A local man from Polperro has found a rhinoceros horn inside a cave on Polperro beach. John Roundhill lives in Willy Wilcox Cottage, a small 17th century grade II listed cottage perched on top of a small cave looking out over Polperro’s historic fishing harbour.

On the weekend of March 12, John was showing visitors the renowned and prominent cave that sits under his house on the beach. While exploring the cave at low tide, John noticed a peculiar item peeking out from under the rocks and sand.

John explained: “I discovered a sawn off rhino horn wedged into a crevice.”

Baffled, John has speculated on how the suspected horn came to be there.

“I believe it may have appeared after being involved in the illegal trade of rhino horns and thrown from a smuggler’s boat perhaps when approached by authorities. It doesn’t seem to have been in the water a long time as there are no sea related flora and fauna attached to it. This raises the question as to whether it has travelled in the sea from Africa or if there is active smuggling directly to the UK by sea. And perhaps begs the question as to how many other illegal objects there might be washed up on the Cornish coastline.”

Willy Wilcox Cave, where the horn was found, is a well-known tourist attraction in the area as it was reputedly used by the famous eponymous smuggler, William Wilcox (or Wilcocks) in the 18th century who is said to have lived in the cottage above supposedly using it to store contraband. It is also said that Wilcox dug a secret tunnel connecting his cottage to the cave so that he could move his illegal goods without be seen. It was thought that Wilcox had died in the caves after getting lost in his labyrinth of tunnels before drowning.

The horn has since been identified and affirmed to be the horn of a rhinoceros by photographs sent to specialists in the African ranger community.

John continued: “The horn is a sad reminder of the illegal poaching and trade in endangered animal products for dubious medicinal purposes and financial gain. The relevant authorities have been notified and it is hoped that further research will be conducted to determine the age of the horn although I suspect we will never know exactly how it ended up in the cave.”

The horn has now been handed into the police for destruction.