from the archives

In visiting any new town one finds oneself speculating on the meaning of its unfamiliar street-names and the reason for them, when discovered, usually throws light on the history of the place. In most towns we find names, either of royal or otherwise prominent persons, or connected historical events, that will tell us all at once the date of the building or re-naming of the street: thus few towns of any size are without some reminder of our late Queen (Victoria), but Penzance has a better right to its "Alexandre Road" than most, for in person she opened it in 1865. Without good reason we also have several places called "Regent Terrace", etc., after George IV, when during the incapacity of his father (1811 - 1820) he was Prince Regent.

“ Clarence House; etc., again reminds us that William IV was Duke of Clarence before he came to the throne in 1830, while “Adelaide” Street is named after his wife;

“ Empress Avenue marks the 1897 Jubilee of the Empress Queen there is a sprinkling, too, of “Victoria” and “Albert” names but with so long a reign as that of Queen Victoria these give little help with dates, though “Alberts” may roughly be put down to the years 1840—1860. “Wellington” Terrace and Place tell us of Waterloo, while the Crimean War has given us an “Alma” Terrace. But all these are almost as impersonal as the “North” Street (a variant of Causeway-head), “South” Parade, “East” Street (a variant of “Market-Jew Street) or “West” Terrace, which we might share with any town, and it is for more local records that we look with most interest.

It is a commonplace that towns owe their existence to some favouring geographical position. Where they have arisen either the dryness or moisture of the climate suits an industry; the land yields specially good supplies of some raw material ; a river becomes fordable, bridgeable, or navigable; or a coastline offers some shelter for vessels, or beaching-place for fishing-craft. It was the latter that caused Penzance, and about the harbour we naturally look for its older street-names.

From the earliest days when Penzance could be looked upon as a town it would have had a quay, or “key” as it was often spelt: in the early 18th century we find mention, in Dr. Borlase’s letters, of a place for mooring boats or small vessels, with stones planted upright for fastening ropes, that stood near the site of the present Harbour Office. From this the houses must have spread up the hill, and the street leading up from the quay to the newer part of the town would naturally be “Quay” Street. In this we find ourselves close to what is now the Parish Church of St. Mary, built about a century ago, but replacing a smaller building that was for many centuries a chapel-of-ease to the mother-church at Madron. This building (and not, as one might suppose, the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel gave its present name to “ Chapel” Street, and also its older name, “Our Lady - Street.

Three houses between the Church and the Vicarage were once commonly known as “Rotterdam” Buildings: this recorded the fact that they were built with money from a Dutch prize.

Coming now to the Market House quarter, “Market Place” explains itself, and the “Greenmarket,” now so inconveniently full of huge motor-buses and charabancs, tells us how it was once used for stalls whose owners supplied the town with green-stuff. Northwards we have “Causeway Head,” a century or less ago known as “Caunsehead”; “caunse” being a more local way of saying caucey or ii causeway,” meaning a stone-paved road.’ This besides the banal “North” Street had the old name “Church “.Street, presumably because it led to what was then the parish church at Madron. Farther on we come to St. Clare “ Street, and just as we leave the town there is “Chapel St. Clare,” explained by a quotation from the Guide to Penzance, 1845 :—“ There was a chapel dedicated to St. Clare about midway between the Quay and Madron Church; no part of it remains, but Mr. T. Coulson... recollccts having traced its foundations when a boy, in the field adjoining the bound-stone of the town.”

Returning to the Greenmarket, west of it we come upon a series of names connected with “Alverton”; this points back to the possessor of the land at this end of the town about the time of the Conquest—a certain Alwardus. The only other name worth mentioning here is “Buriton” Row. “Buriton”is said to be an old name for Penzance: if so, it is one shared with other places. From Buriton Row an easy way into the Market Place is by way of an opening now often spoken of as” Beare’s Passage,” from the name of an adjoining shop: I am more interested personally in its older name, “Harvey’s Ope,” which records ancestors of my own as owning land there, as well as containing the pleasing old word “ope.”

