A Cornish Harbour
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. Ide Boke Shoppe, Above Bar. T H A M P T O N LIBR.ARy UNiVERsrry of CMimm i^' '" ;-i\j;D£ Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2008 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcli ive.org/details/cornisliliarbourstOOpayn A CORNISH HARBOUR THIS STOTi^'n-as originally published under the title of 'J ^JT{lKe %ESIDENCe: A CORNISH HARBOUR A STORY OF OLD NEWQUAY RY JAMES PAYN WITH A PREFACE BY SIR ROBERT EDGCUMBE LONDON CHATTO dif WINDUS 1916 All rights resefved PREFACE THIS humorous account of Newquay in Cornwall — fornierlv published under the title of "A Marine Residence " — was written by James Payn back in the early 'seventies before the advent of the passenger railway to the little town, then only u village of some 800 souls all told. When Payn wrote, the whole bay from Newquay headland to Trevose headland (near Padstow), some ten miles as the crow flies from point to point, was known as Watergate Bay, called in this story BoDDLECOMBE Bav, while Newquay is called BoD- DLECOMBE. At the present time Watergate Bay is generally understood to be the long beach lying between Trevelga (two miles from Newcjuay) and Mawgan Portli. In the story Grampound Road Station, then the nearest station to Newcjuay (twelve miles) is called Marjoram Gate (Chap. I). The house called the Look-out (Chap. II), on which the party set their hearts and which they eventually suc- ceeded in obtaining is sketched from the " Battery," " but transposed as to site to where " Quay House stands. Bellevue Terrace is " Acland Terrace." situated at the northern end of Fore Street. The Blue Lion is now called the " Central Hotel " and the Nag's Head (Chap. Ill) is the "Red Lion." The " island " (Chap. IV) now carries a bungalow and is connected with the mainland by a light iron bridge. The White Tower (Chap. VTI) is the ancient " Huers Hut " on Towan Head. The life- " PREFACE boat (Cliap. X) still holds an important place in the doings of the town, and Lifeboat Day in Angust is always a gala day. The " great Mr. Bunting (Chap. V) is a fictitious personage, a creation of the novelist, and has no relation to any local resident of that period. The only portion of the story where there is some departure from geographical accuracy is in Chapter XVT. Here Payn places in close proximity Bedruthan Steps—eight miles from Newquay—with its fine rock scenery and the well-known Queen Elizabeth rock—converted by Payn into Queen Anne (p. 137) —with the great Forth caverns near Trevelga headland, situated two miles only from Newquay. He calls these the Serpent caverns, and he clearly pictures the great " Banqueting Hall " cavern at Forth and the '* Cathedral " cavern near by, which last, owing to a part of it having fallen in, is not as it was when Fayn wrote. The town of Newquay, though it has a modern- sounding name—like New College, Oxford, which is one of the oldest colleges in that University—is really of quite considerable antiquity. In Carew's " Survey of Cornwall," published in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, he wrote: " Neyther must I omit Newe Kaye so called because in former times the neighbours attempted to supplie the defect of nature by Art, in making there a Kaye for the Rode of shipping." He refers to the name as then long since current. In all probability the name of the hamlet took its origin in the reign of Henry VI, for there are records extant which show that in the year 1439, Bishop Lacy of Exeter granted an indulgence for the PREFACE construction, repair and maintenance of the little harbour. The " Fairmaids " (Chap. IX) have unfortunately deserted this part of the coast for many years past, and. their departure has been a serious check to the local lisliinj^ industry. To some extent their loss has l)een made trood by the advent of herrinj^s, of which large catches are looked for in the months of November and December. In Payn's account of Newquay there is a touch of humorous exaggeration, vet for all that his picture of the place in its general features is not only true of the period when he wrote, but in many essentials equallv true of the place to-day. His observation on the fascination this district exercises on those who travel hither is full of truth, and could hardly be better expressed—" With every day of our stay the little place grew dearer to us. How could we ever have thought that there was nothing in it! There was everything in it." ROBERT EDGCUMBE. Quay House, Newquay, 191 6. