PorthallowPolperro

Porthallow at a glance

Porthallow, Zoar and St Keverne: three places on the east side of the Lizard

This guide covers three places in the civil parish of St Keverne, on the east side of the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. Porthallow is a small fishing village on the coast, Zoar is an inland hamlet in the parish, and St Keverne is the large village that gives the parish its name. The parish had 2,147 residents at the 2011 census and lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Porthallow (Porthalow in Cornish, said to mean cove of water lilies) lies south of the Helford River, with one road running through it. It was a thriving fishing village by the 13th century, first used as a fishing base by Beaulieu Abbey. Duchy of Cornwall rent records of the 14th century show it paying slightly less than Fowey. In 1836 seine fishing was reported here. The Trelowarren estate leased the village to the Porthallow Pilchard Curing Company from 1914 to 1937, and it was then bought by the Porthallow Institute and Reading Room.

The beach was a launch site for diving on the Manacles in the 1960s. In 1971 diving and overnight camping were banned from the beach, and village trustees bought and ran it. The Porthallow Village Association became a charity in 2008, and a new village hall was built in 2010. The Five Pilchards is the village pub, and the South West Coast Path passes through the village. Geologically, the boundary between the Meneage and the Lizard District runs between Polurrian Cove and Porthallow.

St Keverne is best known for the Cornish rebellion of 1497, which started here. Its leader, Michael An Gof, was a blacksmith from the village and is commemorated by a statue. The church of St Akeveranus is very large for a village church, dates mainly from the 15th century and, unusually for Cornwall, has a spire. It has a peal of ten bells, and a carronade recovered in 1978 from HMS Primrose stands by the lych-gate.

HMS Primrose was wrecked on the Manacles on 21 January 1809, killing 125 people. There was one survivor, a drummer boy. The parish has about 10 miles of coast, from Nare Point at the mouth of the Helford River to Kennack Sands, and evidence of human settlement from the Mesolithic period. Other places in the parish include Porthoustock, Coverack, Laddenvean and Traboe.