“Market-Jew” Street is a delightful name, unique and suggestive of all sorts of interest—a great name for strangers to theorise about, but in fact just such a name as we find in many other towns, “London” Road, “ Chester” Street, to take two at random, and merely announcing the fact that one leaves the place by this street to get to another town— in this case Market-Jew, otherwise Marazion.

Many of us can remember when the appearance of this eastern -end of the town was very different. Tumbledown cottages and small houses have been demolished, and larger, neater, but less interesting buildings have been erected in their place: for instance, where Albert Street now stands was once a lane leading down to the sea, known as “Neddy Betty’s” Lane. This name it owed to a man, Edward Betty, who kept a small thatch-roofed inn, Betty’s Inn, the remains of which could be seen about seventy years ago. The name Betty occurs frequently in the Gulval parish registers, c.1707-1747. My grandfather in his Half a Century of Penzance, said, “From the appearance of Neddy Betty’s Lane it seemed to have been at one time the eastern entrance to the town,” to which Mr. J. C. Batten added that he had gathered from his father that there was a road into the town from the Eastern Green which came under the cliff, and entered Penzance somewhere in Market Jew Street. It was also a Penzance joke in Mr. Batten’s grandfather’s days to speak of a man’s coming home “under cliff” when he had failed in any undertaking, meaning that, not wishing to be seen, he had used the lower road and “sneaked in by the back-door” as it were.

New Town Lane on the same side of Market-Jew Street seems to refer to an extension of the town in this direction, in or beyond the lane. Further east on the other side “ Penrose” Terrace and” Trewartha” Terrace commemorate, respectively, a land-owner’s seat and a builder’s name. Back in Market-Jew Street we find “Wood” Street, once “Pump” Lane; at its lower end a pump might have been seen not very many years since, though no waving wood is there. From this we reach “ Bread” Street. a modern name due to the bakehouse at its western end. It was formerly and rightly called “Back” Lane, as running behind the back-gardens of Market-Jew Street. From Back Lane we now pass with ease to “‘Taraveor” Road, but many of us remember fields between them. This road was, and by many still is, called “Bull’s” Lane. (2). Before 1820, the cattle market was held in what is now called Greenmarket, or one might connect this with the open space at the top of the hill which later served the purpose.

Certain streets named after saints, in what are popularly known as the “Battlefields,” were so called by a Roman Catholic landowner who wished to do honour to the holy men of his church. “Belle Vue” and “Prospect” Place are self-explained titles, the latter a misnomer, however, since later building. Empress Avenue, already mentioned, was once a delightful short country walk, with the rustic name, “ Gypsy” Lane : this leads to “ Barwis” Hill, commemorating the name of a schoolmaster who taught at Penare” at the top of it.

There are several street-names that remind one of old local families. “ Daniel” place is the most interesting of these, for the Daniels were lords of the manor of Alverton in the c7th century. Alexander Daniel, who built a house at Laregan and died there in 1668, is buried in Madron churchyard, that of his parish church. His son, George, founded and endowed the school at Madron known as the Daniel School. I owe the following information to the kindness of Canon Jennings, Vicar of Madron :—“ Daniel Place belongs to the Daniel Trust, and was let out on building leases in 1846 ... In the will there is mentioned a salt cellar there, and ground for drying fishing-nets. In those days fishing was the great industry of Penzance.”

Another interesting street-name is that of “Morrab” Place, etc. I possess a paper relating to the building of St. Mary’s Place in which its houses are said to be situated in “Croft Morrap” and to be connected by a lane with “Morrap Lane, otherwise known as Parade Street.” This croft was bounded on one side by the garden wall of Morrab House, then occupied by Mr. Pidwell. “The Folly” is reminiscent of a pleasure-ground that existed there in the first half of the 18th century. Its distance from the town, as in other cases of the sort, was no doubt the occasion of the name of this and of the “Folly Fields” leading to it.

