A Blog about Cornwall's Hidden Places & Untold Stories
“The moor was a mountain seething with magma; the magma cooled and hardened and its name was granite.” William Atkins, The Moor, 2014 The eastern side of Bodmin Moor has a fine collection of spectacular tors. High ridges of undulating, castellated rocks or jutting outcrops of weatherworn granite rise abruptly above the horizon. Hawk’s, Kilmar, […]
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Hi everyone! This is a very different post for my blog, not only because I didn’t actually write it but because it covers a period of Cornwall’s history which I feel few people, including myself, know well. But that, combined with the anniversary of the battle at Braddock Down coming up, is why I decided […]
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“A man will go to the devil pretty fast in Tombstone . . . Faro, whiskey, and bad women will beat anyone.” George Parsons diary, September 1880 Tombstone is known as ‘the town too tough to die’. This is the town of Wyatt Earp and the gunfight at the OK Corral. A town of saloons […]
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There are over nine hundred stone circles across the British Isles. Roughly twenty or so of those can be found in Cornwall. However, it is almost impossible for us to know exactly how many such monuments were actually built by our ancestors. An unknown number of circles have been lost or destroyed in the thousands […]
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It is that time of year again! My favourite time . . . It’s panto time! I was delighted to be invited to the opening night of Miracle Theatre’s Treasure Island and what a fantastic night it was! Miracle Theatre continue their celebration of their 40th year with another stellar performance! Treasure Island, a refreshingly […]
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“All the grandeur of the North Cornwall coast is here . . . It is truly a superb bit of scenery combining grand and fantastic rocks with a sea constantly varying in its blues, greens and purples . . . Those that stand above these cliffs must acknowledge that even Cornwall has not a finer […]
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“The walker in this strange, forgotten country . . . will find that he has escaped into a new dimension, into a solitude and peace that defy the close proximity of the contemporary world . . . it is a wilderness in miniature, full of contrasts.” E. C. Axford, Bodmin Moor The vast granite upland […]
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“For many connoisseurs the cliff walks between Boscastle and Tintagel are the finest in the whole of the Cornish coast . . . fantastically shaped rocks amuse the lonely walker with the attempt to read some significance into their contorted features, but are, at dusk, too frightening to linger by.” S.H. Burton The stretch of […]
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In early Autumn 1818 Jane Burnard, the wife of Altarnun’s stonemason, gave birth to a son. Neville Northey Burnard was christened that November. He was the eldest child in the family and is described as being a beautiful child ‘with a head of golden curls’. This boy was destined for fame, excellence and wealth but […]
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I have been in love with the Isles of Scilly since spending time there as a teenager. I was lucky to have a friend who worked for a while at the Tresco Abbey Gardens and I was able to stay with her for free. A few years ago I went back and spent a blissful […]
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