This film is part of Free

Polperro

Locals are concerned about the commercial exploitation of the village as tourism ramps up.

News 1966 4 mins

From the collection of:

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Overview

TV reporter David Mudd is in the Cornish fishing village of Polperro. Mr Bray who was named as Mr Polperro 1964 fears a revival in the tourist industry is having a negative impact on the village. The village once had a thriving pilchard industry and boasts cottages from Georgian and Victorian times and the cove was also important to smugglers' contraband with Willy Wilcox Cave thought to have been used for shifting illicitly landed goods like rum and tobacco.

Polperro is a tourist destination west of the neighbouring town of Looe and on the River Pol. A heritage museum has records relating to the pilchard industry, smuggling and local characters such as Zephaniah Job who became known as the smugglers' banker for acting as accountant to many in the village. As well as running his own businesses, some illegal, he ran the affairs of the local landlord Sir Harry Trelawny. A small coastal fishery survives and supplies local restaurants and businesses and the village has inspired many an artist.