A delightful guided tour today of North Cornwall – and a stop at the 13th Century ‘Huer’s Hut’ in Newquay…
The Huer’s Hut served as a lookout point from which a man known as a huer could keep watch for the arrival of the pilchards. They could be discerned by the water turning a dark reddish-brown and by the flocks of seagulls which dived down to feed on the fish. The huer would announce the arrival by shouting “hevva, hevva” (Cry raised when a shoal of pilchards is sighted, signalling for fisherman to man their boats.) or through the use of a trumpet after which he would direct the townsfolk to the fish by waving tree branches above his head.
The word huer has the same derivation as the “hue” in hue and cry, after this action.
(Heva is a derivation of the Cornish ‘hes va’, which means something like ‘there’s a shoal here’.)
Has a very Mediterraneans feel to it and very appropriate for the day as the sun was shining here in Cornwall!
We run a number of Cornwall tours from Newquay which take in this beautiful, rugged stretch of coast, with it’s rich history.
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