Cornwall's Hidden History Blog
For many years I have peered from the cliffs at Land’s End to the pale finger of Longships Lighthouse in the distance. There is always something so romantic about that seemingly so close and yet so far tower, perched on its granite island surrounded by a swirling sea. But recently I was very fortunate to […]
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Between Gorran Haven and Dodman Point there is a deep, sweeping curve of beach. For me it has always been a beach strewn with ‘treasures’ – the tides bring in sea and sand scoured driftwood, bleached white as bone. There are shells of course and the remains of crabs, sharp orange, a sign of some […]
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If you love finding art in the wild or enjoy wandering around an old graveyard, as I do, reading the headstones and admiring the craftsmanship, then there is one monument that you should definitely seek out. Tucked away behind St Andrew’s Church in Stratton you can discover a striking sculpture that looks like it belongs […]
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When the artist J. M. W. Turner was walking between the villages of Mousehole and Paul in the summer of 1811 he paused for just long enough to make a rough pencil sketch of a granite monument that had caught his eye beside the road. The monument had been placed there some eighteen years earlier […]
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If you had happened to walk out on to St Catherine’s Point from the town of Fowey in the winter of 1866 a strange scene would have greeted you. Above the sound of the waves breaking on the rocks below you would have heard a chink of metal on stone and the quiet hum of […]
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A few months ago, back in the spring of 2025, I was honoured to be asked to be involved in an incredible project that aimed to bring the work of a little known local artist to print and hopefully to the attention of a wider audience. As soon as I saw the amazing images that […]
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How important is public art to community and society? What is it worth and can we really put a price on it? Should we be measuring the value of art in pounds or is its worth something unquantifiable? These seem to have been the sort of questions that were being asked back in 1965 when […]
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The story of the Ring and Thimble Stones is a striking reminder that small, seemingly insignificant objects can be important signposts in the landscape that can point us towards much bigger stories. These little stones, beside a road just outside Newlyn, illustrate how fact and folklore can merge and transform over the centuries, how meaning […]
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In the dark depths of the winter of 1870 the tiny Cornish fishing village of Cadgwith made the national newspapers when it became unwittingly embroiled in the ongoing Franco-Prussian war. The strange story of the lost balloon post brings to life a forgotten period of history, a time when the postal service (and a speedy […]
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Ann Boswell, better known as Granny Boswell, is one of Cornwall’s best known characters and an important figure for many in the gypsy community but who was the real woman who has inspired so much affection, so many stories and has even been depicted in one of the biggest TV shows of the past decade?! […]
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