Cornwall Part 1

24th Sep

Cornish coast line - credit: J

There's not much to say about today, other than an 8 hour trip from Suffolk to St Just, Cornwall. It should have been quicker, but we were stuck in a 45 min traffic jam on the M25 and were victims of road works elsewhere. The Sat Nav helped shave a few minutes off by taking an alternative route across Bodmin Moor, definitely a more scenic route.

After a grocery stop at Penzance, we arrived at our cottage in the pouring rain. Ross and Madeleine had arrived earlier, partly due to a shorter trip from London, but more likely attributable to the performance difference between a Vauxhall Corsa and a Jaguar XKR!
St Just is a small village a short distance inland of the north coast of Cornwall, not far from Land's End. It's the home of our ancestors (great-great-grandmother on my mothers's side born nearby, and some of her parents/grandparents born, married and buried here in St Just). It was the heart of the Cornish mining industry, with many derelict mines nearby, and is also Poldark country with much of the latest TV series filmed around here.

We decided it was too late to cook tea, so we hurried down the narrow lane in pouring rain to the local chippie, appropriately called Jeremy's Fish and Chips. Very nice cod and chips, followed by much chatting and catching up.

25th Sep

We were very surprised by the sunny weather this morning, so took advantage of it with a walk around the village followed by a walk along the coast. It is a very plain village, with mostly stone terrace cottages. The market square is surrounded by shops and pubs in very old granite stone buildings, with the 15th century church tower of the St Just Parish Church looming behind.

Pen-an-Gwarry - credit: S

Next to the market square is one of two remaining plen-an-gwarry or "playing place", a circular walled depression that was a medieval amphitheatre used for public events, especially Cornish miracle plays aiming to spread Christianity. The nearby concrete 1930s clock tower is rather a contrast. We visited the "imposing" Methodist chapel built in 1833 where it is likely our ancestors worshipped (but there are other chapels in the village too). Methodism was very strong amongst the miners, although by law they had to marry in a "proper" church, hence our g-g-g-grandparents were married in the Catholic Parish church. They are supposedly buried in the graveyard of the Methodist Chapel but we had no luck finding their grave.

We then went for a short drive to the coast, from St Just through Nancherrow to the Levant mine. From there we walked back along the cliffs to Botallack, and the mine ruins there.

Crown Mines, Bottalack - credit: J

The wild Cornish coast didn't disappoint, with the deep blue sea throwing huge white waves over the rocks at the base of the cliff. The farming countryside is dotted with signs of past mining activity from chimney stacks and ventilation shafts through to sink holes and strange lumps now grassed over. Like Yorkshire, the mix of rural countryside and early industry is strangely beautiful although definitely not pretty.

Back home for afternoon tea and another wander around St Just, this time to Queen St where our g-g-grandparents lived. It's so hard to tell which house as some have either been pulled down/rebuilt or heavily revovated so look reasonably new. We found ourselves back in Market Square where there are 4 pubs - handy that! I tried the local Rattler cider.

Mine ruins, Levant - credit:J

We had a quiet evening at home in the cottage, with a home cooked meal. And very appropriately, we watched Poldark, filmed right where we'd been walking earlier in the day. Nice to have a quiet day.

26th Sep

Today was as forecast - rain, rain and more rain. We stayed at home for the morning, but then decided to go to Penzance for lunch. It was about a 30 minutes drive in the rain across the bottom of the Cornish peninsula. Unfortunately, St Michaels Mount was obscured in the rain, and taking photographs was pointless. We wandered along some of the older streets of Penzance such as Chapel Street, with buildings dating back to the 1600s, some houses, some shops and some very quaint pubs, such as the Turks Head and the Admiral Benbow with its smuggler lurking on the roof. One of the landmark properties is the Egyptian house, built in the first half of the 19th century in the "Egyptian  revivalist style" i.e. covered in gaudy Egyptian decorations.

We had a tasty lunch in a quirky cafe (the ladies toilet was totally wallpapered in leopard skin print) hoping the rain would ease off, which it didn't. An indoor activity seemed like a good idea so we went to the Penlee House Museum and Art Gallery. They have a good collection of art from the New Lynn "school" - essentially a group of artists who developed a certain style from the 1880s to the 1940s, mostly of local outdoor scenes of Cornish life. The museum area was a small but very eccentric and eclectic jumble of objects, from Pompeii mosaics, 1930s dresses and copper pots to bronze age archaeological bits, mining paraphernalia and stuffed birds.

The cafe was serving Cornish cream teas, so it would have been rude not to sample....

Mousehole - credit: S

Unfortunately, it was still raining when we left and so our plan to go to the little fishing village of Mousehole (pronounced Mouzel with the mou as in mouth) went astray. We did drive into it and onto the stone pier that encircles the small harbour, but it was too wet and windy for photographs.
So the rest of the afternoon and evening was spent at home out of the rain, apart from dinner at the Kings Arms pub (nice food, slow service!) Madeleine had found a photo of the same pub from the time my ancestors lived here, so it's possible that they were customers.

27th Sep

The weather was still not cooperating with thick fog this morning. Jeremy and I decided to go to St Ives to see the Tate Gallery, and hopefully enjoy some predicted afternoon sunshine. Not a great success - the gallery is closed until March 2017, the weather didn't clear, and the narrow streets were packed with tourists. The town does have a number of small art gallery shops, so I was still able to get a creative fix. Some of the pieces would have been tempting if the prices and/or logistics of getting them home weren't such an obstacle.

St Ives Harbour - credit: S

We did go down to have a look at the harbour, but not very pretty with the tide out and the mist so low. It definitely looked better later in the day once the tide was in, and it was possible to just see across to the other side of St Ives Bay.

Ross and Mad met us for lunch, followed by a little more wandering. The weather still stubbornly refused to improve, so we headed homewards, this time along a more coastal route. The countryside here was a mix of bracken covered moors sprinkled with rocky outcrops and patchwork fields outlined by hedgerows. Houses and farm buildings are all greyish stone, with only the occasional place rendered in white. Quite a contrast to Scotland. One bizarre common feature in these parts is the Cabbage Tree, imported from NZ by some keen botanist in the 19th century and now almost a pest.

Landsend - credit: S

As we headed south, the weather improved slightly, so we kept going through St Just to Lands End. Another tourist Mecca with tacky attractions (the Shaun the Sheep experience and Arthur's Quest whatever that may be). Weirdly, the website doesn't even mention Lands End as a geographically significant destination with great views, just the shops, events and attractions! Fortunately these were easily avoided, and the crowds reasonable given it was the end of the day. In spite of the sun, there was still a layer of mist off shore, but the Peal rocks were clear and the distinctive Longships lighthouse was visible.

Round house at Sennen Cove - credit:S

On the way home, we diverted into the fishing village at Sennen Cove. Kids were jumping off the pier into the sheltered harbour, which must have been freezing even in wet suits. There is an old Cornish style round house here, with a winch to pull the fishing boats up the very steep ramp, along with the first  thatched cottages I've seen in this part of England.

The evening was spent at the cottage, watching DVDs.