing them with something new. These people want a result, the best of everything, and they are all asking for carbon negative. If you have any money these days., not addressing your carbon footprint is becoming socially unacceptable.

We aim to put back enough energy to compensate for the construction of the building”.

(Winston Churchill) “We shape our buildings and then our buildings shape us”.

3.10.1 Building design on The Point

At the end of the Second World War there were only five or six stone cottages and a handful of residences on The Point. Contemporary house building began in the mid 1950s and continues to the present day, although the availability of new building land is almost exhausted. The area most in demand in Cornwall for high quality house development is now the community of Rock on the North coast and adjacent coastal villages. Over the last few years five post-war dwellings have been demolished on The Point, some to be replaced by larger structures with enlarged footprints. (JBC)

The Point was one of the most attractive and desirable locations to be found in Cornwall and would be expected to attract architectural designs of the highest quality. However, not one postwar dwelling on The Point has been listed as being a building of architectural interest.

CABE chief executive Richard Simmons has called for local planners to show more courage in refusing poorly designed schemes, saying he wants to “puncture the myth that design based refusal will not be upheld at appeal”. According to CABE, many local authority planners, developers and amenity societies believe wrongly that the decision to refuse permission for schemes on the grounds of design is likely to be overturned at appeal. CABE says this belief could be a hangover from the national design policy of the 1980s, which stated that if an application was turned down on the basis of external appearance, “there may be grounds for an award of costs in an inquiry appeal”. Current policy, in the form of PPS1, supercedes this, stating “good design is indivisible from good planning”.The findings come as CABE issues new guidelines, Design at Appeal, offering advice on how to deal with design at an appeal stage, how to present evidence and how to get the right advice from qualified practitioners. Simmons said poorly designed schemes were regularly dismissed at appeal. “We want to encourage local authorities to take heart from this and refuse planning permission when the design of a scheme isn’t good enough”, he said.

(From Building Design, 26 May 2006)

In the UK, 98% of building works involve no architect at all. In France however, an architect has to be employed whenever the building area is in excess of 170 m2, or 800 m2 in respect of agricultural establishments. (JBC)

New development within the area should consider the palette of materials, colours and textures contained in the local vernacular. It should aim not simply to reproduce a pastiche version of what already exists but endeavour to encapsulate the character of the area in a new direction. In this way it will become a positive enhancement rather than a bland reproduction of a mass style already available in any part of the country.

(John Wilkie, Chair of the Exminster Village Design Working Party, April 2003)

These clearly defined design guidelines would appear to have been set aside by the planners in respect of development on The Point. (JBC)

3.11  The History of Housing on The Point

There are eighty or so domestic dwellings on The Point, including the flats within Porthgwidden. Some of these are of original traditional stone construction, including several cottages which have been modernised. One of the earliest recorded dwellings, from the late eighteenth century, is Harcourt Farm House, now a Grade 2 listed building. The remaining buildings on The Point are mostly post 1945.

Rosmerrin (1930) and a view of Harcourt from the Pandora Inn, Restronguet Creek.

Rosmerrin was built for William Polglaze in 1930. It features a flat roof and is in the style of several houses of unusual design built in or near St Ives and Carlyon Bay around the same time. It was later sold, the new owner  built a large greenhouse beside it for his market gardening business. This in turn was partly converted to a garage. The property also included a boathouse on the Creek, now part of Parc Minys. (RB)

The Boathouse. From left to right: the original building and the present building (2006)

Mr John Harding a former resident during the war advised that The Boathouse was built soon after the Second World War as a two storey structure. With a flat above the boathouse, a large slipway, a winch, and a small outdoor swimming pool washed by the tide. It was sold by Jeremy Fry (refer to Former Distinguished Residents) in 1970 to a Mr and Mrs Highwood, who commissioned the design by John Crowther for the flat roofed two storey house constructed over the original boathouse.

3.12 Award winning houses

The Point was one of the most attractive and desirable locations to be found in Cornwall and would be expected to attract architectural designs of the highest quality. However, not one post‑war dwelling on The Point has been listed as being a building of architectural interest.

