Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - The Bristol Channel District Guide - selected articles - [1934 Edition] . . . .

Padstow is a place of great antiquity, but its streets and houses bear few evidence of this. Its chief industry is fishing. The church, dedicated to St. Petroc and situated above the town, is Perpendicular, with an early English tower. It contains a fine Elizabethian monument, with kneeling figures, to the Prideaux family, whose mansion, the Place, built in 1588, is near the church. Charles II, stayed there in 1645 after the Battle of Naseby.

The harbour of Padstow is the only natural one between St. Ives and Bideford, being about six miles long with an average width of a mile, but it is marred as a port by its sandbanks.

Legend has it that in ancient days, a mermaid sang daily upon the rocks, and protected the harbour for shipping. But one day someone shot at her with a crossbow. In retaliation she threw a handful of sand and a curse towards the town, and the " Doombar " was the result.

It must be conceded that although Padstow itself may be disappointing, it has attractions for bathing, swimming, fishing and golfing ; and the coastal scenery and antiquarian associations of the neighbourhood make full recompense for the sea trip, which is very delightful.