The fish that fed a coast
The pilchard is a small, oily member of the herring family, closely related to the sardine. The two names are often used for fish of different sizes or ages, and the distinction is not always consistent. For a long period, particularly from the sixteenth century and through the eighteenth and nineteenth, shoals of pilchards that arrived off the Cornish coast supported one of the county’s most important fishing trades. It employed people on boats and on shore, from net makers and coopers to the women and children who worked in the cellars.
The shoals were seasonal. They are traditionally associated with late summer and autumn, though the timing varied from year to year, and in some years the fish did not arrive in the expected numbers. That uncertainty is a feature of the whole story. A good season could bring a great deal of work and income to a village, while a poor one could mean hardship.
Watching for the shoals
Pilchard fishing depended on spotting the fish from land. On clifftops, lookouts known as huers watched the sea for the darker color that a large shoal gave to the water. When fish were seen, a signal was given to alert the boats and the village. The details of the signals and the traditions around them vary in the telling, and some accounts of the calls and horns used are best treated as local tradition rather than firmly documented fact.
The fishing itself used large seine nets, which were shot in a circle around the shoal by a team of boats working together. The catch was then drawn in toward the shore and the fish were taken ashore in smaller boats. Cooperation and shared investment were important, because the equipment was costly and the work needed many hands. Ownership of nets and boats was often arranged in shares, and the exact arrangements differed from place to place.
Inside the fish cellars
On shore, the catch was processed in fish cellars, sometimes called pilchard palaces in local tradition. These were typically sturdy buildings or open courtyards near the water, with space for stacking, salting and pressing. In general terms the process worked like this:
- Fish were piled in stacks, known as bulks, with layers of salt.
- They were left for a period so that salt could draw out moisture and oil.
- The fish were then washed and packed tightly into barrels, which were pressed to squeeze out more oil.
- Barrels were sealed and sent for sale, with a significant part of the trade going overseas, notably to Mediterranean markets.
The pressing released oil, which was collected and used for lamps and other purposes. Specific numbers for catches, barrels and prices are often quoted in popular sources, but they vary and are easily misreported, so they are omitted here. The same goes for the smells: written accounts suggest that working cellars were noisy, busy and pungent places.
The cellar buildings today
Some cellars survive, though many have been converted into homes, workshops, galleries or other uses, or have been demolished by storms and development. They are one of the ways that the trade survives in the built environment, along with the net lofts where nets were stored and mended and the cottages where fishing families lived. Reading a harbor in this way, with slipways, cellars and net stores in a row, gives a hint of how a village operated. Several of the surviving examples are in what are now described as fishing villages with considerable visitor interest.
Village life and the wider economy
The pilchard trade connected fishing to other parts of Cornish life. Salt was needed in large quantity, and a lot of it was brought by sea. Barrels required timber and skilled coopers. Boats and nets had to be built and repaired. Wives and daughters often worked in the cellars and in the mending of nets, and the trade offered some seasonal income to families who also farmed or had relatives in mining.
Religion and custom were also tied to the fishery. Methodist chapels were influential in many fishing communities, and thanksgiving gatherings and harvest-style services sometimes marked a good season. Folk traditions such as those surrounding Tom Bawcock, associated with a famous fish story, link to the broader role of fish as a lifeline. Some of these traditions are older than the historical records, and the stories should be treated as folklore.
Decline and afterlife
The trade weakened in the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth. Reasons usually discussed include changing shoal behavior, competition from other fisheries and markets, new fishing methods, and shifts in demand overseas. Historians stress that no single cause explains everything, and the picture differed between harbors. Over time the great seine fisheries faded, though fishing for pilchards did not disappear completely.
In recent decades, pilchards caught off the county have sometimes been marketed under the name Cornish sardines, and the fish continues to feature in modern Cornish seafood. Whether this counts as a revival of the old trade is a matter of opinion; the scale and the working methods are very different.
Seeing the sites safely
Harbors and old cellar buildings are often still working places, and slipways and quaysides can be slippery. Keep away from edges and moorings, watch for moving boats and vehicles, and heed coastal safety advice, particularly around tides and swell. Check local guidance about access to any individual building, since many cellars are private property.