The only two houses to be awarded the prestigious RIBA Housing Medal for the south west are within five miles of The Point and were built over forty years ago. These awards were made in the early 1960’s. (JBC)

3.12.1 Lanteglos, Penelewy

Lanteglos, Penelewey designed by Giles Blomfield Chartered Architect, Truro.
The first house to be awarded the RIBA Housing Medal for the south west. (JC)

3.12.2 Creek Vean House, Pill Creek.

The footbridge from the road to the house. Photograph, Dr. Ian Graymore

Creek Vean House, a Grade 2 listed building in nearby Feock. Creek Vean House was commissioned by the late Mr and Mrs Marcus Brumwell and jointly designed in 1964 by the now internationally acclaimed architects Lord Rogers and Lord Foster, Team 4. Rogers and Foster have each been awarded the Pritzker Prize, the highest international architectural award. (JBC)

Refer to appendix 11 for futher details.

Royal Institute of British Architects,
Directory of Architects.
www.architecture.com

 

3.12.3 Pillwood, Pill Creek, Feock

 

Architects, John Miller + Partners

The house was designed for vacations, with a plan that can be modified to suit varying numbers of people. The site is one of outstanding natural beauty bordering on the estuary of the river Fal.

The provision of two internal staircases in combination with sliding screen walls allows the house to be enjoyed in summer and winter months.

The structure consists of a tubular steel frame, with reinforced concrete floors. The external walls are of glass and G.R.P. polyurethane-filled panels, with neoprene joints. The steel frame is painted green, and the GRP panels are white. Background heating is provided by means of an under floor hot water system. The sloping glazing has retractable blinds installed to control solar gain.

 

RIBA Regional Award 1975

Refer to the website http://www.johnmillerandpartners.co.uk/feock.htm for photographs and further details of this fine house.

(JBC, April 2008)

3.12.4  Recently constructed, or extended houses, or houses under construction, photographed from the CCC verge or highway to illustrate their visual effect on the overall appearance of The Point. (JBC)

It seems to me that Restronguet Point has evolved over time and there is very little evidence of intelligent design, though obviously there are a few worthy features. I am sceptical that the future will be much different.

(Mark Kemp, Porthgwidden, March 2007)

Extensions and Alterations to Laundry Cottage, Spring 2009.

Architect, to be advised.

 

Photograph, IG.

Alterations to Kelvin, completion, autumn 2009.

Robin Spence, Chartered Architect,

West Sussex.

3.12.5 An Alternative

Photograph, Duccio Malagamba.

House,
Lugar Das
Carvalhinhas,Portugal

Architect
Alvaro Leite Siza

Like father like son, Alvaro Leite Suza bears the same name as his father, and this house in northern Portugal manifests all the qualities of elegant reticence that have come to categorise the Porto maestro’s oeuvre. However when commissioned to build a weekend house on an impossibly sloping site, Siza junior throws reticence to the winds. Not for him some tame finessing of tortuous terrain, instead he makes a virtue out of adversity and the house becomes topography in the most literal sense, a cascade of compact concrete compartments tumbling down a hill linked by vertiginous flights of stairs. With a sharply sloping site (the incline is about 30degrees, a tight budget, and an expansive brief (the usual living quarters, three bedrooms, plus a swimming pool), the challenges were immediately apparent. Yet the long thin plot did have the advantage of being south- facing with good views. Rather than dig in or cantilever out. Siza opted to go with the challenging terrain and design a series of self-contained terraced blocks that tip down the slope. The external stair forms a semi public route up and through the site to the main road at the top, while the internal one weaves through the various spaces. Each block contains a particular function and their flat roofs provide patio spaces for the volume above.

From the road, the house is virtually invisible. The sequence of spaces begins with an office at the top then drops down to the main living, dining and kitchen area. The three bedrooms are identical cubes but, to vary what might have been a rather repetitive geometry, each cube is placed at a 45 degree angle to the main axis, creating interstitial zones for dressing and laundry. Terminating the long descent, plant and pool occupy the lowest level some 30m below the entrance.
© (Catherine Slessor, The Architectural Review, May 2007.

3.12.6 Future development on The Point?

Over the forty odd years that I have lived in The Point I have become increasingly aware of the exciting possibility of providing high quality residential accommodation for the members of the community, who no longer require a large property with a large, difficult to manage garden and high and increasing maintenance costs. The residents would fund their purchase or long term lease from the sale of their properties. The potential occupiers would be from The Point or elsewhere.

