Page 164 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - England's South Coast

162  ENGLAND ’ S SOUTH C O AST REGION B Y REGION

18th century. At the Wheal
Martyn China Clay Museum,
displays evoke the history and
human impact of clay and clay
quarrying, while nature trails
weave through abandoned
clay works – and give eerie
views of a vast working clay pit.
E Wheal Martyn China
Clay Museum
Carthew. Tel 01726 850362. Open
10am–4pm daily. Closed 24 Dec–
Colourful buildings lining the busy harbour in the Cornish seaside town of Fowey mid-Jan. & 7 limited. - =
∑ wheal-martyn.com
9 Looe 0 Fowey
Cornwall. Map C6. * 5,500. 3 @ Cornwall. Map B6. * 2,500. w Truro
4 n Fore St; 01503 262072. ( n 5 South St; 01726 833616.
daily. _ Looe Music Festival: Sep; ∑ fowey.co.uk Cornwall. Map B6. * 20,000. @
Polperro Music and Arts Festival: Jun. Green St. 4 Trelissick Gardens, St
∑ looeguide.co.uk The river, creeks and gentle Mawes and Falmouth. n Boscawen St;
waters of the Fowey Estuary were 01872 274555. ( Wed & Sat (farmers’
A down-to-earth fishing village most likely the inspiration for The market). _ Truro Arts Festival: Apr;
and seaside resort, Looe straddles Wind in the Willows, whose author Great Cornwall Food Festival: Sep; City
the mouth of its homonymous Kenneth Grahame regularly of Lights: Nov. ∑ visittruro.org.uk
river, the two sides connected visited this pretty village. With
by a seven-arched bridge. In its tangle of flower-filled streets A historic city and one-time port,
Victorian times, Looe was one of and seafood restaurants, Fowey Truro is now the administrative
Cornwall’s major ports, exporting can get busy in the summer. capital of Cornwall. Truro’s
tin, copper and arsenic. With the The church of St Fimbarrus Victorian cathedral of 1876 was
opening of the railway in 1860, marks the end of the ancient the first to be built since St Paul’s
the village rapidly became a Saint’s Way footpath from (see pp58–9) in London. With its
popular holiday resort. Padstow, a reminder of the central tower, lancet windows
Just 32 km (20 miles) from Celtic missionaries who arrived and spires, the cathedral looks
Plymouth, Looe continues to on the shores of Cornwall to more French than English.
attract the crowds, who come convert people to Christianity. The Royal Cornwall Museum
for an old-fashioned British A flower-lined path leads to gives an introduction to the
seaside holiday, to pick up the a majestic porch and carved history of the county, and
latest catches from the famous tower. Within, there are some features displays on tin mining,
daily harbourside fish market, fine 17th-century memorials Methodism and smuggling.
or to enjoy the summertime to the Rashleigh family, whose
Looe Music Festival, when rock seat, Menabilly, became Du E Royal Cornwall Museum
concerts are held on the beach. Maurier’s home and featured River St. Tel 01872 272205. Open
Looe is the UK’s headquarters as Manderley in Rebecca (1938). 10am–4:45pm Mon–Sat (also Sun in
for sharking – the sharks are Aug). Closed 25 Dec & 1 Jan. 7 -
attracted to the boats by bags of = ∑ royalcornwallmuseum.org.uk
smelly, mashed-up fish and, once q St Austell
caught, are measured, tagged and Cornwall. Map B6. * 20,000. 3
returned to the sea unharmed.
@ n Behind Texaco Service Station,
Southbourne Rd; 01726 879500.
Environs ( Wed, Sat & Sun. ∑ staustellbay.
There is a lovely coastal walk to co.uk
Polperro, which was a famous
smuggling port in the 19th The busy industrial town of
century. Another attraction is the St Austell is the capital of the
Monkey Sanctuary, a flagship of local china clay industry, which
the UK conservation movement. rose to importance in the 18th
century. China was the only
O Monkey Sanctuary other place where clay of such
Murrayton House, St Martins. quality and quantity could be
Tel 01503 262532. Open Apr–Sep: found, and it was in Cornwall
11am–4:30pm daily; Oct: 11am– that William Cookworthy (1705–
4:30pm Sat & Sun. 7 limited. - = 80) succeeded in replicating Interior of Truro Cathedral, designed by
∑ monkeysanctuary.org fine Chinese porcelain in the J L Pearson and completed in 1910
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp178–9 and pp190–91

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