Oysters and the River Helford

'As a child, probably until the early 1950s, I remember my grandfather Maurice Collins as River Bailiff at Percuil as part of the Duchy Oysterage, tending to the oysters with Teddy Harris.  The young oysters were brought on in tanks below what is now the Roseland Paddle and Sail office and then collected by an East Coast cockle boat to be sent to the Helford to grow on.  I can recall the working boats with “scandalised” sails on the Fal, dredging when there was an ‘R’ in the month. 

 Most of the facts were a mystery to me then.  Imagine how they were brought to life for me by Don Garman, of the Constantine Museum, who gave an excellent talk to the Society’s Christmas meeting in December.

 His talk was naturally more from a historical standpoint, and relating to the Helford industry.  “Helford Oysters sell in Truro at one shilling per hundred of six score” said the Royal Cornwall Gazette of September 12th, 1807.  That is about 12,000 oysters and illustrates just how cheap they were, being particularly a staple food of the poor.  What a difference today! 

 We heard of the processes, unchanged for centuries, of young oysters being brought in from Truro, separated to grow on at three years, harvested if the invading Pacific oyster, but left for another year if the native variety.  The oysters were lifted and graded on board the working boats, then brought ashore to be packed and sent away by train to London.  From the 1950s the method was speeded up, the seed oysters being flooded with UV light for better hygiene and cages of mature oysters being placed in the intertidal zone to strengthen their adductor muscles.

 There were the owners and tenant entrepreneurs: the Diocese of Exeter and the Duchy, as well as the Vivians, Tyacks, Scotts and Hodges. There was reknown: in 1921, the Duke of Cornwall, later Edward VIII, visited Port Navas and during the ‘30s the October Oyster Festival was inaugurated there.     

 More recently, sadly, the environmental lobby has caused the Duchy to withdraw the oysterage licence and the industry was closed down.  However, from spring 2019 Tristan Hugh-Jones from Ireland, the new lessee, will be processing native oysters in a new building – the future looks challenging but bright, for the Helford if not for Percuil.'

Report by M George