One of the problems of former days at Penzance was the connection of its eastern and western ends by road. It is now easy to pass by Wharf Road to Battery Road, but the land side of the harbour formerly consisted of a stony beach. Alexander Daniel writes in 1664 of “commons or commons of pasture on the waste lands called the Greens,” between Laregan and the land “under St. Mary’s Chapel.’ This suggests a track across a sandy waste of towans. It was only in 1845 that the Promenade was built, and one still hears it called “ the Western Green,” or simply “the Green.” From this it must have been possible to turn up to Chapel Street and so into the. heart of Penzance. Then a short cut was made into Chapel Street by “Vounder Veor” Lane, “which was originally the only carriage road from Penzance to Newlyn, etc.,” as my grandfather says in his book. In this name “lane” is not needed, for vounder veor in Cornish already means “great lane.” From this, crossing Chapel Street, we get to “Abbey” Street, known in 1825 “New Street Slip,” but re-named after a house, in which two ladies lived so secluded a life as to gain it the nickname “The Abbey.” “New” Street, like so many New Streets, looks old and shabby. It was certainly not new at the end of the 17th century, for there is an item in the Borough Accounts at that date :—“ for repairing the way between New Street and the sea for cauncing, carrying stone, etc.. £5 19s. 6d” A court in New Street goes by the name of “Cherry Garden,” suggestive of other and happier days when, the street was really new.

Another old way from town to sea is “Jennings Street,” or, until recently, “Lane.” I have it from the late Mr. J. B. Cornish that in 1677 it was known as “Roche’s” Lane, and that in 1795 it was described as “Jennings Lane, formerly Major’s Lane, and previously Street-an-Dudden.”’

“Captain’s Row” was a nickname of South Terrace, from the number of ship captains who lived retired, or in the intervals between their voyages, in its houses. “Sandy Bank” is a name that now seems almost without point, but excavations near still show the sand that was once in sight there. “Barbican” Lane and “Battery” Road suggest old defences of Mount’s Bay against the possible landings of enemy ships. The Barbican seems likely to have been an ancient fortification, perhaps Elizabethan, and the battery a more recent one. Battery Road, the most modern road in the town, carries on the name of the now destroyed Battery Square. ‘Coinage Hall” Street refers of course to the “coining” of tin by striking a coin or corner off the block to be tested, which if it reached the required standard was then stamped. The privilege of coining tin was a valued one, as bringing trade to a town. We read in one of Daniel’s letters to his son, 1664, “Penzance men are about to build a Coinage Hall upon your wastrell of the street below their Market House, which doth rightfully belong unto you as lord of the manor,” and urges him to claim compensation. The charter by which the privilege was obtained was already in .the town: it is dated 1663. An entry in the Borough Accounts reads :—“ To Col. Godolphin’s clerk for bringing home the Coinage Charter, £1 0s. 0d.” The hall was built in the position referred to, and was in use until 1816, when a larger one—that which names. Coinage Hall Street—was built near the Quay.

In dealing with the street-names even of a comparatively small town it is not possible to mention more than a selection of those to which most interest seems to be attached, but Penzance serves well as an example of how much meaning a few such names may have for local historians.

I must add that for my facts I owe much to Mr. Millett’s lectures on Penzance and to my grandfather’s Half a Century of Penzance; also to his guide-book, where several of Alexander Daniel’s letters are quoted.

Notes

1. “Caunsehead” is probably a translation of the Cornish pen caunse, “end or head of the paved way,” which still survives as “Pednycaunse” at Mousehole. Here the cobble-stones of the town gave way to the unpaved country road.

2 The names are evidently connected, tat-ow being Cornish for “bull.” Zarow meor (not veor) would mean “big bull’ Possibly a bull-ring is referred to: a miracle play was called gwary myr, “play-spectacle” and tarowvyr may be “ bull-show” similarly

3 Morep or Moreb in Cornish means a rough pasture next to the sea shore.

4 This seems likely to be “Meadow Street,” Street-an Dodn in Cornish, though it is not clear where the meadow could have been.

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This article was first appeared in the Old Cornwall Volume 2, Journal 2, page 36.

The Longshoreman's Chart.

