Pentewan, Cornwall

Flower Delivery to Pentewan with Clare Florist

Pentewan is a small village located in Pentewan Valley, Cornwall, on the southwestern coast of England. In Cornish, Pentewan is Bentewyn and means the foot of the radiant stream. It’s located to the south of the town of St. Austell, and at the mouth of the St. Austell River. Pentewan is located in the Civil Parish of Pentewan Valley, and the ecclesiastical parish of St. Austell.

Pentewan has a mention in a poem written in 1549 by John Leyland, poet. He described the village as a sandy bay where fishermen could get their boots repaired.

Pentewan used to be a port but it’s closed now. The harbour dates back to medieval times, starting as a fishing community. There were also some other industries in the village, including stone quarrying, agriculture, and tin-streaming. The harbour had a rebuild in 1818 and 1826, by Sir Christopher Hawkins who owned one of the quarries. He wanted to improve the fishery and to ship out Cornwall’s china clay. The port only remained popular for another century before closing. The last ship left in 1940.

The Pentewan Quarry was the source of a building stone from the elvan variety. Many of the medieval churches in this county have been built with this stone. This stone has even been used as late as the 18th century to build Antony House, which is now in the ownership of the National Trust. In 1985 they found some discarded blocks of stone by a beach near the quarry which were used to restore St. Austell Church.

Tin mining was also a popular industry around 1780. There was a stream works for the industry which took the tin from the mine and down towards the ships at the port. The enterprise shut down after the product was lost during a flood. The Happy-Union and Wheal Virgin workings closed in 1837 and 1874. Since then, people have uncovered human remains and animal bones from the valleys.

In 1829, Sir Hawkins also made improvements by linking the harbour to a horse-drawn tramway that would move the clay from Cornwall, and tin from the mines to the ships.

In 1874, John Barraclough Fell closed the tramway and started a narrow gauge railway. This ran until 1918. The Pentewan Railway was primarily a mineral line but it did take passengers out for special events.

Since then the harbour entrance slowly closed up. In the 1960s only smaller boats could get through, but today, the harbour is completely closed to the sea. The railway line has since become a footpath and a cycle path.

The county is within the Cornwall AONB—Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. About a third of Cornwall has this designation.

There are many festivals that occur in Pentewan and Cornwall. Many of them have a beer fest or a cider fest theme.

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