Fowey

Fowey (pronounced , Cornish: Fowydh) is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England, at the mouth of the River Fowey. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 2,273.

The town has thrived as a port for hundreds of years, initially as a military town, then as the centre for china clay exports, and today is busy with trawlers and yachts, the Royal Fowey Yacht Club being on its front.

Fowey lies at the end of the Saints' Way, and has ferries across the river to Polruan, Mevagissey and Bodinnick. There are many historic buildings in the town, including the ruins of St Catherine's Castle, while Readymoney Cove possesses a local beach.

It has been the inspiration for many authours including Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch ('Q'), Daphne Du Maurier and Kenneth Grahame.

It has a regatta in the third week of August every year, extremely popular with the surrounding villages and tourists. In 2005, Fowey held its first Christmas Market. In 2006, this will be held on 8th and 9th December.

In addition the presence of Golant's 'Sawmill Recording Studios' a few miles away means that the local bars have been frequented by the likes of Oasis and the Stone Roses.

There is a popular legend that Jesus visited Fowey as a child, along with Joseph of Arimathea who was a merchant visiting local tin mines in which he had a commercial interest. At the entrance to the River, on the eastern side below the cliffs to the south-west of St Saviour's Point, there is a cross to commemorate this supposed visit. This cross is marked on very early charts and was maintained by monks from Tywardreath.

Fowey elected two members to the Unreformed House of Commons until the Reform Act 1832 stripped it of its representation as a rotten borough, it having lost its borough corporation a few years before. [1] It was restored as a municipal borough in 1913, and then was merged with the nearby and much larger St. Austell in 1968 to form the borough of St. Austell with Fowey. This was itself in 1974 replaced with the Restormel Borough, and Fowey now constitutes a civil parish. [2]