Mylor, Cornwall – Harbour, Church & Creek on the Carrick Roads

HOLIDAYS IN MYLOR

Mylor is a parish of creeks, boats and quiet lanes on the western shore of the Carrick Roads, a few miles north of Falmouth. It is really two villages: Mylor Churchtown, at the mouth of Mylor Creek, with its busy yacht harbour and ancient church, and Mylor Bridge, the larger village at the head of the creek, about a mile inland.

Few places in Cornwall are so devoted to sailing. Mylor Yacht Harbour stands on the site of what was once England’s most westerly naval dockyard, and today its pontoons and moorings are home to hundreds of yachts, as well as the traditional gaff-rigged oyster boats that still dredge the Fal under sail. There are cafés by the water, a sailing school and boats to hire.

Beside the harbour, the Norman church of St Mylor stands in a beautiful churchyard full of history, with the tallest cross in Cornwall, the graves of packet ship captains and a memorial to the boys of the training ship HMS Ganges, once moored off the dockyard.

Mylor is a lovely, peaceful base for a sailing or walking holiday. Footpaths lead along the shore to Flushing and over the hill to the thatched Pandora Inn on Restronguet Creek, and Falmouth and Truro are both within easy reach.

For somewhere to stay, see Flushing holiday cottages and Falmouth holiday cottages, close by.

Best Time to Visit Mylor

Spring brings the boats back onto their moorings and colour to the creekside gardens. Summer is the busiest time at the harbour, with sailing races, the sailing school in full swing and lunch outside by the water. Autumn is the start of the oyster season, when the working boats dredge the Fal under sail, and winter is peaceful, with wading birds on the creek at low tide.

The lanes are narrow and the harbour car park can be busy on summer weekends – arrive early, or walk from Flushing.

MYLOR HARBOUR

Mylor Yacht Harbour lies at the mouth of Mylor Creek, where it opens into the Carrick Roads. With some 400 berths on its pontoons and moorings, it is one of the busiest sailing centres on the Fal, and it has been owned by the Graffy family since 1997. It is the home of Restronguet Sailing Club, and has a chandlery, a public slipway, boat fuel, a sailing school and two café-restaurants, Café Mylor and Castaways.

The harbour has a long naval history. It was once the most westerly naval dockyard and victualling station in England, supplying ships of the Royal Navy and the Falmouth packets. From 1866 the old wooden warship HMS Ganges was moored off the dockyard as a training ship for boys joining the navy, until she left in 1899, and in the Second World War the harbour was used as a base for the French Resistance.

Today the harbour is a lovely place to sit and watch the boats. Mylor is home to the last fleet of oyster boats operating under sail – the Fal oyster fishery still requires the dredging to be done by sail and oar – and on summer evenings the traditional Falmouth working boats race out on the Carrick Roads. There is a small beach beside the harbour for paddling.

• Mylor Yacht Harbour

ST MYLOR CHURCH

The parish church of St Mylor (St Melorus) stands in a beautiful churchyard sloping down to the harbour. Legend says that worship began here in the early 5th century, when St Mylor came from Brittany. The present church has Norman origins – surviving Romanesque details suggest it was built around the beginning of the 12th century, making it one of the earliest Norman churches in Cornwall – and a south aisle was added in the 15th century. It was restored in 1870 and is listed Grade I.

Inside are a Jacobean pulpit, the lower part of a late medieval rood screen, the painted Royal Arms of Queen Anne and a 1695 monument to Richard Bonython of Carclew and his wife Honor. The old parish stocks stand in the porch.

Beside the porch stands the Cross of St Mylor, the tallest cross in Cornwall. It is 17 feet 6 inches long, though 7 feet of it are buried in the ground. For years it was hidden in the church wall, used as a buttress, and when it was found during restoration it was re-erected by sailors from HMS Ganges. Local tradition says it once marked St Mylor’s grave.

The churchyard is full of seafaring history, with the graves of many packet ship captains and sailors, and the HMS Ganges memorial to the 52 boys who died while training on the ship. Members of the Ganges Association make a pilgrimage here every Remembrance Day.

MYLOR BRIDGE & THE CREEK

Mylor Creek winds for just over a mile from the harbour to its tidal limit at Mylor Bridge. Its Cornish name, Pol Scathow, means “creek of boats”, and boats still line its shores, on moorings, in boatyards and drawn up on the foreshore.

Mylor Bridge is the main village of the parish, with most of its houses and shops. There is a post office and newsagent, a grocery store, a fishmonger, a butcher and the Lemon Arms pub, as well as the primary school, the GP surgery on Lemon Hill and Tremayne Hall. It is a friendly, lived-in village and a useful base for self-catering holidays.