By P. Cowls

To many who have stood on the foreshore at Porthleven and watched the boats entering and leaving the harbour, or watched them sailing—apparently without any set plan—around the Bay, it may come as news that the laws of the sea are as fixed as the laws of the road, as are also the bounds as to where one may or may not go. It might appear to the uninitiated that with such a wide expanse to sail over one could not easily go wrong; ‘also that one would be as likely to catch fish in one part of the Bay as in any other. But such is not the case. It is vitally necessary for the fisherman—and particularly the type known as the “longshoreman,” the man who does not go out of sight of land to do his fishing—to know the rules of the sea, and to know what the bottom of the sea is like, in order to be able to decide what particular type of fish finds the particular type of ground to its liking, and consequently may be expected to frequent it. For fish are more susceptible to a set type of sea-bottom than are sheep or cattle to a set type of pasture.

The large black conger clings to the black rock, his protective colouring being made full use of accordingly; similarly the large brown pollack loves the area where the brown, ribboned seaweed languidly sways in the undertow, while its nearest relative— locally known as the “whiting pollack” from its silvery resemblance to the whiting—is a roamer not branded by any local colour: he takes the silver and grey of the great sea. The crab, the lobster, the crayfish, each possesses its “home ground,” and it is the discovering and marking of these grounds that is a great part of the business lore of the longshoreman.

The sea-bottom of Mount’s Bay is more rugged and undulating even than the land immediately on its shores; very deep are some of its areas, while in others so shallow is the water that at low tide even small boats have been known to strike the crest of those sunken hills. As a boy I have often heard the fishermen refer to the “Great Row” and “Little Row ” but had no idea at that time that the shallows referred to were the crests of submerged hills which were only a continuation of the ridges of which such headlands as Tremearne and Cudden are but the land termination. The longshoreman knows these ridges well ; he knows, too, the valleys on each side of them. In the month of February he takes out his long strings of crab and lobster pots and lays them along the ridges where he knows his intended victims will be found. At the first sign of the approach of a south-west gale, with its accompanying rough sea, he hurries out and deposits his pots in the valleys below the ridges, where the tremendous swell will not be able to wreak such destruction on his frail wattles.

At the present day the deep sea fisherman has a wealth information about the habits, breeding areas and periods, and migration of fish supplied to him by the Government Fishery Research Department but a hundred years ago, when few fishermen had had the privilege of schooling and those who could read were rare, all the information had to be gained in the hardest and most efficient of all schools— that of bitter experience. Consequently when the information was first gained it was jealously guarded. Let us imagine that Dick Body (nicknamed Barras) has discovered that a certain patch of black rock on the sea bottom is a prolific spot for conger (the sea bottom is easily to be noted on still days). After a few days of good fishing and consequently good landings, it has come to be noticed by his brothers of the line that he has fished with good results at the same spot for many days; others try the spot with success, and its position is marked in the following way.

From the boat it is noticed that a line of houses in Mullion village are exactly in line with the end of Mullion Island. In the other direction it is noted that the tower of Cury Church is lying immediately to the right of a patch of green on Gunwalloe Sand known as the “Castle.” The longshoreman has thus marked it as “Barras’s Mark." The position has to be taught to the younger generation by the sea patriarchs, and from them to be passed to their descendants. Each branch of the longshore fishing industry has its own particular and peculiar mark as do the trawlers, the crabber’s and day hookers. Many of them are virtually copyright and are by no means revealed lightly. Nor should they be; they have been come by far from easily and ought to be jealously guarded as the rights of the inheritors. I may say here in passing that when I approached one old fisherman to obtain the names of some of the marks he said quite abruptly; “Whaffar?” I am a landsman, and consequently not above suspicion of poaching.

You will notice in the list of marks I shall be quoting presently how frequently the churches are used as marks. As my old friend said, “You see, they are sure to be there always, and don’t change.” Perched on the top of Wheal Mount is a long low building, now a stable but once the farm house. It is a famous “depth” mark with the fishermen. Some weeks ago one of them said to me, “Tell the man at We’l Mount to gie th’ old house a coot of whitewash; we shall be usen of un soon.” The Cornish fishing-village abounds in “nick-names, not given out of any disrespect for the bearer, but to enable even friends to disassociate them from perhaps two or even three bearing the same Christian and surname. This accounts for some of the curious names of the marks.

