Penzance was overshadowed by Marazion until the 1300s. It remained an overgrown village with a market and a sideline as the embarkation point for pilgrims to Santiago de Compostella in Galicia. It was the 1600s which saw the growth of the town, which benefitted from expanding tin mining in West Penwith. It became a coinage town in 1663.
Population 1861: 9,400
Population 2011: 21,000
Planned population 2031: 25,000
Cornish studies resources 