It would be relatively easy to assemble a suitable site, comprising of a large house, on which to build the replacement structure by taking in a small property on each side. The development would be staged, to demolish the central house and construct a flat development, maybe at least five stories in height, built into the ground, The ten flats to contain one, two, or three bedrooms, in combination, two flats to a floor, with a central underground garage to contain maybe 15 residents cars, The provision, by the management, of a car or mini bus service to Truro or Falmouth, for those occupants without a car. A central small workshop for the residents, and to provide running repairs and maintenance by the manager. Local firms  would be retained to provide, electrical, plumbing, heating, decorating and  landscape gardening maintenance services on a continuing basis. The development to be administered by a committee of residents with a permanent manager/ maintenance man/driver. Existing slipways and/or boathouses would be retained.

Sustainable criteria.

The design would incorporate the latest sustainable systems:

• high levels of insulation and glazing,
• a solar thermal hot water system,
• low energy refrigerators and, appliances  
• a solar photovoltaic electricity producing cell system,
• whole house ventilation with heat recovery using Geothermal ground source heat pumps.

 

I  believe this proposal to be viable,

John Crowther, Chartered Architect and Editor, October 2010.

3.12.7 The demolition and rebuilding of Trenhayle

Planning permission has been granted for the demolition and rebuiding of Trenhayle. Construction will be completed by the New Year 2011. This house is by far the most advanced in the specifying of sustainable techniques. A photograph of the completed house will be published.

3.13  Panoramas and views

Looking towards the Carrick Roads from Porthgwidden, c.1840
(from Edward Twycross, Mansions of England and Wales, London 1846).

The panoramic views from The Point are magnificent. To the south and southeast, the rising of the sun; to the southwest and west, the midday sun; and to the west and northwest, the afternoon and evening sun. In inclement weather, however, those properties exposed to the southeast and west can suffer from strong winds.

Those properties facing south enjoy the long view to St Just and Mylor and to the mouth of the Fal and Restronguet Weir, whilst those facing west enjoy views of the Pandora Inn and Restronguet Creek.

View from the ninth hole on the Porthgwidden golf course, c.1910, now part of the lower garden of Bellevue.

(Photo sourced by JBC)

3.14 Views over the The Carrick Roads, Restronguet Wier
and Restronguet Creek

Sunrise over to the Carrick Roads & Winter view in colour

View to the Pandora from Harcourt & View over to Restronguet Wier

The Carrick Roads to the English Channel & View over Restronguet Creek from Predeaux House. (Photograph, Derek Reed)                                            

3.15  Birdlife

Little Egret and Black Headed Gull

Anyone in Restronguet Point who spends time in the garden or who puts out food on a bird table knows that the area has a wide variety of common birds, with a generous number of less common species visiting us from neighbouring locations.

One of the benefits of living on The Point is the proximity to two special bird habitats. On the western side there is a tidal creek where a great variety of waders and waterside birds come to feed along the water's edge. Examples of these are the Grey Heron, Little Egret, Dunlin, Shelduck, Teal, Mallard, Black‑Tailed Godwit, Curlew and Redshank. They may be seen to advantage from the creek side walks close to the foreshore, especially with binoculars of 8x or 10x magnification.

On the eastern side of The Point are the deep waters of the Carrick Roads extending out into Falmouth Bay. Here seabirds, divers, grebes and sea ducks skilfully pursue their fishing. These birds can be viewed from a boat – again, binoculars are useful – or they can be seen from the shore using more powerful optics such as a telescope of 60x or so magnification mounted on a tripod. Some typical offshore seabirds to be seen are the Cormorant, Gannet, Guillemot, Fulmar, Razorbill, Slovenian Grebe and the Black Throated and Great Northern Divers.

If you are interested in knowing more about birds, the Cornwall Bird Watching and Preservation Society and the RSPB Cornwall Members' Group organise a regular programme of events. If you see a bird which you think may be a rarity, our local expert Michael May would be very interested to know.
(Tom Rouncefield, July 2005)

Bird Watching in the Fal Estuary and Carrick Roads
Cormorant, Shag, Grey Heron, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Kingfisher and Raven are present ail year.

