Cornwall
A beautiful working fishing villiage in St Austell Bay, Cornwall.
Brief History:
The villiage was formally two hamlets, each side of the the river which still flows into the harbour today (although much reduced in water flow). The two hamlets were first recorded in 1313 as St Meva and St Issey. I was told that locals from each villiage were not forbidden to marry residents from the other villiage. John Trewollas built the first pier in 1430. The harbour has since been up with an outer and inner harbour being formed. The fishing boats using the inner harbour to access the fish landing quay built in the 1960's. The town's character has hardly changed over time and is a laberynth of narrow twisting streets leading to the harbour. More information can be found here.
Places of interest:
A ferry service between Mevagissey and Fowey sails from the outer harbour and is reasonably priced. A very good museum is located at the North Side of the inner harbour. The old Lifeboat station building now serves as an aquarium which, although small, is worth visiting. Self drive powerboats can be hired at the foot of the lifeboat slipway and again is reasonably priced (was £18/hour/per boat, June 2009) and accomodates up to 6 people per boat.
Additional notes:
The best access is by the B2273 (Valley Road). Do not be tempted to use Sat Nav to find a short cut. I did and found the road selected (Tregoney Hill) was little more than a paved farm track with passing places, a hairpin bend above the town and a 'T' junction in the town with an extremely narrow 2-way street that was very difficult to negotiate right or left!