Portscatho Beach Photo

Portscatho

The ancient village of Portscatho lies sheltered on the shore of Gerrans Bay on the south-east coast of Cornwall. The name in Cornish means "Rowing Boat Harbour". An old stone jetty still shelters a few local fishing boats but like so many other once-busy West Country fishing villages, Portscatho .now relies for its income on the tourist trade. A fair number of the local cottages are holiday lets and the village shops and the excellent Plume of Feathers pub welcome holiday makers from all destinations. There is a small beach immediately fronting the village and a larger beach (Porthcurnick) just a short distance around the bay. A small artists' community strives to preserve in paint the beauty of this section of the Cornish coastline. A noteworthy village feature is a memorial plinth set overlooking the harbour and dedicated to the 26,380 servicemen who lost their lives in Burma during WWII. The village has an old seaman's chapel on Chapel Point where its founder William Billing (a pious Portscatho fisherman) lies buried beneath his own pulpit; but the Parish Church is set atop the hillside in the neighbouring village of Gerrans. Gerrans also has shops, a pub and shares Portscatho's magnificent view out across the bay.

© Loco Steve and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence