FOWEY, a parish and borough and seaport and market-town,
in the eastern division of the hundred of POWDER,
county of CORNWALL, 29 miles (S.W. by S.) from Launceston,
and 234 (S.W. by W.) from London, containing
1455 inhabitants. This town, the name of which was formerly
spelt Fawey, is a place of ancient origin, and rose
into importance during the wars that occurred in the
reigns of Edward I. and III. and Henry V. In the reign
of Edward III., its ships refusing to strike when required,
as they sailed by Rye and Winchelsea, were attacked
by the ships of those ports, but defeated them;
in commemoration of which gallant conduct they bore
their arms united with the arms of those two cinqueports,
which gave rise to the appellation of the " Gallants
of Fowey." To the fleet of Edward III. bef°re
Calais, this place contributed forty-seven ships, being
a greater number than was supplied by any other port in
England; it also furnished seven hundred and seventy
mariners, which was a greater proportion than that of any
other town except Yarmouth. Fowey was attacked and
partly burnt by the French, in 1457; and being subsequently
threatened by them in the reign of Edward IV.,
that monarch caused two towers, the ruins of which are
yet visible, to be built at the public charge for its security;
but he was subsequently so much displeased with
the inhabitants, for attacking the French during a truce
which was proclaimed with Louis XI., that he took
away all their ships and naval stores, together with a
chain drawn across the river, between the two forts,
which was carried to Dartmouth. In the parliamentary
war, it was, at first, one of the royal garrisons: in 1644,
the town and harbour were taken possession of by the
Earl of Essex, with several ships and seventeen pieces
of ordnance; and here his army was mostly quartered
when it surrendered to the king. The fortress and haven
were held by the royalists till March, 1646, when they
were delivered up, with thirteen pieces of ordnance, to
Sir Thomas Fairfax. The Dutch under Admiral de
Ruyter made an unsuccessful attempt on the harbour
in 1667.
The town is situated at the mouth of the river
Fowey, extending a mile along its eastern bank; and
the scenery around the harbour is at once beautifully
grand and interesting: the cliffs on the opposite side
of the river, across which there is a ferry for passengers,
are of the boldest character. The streets, however, are
both narrow and irregular, with numerous angles, rendering
it difficult for carriages to drive through the town.
There is a spacious market-house, over which is the
town-hall, erected some years since, by Viscount Valletort
and Philip Rashleigh, Esq., then representatives for
the borough. Though at one time a place of considerable
commercial importance, but little of this now
remains, except what arises from its Pilchard fishery,
in which most of the inhabitants are engaged, and
which affords employment to a great number of vessels.
It is computed that upwards of twenty-eight thousand
hogsheads of fish are annually brought into this port:
it has also a few vessels engaged in the timber and coal
trade, two or three London traders, and some small
country barges. In 1827, the coasting tonnage inwards
amounted to twenty-nine thousand four hundred and
ninety-nine tons, and the same outwards to fifty-six
thousand four hundred and fifty-six tons. The copperores
shipped during the same year amounted to about
twenty-eight thousand tons; the china, clay, and stone,
shipped in 1827, amounted to twelve thousand tons:
from all which it appears that the general trade of the
place is considerably on the increase. The number
of vessels that entered inwards from foreign parts
during the year 1826, was eighteen British, and twentyone
foreign; and the number that cleared outwards,
four British. The market is on Saturday; and fairs are
held on Shrove-Tuesday, May 1st, and September 10th.
The tolls of the market and fairs, and the harbour dues,
are vested in the corporation, subject to the payment of
a fee-farm rent of 40s. The harbour is esteemed the
best outlet to the westward of all the ports in the west
of England, being at all times safe, and affording such
excellent anchorage, that vessels of a thousand tons'
burden can ride in safety, and enter at the lowest tide,
drawing three fathoms of water, and go into deeper water
above. The shores are bold and free from danger; and
ships in distress may run in with perfect safety, without
cable or anchor. The fort of St. Catherine, constructed
for the protection of the harbour in the reign
of Henry VI1L, still exists, and has four guns mounted
upon it; and between this and the town are two small
forts of more modern erection.
Fowey was incorporated by charter of James II.
Another charter was granted by William and Mary, in
1690; and a third in 1819, under which the corporation
consisted of a mayor, recorder, eight aldermen, a town
clerk, and assistants; but a writ of ouster was brought
against them for the abuse of their chartered privileges,
and judgment having been recorded against them in
Trinity Term, 1827, no attempt has been made to elect
another mayor, hold sessions, nor do any other corporate
acts; and the county magistrates have ever since acted
within and for the borough. Under the charter of 1819,
the mayor and free burgesses were empowered to hold a
court of record for the recovery of debts not exceeding
£,100; but no process has been issued from this court
since 1823. The only courts now held are those of the
lord of the manor, including a court leet, and a court
baron. The borough sent members to a national council
in the 14th of Edward III., but first returned representatives
to parliament in the 13th of Elizabeth, since
which it has continued to send two members. The
elective franchise is vested in the inhabitants of the
borough paying scot and lot, and in such of the tenants
of the duchy manor as are capable of being portreeves of
the borough, viz., those of the dxtke's tenants only -who
have been admitted on the court rolls of the manor of
the borough, whose lands, being freehold, were anciently,
and still continue to be, held immediately of the duchy
of Cornwall, as parcel of the manor, and whose title to
such lands has been presented at a court baron, by a
sworn homage, or jury, of the freeholders of the manor:
the portreeve is the returning officer, and the number
of electors about sixty, who are in the patronage of
Joseph Thomas Austen, Esq.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry
of Cornwall, and diocese of Exeter, rated in the
king's books at £10, and in the patronage of J. T.
Austen, Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Fimbarrus,
is a handsome edifice, consisting of a nave, two aisles,
with a lofty pinnacled tower at the west end; it was
rebuilt in 1336, and again rebuilt, or much altered, and
its present tower erected, about 1466; in the north
aisle is a fine altar-tomb of marble, with a recumbent
statue in alabaster, and an inscription to the memory of
John Rashleigh, Esq., who died in 1582; and there are
also several other monuments belonging to the families
of Rashleigh and Treffry. There are places of worship
forWesleyan Methodists and Independents. A school,
for educating thirty children of voters, was founded
here by a bequest from Shadrack Vincent, in 1700, and
endowed with £ 500, to be invested in the purchase of
land; it was formerly a grammar school, but is now
conducted as a school for teaching English, writing, &c;
the master has a salary of £30 a year, paid out of the
rent of the land. There is another charity school, for
educating twenty-five children of both sexes, the mistress
of which has a salary of £8. 10. per annum. In
the reign of Charles I., Philip Rashleigh, Esq. built an
almshouse here for eight poor widows, and endowed it
with the great tithes of the parish of St. Wenn; the
widows receive 2s. 9d. each weekly, but are prohibited
from begging, or receiving any other eleemosynary relief.
The castellated mansion of Place-house, on an eminence
near the church, anciently the residence of the Treffry
family, but now that of the Austen family, is a curious
relic of early domestic architecture; and an oriel, projecting
from the south side of it, is very richly ornamented
with tracery. The ruins of the block-houses,
erected for the defence of the harbour in the reign, and
by the command, of Edward IV., are also still to be
seen.