The Boatshed

The Boatshed is a fish cellar building, later adapted for use as a boat house, dating from the early 19th century, as confirmed by an 1843 tithe map. It is constructed from killas and granite rubble with granite and brick dressings, timber lintels and a rag slate roof with cement mortar grouting, the roof’s pitch being lower over the front outshut and rear extension. A brick stack is centrally positioned on the rear of the outshut.

The building has a roughly square plan with a slightly later, narrower outshut placed centrally to the front and a lean-to/outshut to the rear. The front elevation features small-paned windows on either side of the outshut; lower down are the sockets of a former pilchard-pressing floor. The outshut includes a window and door to the front and a window to the right-hand return. Wide doorways are located on each return wall of the original building, with the left-hand doorway blocked in two phases, featuring a loading hatch above.

The interior retains the original roof structure, which consists of much-repaired nailed collars to the principals. The building is recognised as a rare and significant example of its type in Cornwall, situated within a largely unaltered group in this former fishing and china clay port.