North-east of Mylor Bridge, a lane drops down to Restronguet Passage and the famous thatched Pandora Inn on the shore of Restronguet Creek – see our Restronguet Creek guide.

HISTORY OF MYLOR

Mylor’s story begins with its saint. The parish is named after St Mylor, said to have arrived from Brittany, and the great stone cross in the churchyard suggests that there was a place of worship here long before the Norman church was built around 1100.

For centuries Mylor lived from farming, fishing and the sea. The packet ships that carried the mails from Falmouth between 1689 and 1850 used the harbour, and many of their captains were buried in the churchyard. The parish once included Flushing, which became a separate parish in 1844. At Mylor Churchtown the Royal Navy established its most westerly dockyard and victualling station, and from 1866 the training ship HMS Ganges was moored off the dockyard; life on board was harsh for the boy recruits, and many of those who died are buried in the churchyard.

In the Second World War the harbour served as a base for the French Resistance, while further up the Fal, Tolverne was an embarkation point for the D-Day landings. After the war the old dockyard became a yacht harbour, and today Mylor is one of the busiest sailing centres in Cornwall.

Key Buildings

• St Mylor Church – the Grade I listed Norman church with its 15th-century south aisle. See St Mylor Church above.
• The Cross of St Mylor – the tallest cross in Cornwall, 17 feet 6 inches long with 7 feet buried, beside the church porch.
• The HMS Ganges memorial – in the churchyard, remembering the boys who died while training on the ship moored off Mylor.
• Mylor Yacht Harbour – the former naval dockyard and victualling station at the mouth of Mylor Creek.
• The Pandora Inn, Restronguet Passage – the Grade II listed thatched inn on Restronguet Creek. See Restronguet Creek.

NOTABLE PEOPLE

• St Mylor (Melorus) – the saint to whom the church is dedicated, said by tradition to have come from Brittany; the great cross in the churchyard is said to have marked his grave.
• Richard Bonython of Carclew – remembered with his wife Honor by a monument of 1695 in the church; Carclew was one of the great houses of the parish.
• The boys of HMS Ganges – the young recruits trained on the ship moored off Mylor from 1866; 52 of them who died during their training are remembered on the churchyard memorial.

WALKS FROM MYLOR

From the harbour, a path follows the shore south round Trefusis Point to Flushing, with views over the Carrick Roads to St Mawes and the Roseland – a walk of a couple of miles each way, with the ferry to Falmouth at the end.

Another lovely walk follows Mylor Creek up to Mylor Bridge, then over the hill and down the lane to Restronguet Passage and the Pandora Inn, returning by the shore of the Carrick Roads – a circuit of both creeks, best timed for a pub lunch.

• Restronguet Creek – Cornwall Online
• Flushing – Cornwall Online
• Walking in Cornwall – Cornwall Online walks

THINGS TO DO IN AND AROUND MYLOR

Mylor is all about the water. Watch the boats from the harbour cafés, take a sailing lesson or hire a boat, and explore the creeks and churchyard at a gentle pace.

1. Learn to sail or hire a boat at Mylor Yacht Harbour.
2. See the tallest cross in Cornwall and the HMS Ganges memorial at St Mylor Church.
3. Watch the oyster boats and the Falmouth working boats racing on the Carrick Roads.
4. Walk to Flushing and take the ferry to Falmouth – Flushing.
5. Have lunch at the Pandora Inn on Restronguet Creek – Restronguet Creek.
6. Visit the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth – National Maritime Museum Cornwall.
7. Explore Trelissick, the National Trust garden on the Fal – Trelissick.

LOCAL EVENTS

• Working boat racing (summer evenings and weekends) – the traditional Falmouth working boats race on the Carrick Roads off Mylor.
• Falmouth Week (August) – the big sailing regatta in Falmouth Bay and the Carrick Roads – see Falmouth.
• HMS Ganges remembrance (Remembrance Day, November) – members of the Ganges Association lay wreaths at the memorial in St Mylor churchyard.

Dates change from year to year – check Mylor Yacht Harbour and local noticeboards for this year’s events.

PLACES NEAR MYLOR

• Flushing – the waterside village opposite Falmouth, a walk away along the shore.
• Restronguet Creek – the Pandora Inn, Restronguet Point and quiet creekside paths.
• Feock and Devoran – across Restronguet Creek.
• Falmouth – about three miles south, with the castle, museum and beaches.
• Truro – Cornwall’s cathedral city, by bus 66.
• St Mawes – across the Carrick Roads.