Intro

One of the main issues working in a tidal harbour – is the tide! All the gear is ready and waiting for the tide to drop sufficiently. A scaffolding tower allowed the engineers to work safely to fix the baulks in place between tides – which necessitated 6am starts on some days.

The timber used is greenheart, a very dense hardwood – it doesn’t float – that will resist the attempts by the local gribble worm population to eat it fr many years to come!

A huge pot of molten tar provided the raw material to repair the surface of the parapet wall on the Old Quay that is covered in layer upon layer of tar that has dropped from masts and spars and fishing gear over centuries.

The final touches to the wrought iron had rails and posts have now been fitted to the access road and edge of the Old Quay. These will provide safer access to those a little unsteady on their feet on wet days!

Where possible, existing materials have been re-purposed in the work to make the old harbour more user friendly and encourage visitors to dally a while. In this case, the old hardwood fenders have been cut to size to provide a picnic bench and other quayside seats.

The old harbour now boasts two luggers and more are expected when Mousehole’s Sea, Salt & Sail Festival starts in the first week in July. The Cornish Maritime Trust who are now based in the Fishermen’s Rest in the Old Harbour are playing host to any visiting classic boats in the run-up to and after the festival

With nearly one thousand years of fishing history as a backdrop, what better place to record a song dedicated to fishermen? Dan Tolchard and Mark Richards using Dorian Arnold’s poignant adaptation put the song Band of Brothers to music and chose to perform the song at the end of the Old Quay as a fitting way to mark its release.  With the fishing community being the tight-knit industry that is is, everyone involved has some connection with the loss of the beam trawler, Margaretha Maria that was the inspiration for the new arrangement. There is an additional video that provides more context and background to the story of the song and how it came to be recorded.

Attention has now turned to the many small but significant restoration jobs that now need completing before signing off with Historic England at the end of the month. One of these is the pinning and pointing of large edge stones in the western slip.

This small slip gives access to the Old Quay from the south. In southerly storms it would have faced the full force of heavy seas which would have poured up the slip and into the old harbour causing huge problems for any vessels moored there. Despite all the protection from the south pier, built in 1884, some of the edge stones in the slip have become forced upwards and outwards over the years.

This close-up of one of the larger edge stones shows just how much it had moved over the years. Even with protection from the South pier there is a considerable storm surge in the harbour in severe conditions

The  current work includes re-positing and stapling key stones in place – a method used elsewhere in the harbour to secure the integrity of the stonework for hundreds of years.

Forged iron staples were made to fit four of the stones in the slip. Holes some 6 inches deep were drilled to accommodate the staples before they were put in place prior to the final fixing.

Next to be drilled and fitted were pins and rings to be used to moor  larger historic vessels that will, in future, makes use of the restored harbour. This is one of several mooring rigs made from recycled wrought iron by the good folks at nearby Pencarn Forge.

This photo from Penlee House & Gallery shows just how busy the Old Quay was at times with the lugger fleet – note also the large two-masted schooner against the quay!. Later this year, Mousehole hosts its bi-annual Sea, Salts & Sail festival – the Cornwall Maritime Trust has extended a welcome to any vessels headed for Mousehole to make use of Newlyn before or after the festival – so maybe we could see a sight like this again!

The groundwork team from Symons have moved on to the final stages.  While removing beach pebbles to get better access yet another hidden feature of the old quay was revealed! 

Buried out of sight is one of the largest stones used in the construction of the south slip. This huge stone has a 5″ diameter hole bored into it approx 12″ deep – what was its purpose?

We know from old paintings and photographs of the Old Quay that there were spaces made in the stone parapet to securely house tar barrels used to preserve the various timbers used on luggers.

A huge thanks must go to the Symons guys who have worked through fog, rain, sleet, gales of wind and even sunshine! Two, who have been on site from day one, James and Tony are seen here taking a well deserved tea break on one of the few days in the new year that promised sunshine all day!

A closer look at the access road retaining wall has helped reveal evidence that the road was widened in the past. The way the stones are laid bears no resemblance to the quality of stonemasonry evident elsewhere. At some time in the past, and prior to any photographic evidence, it is thought that the road was widened to provide safer access as horse-drawn traffic increased owing to a growing fishing fleet using the old quay.

A little bit of rain doesn’t stop Terry from Symons Construction to continue laying in the recycled blue elvan and other granite stone setts which will allow for the original stonework to be revealed…

a break in the rain allowed the top section to be lime mortar pointed…

more bal stones have come to light…

James heads down the newly laid road surface with another bag of lime…

to feed the mixer…

then it’s back to completing the lime mortar pointing…

which now clearly reveals the line of the original edge of the access road which Historic England were very keen to see preserved as a visual reminder of how the harbour has responded to different needs of use over time…

The swing shovel used on site has revealed the extent of the south slip, much of it long since covered by a beach of pebbles and rubble…

amongst the pebbles on the beach are five huge single granite stones, each weighing several tones and fitted with iron eye embedded in lead which were used as mooring stones, exactly where remains unknown but possibly they were used to hold the old coal hulk in place in the early part of the 20th century.

In this photo a large sailing ship is moored between two large steel buoys – there’s a good chance the large granite stones were used to anchor the buoys in place. In 1979 when the Mary Williams pier was built, a swing shovel, working from a floating barge, was used to dredge the harbour. In the process these granite ‘anchors’ were lifted from the seabed and dropped on the beach under the Fishermen’s Arms. 

To the left of this photo the new Mary Williams pier can be seen in the process of being lengthened, to the right is the floating barge and swing shovel used to dredge the harbour.