Our Beautiful Area: Philleigh

Philleigh, The Roseland Peninsula, Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom
The most significant feature of the parish is the King Harry Ferry about two miles to the west of the small rural village of Philleigh. It is thought to have been named after Henry Vl and takes vehicles across the River Fal to Feock on the west bank. The ferry pulls itself across by means of two chains which are anchored at each side. The river is tidal and over 60 ft deep at high water.
There has been a ferry here since at least Norman times and until 1888 it was propelled manually and of course there were no guiding chains. There also used to be another small passenger only ferry about a mile upstream at Tolverne and the KH ferry was once known as the horse ferry to differentiate it. Its original traffic would have been pack horses and later on horse drawn vehicles, and it was part of the route from Exeter to west Cornwall, long before the days of the A30.
In 1888 the King Harry Steam Ferry Company was formed and as its name implies it was no longer manually propelled. Since then there has been seven ever larger ferries, the latest capable of transporting about 35 cars, and it is now sometimes referred to as a floating bridge.
At Tolverne in 1945 there was intense USA military activity during preparations and embarkation prior to D Day on June 6th.
Although small, the village has a church, hall (formerly the school) and pub, and celebrates its existence every summer with a fair. There are two hamlets in the parish, Treworlas and Treworthal, the latter having a number of lovely thatched cottages. The western extremity of the parish includes a small part of Pendower Beach, where the remains of a lime kiln can be found.
For further information visit: www.htiddy.co.uk/