The Bickford Smith Institute
Porthleven's most prominent building is the Institute, instantly recognisable by the 70ft high clock tower. The Institute was built on the site of an 18th Century inn - The Fishmongers Arms - which was demolished in 1883. The new building opened in 1884 as Porthleven Literary Institute for the furthering of scientific knowledge and literacy - a gift to Porthleven from Mr Bickford-Smith of Trevarno, a former Member of Parliament. It is consequently now known as The Bickford Smith Institute. The large reading room contained hundreds of books, newspapers and a telegram news service and was heated by two stoves.
On walks
- Penrose and Porthleven (6 mile walk)
- Porthleven to Rinsey Head (6.8 mile walk)
Get the iWalkCornwall app
Download the app and use it to explore the walks and to purchase a guided route.
The app will direct you to the start of the walk via satnav.
The app guides you around the walk using GPS, removing any worries about getting lost.
The walk route is described with detailed, regularly-updated, hand-written directions.
Each time there is a new direction to follow, the app will beep to remind you, and will warn you if you go off-route.
A map shows the route, where you are at all times and even which way you are facing.
Each walk is packed with information about the history and nature along the route, from over a decade of research than spans more than 3,000 topics.
Once a walk is downloaded, the app doesn't need a phone or wifi signal during the walk.
The app counts down distance to the next direction and estimates time remaining based on your personal walking speed.
We keep the directions continually updated for changes to the paths/landmarks - the price for a walk includes ongoing free updates.