Winter
Little Egret, Great Crested Grebes, Teal, Widgeon; Sea ducks including Eider, Common Winter Scoter, Long Tailed Duck and Goosander. Waders include Dunlin Redshank, Greenshank Bar tailed Godwit Curlew and Snipe.

Spring
Most waders and water birds depart by mid - April.

Summer
Waders return mid July including Spotted Redshank and Green Sandpiper.

Autumn
Little Egret population increases from mid August and wader numbers and species increase through August and September including Ringed Plover and Greenshank.
Osprey and Peregrine sightings possible in October.

(Info@chelseahousehotel.co.uk)

3.16 American Servicemen stationed at Restronguet Point

Restronguet Point was the home to some 25 American servicemen in the spring of 1944, to protect Falmouth Harbour and the Carrick Roads from low flying german aircraft. They manned two gun emplacements,  first unit was equipped with an anti aircraft gun and the second unit with a machine gun, sited on the two present lay- byes almost opposite and below Carlys and Farther Down.

The establishment of the gun sites took in the field below the lay byes for the latrines. The accommodation tents and the bell tent used for communal activities together with the timber cookhouse were located in aplot on the opposite side of the road. Following the demolition of the cookhouse, some of the timber, which was in short supply at the time, was used in the construction of the original roof to Parc Minys.

Terry Blackburn and his brothers operated the ferry to the Pandora, when they were available.  The Americans also acquired a punt, which they gave to the Blackburn family when they left. The brothers rowed the Americans over to the Pandora, and were well rewarded with sweets, gum and fruit, which were almost unobtainable in this country at the time.

Mr. Blackburn remembers the bombing of the Falmouth docks and the machine gunning of fishermen within Restronguet Creek.  He also remembers the several bombs that exploded in Harcourt Field and the bomb which landed to the rear of the garden of Tremanor. A stick of bombs exploded in Restronguet Creek on the old mine bank after an aborted attempt to bomb the docks.

(Terry Blackburn in discussion with JBC, November 2007).

(By email, JBC referred the reference to the timbers from the cookhouse being used in the roof to Parc Minys, to Commander Jonathan Rich and his wife, Marianne, the present owners, then on detachment to Washington, USA.  His reply referring to the recent redesign of the property is reproduced below), 

“No timbers were replaced in the roof so there may be originals there.  I am not aware of what work was carried out by our predecessors who would have re-roofed before us.However, we did find at least one internal joist that was of extremely heavy construction and we assessed at the time that it must have come from the US encampment.  There was no doubt that it was an original timber, it had the wrong dimensions for anything of the 70s or later and definitely looked 1940s era.I am certain there are others remaining and specifically none were removed during our renovation; as you are aware it is in our nature to be environmentally, historically and locally sensitive in all we do to our property and its surroundings”. 

Mr John Harding, a resident on the Point at the time, then living at Steep Holm, now Harbour Lights remembers other timbers stored on the the decks of the barges attached to the three German submarines temporarily beached on the shore line within the Creek, in 1945 being recovered and stored in the pit for reuse within several properties on The Point.

He also remembers the direct hit by a bomb on the road to the Point some fifty yards above Laundry Cottage. The crater closed the road. A second bomb exploded on the shore rocks to the Carrick Roads to the south.  (JBC, January 2009.)

3.17 Extracts from “A Child’s War in Cornwall”, reproduced by permission of the Author, John C. Harding, referring to German aircraft movements over the Point during the later stages of the WW2. Published by Rylands, 2010, £19.99, obtainable from the National Trust, Trelissick, and major booksellers.

The following extracts from the book refer in detail to the air activities on or near the Point. It should be remembered that The City Hospital in Truro was severely damaged, Penweathers Railway junction bombed, (I watched the bombs falling from the Dornier 18), and the Falmouth Docks severely damaged. The glow of the fires from the Blitz of Plymouth could be clearly seen from Truro. The squadrons of German bombers on route to South Wales could also be seen on a clear summers night from the ground. John Crowther, Editor).

Introduction.

