A region bordered on three sides by the sea might be expected to be home to a fair number of men described as mariners, seamen, sailors or Royal Navy personnel. In fact, in 1861 there were more of this description than there were fishermen, at least 2,514. ‘At least’ because we would expect a proportion … Continue reading Those in peril on the sea: mariners in Victorian Cornwall
Category: maritime
West Looe: the sea, family support and snooker
West Looe sat on the less populous bank of the estuary of the Looe River. The town straggled along the river and up the steep hill leading out into the surrounding countryside. Unlike its bigger brother across the bridge, West Looe had no large community of fishermen and their families in the mid-1800s. There were … Continue reading West Looe: the sea, family support and snooker
St Michael’s Mount: A life near the ocean wave
Our third St Michael is even smaller than the other two. One of Cornwall’s iconic views and subject of many thousands of paintings and photographs, it’s the only Cornish parish that can comfortably be captured in one camera shot. St Michael’s Mount, where a Benedictine Priory was founded in the 1100s, had been granted in … Continue reading St Michael’s Mount: A life near the ocean wave
Sennen and seven sorts of cousins
Just a few miles to the west of Sancreed, we arrive at our next parish, Sennen, the most westerly in Cornwall. This is Cornwall’s pedn an wollaz, the land’s end, although unfortunately far from the end of this series of blogs. As the nineteenth century proceeded, Sennen, or at least its fishing cove, became increasingly … Continue reading Sennen and seven sorts of cousins
Polruan – a village of seafarers
The village of Polruan in Lanteglos by Fowey could in the 1800s lay claim to possessing the greatest collective knowledge of seafaring of any place in Cornwall, in relation to its size. Polruan’s association with the sea was a longstanding one, having sent a ship and 60 men to join the siege of Calais in … Continue reading Polruan – a village of seafarers
Polperro: not just although mainly about the fishing
Lansallos parish contains part of the coastal village of Polperro (shared with the neighbouring parish of Talland). Now the epitome of a ‘quaint’ and picturesque Cornish village, Polperro in the 1800s was a self-contained and busy working village, its people earning their living mainly from fishing. Jonathan Couch with one of his fish Self-contained but … Continue reading Polperro: not just although mainly about the fishing
Gorran: more than just a haven
The parish of Gorran is a reminder that fishing villages in Cornwall were relative latecomers in the historic landscape. The parish church on the plateau, with its handful of houses standing sentinel and the scattering of tre- placenames around it indicate the earliest settlements. Fishing villages such as Gorran Haven, in the 1300s known in … Continue reading Gorran: more than just a haven
Shipwrights
Given its maritime connections, it’s not surprising that, in the 1800s Falmouth and its neighbouring villages was a shipbuilding location. Yet before the 1850s, in the days of sail, most shipbuilding operations in the Fal estuary were relatively small scale. In Falmouth itself they were located mainly in the area between the present-day Maritime Museum … Continue reading Shipwrights
The call of the Carrick Roads
Falmouth’s deep natural harbour, the growth of the Atlantic trade and the presence of the Post Office’s packet ships had led to boom times in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Ships called in from all over the world, their crew and passengers disembarking in the town. As a result, it’s sometimes claimed that Falmouth … Continue reading The call of the Carrick Roads
Port Isaac: of medical men and myths
Doc Martin: working hard to reproduce stereotypes of Cornwall and sell second homes Ask people what they know about the village of Port Isaac on Cornwall’s north coast in Endellion parish and they’re likely to respond with ‘Doc Martin’. This apparently endless series about a lugubrious doctor in a ‘sleepy’ Cornish fishing village is a … Continue reading Port Isaac: of medical men and myths
Cornish studies resources 