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Charlestown, designed by the foremost civil
engineer of the day - John Smeaton FRS (1724-92) - is one of the
finest examples of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century
industrial harbour works in Britain. It is also the best preserved
china-clay and copper ore port of its period anywhere in the
world.
Charlestown was built for Charles Rashleigh
(1747-1825), one of three local industrialists who each created a
mineral harbour along this stretch of coastline in St Austell Bay.
It also represents a rare example of a mineral port with its own
defences since its approaches are overlooked by the Charlestown
Battery (late eighteenth century); a crenellated walled enclosure
survives.
The evidence for several phases of expansion and
building is particularly well preserved. The settlement is in the
form of a ribbon that follows Charlestown Road (late eighteenth
century) down to the sea. Charlestown Iron Foundry (1827) and the
site of Charlestown House tin smelter (1834) lie higher up the
hill to the east and west of Charlestown Road. |
| The history of Charlestown is bound up with copper and clay.
Both copper ore and china-clay were bulky, heavy products, which
had no end-use within the county and had to be transported from
the mines and pits to sea-ports for shipment. Copper ore went to
the South Wales smelters and china clay and china stone to the
Potteries. When quantities were small and the industries in their
infant stage, the use of sheltered coves for export sufficed.
Ships were run up on the beach at high tide, loaded directly from
horse-drawn wagons, and were floated off on the flood. Bad weather
made this a risky business at any time of year, and placed an
inevitable constraint on the growing extractive industries of the
county. Cornwall at this time (circa 1790) had many small fishing
ports, but very few deep-water harbours suitable for merchant
shipping. In the St. Austell area only Fowey provided good
facilities, but this port was too distant from the sources of
production for the copper and clay industries until the advent of
railways. |
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| The area around St. Austell was unusual in that it had three
local squires who each built a harbour to export copper ore and
china-clay: Charles Rashleigh of Menabilly and Duporth, Sir
Christopher Hawkins of Trewithen, and Joseph Treffry of Place,
Fowey. These three landed gentry, turned entrepreneurs, created
Charlestown (built 1792-1799 by Rashleigh),
Pentewan (built
1819-1824 by Hawkins), and Par Harbour (built 1829-1835 by
Treffry). Treffry, who was a civil engineer by inclination if not
training, went on to build tramways, a canal, and the great
viaduct in the
Luxulyan Valley. Both Rashleigh and Hawkins seemed
content to control only their respective outlets of trade and reap
their dues as befitted gentlemen. In 1790 the hamlets of Higher and Lower Polmear consisted only
of a farm, a few cottages, and a fish cellar. The place-name of
Polmear was first recorded in 1403 as 'Porthmeur'. Its Cornish
name contains the elements porth 'cove' and meor 'big, great'.
Polmear is therefore evidently a settlement of medieval origin,
which before the mid 18th century had become two fishing and
farming hamlets, Lower Polmear being situated at the head of the
beach and Higher Polmear further inland.
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| Charles Rashleigh had acquired Polmear in 1784 as part of a
larger land deal. He engaged the services of John Smeaton to
design the new harbour, which was begun in 1792. Although Smeaton
died the same year, the work was carried out to his design, and
involved the construction of a breakwater and outer harbour, an
inner wet dock, and a seven-mile leat to bring water from the Luxulyan Valley. This fed two reservoirs on the west of the
village, which were used to scour the outer harbour and keep the
wet dock full. Polmear became known as Charles Town very soon
after the works commenced. The first account of the harbour dates
from 1796, when Hatchett made a tour of Cornwall: |
"Went with Mr C and Mr Jonathan Rashleigh to see
Charles Town built by the former. The Town, the Pier of granite
and a considerable Wet Dock which at High Water has a depth of
water 15 feet, with Rope Walk, Store Houses and Fish Cellars
including the improved Lands about, has been done upon the sole
plan and at the sole expence of Mr C Rashleigh upon his own
estate - A wonderful work for a private Gentleman. The whole has
been begun about 3 years. NB at Mr C Rashleigh's new quay great
quantities of the china stone or decomposed granite from St
Stephen's about 5 miles north of St Austle were laying to be
shipped for Liverpool or to be sent to Worcestershire and
Staffordshire for the Porcelain Ware."
(The Hatchett
Diary, 1796, 26)
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| Charlestown was a multi-faceted enterprise from its inception.
As well as the export of copper, china-clay, and china-stone, it
imported coal; before the harbour was built, pilchard fishing had
been important, and this expanded with the construction of new
fish cellars where fishing equipment was stored and pilchards were
processed, primarily for export to Mediterranean Catholic
countries. Pilchard (train) oil, a by-product, was used for
domestic lighting. Charlestown's pilchard fishery continued after
the harbour was built and expanded to become one of a number of
significant fishing stations along this part of the coast. |
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Limekilns and a ropewalk were soon added and the inner harbour was
used for shipbuilding. A particular characteristic of this period
were the cobbled ore-floors used to store copper ore before for
shipment and the ore hutches used to store particular consignments
of copper ore. The settlement that grew up around the dock itself
reflected the need to house a growing workforce and accommodate
the needs of visiting sailors.