Over sixty-five years have passed since we lived in Cornwall. I found myself leaning on the gate of the house where we lived — now called ‘Harbour Lights’ - but it was ‘Steep Holm’ when we lived there. Dad had named it after the island in the Bristol Channel where he had lived for a short while.
I looked out over the Fal Estuary, as lovely now as it always was; in many parts just exactly the same as the day we left. My mind drifted back over the years and I could almost hear the sounds of Glen Miller’s music drifting across the water from ships loaded with men and machinery waiting to cross the Channel, where they would take part in one of the most historic battles in history. Often we are asked “How can you remember events from so long ago?” The answer is quite simply, “We never forgot.”
John C. Harding

Page 58

We were heading towards Pennarow Point when we saw it, a seaplane, not more than five hundred yards dead ahead, it was very close in to the shore, dark in colour, and its engines were running.
Aircraft recognition was second nature to us, all schoolboys, and many girls, could identify an aircraft type at a glance. One passing through a break in the clouds was enough, friend or foe, fighter or bomber, it made little difference. Sometimes just the sound of its engines was enough, our lives could depend on it. But this seaplane, dark in colour with two engines, had no markings.

We were baffled, action and quick thinking was required, the Swordfish would not sail into the nearest shore, Mylor, because that was up-wind. Turning and getting out of there, going back the way we had come, was probably the best option, however, to do so faced the risk of stalling while turning, plus we would be side-on to the strange looking aircraft. There was only one option left, running downwind and making for a freighter that had been badly damaged and was aground off the St Mawes coast. We let out the sail, pointed her bow at the freighter and ‘ran with it’, keeping an eye on the mystery plane.

“A Catalina,” suggested Ted.
“The floats are different,” said John Salmon, the most knowledgeable aircraft buff. “Italian I’d say.”
The aircraft had a long canopy with a machine gun mounted; its motors were revving up. It turned, travelled out into the mouth of the estuary about three hundred yards or so, stopped for a little while then went back into the shore. Three or four minutes later it repeated the whole operation, moving out stopping then returning. Three times it did this then it finally turned, pointed out to sea and opened up its motors. Taxiing out into the open water she took off, flying at only twenty feet or so above the sea and finally disappearing from view. The sea plane was never positively identified, however, over the following days, pawing over our aircraft recognition books we believe it was a Heinkel He115.

 

Heinkel He115.

We were in a dilemma should we head for the shore and run to St Mawes find someone, anyone, who could telephone the authorities in Falmouth, whoever they were. Although we hadn’t seen any markings we were certain the seaplane was up to no good, that someone should be informed, but who? This was a time when ‘Careless talk cost lives’.

We had never been to St Mawes, the chances of seeing a policeman or a naval officer were, as far as we knew, slim. Added to which we had no shoes on. Picture it, three bare-footed boys, unknown to the locals, running around like headless chickens looking for, well, anyone who looked ‘official’, to tell them that the Germans had landed across the water at Mylor. I think not!

So we decided to row home as fast as we could, to where we were known. I must point out here that not one of us had ever used a telephone, and didn’t have any money. There were no 999 facilities then, and as far as we were aware not one house had a telephone installed. There were no chains of command, no, ‘if you see anything suspicious call this number or that number’. No, wind a handle tell the old biddy at the other end, that you are twelve years old, and that three of us had seen a German plane that could be laying mines in a shipping lane.

Most neighbours were polite and listened, one laughed. But we knew someone who would at least listen, Mr Ferris. A finer man would be hard to find; oyster trawler man in the winter time, mackerel fisherman in the summer, we had often spoken to him, and he to us, as equals. We helped him bring his day’s catch up the beach, often scrubbed oil off his white boat, and begged him to take us with him to the Manacles rocks fishing. The answer was always the same as given by the skipper of the Shamrock, “leave those waters to us old uns.”

Page 62
I haven’t an answer to the phenomenon that took place in August 1942, but here are the facts. We know that on the night in question there was a total eclipse of the moon. In the morning we were amazed to find the net spread out along the shore, high and dry, the anchor and mooring stone were still attached. Fish of all varieties filled every square foot, they had hit the net with such force that the net had been forced back over their bodies; usually they were held by the net just over the gills. It took a week of our spare time to remove the fish and repair the net; most of the catch was facing the same way.

So what caused it? Why did so many fish hit the net at high speed? We had often seen dolphins going up and down the channel but never had we seen them close in to the shore. We had seen a seal a number of times, its head just above the water, watching our antics. I have even thought of a miniature submarine practicing at night, close in to the shore, perhaps. We had seen commandos in camouflage-coloured kayaks close in, but they would hardly drive fish into what must have been a frenzy.

