Wherrytown is a small settlement in west Cornwall, United Kingdom, situated between Newlyn and Penzance on the east side of the Larigan River. [1] The village bore the brunt of the Ash Wednesday storm on 7 March 1962 with most of the buildings destroyed along with nearly one mile of the seafront from the Battery Rocks to Tolcarne heavily damaged. The only Wherrytown building to survive was the Mounts Bay Inn, currently an Indian Restaurant.[2] At low spring tides fossilised trees are exposed.
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In 1778 Thomas Curtis of Breage sunk a shaft on the Werrytown rocks below the high tide mark. The shaft was protected by a stone breakwater and a wooden turret to keep the sea out. On the death of Curtis in 1791 the mine was acquired by Thomas Gundry along with unnamed partners, and a steam engine was built onshore to drain the mine. The operations came to a halt when an American ship broke its moorings and drifted on to the shafthead demolishing it. £70,000 worth of tin ore was sold in total.[2][3]
In 1823 a proposal to reopen came to nothing[2] and in 1836 a new company was formed building a new pier and installing a 40 in engine onshore. Operations ceased in 1840 and the engine sold. The last attempt was in 1967 when a temporary quay was built to the end of the nearby Larigan rocks .[3]
Bodilly & Co. build a large flour mill near to the site of the Wheal Wherry Mine engine house in 1874. The mill was disused by 1906 and in 1920 demolished. The site was taken over and used as a bus depot by Western National and is now a Lidls supermarket. [3]
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