Before taking the fishing marks I would like to give a list of the cliff names used by the fisherman, and given to me by an old “crabber.” Beginning with Beacon Crag on the west side of Porthleven Harbour and extending to St. Michael’s Mount, we have :— Bullan, Song, Sawn or Sowan Shaggy (a long gully in’ the cliffs frequented by Shags or Cormorants), Pertrammel, Perslinches, Mearne (Tremearne) Cove, White Par (bands of white granite in the cliff), Blue Par, Madgy. Leggy, Git Sawn, Jane Jump (steep cliff), The Cloodges, Baagel-coulen or cowlin, Nine-wells, Perkew, The Winnocks, Streath Water, The Innes, The Mount. I have left out well-known headlands, bays, etc. The White Par is also known as “The Flakes o’ Mearne.”

In addition to natural phenomena, there are also marked by the fishermen the positions of Ships’ Anchors that have been lost in the Bay at various times; unless the position of these is known to the trawlers serious loss of’ gear is likely to ensue. One of these is found “over the stile of Breage Tower, in line with the splat of sand on the east of the Bar.”

Then we have: Jimmy Read’s Anchor ---- Breage Tower in line with Beacon Crag, trees in Gunwalloe over western chimney of the shop.

Jan Ivy’s Anchor—Breage Tower with Seymour’s House; short hedge with the pit (a pit in the Morrops

Harry Cuttance’s— Breage Tower with Seymour’s outhouse; western end of Harry Cuttance’s house with eastern end of Gunwalloe Coastguard house.

Old Pembro—Old Pembro House with Penberthy’s; Gate House in Degibna over the road of the Morrops.

“Antonio’s” Anchor —Breage Tower with Scott’s House; Umbrella Trees (behind Chyvarloe) just in sight.

Robby’s Anchor—Mullion Tower clearing Gwinion Point; Breage Tower with Scott’s House; short hedge with the pit.

Old Pembro anchor gets its name from Pembro Farm in Breage; “Antonio” was the name of the ship which lost the anchor; the others bear the names of those fortunate (?) enough to be the first to discover them (usually associated with the loss of a trawl).

And now for some fishing marks:

Town with Castle--- (Cury Church in line with green on Gunwalloe sand. Point of Pradnack in line with the Git Ubble.) The Ubble mounds on Cudden Point, (the hollows between being known as Saddles.)

Pusser’s Mark --- Houses in line with Town scarfing the Castle.

Bray’s Veal—Helston Tower in sight over Western Bar, and Town with Castle. Cury with Mashie (the Marshes) and. the Middle Stagg in sight.

Hocken.’s Mark—Sinny Tower over Harry Boy’s (house near the Institute), Cury Tower in sight.

Head Pollack Mark—Shop with shop, and shop scarfing (Gwinion Head).

Kenella, Cairn Allocle or Cairn Ulla— Trencrom joining the east side of the Mount, Paul Tower in Mousehole, Coastguard Row. The Gob Minner Head (west of Bishop Rock) just in sight over Gwavas Head. Ship Inn, Porthleven with the end of pier.

Welloe Mark—Gonning Hill just over Minner Head, Mount in line with Minner Ubble.

Great Shoal (Git Shool)—West of Minner, Perran Church just showing out from Cudden.

Tumma Dugga, Tubble dugga, Tul-me-dug.—Mullion Tower just in sight from Gwinion Head. Baulk in line with Pier.

The Cubbards—Trequean Valley with House in sight. Waväs flakes in sight.

The Eephon or Eefon—A large sawn or song near Poldhu Cove. Lifeboathouse scarfing the pier-head.

The Pellar—(West of Degibna Loe) Breage Tower with Gar Tul in line. Wheal Mount over Tregear.

The Iron Gates—Two Lizard Lights in sight. Godolphin Hill with Hoe Point.

