You can still watch the fishermen on the harbour unloading their catch and mending nets. You can purchase a variety of locally caught fresh fish on the harbour.
Mevagissey before 1890, with no outer harbour
Most of the fishermen were crews, or owners, of luggers and they fished mostly for herring in winter, mackerel in spring and pilchard in summer. Between seasons they did line fishing, sometimes combining netting and lining. The long-liners often caught their own bait (pilchards) in their nets and then went off into the channel to fish for conger, ling, skate, cod etc. on lines up to 10 miles in length with 5000 hooks about 10 feet apart. Usually the largest of the luggers engaged in long-lining. The smaller luggers often went spiltering, working on the same principle as the long-lines but using finer and shorter gear, maybe 3000 smaller hooks with shorter spaces between. The main catches were usually whiting, ray, ling, and conger, with the occasional bream, flat-fish, crab, lobster. dog-fish, etc.
Mevagissey inner harbour
The Cliff, Mevagissey - much as it is today
You will also spot this fisherman with his protective clothing, his eyes scanning the coastline for signs of shoals of fish.
He then had the distinction of being an early convert to the teachings of John Wesley who visited the village eight times between 1778 and 1798.
However we have been told that it took another eleven years before the good captain stepped away from this additional source of income.
The inner harbour pre-1900
Captain George Martin Chesterfield was a distinguished sail maker in Mevagissey and when Captain Dowman acquired the famous Cutty Sark he employed Captain Chesterfield to restore her to her original ship rig.
Boat congestion in the Inner Harbour pre-1900
Percy had only a rudimentary education, but taught himself to design boats from a set of drawings in an old encyclopaedia. Starting with only a building space, open to all the wind and weather, no building sheds, no capital, no launching equipment, and with only his practical genius and patient courage, he overcame every obstacle and designed, built and launched a magnificent variety of fishing boats, yachts, tugs and passenger launches..... from a 7 foot praam dinghy to vessels of over 30 tons dead weight.
He built a wide array of wooden craft and, according to Dr Claud Worth (the eminent yacht designer), “an artist in wood”. He took over his employer’s yard in Mevagissey in his twenties and later moved the yard to Portmellon for easier launching.
Before the move, every boat had literally to be dragged by hand over 500 winding feet of road to the Portmellon beach for launching, until he built a 72-footer which was too wide for the roadway. Not being permitted to breach the sea wall outside the yard, he did not hesitate, but launched this huge vessel right over the top of the wall !
During World War II he built motor cutters and MVF boats for the Admiralty. After the war his boats were in great demand; one of his most famous builds being the 28 ton ‘Windstar’ on which the late King George V often sailed, as did Princess Elizabeth, now Queen.
Percy Mitchell of Portmellon
Clarity was at that time associated with cleanliness. When he had almost achieved his goal, he stored the soap in some wooden brandy barrels. These gave the soap a distinctive colour and smell. Both of which proved so popular that he decided to end his quest there.
Pears began to experiment with soap purification and eventually managed to produce a gentle soap based on glycerin and other natural products. The clarity of the soap gave it a novel transparent appearance which provided a marketing advantage. To add to the appeal, Andrew gave the soap an aroma reminiscent of an English garden. These attributes continue to be a key element of Pears soap through to the present day.
The bank went bankrupt in 1824 causing much hardship to the people of Mevagissey. The Ball family's debt to the village was more than repaid, however, by Philip's son, Timothy, who became the local doctor and nursed Mevagissey through the cholera epidemic of 1849, when 115 people died in five weeks.
Here in the museum you can see a Mevagissey £1 note.
Mevagissey £1 note
The arrival of electric power was the cause of much
celebration and if you look closely at the mast beyond the cider press you
will find a toast list for a banquet held to celebrate the event in 1896.
Look for the fifth toast to ‘Our town, its industries and its
possibilities.’
Even in 1900, electric lighting was still in its infancy. Gas lighting was
common in the cities and towns, supplemented by candles and oil lamps, but
in villages and in the countryside lighting remained almost exclusively by
candles and oil lamps. It was not until after the First World War that
electric lighting finally emerged as the predominant source of light in the
home.
Good lighting in the kitchen circa 1900
During your visit, at the bottom of the staircase leading to the first
floor, pause to see one Mevagissey’s favourite characters — Cyril Furse.
Cyril had a passion for Norton bikes and would regularly attend the TT races on the Isle of Man.
We have been told that on one occasion he came home with a Norton that had apparently won one of the races.
It is rumoured that it was eventually attached to the sidecar that Cyril
used to deliver milk round the village.
Cyril Furse - the fastest milkman
Bernard
Moss is descended from Russian emigres who came to England in the late 19th
century to escape the pogroms in their native land. Bernard was born in
London in 1923.
His move towards a career in ceramics started soon after the end of World
War Two. On leaving the army he settled in Soho and tried his hand at
various ways to earn a living. While working as a fabric designer in the
East End an acquaintance taught him how to make moulds. Bernard and his
wife, Maureen moved to Mevagissey in 1949. They lived in a rented cottage
with no gas, electricity or even running water.
Bernard produced models of figures, often with a Jewish theme, and Moreen, who is a highly skilled graphic artist, decorated them. He was fascinated by automata, and devised a method to add movement to his models by means of pivots and counter-balances. His first mobile figure became known as 'the nodder', and having heard that Heal's department store was a good outlet for ceramics he took his nodder up to London with the aim of selling it through the store. The buyer was not impressed, and told Bernard they would not be wanting any.
As he trudged dejectedly through the store looking for the exit a smartly dressed gentleman noticed him, and that he looked as though he had lost half-a-crown and found sixpence. He approached Bernard and said, "What's the matter with you, young man. Why are you so unhappy?" Bernard told him of his experience with the ceramics buyer and showed the gentleman his nodder. "Well go back to the buyer," he said, "and tell him Mr Worthington says we want a dozen!"
Mr Worthington, it turned out, was a director of the store, and the encounter led to a long relationship not with Heal's department store but with Heal's Fabrics. They bought eighty to a hundred pieces each year as gifts for their best clients.