Did the Germans take advantage of a moonlit night with a period of known darkness to land an agent; and don’t be too quick to put this theory down as schoolboy imagination just yet.
We are left with one other possible cause that is worthy of serious consideration, the total eclipse of the moon. Were the fish disorientated by gravitation variations?
We didn’t hear the sirens, the sound of aircraft, or the explosions, which is not as strange as it sounds. We often heard bumps in the night, depth charges or heavy gunfire out in the Channel, and air raids on Falmouth. We were often disturbed by the sound of aircraft too, friend or foe, waking up and listening for a while, before pulling the bedclothes over our heads and going back to sleep.
However, the two bombs that fell that night were less than a quarter of a mile away. We ate our breakfast oblivious of the fact that windows had been broken in our garage by the blast from the two bombs.

On our way to school one or two locals were standing in the road as we approached. There it was a large crater, the centre of which was smack in the middle of the highway. If the bomb aimer had intended — for reasons best known to himself — to cut the lower part of Restronguet Point off from the rest of England, then he had hit the bull’s eye.
Of course it could be that a friendly aircraft returning from a mission had for one reason or another jettisoned their bombs, hence no sirens, but it was rumoured that several bombs had fallen into the estuary that night. We wished we had known as there could have been stunned fish out there for the taking.

We scouted around the perimeter of the crater. There was only just enough room to pass. Then up the hill to catch the bus to school. That was it really, a crater, a large hole in the road. We had all the shrapnel we wanted, the bartering rate for bomb bits was at an all time low, although shell nose cones were in big demand, as were live .303 cartridges, and leaflets dropped by the Luftwaffe.
On the way home that evening the crater had been filled in and the road reinstated. The workmen were packing up, but they informed us that a second bomb had fallen on the beach below the laundry.

 

Page 78.

It was about seven thirty in the evening — double summer time — when ‘it’ paid its first of many visits. We were in bed when the sirens at Falmouth sounded, followed by others in the area. Before the wailing sound had reached its third climbing note we were out of the front door, the four of us, Anne, Jean, Bob and me. We immediately recognized the ‘hunting’ sound of a German bomber’s engines, and there it was flying low over St Just in Roseland, heading up river. It disappeared from view, heading north, over Trelissick, very low, down over and towards the estuary, and skimming the sea, banked and headed towards us.

There was a low wall at the side of the house and we ran behind it, looking over the top. We watched as the aircraft passed in front of the house out of our sight, then ran to the other side and watched as it flew off over Greatwood House at Mylor, on the far side of the creek.
Mum, Dad, and our older sisters had a better view looking out of the kitchen window. It repeated its flight path exactly, before flying off out to sea.

About two weeks later, it could have been longer, the Junkers 88 returned; twice it circled, following the same route as before. Two or three weeks later it made another visit, each time, as the days became longer, later in the evening, always appearing about sunset. Mum and Dad said that the pilot waved to them as it passed by at sea level, the height of the aircraft and the kitchen window being the same.

Junkers, Ju 88

Who was he and what was the purpose of his daredevil sorties?
Rumours were rife, after all, never once was a bomb dropped, or cannon fired, and he was too low for photographic reconnaissance.

Mr Polglaze thought that the pilot had been a yachtsman before the war, had fond memories of the area, and returning from a bombing raid, diverted to the area he loved. But then Mr Polglaze would say that, he always saw the best in everything and everybody.

Our thoughts were that he was dropping supplies for a German agent camping out in the woods near the King Harry reaches. The Home guard, with loaded rifles, set up an ambush, while farmers had shotguns handy.

We waited to see if the pilot would wave to us, without success. However we were, in the not too distant future, to get our moments of excitement, and our German ‘friends’ in the Junkers would take a leading role.
Mary and June were returning from King Harry. They had passed Trelissick House and were taking a short cut across a field where they would rejoin the road to Feock, here they spotted a man on the far side of a copse. As they watched he moved a short distance, then took a pair of binoculars out from under his coat, and slowly scanned the estuary.