In addition to these, there are The Calligan, The Mern, Jack and Benny, The Drusk (Sinny Tower with Beacon Crag, Cury in sight), The Bream Mark (Breage Tower with Flakes of Tremearne, Cury out of sight),- Cairn Mallas. (a very shallow area off Prussia Cove), The Stone (another shallow beyond Cairn Mallas), Mount Mowpas (shallow off Cudden point—only 6 feet of water over it), Great Row (a shallow beyond the Welloe, running in line Rinsey Head-WelloeGreat Row). On the eastern side of Porthleven are found The Clidja (Clyde.ja—The Morrops), Hog-a-dower (near Pradnack), The Booder (east side of Pengwinion), Trig-a-bellah (near Poldhu Cove), The Visses (in Mullion Bay), Growse and Growse Cliff (near Poldhu).

Most of these names, known only to fishermen, are Celtic fragments that, however corrupted they may be, are worth preserving. I am afraid the collection of them has been left somewhat late, as an old fisherman friend aged 8o, who knew most of them, tells me that he “caan’t maake it out, but he can’t run them off haaf like he used to, and the young wans have gaw new names far thum.

Thatched Cottages of Newlyn

Map showing thatched cottages remembered by Mr. Joseph Marrack Harvey in 1944/

Click on all pictures to see larger versions.

The Last Thatched Cottage in Newlyn on Church Lane

When William Henry Mann saw his house on fire at Newlyn in the early part of 1938 it was a matter of supreme concern to him and to his grand-daughter who lived with him. The fire was not without a more general significance, for it robbed Newlyn of the last of its thatched cottages which at one time were many. The cottage stood in Church Lane, now known as Gwavas Lane, between Church Street and Boase street almost opposite the present day Primitive Methodist Church.

The vine and the geraniums flourished before its white washed walls adding to its charm. Stanhope Forbes’s picture “The Evening Hour”, painted some years earlier, shows the road at this spot looking downhill towards the top of Trewarveneth Street. It preserves on canvas a record of four similar thatched cottages which then stood opposite but which were pulled down to make room for the building of the 'Prims' in 1927 . "Willum 'Enry's" cottage is not entirely omitted; it just appears on the extreme right as a subordinate but very useful part of the composition the portion of its thatched roof being particularly effective.

John J Beckerlegg had a conversation with his father-in-law, Joseph Marrack Harvey, in August 1944. Joseph M. Harvey was born in 1859 and was a native of Newlyn. It occurred to John Beckerlegg that he should try and find out how many other thatched cottages in Newlyn his father-in-law could remember. Joseph confined his recollections to the cottages in the area of Newlyn Town, as in his early days Street-an-Nowan was a separate community and had not made the same impression on his memory. John J. Beckerlegg acted simply as recorder. He thought there might have been a dozen or so but he was astonished to find that his father-in-law had personal recollections of no fewer than 64 thatched cottages in Newlyn Town alone. So in the lifetime of this 85 year old man 64 of the thatched cottages of Newlyn had gone forever.

The diagram above shows the position of each marked with a black rectangle. To show the main area on as big a scale as possible, the road from the foot of Bowgey Hill (A in diagram ) towards Mousehole has been omitted from its correct position. It has been included in the top left-hand corner to the same scale but defined by dotted lines with the thatched cottages marked by cross hatching.

Smuggling Memories

By S.A. Opie

First published in Old Cornwall Vol.1, Jounal 11, Page 30

A GENTLEMAN living at Fourlanes well remembered having been told of the route taken by the smugglers after landing their cargo at Gwithian. Apparently each rider would have a spare horse. Two kegs of spirits could be slung on each side of the pack-saddle on the led horse, and two kegs in front of the rider. By night they would pass up the bottoms from Gwithian to Tuckingmill, thence on by Treskillard and Gryllis to Forest. From here, probably by this time considerably reduced in numbers, they passed on to Nine Maidens, Polhigey Moor, and Hernis Farm in Stythians. Mr. W. T. Martin was told by an old man near Polmarth, not a great way from Polhigey Moor, that when hard-pressed by unwanted inquirers, the smugglers would hide their kegs beneath the waters of the stream.

