Portreath

Portreath is a village and harbour on Cornwall’s north coast, a few miles from Redruth, where a short valley meets the sea at a sandy beach between high cliffs. The beach faces north-west into the Atlantic and draws surfers and families alike, while the harbour sits behind its long harbour arm on the east side of the bay.

The harbour grew with Cornwall’s copper industry. Ore from the mines around Scorrier and St Day came down to the coast on a tramroad begun in 1809 and was shipped to South Wales for smelting, with coal coming back. Above the harbour on Lighthouse Hill stands the Pepper Pot, a white daymark that Historic England dates to the late 18th or early 19th century, built as a landmark for the ore ships and later used as a coastguard lookout. Just around the headland to the north-east is Gooden Heane Cove (shown as Rankine Cove on some maps), a small beach under sheer cliffs that is reached from the sea, with the radar dome of RRH Portreath on Nancekuke Common above it.

This collection shows Portreath from the air: the beach and harbour from both sides of the bay, the view out to sea past Gull Rock, and the coast running away towards St Agnes Head in one direction and Godrevy in the other.