Cornwall's Hidden History Blog
“murder cannot be hid long . . . the truth will out.” Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, 1596 In October 1813 a group of workmen were employed to take down a derelict building near the old quay in Penzance. As they began lifting the stone slabs covering the ground floor they made a grisly discovery. […]
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When Ella Buchan, the co-author of ‘A Gothic Cookbook’, contacted me and suggested that we collaborated on a post that combined Cornwall, gothic literature and cakey tea there was no way I was going to say no! And on the lead up to Halloween the idea just seemed perfect! Over to Ella to tell you […]
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Clearly visible for miles around the Daymark is undoubtedly the most iconic structure on St Martin’s. Wherever you are on the island somehow it feels like it is drawing you towards it. Despite the Scillonian boatman trying to convince gullible visitors that the stripped tower is the cone of a rocket it is in fact […]
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Much of prehistory is a complete mystery to us. There are so many unanswered questions. Practically everything we know about the Neolithic comes from the few objects that have survived the intervening centuries, and how we have subsequently interpreted those finds. But if we had to choose just one object to be the iconic symbol […]
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According to local legend in 1895 Mevagissey became the first place in Cornwall, maybe even one of the first places in the UK, to have electric street lighting. Amazingly the harbour’s new power station was run entirely on pilchard oil. But this innovation is actually less surprising once you learn that this small fishing community […]
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Bodmin is one of the oldest settlements in Cornwall and the only Cornish town of any size to be mentioned in the Domesday Book. This ancient settlement is said to have been founded by two saints. The first, St Guron built a hermit’s cell in the valley sometime in the early 6th century and then […]
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When we imagine the Penwith peninsula in the 19th century it can seem almost as if the cliff tops, beaches and harbours must have been overrun with artists at their easels. So many were attracted here by the mild climate, the beautiful landscapes and that famous ethereal light that Cornwall, especially the far west, developed […]
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In 1828, when he was just 22 years old, Isambard Kingdom Brunel stood on the banks of the Tamar at Saltash. Surveying the wide, tidal river he concluded that it was ‘much too wide to be worth having a bridge’. Some 20 years later however, he was to design the Royal Albert Bridge for that […]
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Port Quin is a beautiful place, a picturesque little Cornish inlet. It is considered a safe habour, though somewhat shallow, with the rocks at its narrow entrance between Doyden Point and Kellan Head appearing to almost touch. Yet despite its sheltered position, and having Newquay and Padstow on one side and Port Isaac on the […]
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When South Crofty tin mine closed in 1998 a gaping hole was left in our community, not only for the miners and their families but for the whole of Cornwall. It was the end of an era. In recent years the Canadian company, Strongbow Exploration, has made positive steps towards re-opening this iconic mine. But […]
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