| Padstow is a fishing port situated on the Camel estuary approximately
2 miles from the open sea. First known as Lodenek, the first mention of
the name of Padstow (a derivative of 'St. Petroc's Stow) was in the 6th
century when St. Petroc, the most famous of all Cornish Saints, arrived
here and developed an existing small monastery as well as founding a priory.
This priory moved to Bodmin after a Viking raid in 981 AD. It
was once a thriving port, in its heyday the fourth most important port in
the country, but is now principally a fishing port and tourist centre. Padstow
has two harbours, an inner and outer, the inner harbour has lock gates to
retain the water at low tide. The harbour has always had a difficult
approach due to the notorious Doom Bar at the head of the estuary, the site
of many shipwrecks. It has a fine Norman church, St. Petroc’s, in
which you will find several monuments to the Prideaux family, an important
local family who settled here in the 16th Century and who have a house,
Prideaux Place, at the top of the town. Padstow is most famous for its Hobby
Horse (‘Obby ‘Oss), a special May Day festival in which a hobby horse with
snapping jaws and hooped skirt dances through the street accompanied by
singers, dancers and musicians. |
