Duporth

Duporth Holiday Village was built on the site of the old Duporth estate and manor which was owned by Charles Rashleigh, who developed Charlestown. The site was sold in 1933 to Seaside Holiday Camps Ltd and the camp opened by the Whitsun of 1934.[1]

During the second world war the camp was requisitioned by the War Office and the Indian Army and American Army were stationed there.[1] After the war it returned to being a holiday camp. Butlins bought the camp in 1972 and it opened as one of their Smaller Freshfields sites.[2]

In 1985, The Rank Group owner of Butlins at that time, also bought Haven Holidays and certain sites including Duporth rebranded to the sister company (There is some anecdotal evidence that in the early 1980s Duporth was branded under another sister company's name, Warner Holiday Camps. The Manor was demolished in 1989 after it became uneconomical to repair.[1] Duporth was owned by Haven Holidays until 1999, then sold several times into private ownership. The capacity of the park was around 1200, with a combination of chalets and caravans, and self-catering and half board holidays.

The Duporth site lies midway between the fishing port of Charlestown and Porthpean, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) from St Austell town centre. The entrance into the park was just near a crossroads on Porthpean Road: one direction coming from St Austell and going to Porthpean, one road going to the small village of Tregorrick and the other going to Charlestown. The village of Duporth is accessed from Charlestown Road next to the caravan entrance into Duporth Holiday Village. Houses in Duporth itself have views across St Austell Bay.

The port of Fowey is just around the corner (to the east) from St Austell Bay and ships can often be seen making their way in and out of the harbour, and with tall ships regularly travelling in and out of the small harbour at Charlestown it is not unusual to see dolphins following them in.

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