Cornwall's Hidden History Blog
Whatever the time of year I love the moors. Whether it is in the depths of winter when the air is sharp with cold, one of those days the wind tugs at you and takes your breath away or at the height of a bright blue-skied summers day. Then its a very different place, you can hear the heat coming […]
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For most people Saffron is a captivating and expensive spice which conjures up images of mysterious distant lands but for hundreds of years to the Cornish it has been a more homely than exotic ingredient. It is a story of much conjecture and hot debate as to when saffron first arrived in Cornwall. There are stories […]
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The connections between ancient man, the stones structures they built and the natural rulers of the skies – the sun, moon and stars – are overwhelming. And trying to make sense of what mattered and why to our ancestors without taking into account the struggle they faced with the elements, and their own battle to […]
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There are literally hundreds of Holy Wells in Cornwall, most associated with a saint and usually famous for providing some kind of miraculous cure for some ailment – from rickets to infertility to lameness and eye complaints, there’s a well out there that will help you. We forget of course that the vast majority of […]
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Today is the 5th March, Saint Piran’s Day, a festival celebrated across Cornwall with marches, parades, music and some delightfully over-enthusiastic nationalism. I went on the St Piran’s Day pilgrimage to the cross and chapel in the dunes near Perranporth today (2017) below are some of my pictures. I was freezing cold and the wind did […]
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It’s been a little while since I posted anything about my rather lovely Kodak Box Brownie camera, if the truth be told I have been using my digital a lot more over this autumn and winter and part of the reason for that is the light, or lack of it! I posted a little guide […]
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I am not a huge fan of that old habit of just sailing up to a place, sticking a flag in it and calling it whatever you liked – I mean lets face it Aotearoa is a far better name for New Zealand! But when I read that there was an island and a language named after a Cornishman, well, […]
Read MoreFor a long time I have had a strange fascination with Argal reservoir. I know that with so much natural beauty so near by this might seem a strange choice as one of my favourite places for a walk. But I go there often and for a number of reasons. As I live within 10 minutes […]
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Strangles is a pretty ominous name for anything. And it appears that this darkly beautiful beach, on arguably the most dramatic part of Cornwall’s northern coast, gets it’s name for equally ominous reasons. The dangerous currents and jagged rocks that surround Strangles make this a particularly treacherous part of our coastline. There is a much repeated local adage […]
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Winter, 1811 A gull’s wing tip topped the wave and just for a moment the air currents caught hold of its white feathers and the bird swung in the air, weightless as thistle-down. The sea twisted, turned and undulated but the stark unmoving line of the horizon didn’t alter.  It was empty, a deep […]
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