Boscastle, on the north coast of Cornwall, is a picturesque old fishing village and port where cargoes of coal, salt, beer, brick and limestone arrived, and slates, minerals, china clay and corn were taken away. Boscastle is the only natural harbour along 50 miles of savage coastline, but it's not an easy one. In Victorian times, when it was a thriving port, ships were brought in safely by teams of men manipulating ropes that were strung from the vessel to stone bollards on either side of the harbour quays.
There are many stories of old wrecks and smugglers, and there is a carved ship's figurehead from the Jessie Logan, which ran aground on rocks in 1843. The narrow entrance to the harbour is bounded on one side by Willapark and on the other by the Profile Rock which resembles Queen Victoria. Nearby is the blowhole, which explodes in a shower of spray when the tide is right, and is sometimes, called the "Devil's Bellows". Richard Grenville built the inner jetty in 1584.
There is a 15lh-century granite corn measure in the war memorial garden, and behind the war memorial is the castle mound - site of Bottreaux Castle dating back to 1080, and from which Boscastle takes its name. |
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