Cornwall's Hidden History Blog
Driving out of Zennor village towards St Ives there is a house known as the Eagles Nest perched on a crag looking out to sea. It was in the valley below this house that D H Lawrence spent 1915 writing Women in Love and just opposite its white painted gate there is a track leading out across the downs. […]
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In Cornwall we have a special kind of geological feature that throughout history has given the Cornish folks bucket loads of joy. It is the natural phenomena known as the Logan Rock. The word logan comes from the Cornish ‘logging’, (pronounced log as in dog) meaning rocking and refers to a number of boulders which, through some a happy […]
Read MoreJust beside the road, not far from the much-visited Merry Maidens stone circle, is a fascinating ancient site. It is often over-looked as people whiz by it on their way to have their picture taken at Lands End. Tregiffian Barrow, which unfortunately is half covered by the road, is a prehistoric burial chamber. This site […]
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When Charlotte Dymond’s body was found on the lonely moors near Camelford in April 1844 Cornwall was overcome with shock snd horror. But strangely there was something else too – a kind of unsavoury excitement. This was the stuff of Penny Dreadful fiction, and to be frank the public was loving it. The story had […]
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We often think of saints as somehow ethereal beings who did miraculous, unbelievable things in far-away lands and in times so distant from our own. And let’s face it some of them very much live up to that reputation. But we shouldn’t forget that they were actually real people. The Real Saint Keyne Saint Keyne […]
Read MoreLast week I had to go and fetch my nearest and dearest from Gatwick airport. Now I will admit I really do love an excuse for a road-trip. I have always loved driving and as soon as I learnt I never looked back. I think that part of that has to do with growing up in […]
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A visit to the north coast of Cornwall brings you to a place of high cliffs and wild seas. It is a favourite with surfers and holiday-makers now, but in the past it was the scene of many ship wrecks and foolish bathers were often lost in the fierce and unpredictable tides. Crantock beach is […]
Read MoreIn a previous blog I mentioned that my dear friends find the idea of me traipsing around the Cornish countryside with an antique camera highly amusing. I am guessing, actually I know, that this is because this is the kind of image they imagine when they think of me: The lady photographer was a bit of a […]
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When I was at school I distinctly remember being told that the Romans never conquered the Cornish. That the county and the people were too wild for them and, like the Scottish in the north, they decided we were best left alone. It is now common knowledge that that is not entirely true. I have […]
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At 2 o’clock in the afternoon on the 1st November 1755 the sea in Mount’s Bay, Penzance rose rapidly and without warning to about 6ft above its normal level. Then it “just as quickly ebbed away”. The water continued to rise and fall in this way repeatedly for the next 5 hours. In neighbouring Newlyn […]
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