Migration from Mount’s Bay

The neighbouring parishes of Penzance and Paul were among Cornwall’s most populous in the Victorian period. That also means they provided more children for the Victorian Lives database, in fact a total of 133. Of those, just over three quarters (102) have been traced through to 1891 or their death. (Health warning: those of a … Continue reading Migration from Mount’s Bay

Newlyn: fish hawkers and octogenarians

In May 1871 the Great Exhibition opened its doors in London. The Crystal Palace constructed in Hyde Park was the wonder of its age, a giant greenhouse containing exhibits from around the globe as Victorians revelled in their technical wizardry and the bounties of free trade (and colonialism). Meanwhile, 256 miles away, an old lady … Continue reading Newlyn: fish hawkers and octogenarians

Mousehole: a culture’s final resting place?

Mousehole, in Paul parish bordering the west side of Mount’s Bay, is now stuffed full of holiday cottages and second homes and more than half-dead in winter. It’s somehow fitting that this place could lay claim to be the location of the death of an entire culture. Christmas at Mousehole, when the lights bring life … Continue reading Mousehole: a culture’s final resting place?

The bells! The bells!

A sound that I’ve not heard for some time on my regular Sunday morning bike rides through the back lanes of Cornwall has been that of church bells. Social distancing has meant that the ringers cannot get together in the church towers to ring. Moreover, there’s been no Sunday services until recently, so the point … Continue reading The bells! The bells!