By 1824, Stockdale noted:
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"Within one mile of the town, on the left, is
PORTHMEOR or CHARLESTOWN, now become of considerable
consequence, owing to the spirited and laudable exertions of the
late Charles Rashleigh, Esq. Since the year 1791, a Pier has
been built, the pilchard fishery carried on, and several
buildings have been erected for that purpose. Here also, most of
the china clay brought from St Stephens is exported.
Sometimes not less than 4000 tons per year is shipped at
Charlestown, and conveyed to Bristol, Liverpool, and Wales, and
from those places to Staffordshire, where it is manufactured
into porcelain. The clay is mostly packed in small barrels, and
carried to Charlestown in low carts with broad wheels."
(Stockdale
F W L, 1824, Excursions in the County of Cornwall, 46, 49)
Nonetheless, much of the infrastructure that is essential to
Charlestown's character was added after the Crowder family took
control in 1825. The Wesleyan Chapel, the Rashleigh Arms, St.
Paul's Church, the Foundry, the inner harbour in its present form
and the Lovering china-clay pan-kiln all belong to the period 1827
to 1914. The census returns of 1841 give some idea of the varied
trades and activities represented in the village, noting 1 Harbour
Master, 1 Customs Officer, 3 Pilots, 9 Mariners, 1 Shipbuilder, 2
Shipwrights, 5 Shipwrights Apprentices, 1 Ships Carpenter, 1
Timber Merchant, 1 Mine Agent, 1 Clay Merchant, 1 Coal Merchant, 3
Farmers, 2 Agricultural Labourers, 1 Miller, 1 Shop Keeper, 1
Baker, 1 Grocer, 3 Carpenters, 1 Apprentice, 7 Blacksmiths, 1
Apprentice, 7 Coopers, 1 Apprentice, 1 Tailor, 1 Apprentice, 1
Rope Maker, 1 Apprentice, 3 Foundrymen, 3 Wheelwrights, 3 Shoe
Makers, 1 Apprentice, 8 Miners, 7 Milliners, 8 Labourers, 1 Clerk,
3 Porters and 2 Char Women.
By 1850 the copper mines of the St.
Austell area were in decline, and Charlestown's main business
became china-clay and stone. The harbour was extremely successful
from the outset, despite competition from
Pentewan and Par, and by the 1870s ships were crowding the
dock at all times of the year, necessitating the enlargement of
the inner harbour and the consequent end of shipbuilding. Although
by today's standards the harbour is small and awkward to manoeuvre
in, this was not unusual at the time. Unlike
Devoran,
Calstock, Morwellham and New Quay it was on the coast and not
far upriver. However it was on the south coast and necessitated
the dangerous passage around Lands End to reach the copper
smelters of South Wales and the port of Liverpool for the
Potteries. Despite burgeoning trade, opportunities were missed in
these later years to build on a sound commercial foundation. Plans
to enlarge the outer harbour were not pursued, and a proposed rail
link to the main line at Mount Charles never materialised.
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| The consequences of this inaction became increasingly apparent
in the years after 1918. Once the china-clay industry had
recovered from the Great War, the harbour was again at full
stretch; by this time, however, the inconvenience of the road
access through
St Austell town centre and the narrowness of the
harbour entrance meant that Charlestown was losing trade to Par
and Fowey, both of which had good rail links and could take larger
ships. This process continued after 1945, when shipping ceased to
be economic using the small coasting vessels which the port could
accommodate. Reduced port revenues led eventually to the sale of
1986, when the Crowder family relinquished ownership after 161
years. Charlestown in the second half of the 20th century has
increasingly become a visitor attraction and a popular location
for film and television producers. |
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A combination of many factors makes Charlestown a unique
settlement within Cornwall. It is one of the best examples of late
18th and early 19th century harbour works in Britain, of an era
when the civil (as opposed to the naval) engineer really came into
his own. Charlestown's setting in a shallow coastal valley has
been maintained into the present day, giving it a truly rural
environment at odds with its close proximity to the conurbation of
St. Austell. Even from the vantage point of the Battery, St. Austell
hardly intrudes and the predominant impression is of sea and
cliff, woodland and fields, with the village set out below, little
changed from its mid 19th century aspect. Most extraordinary is
the preservation of so much of the built environment from the 18th
and 19th centuries which has so often been swept away elsewhere in
Cornwall. Not so much the houses themselves, for many other
examples survive from the same period, but the domestic and
industrial infrastructure which surrounds them: the earth closets
and wash houses, little yards and gardens, alleyways and lanes,
and around the harbour itself bollards, cobbles, steps and mooring
rings. Nowhere else in Cornwall is it possible to step so
immediately into the ambience of an early 19th century working
port. As a result, Charlestown embodies some of the most vital
aspects of social and economic change in Cornwall during the
period 1790 to 1850.
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