Mousehole slipway (south)
Mousehole's harbour slipway on the western side of Mount's Bay, about 2.5 miles south of Penzance.
Mousehole's harbour is a small drying basin enclosed by two granite piers with an entrance about 11 metres wide. It dries at low water to a floor of clean sand with some small boulders, emptying almost completely at spring low tides, and the approach outside the piers dries progressively to around 1.3 metres off the head of the South Pier before the final run in.
About 350 metres off the harbour entrance sits St Clement's Isle, a rocky islet roughly 8 metres high and the dominant landmark seen from the water; local fishing boats work an inshore passage between the island and the mainland.
The wider bay's tidal streams are weak and irregular, so the main constraint here is vertical rather than horizontal: the harbour's drying floor and a mean spring range of about 4.7 metres at the standard port of Newlyn. Mousehole's whole frontage lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and the Mount's Bay Marine Conservation Zone, protecting the seagrass beds, intertidal rock and subtidal sand around St Michael's Mount, lies across the bay to the north-east and does not reach Mousehole.
The harbour's two granite quays are both listed structures: the South Quay dates to the 17th century, and the North Quay was built between 1868 and 1871 to a design by the lighthouse engineer Sir James Douglass. Mousehole's first quay, built in 1392, is reckoned the earliest walled harbour in Cornwall, and the Harbour Piers and Walls are listed Grade II* by Historic England.
Nearby
Café on The Parade at the northern end of the village, on the coast path above the tidal Rock Pool.
Open to the public for tents and campervans/motorhomes (no caravans). Summer season runs Easter to mid-September; 11 hardstanding pitches for self-contained campervans/motorhomes remain available over winter.
WebsiteConditions to check
The approach outside the piers dries progressively, to about 1.3 m off the head of the South Pier, so the harbour empties almost completely at spring low tides and launch and recovery are tide-bound.
SourceWorking fishing harbour with about 72 small-craft moorings within the harbour bounds.
SourceSt Clement's Isle, a rocky islet about 8 metres high, lies roughly 350 metres off the harbour entrance.
SourceThe harbour mouth is sealed with oak baulks and closed to all marine traffic from about mid-November to mid-March, a recurring winter closure.
SourceIn Mount's Bay the tidal streams are weak and irregular.
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