Touring Through Small Town Fowey, Cornwall

Touring through small town Fowey, Cornwall can be a fine and memorable activity. Sitting at the mouth of the River Fowey, in the southwest England county of Cornwall, the town enjoys a population of about 2,300 people. Life is much as it ever was in Fowey, for the most part.

Fowey has a history in Cornwall going back to Norman times. The region in which it sits was noted in the property survey ordered by the Norman king William I (William the Conqueror) known as the Domesday Book. It also saw attacks by French forces in 1457, and became somewhat of a haven for pirate activity due to its benefiting from a natural harbor in its geographic makeup.

Over the centuries, the maritime fortunes of the town waxed and waned, with much economic activity moving to Plymouth. It was able to stabilize, however, with a concerted series of harbor development actions taken during the mid-to-late 19th century.

Fowey is noted for the scenic area in which it sits, which is officially called an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

It also lies alongside and is the ending point of the famous Saints' Way, a long natural footpath which was the presumed route of many an early Christian traveler heading from Ireland to points on the European continent.

The town also resides in the south of Cornwall, a county which sits on the English southwestern peninsula of the country. It is bordered by both the Atlantic Ocean to the north and the English Channel, to the south. It is the home of the Cornish people, and is also one of the six original Celtic nations in Britain. It currently enjoys a population of around 532,000 people, according to a recent 2007 census. Both Fowey (pronounced like "boy") and Cornwall are classic examples of the Cornish contribution to England's history.