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I The Start . I II Dreadful Rumours III The Nag's Head . 17 IV The Sea Bardolph 22 V Circumstances over which He had no Control 35 VI Prawning 39 VII Too many Bees 48 VIII Spectral Croquet 58 IX The 'Fairmaids' 65 X Manning the Life-boat 75 XI A Posthumous Hero 82 XII Watching for the Life-boat 89 XIII A Box of Something . 95 XIV The Story of a Shipwreck 105 XV The Wreck Ashore 121 XVI Caught by the Tide 134 A MARINE RESIDENCE. CHAPTER I. THE START. ? HAT do you say to Boddlecombe Bay ' was my sister-in-law's first greeting, one August afternoon, as I entered her drawing-room in Cadogan Place. Her question sounded more like a riddle, or a nursery rhyme, than a serious enquiry, but I understood at once what she meant. The tact Mas I had promised to take Clementina and her ' dear girls ' wherever they pleased, that autumn, for a month's holiday; and during tlie whole sunmicr, they had been agitated with divers plans and projects. I had left the matter entirely in their own hands ; for any place that is not Pall Mall is equally objectionable to me at all times. I am too old, and I hope I may add too wise, not to know where life is made most comfortable; but a bachelor uncle has his duties, if he has no privilege, and once a year 1 sacrifice myself to ; 2 A Marine Residence. my relatives. Clementina and the girls thought I was a ' good natured creature,' not to insist upon Brighton or resort Scarborough ; but any place of so-called agreeable is, after all, only a miserable imitation of what one leaves beliind one in town ; and when one does do an unselfish thing, it is just as well to do it thoroughly. ' The dear girls ' it may be thought would have pro- posed a gay locality ; but Kate was of a romantic turn cf had drawn mind ; and E\-a (who was ninc-and-twenty) most of the better-known watering-places blank for many Augusts (which is the husband-hunting season), and began to think that her best chance of finding one must lie in a more retired spot. She had evinced High Church ten- dencies of late years, and darkly hinted at becoming what she called 'the bride of Heaven' in some sisterhood; but Clementina, who was a woman of excellent common- ' sense, had instantly rejoined : Stuff and nonsense, Eva you are much too fond of dancing and croquet, to enter any such sober institution — unless it's in the Isle of And, for my own part, I have noticed that Protestant ladies in England do not, as a rule, become the brides of Heaven until a period of life wliicli is considered late for ordinary wedlock. However, that remark is only between sister-in- me and the reader : I never interfere with my law and her girls in any way, not even during that one month in the year when I give them tlie use of my cheque-book, and I don't think that Uncle John is less popular with them for his non-intervention principles. 'Boddlecombe Bay!' replied I: 'by all means, my dear, let it be Boddlecombe Bay—only, where is it?' The Shirt. 3 * Uncle Jolin would go to Bofa/iy Bay, if we wished it, ' mamma,' said Eva smiling ; since, away from Picca- dilly, all places are places of transportation to him.' ' That is so far true, that wherever I go with you, my dears, I am always transported with pleasure,' remarked I ; whereupon both Kate and Eva kissed me. I am fond of my nieces ; and now that I am over fifty, very bald, and not at all likely to be kissed except by those con- nected by near ties of consanguinity, their caresses are very agreeable, I even sometimes flatter myself that it is not solely from the sense of favours to come that they seem so grateful to me for any pleasure that I am able to provide for them ; and that even C'ementina is not al- ways speculating (as Codgers of our club insists that she is) upon ' how I shall cut up.' They are, at all events, well aware they will have whatever I have to leave ; and though I have taken them an autumn trip for ten years running, and been of course entirely dependent upon them for my provisions, they have not poisoned me yet, ' But you have not answered my question, Clementina : where is Boddlecombe Bay?' reiterated I, ' Well, the fact is, my dear John,' replied my sister-in- law with some hesitation, * we have been looking for it all this morning ; and we can't find it.' *No,' said Eva; 'it's not in any of our maps. "We sent to borrow the last Atlas of the Frippses—and Frank is so absurd, he sent back an Ancient Geography and a Celestial Globe, But we know w/iercabouts the place is quite well.