Portscatho

Portscatho (including Rosevine and Curgurrell). Portscatho and Gerrans are like siamese twins, both in the same parish of St Gerrans, doing some things together and some apart. They share a church, surgery, and village hall, but each has its own pub. These are the 17th century Plume of Feathers in Portscatho and the Standard in Gerrans, both well worth a visit.

Portscatho was, and still is to a small extent, a fishing village which also became the home of several merchant schooner captains. They often owned or part owned their ships which between voyages would lie in the sheltered anchorage at Percuil. Portscatho faces east over Gerrans Bay wth its prominent Gull Rock, where the German barque Hera was wrecked in 1914. For many years the Coastguard, with its life-saving rocket apparatus, had a presence in Portscatho. Today the National Coastwatch Institution maintain a lookout at Pedn Vadn point during the holiday season.

The main reason for the establishment of the Coastguard was to combat smuggling which was a substantial activity in the 18th and 19th centuries. This was regarded as ‘free trading’ and it seems that most local communities participated in one way or another, or at least turned a blind eye to it.

The formerly thatched cottage homes of fishermen and ship’s crews now all have slate roofs and are kept in pristine condition, as are the larger former homes of sea captains. There is a small supermarket and, apart from the pub, some other refreshment establishments, and a few galleries. The main village event is the annual regatta with sailing and beach sports. The Roseland Music Society hold frequent high quality concerts in the Memorial Hall.

A short distance north from Portscatho is the beautiful Porthcurnick Beach. Here there were some cottages which were completely demolished by a storm in the late 19th century. Further on is the hamlet of Rosevine and after another mile the hamlet of Curgurrell. Between the two hamlets is Porthbean Beach.

Curgurrell features the Iron Age Dingerein Castle, and a conical field known as Round House. King/St Gereint, dwelling at the Castle gave his name to the parish of Gerrans which includes Portscatho. There is a legend that when he died, he was rowed across Gerrans Bay in a golden boat with silver oars and was buried at Carne Beacon.

For some fascinating historical detail of Portscatho see ‘A History of The Parish of Gerrans’ by Hilary Thompson.