Cornwall's Hidden History Blog
When Charles Dickens visited Cornwall in the mid-19th century he spent some time walking around the Lizard “knapsack on shoulder and stout boots on feet”. He felt that it was the only way to truly experience this isolated corner of Cornwall. Just outside Gunwalloe he made the acquaintance of a man he called “Old Cuttance” […]
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Just beyond a deep bend in the tidal reaches of the River Tamar and close to the picturesque grounds of Pentillie Castle is a quiet, forgotten quay. Once a hive of activity Halton Quay now seems to idle in peace and tranquillity, especially when the water is high, lapping gently at the granite walls and […]
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The Cornish coast is well known as a graveyard for ships, dramatic tales of shipwreck and rescue were once very much a daily part of local lives. And, of course, these disasters were rarely without victims. But what happened to the unidentified drowned was not something that was or is comfortable to talk about. Until […]
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When Charles, the second son of King James I and Anne of Denmark, was born in Scotland in November 1600 he was a sickly baby who grew to be a “weak and backward child”. The Royal physicians feared for his health and yet under the care of Elizabeth Trevanion the boy who would one day […]
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A short walk west along the coastal path from Porthleven leads you to a quiet area of clifftop known as Breageside. Here you will find a white painted stone cross facing out to sea. This cross is one of a pair erected close to this picturesque harbour and both are linked to the same man […]
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George Symons is not a name that many of us will be familiar with but one hundred years ago he was something of a Cornish celebrity. And for those passionate about motorsports in the south west today he should be a legend. George Symons raced in the first ever Manx Grand Prix in 1923, competed […]
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At the entrance to Falmouth Bay, a little closer to Pendennis Point than St Anthony Head, there is a small rocky shoal known as Black Rock. It has had various names over the years, including Falmouth Rock, Parson’s Rock and Caregoyne but perhaps its current name is most suited to its reputation as a menace […]
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Pentillie Castle, built by James Tillie in 1698, is one of the best kept secrets of the Tamar Valley. An elegant home tucked away in deep woodland beside a bend of the river, it is an impossibly idyllic spot. But this grand house, and the wonderful estate that surrounds it, also has one of the […]
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The curve of Whitesand Bay stretches from Aire Point to Pedn-Men-Du headland, like a rough, rocky bite out of the Land’s End coastline. This bay, which encompasses Sennen Cove and Gwynver Beach, is a popular surf spot where huge rollers tumble in from the Atlantic. But in centuries past those waves brought with them some […]
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The artist Albert Reuss was one of many Jewish refugees who fled Nazi occupied Europe and the terrible violence of the Holocaust to the safety of the United Kingdom. However it was a chance meeting with a Cornish Quaker that not only brought about that escape but also meant that Albert and his wife were […]
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