At Pill Creek lived a couple who had, allegedly, lived in Germany before the war. Their house was a short distance away from where my sisters had seen the suspicious looking character.
The girls hurried home and told Dad what they had seen, and he in turn got on his motor bike and headed off into the yonder. The ‘spy’ incident was not mentioned again, at least for a week or so.
I recall that at the time ‘spy’ stories were rife; no doubt in the Punch Bowl and Ladle and the Pandora Inn, strangers were given the once over.
An amateur sleuth following up a hunch near Veryan was himself arrested and spent a night locked up in the local police house. Everyone had a theory and we had ours, not that we knew who the spy was, or for that matter where he lived but we were certain that a spy existed, although our many searches in the area where we suspected he was camped ended empty handed.

Page 80

The vessel was painted in a light brown colour, and she was lying low in the water. Suddenly a loud high-pitched screaming sound filled the air, and very low over the fields on the opposite side of the estuary three aircraft appeared, one behind the other. They pounced on the freighter just over a mile away. Machine guns rattled, and Joe Woolcock a school friend who was on his first, and last, visit to the ‘front line’, slid down the rope and ran. He later told us that he didn’t stop running until he was home, two miles away. I shouted to Mum, “Get in quick they are Focke-Wulf 190s” — she proudly repeated those words to all in sundry for some time after.

Focke-Wulf 190

One after the other the German aircraft dived at the ship, dropping one bomb each, then headed out over the water towards us before banking to their left. Anti-aircraft cannons on the LSTs and near St Mawes opened up; plumes of water from the three bombs lifted into the air around the ship — three near misses, thank goodness. The whole incident lasted only two or three minutes then silence, they were gone, disappearing low over the sea as fast as they came.

Once again rumours were rife: ‘one crew member had been killed’, ‘one of the aircraft had been hit’, but, most disturbing of all, ‘she was loaded with ammunition destined for the invasion. If so, and if one of those bombs had hit, well, the outcome does not bear thinking about’!

During wartime the way things were is the way they are, there were no ‘ifs’. Having said that and looking back, one cannot help wondering what would have happened if one of the three bombs had hit the ship. There could have been one of the largest explosions in Europe during the Second World War. The resulting catastrophic destruction would have been widespread, not to mention the ships moored nearby, destined for the beaches of Normandy

Eric came to see us that evening, he listened a lot and said little, he didn’t answer our main question, “How did the German aircraft know that ship was there? They came over the hill right above it, and without having to veer left or right just pounced. Coincidence perhaps, luck maybe, or were they tipped off, and if so, by whom? From Trelissick there is an uninterrupted view of that area.

Page 86

Anne and Jean were singing, the doors were open, their harmonies drifting along the landing. Then above the singing we heard it, the sirens were sounding, a distant sound of an aircraft could be heard. Looking out of the window told us, this is what we had been waiting for; the Junkers 88 was over St Mawes heading north. Slippers on, out of the front door, up the drive, the girls in their dressing gowns, Bob in his pyjamas, me in pyjama bottoms only.

Up the drive we ran racing a German bomber — we had to win, we had to see how they liked it, being on the receiving end.
Looking over our shoulders we could just make out the silhouette of the bomber as it banked for the return low-level part of its sortie; we would be just in time. Our parents and older sisters would be looking out of the kitchen window, unaware that we were in on the action; they would be waving and the pilot might be returning their gesture, but he was about to receive the American version, an anti-aircraft shell.

(Note, the US477 Battery Battalion manned a gun emplacement within the now second car park on the south on the Point, refer to section 3.16). John Crowther, Editor.

Silence, not a sound, the guns stood motionless. The sergeant had seen the danger and ordered “hold fire”. The German had flown between the gun and the row of LSTs. Hit the plane they might have, but firing a shell into the ships was a real possibility lying just half a mile away, three abreast, loaded with tanks, and petrol.
We could imagine the German pilot laughing. The Junkers 88 whistled past, I could have hit it with my catapult, guns opened up from ships, and from shore batteries, mostly very wide of the target. The noise all around was horrendous; the GIs had been face to face with the enemy for the first time. We stood on the wall, would the German dare make another?
“Pass,” I shouted at the top of my voice.
“It will make another attempt,” a deep American voice shouted, “get your head down boy that’s a German plane.” The bomber was lost from view; the sky over the mouth of the Estuary was alight with tracer fire.

