Shipwrecks and sea shanties
Nicola Smith explores mainland Britain’s southernmost fishing village, from its pilchard-fishing origins and boat-strewn beach to its 300-year-old inn
Cadgwith, Cornwall
With 11,000 miles of British coastline, fishing has long been at the heart of our culture. There are numerous fishing villages with entire communities dependant on the industry, from fishermen braving unpredictable seas to the women and men onshore mending nets, baiting lines, processing the catch and selling fish.
Multiple factors have resulted in the decline of many fishing communities over the centuries: steam trawlers replacing sail trawlers, overfishing and the Cod Wars. In 1983, the EU’s contentious Common Fisheries Policy, which gave each state a quota for what it could catch, coupled with greater allocation of fishing quotas to large companies, also had a negative impact on once-thriving fishing villages. In addition, the enduring charm of such villages has increasingly attracted holiday-home buyers, pushing house prices up and forcing locals – including many fishermen – out of the market. Yet many working fishing villages have adapted and survived, from Looe in Cornwall to Crail in Fife, Clovelly in Devon to Brancaster Staithe in Norfolk, where the shouts and calls of the fishermen can still be heard along with the greedy squawk of gulls as the boats come into harbour. With their pretty quays, winding streets and cosy cottages, not to mention pubs and restaurants – many selling the seafood caught on their doorstep – fishing villages have retained their charm, attracting tourists and, in turn, providing a healthy market for fishermen.
CADGWITH CHARM
Cadgwith is one example. Battered by Atlantic swells on Cornwall’s Lizard Peninsula, it is the southernmost fishing village in the UK. Thatched cottages cluster together on the slopes of the valley, while a stream runs down to the sand and across the shingle beach.
Old pilchard cellars, winches, and the former lifeboat house – active until 1963 and now home to the local gig club – are evocative reminders of the village’s colourful past.
Cadgwith was built to service the thriving pilchard industry in the late 1700s and 1800s, when huge shoals migrated to Cornish waters. At its peak, there were six pilchard companies in operation here. Lofts were used for storing nets, capstan houses for winching boats ashore, and cellars for pressing the fish to extract the oil, which was salted and baulked, and packed into ‘hogshead’ barrels.
Overfishing put an end to the boom in pilchards (since renamed ‘Cornish sardines’), but today Cadgwith