Since I was a small boy holidaying in Devon and Cornwall I have been fascinated with seashells. My parents used to encourage me to spend my pocket money on crab-lines, sticks of rock and ice-cream. I had other ideas, holding onto my money in case we stumbled upon a shop selling shells. Occasionally I would hit the jack-pot in Brixham, Torquay, Penzance and Lands End.
I have, over the years, amassed a collection running into hundreds of different species of seashell and never pass up the opportunity to walk along a beach wherever I am in the world on the off-chance I will find something interesting.
On a recent rock-pooling outing to Pett Level with one of my sons, I was amazed to find a shell I recognized but never thought I’d see in the UK. It was a 17.5mm (3/4”) long Common Wentletrap (Epitonium Clathrus). Wentletraps are a small predatory mollusc, with a creamy white porcelain-like, turret shaped shell that is made up of eight to twelve whorls which sometimes are not in contact with each other. The name wentletrap comes from the dutch ‘wendeltrappe’ meaning spiral staircase. The shells contain seven ribs that run from the opening end to the point making them very easy to identify. They are perfectly architectural, delicate and very beautiful. The common wentletrap feeds on sea anemones which are plentiful in the sea around our coast.
One of the reasons I was so excited to find one, is that a cousin of this little creature carries the favourite seashell in my whole collection; the Precious Wentletrap (Epitomium Scalare), a shell I first saw and fell in love with when I was 6 or 7. Indeed, they were among the first shells I ever bought, handing over £16 of my savings to the Buccaneer shell-shop, Penzance where I bought two prized specimens.
The ‘Precious’ Wentletrap were so-named because they only existed in tiny numbers when first discovered and were therefore very expensive. In 1753 four specimens were sold in London for more than £75 – that would be more than £14,000 today! Precious wentletraps were added to the collections of ambassadors, nobles and emperors including the Duchess of Portland, the Queen of Sweden and even Catherine the Great. Indeed, the shells were so sought after, tales of fakes skillfully crafted from rice paper and made to deceive Chinese emperors began to circulate!
I have found several other Common Wentletrap specimens at Pett Level since my first discovery, each of which has made my day! So, next time you are walking along the beach, keep your eyes peeled for a little piece of treasure nestling in the rocky pools.
Image Credits: Neil Archer .
Similarly shell obsessed but much less knowledgeable, I was very interested in this. I also recall the thrill of finding a wentletrap, aged 7, on Formby sands, only a common one but it’s still my best shell! (I turned 68 today)