Charlestown (Cornish: Porth Meur, meaning great cove) is a village and port on the south coast of Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of St Austell Bay.

[4] Charles Rashleigh, who moved to Duporth Manor, just outside the village, used plans prepared by John Smeaton to begin the construction of a harbour and dock in 1791.

Volunteers from Rashleigh's estate formed an artillery company that lasted until 1860, when the original four 18-pound cannons were replaced by 24-pound models.

[8] The 1851 census recorded 283 adults living in Holmbush, of whom ten were employed as miners and one was the mine agent.

As the mines became exhausted and their output dropped, the port was used to export china clay from the region's quarries.

Joseph Dingle, once a servant and footman employed by Rashleigh, became superintendent of works when the construction of the harbour began, but had systematically embezzled money from the project.

[15] Much of Square Sail's business involves using the harbour and their ships as film sets such as the 2015 Poldark television series.

First launched in 1858, it was the world's oldest working square rigger but ran aground and broke up on the north Cornish coast in May 1995 with the loss of three of her sixteen crew.

The Charlestown Shipwreck, Rescue and Heritage Centre has also been put up for sale due to the retirement of the owner.

The post office closed without a replacement and the village has a gift shop and several other eating establishments in and around the harbour.

In 2012, the structure was in a poor state of repair and causing concern because it is within a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It was split from the parish of St Austell, and land was given for a church in 1848 by George Augustus Crowder, the managing director of Charlestown Estates.

[24] Filming took place on 1 February 2011[25] for much of The Curse of the Black Spot, an episode of the Doctor Who television series.