Percuil River
The Percuil River is an estuary and stream draining the southern part of the Roseland Peninsula of Cornwall, and is one of three major tidal creeks of the River Fal, entering the Carrick Roads.
St Mawes, a small port and holiday destination of is on the western shore and is linked to Place Creek on the eastern shore by the Place Ferry. The ferry is used by walkers on the South West Coast Path.
Geography
The Percuil River is one of three major tidal creeks of the River Fal which flows into the deep tidal basin of Carrick Roads and out into Falmouth Bay.
The creek is a 'ria', or drowned river valley which started to form in the Quaternary period. Sea-level rise during the Ipswichian interglacial flooded the valley, followed by the Devensian glacial, where sea-levels fell to 42 m below today's tides and the River Fal cut a deep sinous valley into the bedrock. As the climate warmed, sea-levels rose again and the arctic tundra gave way to woodland. The sea continued to rise drowning the trees, leaving peat deposits which have been exposed nearby at Maenporth and Falmouth.[1]
The stream and estuary combined are seven miles long: the stream rises to the north of the A3078 near Treworthal (SW884387). The highest tidal limit is at Trethern Mill where the streams runs for four miles to enter the River Fal between Castle Point and Carricknath Point. At Trethern Mill the river is known as Trethem Creek (SW860350) and there are four named minor creeks on the eastern side of the Percuil River where the valley of small streams enter the estuary. From north to south they are Polingey Creek (SW863350), Pelyn Creek (SW861339), Porth Creek (SW860334) and Place (SW853324). Within the estuary the steep-sided banks provides a sheltered harbour in contrast to the exposed coast of Falmouth Bay, and the eastern coast of Roseland. The land around is largely anciently enclosed farmland containing well-drained, fine loamy soils with both arable and pastoral farming. Of similar early origin are the network of roads, tracks and farmsteads which surround the stream, with the exception of the lower eastern bank from St Mawes Castle to beyond Povarth Point, which is mostly late 20th-century housing.[2]
River trade
A series of small quays on the west side of the creek served the farms, and were places where boats could moor while waiting to go upstream on the rising tide. At the head of the estuary was Trethem Quay (SW861364), where there was a water mill, and coal was still being unloaded well into the 20th-century. There was a lime kiln at Trewince Quay and pilchard cellars too (SW860335) and on the opposite shore at The Piory (SW857338) stood a coal store, lime kiln, malthouse and a quay. As well as the tidal mill, mentioned above, at Point there were another two at the head of Polingey and Porth Creeks.[2]
To the north of Place, and up river, is Percuil (SW858340), which is the destination of the road which links the river to Gerrans and Portscatho. There were pilchard cellars here in the late 16th-century and during the 19th-century there was a malthouse and coal store. Coal, guano for manure, oysters and roadstone were discharged from barges and ketches on to the beach, which was also used for ship repair and cleaning. The St Mawes steamer was met twice daily by a wagonette from Gerrans for mail and passengers and the 19th-century slipway still exists. To the south is an oyster keep.
In the 19th-century there were boatyards with associated quays and pilchards cellars around Polvarth Point (SW854327), and at Freshwater Beach to the north there was a boatyard founded by the Peters family in 1790. The Freshwater Beach yard built working boats and was famous for their six-oar pilot gigs]]. During the War, landing craft for the Normandy landings were converted and maintained at Polvarth. During the 20th-century St Mawes expanded along the west side of the estuary and Polvarth is now part of the village.[2]
Recreation
The St Mawes to Place ferry links the two shores of the Percuil River and is necessary for those walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path, which runs from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. The ferry can also be used for shorter walks along the river and creeks and to visit Portscatho and St Anthony Head.[3]
See also
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Percuil River) |
References
- ↑ Stapleton, C; Pethick, J (1996). The Fal Estuary: Coastal Processes and Conservation. English Nature.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ratcliffe, Jeanette (1997). Fal Estuary Historic Audit. Truro: Cornwall Archaeological Unit. pp. 61-3. ISBN 1 898166 12 9.
- ↑ "Place Ferry Timetable". http://www.falriver.co.uk/getting-about/ferries/place-ferry/timetable. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
