Port Navas has been settled since medieval times, with some evidence of activity during the Iron Age.

'Port(h) Navas' is thought by some to mean 'Cove of the Sheep' suggesting pastoral origins, but Port Navas has seen periods of great industry.

Higher and Lower Quay, constructed in the mid-nineteenth century, stimulated the development of much of the village as we know it today. The quays were used for shipping granite from the quarries around Constantine. A late nineteenth century account describes 'immense numbers of granite blocks piled up forty to fifty feet, waiting to be loaded into the two or three ketches, schooners or smacks moored under the cranes or anchored in the stream'.

Higher Quay, about 1910

Courtesy of Alan Austen

During this obviously very busy period, construction included a blacksmith's shop and workshops for the rough finishing of granite, as well as the Quay Master's cottage (now Creek Cottage); a chapel and restroom for seamen (now Mayn Cottage), and a lime kiln (now Old Kiln).

"Fanny Crossfield" at Higher Quay in 1926
Courtesy of Sally Thomas

"Lady of Avenel" loading granite, about 1875
Courtesy of Capt. George Hogg,
Cornwall Maritime Museum