CORNWALL village much of its fame ; he lived and died here, studying the people, their traditions and manners, the natural and local history of his beloved birthplace. He it was that discovered the curious Polperro fossils. From this snug corner privateering and smuggling proceeded merrily in the early days of the nineteenth century ; it has been said that the very first station of the Preventive Service was here, with good reason. The name is supposed to mean "Peter's Pool," so called from a chapel of St. Peter once standing on Chapel Hill ; an older name was Porthpeyre, which would not gainsay this derivation. Talland and Lansallos are the mother parishes of Polperro. Pol man, on the eastern bank of the Fowey estuary (reached by ferry from Fowey), is a dedication of St. Rum.in or Ruan. One end of the chain guarding Fowey Harbour was fastened here. The ruins of St. Saviour's Chapel, with holy well and cross, stand prom- inently on the high land ; there are also remains of Hall House, an old seat of the Mohuns, held in the Civil War by Sir R. Grenville, and visited by Charles I. Port Eliot. (See St. Germans.) Porth Cothan (5 m. S.W. of Padstow) is becoming deservedly famous for its grand cliff scenery ; in fact, every mile of this coast from Trevose Head to Newquay is wonderflilly fine. There are very few houses at Porth Cothan ; it is difficult to reach, being remote alike from rail and highroad. Its situation rendered it 218
