Cornwall's Hidden History Blog
Figgy Dowdy had a well On top of Carn Marth hill She locked it up night and day Lest people carry the water away! Carn Marth is the highest of a range of hills that stretch from Gwennap to Camborne. Rising 757ft (230m) above the village of Lanner, it is riddled with quarries and old […]
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Cornwall is blessed with a long and fascinating history. Although visitors are often drawn to the county by the so called ‘Poldark effect’ many more are also seeking out our enigmatic prehistoric monuments. I wanted to take a look at the hidden threat to this precious heritage. An Outstanding Landscape Cornwall has some of the […]
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In Cornwall the landscape around us is alive with stories. As a people we seem to have always formed a close relationship with the natural geology that surrounds us. Here it is nearly impossible for a rock to be just a rock! There is always a tale attached and sometimes more than one! Men-amber rock […]
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The aim of this blog from the beginning has been to throw some light onto the lesser known places, stories and people of this fascinating county. And today was one of those days when I felt particularly blessed to have been born here. Cornwall is overflowing with legends and mysterious traditions – some of which […]
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This week saw the opening of a new major exhibition at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. Telling the story of the famously unsinkable ship, the Titanic, the exhibition takes a fresh look at the facts and the myths behind this endlessly fascinating event. Infamous tragedy Titanic was meant to be the ship that even God […]
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It is damp and dreary but I have been looking forward to today for months so I was going to be put off. Walking up the granite steps into the museum I am immediately stuck by how bright everything looks. And how busy, my favourite little museum has really come alive! I have been going […]
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I read recently that Bodmin Moor is less popular with visitors than Dartmoor because it has so few marked footpaths. There are numerous ‘routes’ across the moor but they are far less worn by foot traffic and in most cases not marked at all. But this is one of the reasons I and many others […]
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The Darley Oak is thought to be 1000 years old. Lets put that into perspective, when this ancient tree was just an acorn the Normans hadn’t invaded yet and the Domesday Book hadn’t been written. Paper money wasn’t invented and the Vikings were still attacking our coast. There was probably a man known as Ethelred […]
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It is romantic to think of a photograph as a snapshot of a world that would otherwise be lost to us. However the Gibson family’s enormous collection of photographs of Cornwall is so much more than a romanticised version of the past. They document the everyday. Capture the world of working-class Cornish people. Set against […]
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Every Sunday this summer you can enjoy what has to be one of the most outstanding views on the Cornish coast. The Gribbin Head Daymark is very striking. Its outline can be seen for literally miles, both inland and of course out to sea. That is after all the whole point.
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