He stepped ashore on Falmouth’s Town Quay one murky afternoon in January just as the light was beginning to fade. After six months or more at sea the solid ground was a stranger. Learning to walk like a landsman again, he and his mates headed for a drink. The seaport had a good choice of … Continue reading Welcome to Harriet’s house
Tag: Falmouth
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
Budock: town and country
These days, to the consternation of some of its residents, Budock is being inexorably joined to Falmouth by the remorseless sprawl of new housing. However, the urbanisation of Budock is not new. In the mid-nineteenth century the former boundaries of the parish extended as far as the estuary of the Fal to the north of … Continue reading Budock: town and country
The Falmouth ‘Mutiny’ of 1810
‘serious spirit of insubordination’ On October 24, 1810, customs officers boarded the two Falmouth packets Prince Adolphus and Duke of Marlborough, which were about to leave port for the Mediterranean and Lisbon. They broke open the chests of the seamen, confiscating any ‘private ventures’ that they discovered. Enraged, the two crews refused to put to … Continue reading The Falmouth ‘Mutiny’ of 1810
Central or southern? Cornwall’s contested railway route
These days we tend to take the route of the current railway mainline in Cornwall from Penzance to Plymouth for granted. But from 1844 to 1846 a heated debate raged about which direction the railway in Cornwall should take. There were already two passenger railways in Cornwall. A short line from Bodmin to Wadebridge had … Continue reading Central or southern? Cornwall’s contested railway route
Joseph Emidy
In this week in 1835 the man who was possibly one of the most talented Cornwall-based classical music composers of all time passed away and was buried in Kenwyn churchyard, to be forgotten about for many years. But Joseph Antonio Emidy was no native to Cornwall. Instead, he had been born in Guinea in west … Continue reading Joseph Emidy
Cornwall’s literary and philosophical societies
Currently, Cornwall’s largest museum, the Royal Cornwall Museum at Truro, is temporarily closed to the public. This is the result of ‘continued reduction in grants and consistently low visitor numbers’. The museum’s origins date back more than 200 years. On the 5th February 1818 a number of gentlemen met together at Truro Library. From that … Continue reading Cornwall’s literary and philosophical societies
Cholera in Cornwall: the Victorians’ coronavirus
Not strictly Victorian perhaps, as it preceded Victoria’s reign by five years. As if the endemic typhoid, typhus and dysentery, not to mention the measles, mumps and whooping cough that every year cut a swathe through thousands of infants, were not enough, in 1832 cholera arrived in Cornwall. Outbreaks periodically panicked local authorities into the … Continue reading Cholera in Cornwall: the Victorians’ coronavirus
Cornish studies resources 