Sometimes it would appear that a wagon, with wheels muffled to deaden the sound, was used. An old lady who, about sixty years ago, used to visit a friend near lllogan, was on several occasions nearly frightened to death by the appearance of a ghostly chariot without wheels at a crossroads between Illogan Church-town and Broad Lane, probably at what is now Paynter’s Lane End. She discovered later that it was the smugglers’ wagon, the wheels of which were muffled to reduce the sound to a minimum; but the sudden appearance of a wagon which made no sound, dashing at full speed through the lanes, was enough to give the impression to a superstitious person of a chariot without wheels. It is possible that the smugglers tried to increase the suggestion of the supernatural, as I was told that the men in the “chariot” were “dressed all funny.” A gentleman then resident in Four Lanes made several trips across the Channel in the pursuit of this profitable trade. Sometimes it was necessary to resort to such stratagems as hiding liquor in coffins, or other unlikely hiding-places, to escape the vigilance of the preventive men, but often underground hiding-places were specially excavated. Some time ago such a smuggler’s bolt was discovered by the subsidence of a garden wall in Stithian’s Row, Four Lanes. Although reports were published in the Press (e.g., The Cornubian) at the time, I can gather no record of what was found; if any reader has any information or newspaper-cuttings regarding this I should be glad if he would communicate them.

At Cam Brea village, near Redruth Churchtown, there is a row of whitewashed cottages. Although most of these are fairly modern i.e. 1920’s, one of them (I believe the third in the row) is apparently much older. When some alterations were being carried out, a large space was discovered in one of its walls, the only apparent outlet being a small window in the back of the house. It could not have been part of the old open fireplace, as the open grate was in the wall opposite: the thickness of the wall had often been commented upon before. Local opinion conjectured that it was a forgotten smuggling store-place.

Many of the farms of Wendron and the district around possess caves cut in the marl or pot-granite. These usually consist of a tunnel, extending in one case for fifty feet, with branches on either side. These branches are not usually more than ten or twelve feet in length, but one that branched from the main tunnel at Mount Wise, near Carn Menellis, took sixty cartloads of material to fill the gap it left after it had collapsed beneath the weight of a steam’ tractor. There are, or were, examples of these caves at Mount Wise, Filtrick, Gregwartha, Hendra, North Penhalurick, and a farm near Penhalvean. Although the prominent positions of some of these forbid the view that they were excavated for smuggling, it is more than probable that they were occasionally used as hiding-places by smugglers. It is likely that they were first made, however, for a purpose similar to that which they served until recently, that of storing roots, etc. They were so used for potatoes, many sacks of which were heaped inside, the entrance being then filled in with earth, thus protecting them from frost in the severest winter. The entrances of some have an extremely ancient look and there is a remote possibility that some such may be of early date, as similar tunnels are sometimes connected with undoubtedly ancient Logos or passage-chambers. My reason for mentioning them at such length, is to record the purpose to which they were recently put, before this, too, is forgotten and “lost in the mists of antiquity.”

Fishing Out Of Newlyn

By J. Kelynack

First published in Old Cornwall Vol. Jounal , Page

NEWLYN West nestles at the foot of a hill on the N.W. shore of Mount’s Bay. It was once a fishing village, but since the formation of the new harbour it has become popular and important as a port, and is now linked up with Penzance.

Newlyn is divided. The lower part, first reached when walking westward from Penzance, lies on each side of a river and is known as Street-an-Nowan, which name was formerly affixed to a house opposite where now the “Sailors’ Rest” stands. On this side was a saw-pit, and long ago an annual fair was held here.

Newlyn Town, the higher and southern part, was approached by crossing a pretty sandy beach, with a low stone bridge for use when the sea covered the beach. Mounting a slip, one stood on the cliff, for some distance along which and up the hillside cobbled streets of houses stood.

Street-an-Nowan and Newlyn Town are now connected by a good broad road. At one end stands a big Fish Market.

From the river to almost the southern extremity of Newlyn there is a commodious and safe harbour formed by two piers, North and South, built about fifty years ago. The need for a harbour at Newlyn was felt because Penzance Harbour was so dangerous to enter in southerly gales, and there was not always sufficient water to take boats in, while Newlyn could be reached in all weathers and at all states of the tide. To-day the harbour affords shelter to fishing and trading craft from various parts. Steam mackerel-drifters from the East Coast lie side by side with Belgian boats, crabbers from Brittany and Brixham trawlers. Steam-ships discharge cargoes of coal, and alongside the South Pier are others being laden with stone (blue elvan) for road-making.

