HELFORD RIVER BOATS

THE HISTORY OF THE HELFORD PASSAGE FERRY – A JOURNEY OF A 1000 YEARS

The Helford River is the most southerly river in Britain, a place of breath-taking natural beauty beloved by Cornish hikers, novelists and painters who come to marvel at Helford’s timeless charm. It is one of the few places in England where ancient oak woodland meets the sea, where oysters once harvested by the Romans thrive and where there has been a ferry crossing for at least 1000 years.

A Very Ancient Institution

No one knows how old the Helford Passage Ferry is. Although it has been said that King Canute mentioned the rights for a ferry boat on the Helford River in 1023 and that the Domesday Book of 1086 also refers to a safe crossing at Helford, as the Cornish historian Charles Henderson concludes the ferry is likely a “very ancient institution” which may have already been in existence for hundreds of years before this.

Perhaps the people that built the Iron Age hillfort on Dennis Head used the Helford crossing. Perhaps the Romans thought to have occupied the wooded banks of the Helford River in the 4th century made use of this watery commute too.

Without doubt, the Helford ferry service that still plies these Cornish waters today has been around for a very long time and 1000 years may in fact be a conservative estimate.

What’s in a Name?

While it seems that the ferry has always departed from Passage Cove on the north bank, it is thought that early in its history, its destination across the river was the hamlet of Treath, a little east of the present landing at Helford. Indeed, ‘treath’ is an old Cornish word for ferry.

The word Helford is thought to be a combination of the Cornish word for tidal inlet, Heyl and the English word for a crossing point or road, fordh. A rather romantic 19th century translation has it meaning “the way over the salt river” and another as “the Salt Road”.

Interestingly however, the historian W. G. Collingwood writing in 1908 puts forward a fascinating theory for a Viking connection. He suggests that the river was once known as ‘Helfjordr’, possibly harking back to a time during the 9th century when those infamous Northman may have built a settlement on its banks.

Crossing the Salt Road

The crossing point at Passage Cove has always been the gateway into the Lizard and the only logical route for Cornisah hikers or travellers heading south at a time when roads were badly maintained and often dangerous. Even today the ferry ride still saves a winding road journey of at least 14 miles.

Though only carrying foot passengers today, the ferry would have once transported produce and livestock on its way to market. In 19th century the ferry was a large flat bottomed boat able to convey carts, carriages and herds of cattle across the Helford water. A man called Mr. Richards ran a horse-drawn bus from Manaccan to Falmouth and the whole kit and caboodle would be loaded on to the Helford ferry. The horses were tethered to the back of the boat and made to swim along behind. Apparently animals that made the crossing regularly became very used to this routine.

THE HISTORY OF THE HELFORD PASSAGE CONT…

But this rural idyll has not always been as much of a peaceful backwater as it might seem today.

In 1497 the Helford Passage Ferry played a role in one of the most important episodes of Cornwall’s history when it is thought to have carried the army of men who were marching north during the Cornish Rebellion. Led by Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank the rebels marched from St Keverne on the Lizard to Blackheath near London. And this scene was re-enacted in 1997, on the 500th anniversary, when the Helford Ferry again transported a modern-day force of Cornish people commemorating the event by marching on London.

One also has to wonder whether the 200 civil war troops, who had held out in one of the last Royalist strongholds in Cornwall at Dennis Head, would have crossed the Helford by ferry in 1646 on their way to Truro and their humiliating surrender.

Pirates & Smugglers

As the once lively Helford river trade that had occupied many local people since medieval times began to fade another rather nefarious industry took its place. Falmouth and Penryn had quickly surpassed Gweek as the ports of choice for shipping and so the isolated Helford River became the haunt of pirates and smugglers.

In 1602 the Cornish antiquarian Richard Carew wrote that the Helford “cannot be controlled” and that it had gained the nickname of “Stealford” because of its reputation for pirates. These ruthless men would attack and plunder any ships that made the mistake of entering the river or passing too close to its mouth. Carew describes them as “the worst sort of seafarers . . . pirates, whose guilty breasts, with an eye in their backs, look warily how they may go out ere they will adventure to enter”.

As for the smuggling that so famously inspired the writing of Daphne du Maurier, the Helford River certainly has some tales to tell. The secluded creeks and concealed landing places still make the Helford perfect for illicit enterprises. During the late 18th and early 19th century there was an almost relentless cat and mouse game being played out between the Revenue’s preventative ships and customs officers and the smugglers for whom ‘freetrading’, as it was euphemistically called, was a way of life.

Henry ‘Harry’ Carter, one of the notorious smuggler brothers of Prussia Cove, married Elizabeth Flindal of Helford in 1786 and a serious incident that occurred opposite Passage Cove the year before may well have involved the Carter men. The Sussex Advertiser of January 1785 reported that “a large smuggling lugger mounted with 20 guns and commanded by a noted outlaw appeared off Helford.” The ship was spotted by the Revenue men who, despite being outnumbered and outgunned, tried to prevent the smugglers from landing their goods. The officers were driven off, some “mortally wounded” and others forced to swim to shore. The newspaper reported that this outlaw captain “visits where he pleases with impunity.”

But things did not always go the freetrader’s way, on one occasion a lucky customs officer was hunting birds in the woods near Gweek when he stumbled upon a cave containing 63 barrels of brandy. He must have felt rather triumphant seizing the haul without firing a shot.

But even when the Revenue men did succeed in confiscating illegal imports the smugglers of the Helford were not averse to a little retaliation. In 1840 the Customs House on the Helford was ransacked. Around 30 men broke in and made off with 126 kegs of contraband brandy.