Cornwall's Hidden History Blog
There are certain members of our community who are supposed to be beyond reproach. Individuals that we hold in higher esteem, who are meant to set the standard for the rest of us – the village constable or doctor perhaps and of course, the local vicar. But experience should have taught us that these individuals […]
Read More
In the spring of 1909 a series of startling events in Cornwall became front page news across the British Isles. The newspapers reported that a ‘madman’ had shot four people and had barricaded himself into his home in the small rural town of St Blazey. Cecil Dench was quoted as saying that his home was […]
Read More
Last year I was very fortunate to hear Dr MacKenzie speak at the NMMC as part of their autumn lecture series. The topic that night was a well known Cornish character, Mary Bryant, and her extraordinary life, a story I thought I knew reasonably well. But the insight and detail that Dr MacKenzie presented really […]
Read More
Poltesco is one of those really beautiful hidden spots on the Lizard. A place that you only seem to get to if it was where you were heading for in the first place. But this now isolated cove was once a hive of industry, with men and machinery at work and ships coming and going, […]
Read More
For many years there have been stories about a large wild cat roaming the isolated moors in the centre of Cornwall and while most people have come to regard the Beast of Bodmin Moor as something of a joke, what if some of those sightings were actually real? I began looking into this story by […]
Read More
The late Victorian period in Britain seems to have been a time when strange fads and peculiar crazes were particularly popular. Beyond the well known fashion for smaller and smaller waists there were fasting crazes which saw some young women claiming that they never ate anything . . . at all . . . ever, […]
Read More
This Bronze Age standing stone can be found in a field about two miles west of the Merry Maidens Stone Circle and a mile south of St Buryan Church. Standing about 6ft (2m) high it has a wonderful irregular shape that means that it looks slightly different from whichever angle you view it from. For […]
Read More
Some stories just come to you like a gift. A brightly wrapped present with a big bow on top! The story of Daisy is one of those wonderful gifts, especially since she, the hero of this tale, was, well, an alligator who ‘liked’ wearing a ribbon round her neck! So, how exactly did Daisy the […]
Read More
“From the very first day I stumbled upon this subject, the stories on the fringes of the mining world have interested me the most – not the stories of the mines themselves but the stories of those who stomped beneath the earth each morning, their tales of danger and debauchery, the myths, legends and folklore […]
Read More
A few years ago I was contacted by a Cornish gypsy family who wanted to tell me the story of their great-grandmother, Janet Isaac. I met them for a cup of tea and a chat and to my surprise and joy a whole other world, a wonderfully fascinating and unfamiliar part of our Cornish heritage, […]
Read More