Victorian Photographs

Lewis Harding, a grandson of the Rev. Sir Harry Trelawny of Trelawne, lived between 1807 and 1893. After many years abroad, he returned to live at Trelawne in the 1850s and later in Polperro itself. It was during this period of his life that he became interested in photography and for several years until his death he took some of the first photographs of Polperro and its inhabitants, some of which have survived to this day.

The photograph reproduced here is a particularly good example of Harding's photography dating from the 1860s. A large group of people of all ages are gathered outside the Three Pilchards inn where a jowter (fish buyer) wearing a tall hat is weighing fish on the market scales while the others look on. Several women can be seen knitting (probably knitfrocks - click here to learn more about knitfrocks).

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Visit again soon when we hope to have more historic photographs of Polperro in Victorian times