Mousehole Harbour, Live Webcam, Cornwall

More info: Mousehole, along with Marazion, was a principle port on Mounts Bay before the rise of Penzance. Around 350 metres offshore from Mousehole harbour entrance, is St Clement's Isle.

The history of mousehole has been blighted by two events. In 1595 the Spanish raided the villages around Mounts Bay and Mousehole was burned to the ground with only the Keigwin Arms pub escaping destruction. This building is now a private house and has an inscription outside which states. "Squire Jenkyn Keigwin was killed here 23rd July 1595 defending this house against the Spaniards".

In more recent times, on the 19th December 1981, the Penlee lifeboat and its entire crew of eight, all local men, were lost during an attempted rescue in hurricane-force winds. The lifeboat was moved from Mousehole to Newlyn in 1983 but continues to be known as the 'Penlee Lifeboat'. Since 1981, every 19th of December the Mousehole Christmas lights have been turned off in memory of the victims of the lifeboat disaster.

Mousehole was known as the centre of Cornish fishing trade with its endless shoals of pilchards as far back as the 13th century. On Tom Bawcock's Eve, om December 23rd, a monstrous fish pie is baked and consumed on the quayside at Mousehole. This is said to commemorate a 16th Century fisherman named Tom Bawcock who put to sea during a winter storm to bring home a bumper catch to feed the starving villagers.