THE HUER'S HUT, NEWQUAY, CORNWALL: A NEW POEM.

The Huer’s Hut

Trained eyes scanned

The robust Atlantic Ocean

From a centuries old hut

On Towan’s headland;

Their seaward gaze spanned

A vast and changing tide by day

Until choppy waters announced

A sighting, a shoal and a lifeline:

Pilchards swarming in the bay…

Strained voices bellowed

Through megaphones

From the proximity of the hut,

To Newquay’s fisherfolk;

Their “Hevva, Hevva…” hallooed

To echo across the bay,

Until a busy harbour graced

A launching, a race and a lifeline:

The catch, where seines held sway…

Pete Ray

June 2017

The Huer's hut on the Towan headland, Newquay Cornwall still stands, restored in 1835. 

I believe that shoals of pilchards were spotted by the ‘huers’ at the hut, with its huge chimney for warmth, then through megaphones, their cries would be heard in the harbour, where the different seines, or fishing groups would be directed towards the shoals by large ‘flags’ of gorse branches covered by cloth, waved by the huers themselves…