Cornwall's Hidden History Blog
Once while on one of our trips my other half and I were taking in just another orange Caribbean sunset when we heard what we thought was a party just a few dusty streets away. It may have been the rum or the weeks on the road with little in the way of night life but we […]
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In an earlier post I wrote about the Cornish word Hireth, which means a longing for somewhere, and how many people can feel a deep affliation or connection to a place. For me, Bodmin Moor with its mysterious relics, wild landscape and wide horizons is one of those places. Canon Elliott-Binns’ 1955 book Medieval Cornwall contains this description – “The […]
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When exactly mankind first discovered the art of smelting metal is a mystery. But what we do know is that tin has always played a major part of the history of Cornwall and its people. Up until recent years it was a vital part of our economy and our culture. And perhaps one day it […]
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I grew up in a household where farm work and animals came first, above anything else. Don’t misunderstand, I am not complaining. I had a blessed childhood with a kind of freedom that sadly very few children experience today. It taught me not only independence but also the importance of hard work and taking responsibility. […]
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Isn’t it strange that you can see something a thousand times in your life and never really question what it is or why it is there? That was how I felt when one day I actually stopped and looked at the Killigrew Monument in the centre of Falmouth. When I got home I had a […]
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I went on a really wonderful walk the other day. The sun was shining. I was all alone. And there was so much history along the way that I am hard pressed to decide which part should be the subject of this piece of writing. This is Rogers Tower. And it has often been called a folly. […]
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I have always loved the mystery that a ruined place creates. They are on one hand like a blank page on which I can jot down any story that my imagination likes and then on the other they of course already have a real history to discover. Real characters and real events. The past halted in time […]
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One of the most iconic and memorable sites in Cornwall is a man-made one. What the locals call the Cornish Alps. The huge, bright-white spoil heaps left by the China Clay industry dominate the centre of the county and can be seen for literally miles and miles highlighted against a blue sky. China Clay is […]
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John Knill loved St Ives. And more than 2oo years after his death St Ives is still remembering him. This rather eccentric philanthropist (sometimes smuggler) wanted to provide for the people he had grown so fond of. And to also guarantee that his name would be remembered for all time in the town that he made […]
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Roughly around 20 years ago I bought an old camera, second hand at a flea-market, it was a Minolta SR-7. I don’t remember what I paid for it but I wasn’t earning much at the time so it can’t have been expensive. I had fun with it for a few years and then the speed and light-weight […]
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