Every ship in the harbour together with the battery at St Mawes had opened up. Gradually the gunfire stopped. The aircraft didn’t return that night or ever again, rumour had it that it had been shot down. We went home to our beds; a part of me hoped that our visitor had escaped.

Page 89

A meeting was held up ‘our tree’; a situation had arisen that would ease Mr Harnett’s problems. As I have mentioned, the construction was taking place near Malpas of large pontoons called ‘Rhinos’. We had no idea at that time what they were to be used for, but we now know they carried tanks and heavy equipment ashore on D Day before the Mulberry Harbour was in place. Later they were moored in line off the coast of Normandy and used as a breakwater.

After launching at Sunny Corner, Malpas the pontoons were grounded in creeks up and down the Fal. Two were on the shore under Harcourt, one of which had large heavy planks of teak or mahogany strewn over the deck.
In our defence they were not lashed together, and would have washed overboard long before reaching France. However the following is a confession.

Due to the geographical location of the gun site, the GIs were somewhat cut off where evening entertainment was concerned. The ferry across to the Pandora Inn stopped at five or thereabouts, and the last bus to Truro was in the early evening. For those wishing to attend the dances held at Mylor Bridge or Falmouth, a boat trip to Mylor Harbour was the only option and our boat, the Swordfish was favourite. A mile or so by boat would save eight or ten miles walking — each way. When we were approached we explained that lending the boat was out of the question, owners of every vessel were responsible for immobilising their craft after dark.

So, on the one hand we needed help ‘salvaging’ large planks of timber, on the other the GIs longed to have the ‘last dance’ with English girls. So a deal was agreed and Mr Harnett — unknown to him at the time — would be back in business. We would undertake the ferrying side of things.
It was not, for us, that straightforward. To be caught on the water at night, only a week or so from the invasion date, could have been, at best, the end of the Swordfish. But the Yanks had nothing to lose, they could hardly have been put in clink just before the ‘big day’, and they knew it.
And so ‘Operation Timber’ was put into action. The conditions were ideal, a high tide, and a reasonably calm sea. Bob and Terry were not too keen, so Ted, Hank and Jo, plus myself and one other set off in the late evening dusk. We had plenty of rope and were well briefed; silence was mandatory, just the creaking and splashing of the oars.

Throwing a line over a bollard on the pontoon three of us were on board in no time. We placed two planks at the side of the pontoon on to which we stacked large, heavy planks each one taking two of us to lift. Lashing them together and using other planks as levers, over the side they went with a splash that could have been heard as far away as the Pandora Inn.
Ted was taking care of the boat ready to take us off and the operation lasted no more than ten minutes. We were soon on our way back, towing a raft of the very best timber. Thank goodness the tide was in our favour.

We rounded the Point with the raft in tow, and landed just under a clump of young conifers. Casting off, the raft carried on to the shore where eight or ten ‘navvies’ in GI’s uniforms carried them, two to each plank, and quietly stacked them out of sight. Within 20 minutes the operation was over. It had been agreed that Mr Harnett would not be told anything about the operation until after the invasion had taken place.

In the surrounding area today, sixty-five years later, there are houses with banisters, roofs and doors made by a craftsman from the very best timber. To those people lucky enough to live there, and perhaps wonder where the wood came from - I know, ‘from under a mulberry bush!’

Today there are living at Restronguet Point a dedicated team known as ‘Friends of Restronguet Point’. I quote from a report of January 2009 from Commander Jonathan Rich and his wife Marianne, the present owners of one of the properties. “I am not aware of what work was carried out by our predecessors who would have re-roofed before us. However, we did find at least one joist that was of extremely heavy construction and definitely looked 1940s era.”

 

3.17.1 A dive bomber over Restronguet Creek.

From ANNNE MARTIN ,

PRINCE GEORGE, British Columbia, Canada 
By email, October 24th, 2010

Junkers 87 G-1 Stuka dive bomber

I remember Betty Jacobson waved a tea towel at a passing plane as she stood on the front door step of her parents' house and was mortified when she saw the Swastikas on the wings. Our incident was a week or so after that. It was probably in late spring 1940. My father was home on leave and we rowed together across the creek to the Pandora Inn opposite. Halfway across, a German Stuka flew up the creek and strafed us. My father flung himself forwards to cover me and, as I collapsed under him, I could see and hear the bullets hitting the water all around us.