Comparatively few local fishing-boats are observed. They have been ousted by bigger and more up-to-date vessels, which can go faster and farther to fishing grounds and also stay longer before bringing their catches to market for sale. From 45 to 50 years ago a fleet of about 200 mackerel.drifters sailed from Newlyn to the fishing grounds, but these boats have gradually dwindled down to about 20.

Mackerel fishing was carried on from March to June, off the Scillies, Ireland and France. Each lugger was manned by seven men and carried a train of 50 nets, each 5o fathoms long—12,500 ft., about 2 miles.

In the early parts of the season, mackerel were caught near enough for landings to be made every day or two; but later, when the fish were farther off, nearer the Irish and French coasts, the takings were borne to St. Mary’s, Isles of Scilly, there sold by salesmen from Newlyn, and purchased by buyers also from the home port, the salesmen and buyers spending the week from Monday to Friday at St. Mary’s. In succession three ships, the Queen of the Bay, the Lady of the Isles, and Lyonesse conveyed all the fish to Penzance for despatch to the Metropolis by rail.

Lists of the various luggers and their respective catches were sent by the salesmen from Scilly and taken by the waiting messenger with all haste “home” to the officer of the firm for which he worked. Here an eager crowd of children, and often women, waited to know whether the boat concerned was “listed,” some going away lightheartedly, others despondently, at the result. On Saturdays the money realised from the week’s toil was shared by the captain at his home, the members of the crew being present.

All seasons, even in those days, were not prosperous. Some dragged on and on with very poor catches. When the lesson was read from Numbers XXII. in Church, one would hear the remark, “Baalam and Balak was read in the lesson to-day: no more fish now, the season is over This would just mark the time when big catches of fish could no longer be expected.

As soon as the season ended the boats were “belayed,” and all nets were washed, dried, repaired, and stowed away in the loft until required.

Nets were preserved by “barking” or tanning with catechu in huge vats, then they were spread in the fields, on the beaches, or on the grass at the foot of St. Michael’s Mount to dry: children delighted in sailing to the Mount or to the beach under the Promenade, Penzance, with the nets. That is past history. Few in Newlyn to-day would have participated in that pleasure.

Next, all the big boats were fitted out for the Irish herring-season. Every boat was scraped, caulked,- tarred and painted, nets were placed in the “net room,” and provisions to last a few days taken on board. Bags of hard ship’s-biscuit and fresh beef from Penzance formed the bulk of the food store.

The boats, now arrived off the Irish coast, fished out of Howth. The men had their favourite resorts. Newlyn men visited Kingstown, and Mousehole men Ardglass, on Sundays. (see editors note).

As the fish travelled North, the boats followed them and fished from the Manx ports. Peel, Douglas, Derby-haven and Castletown were favourite resorts.

Still the herring travelled farther North, and the luggers, arriving in the Clyde, entered the locks through which they were towed to the East coast. Eyemouth and Berwick were the first ports of call.

Southward they came down to Hartlepool, Whitby and Scarboro’, the North Sea herring ports. On making the homeward voyage, which took about one week with fair wind, a few boats fished out of Lowestoft, also. More recently Mount’s Bay boats have gone as far as Aberdeen for the herring-season.

The fleet generally arrived home for Paul Feast, in October. What treasures were in the boat’s lockers and sea-chests for those at home! They were gradually collected: liquorice and broad-figs from the Isle of Man, glass and china, dolls for the girls, and toys—such novelties and strange sweetmeats!

During the summer, seining was carried on in Mount’s Bay in large rowing-boats built for the purpose. Mackerel-seining was pursued in June. A “school” of mackerel was a fine sight. On a smooth sea there first appeared what one might take for a gentle breeze ruffling the surface. This spread and deepened until the whole became a splashing, tumbling mass.

Smaller luggers, “pilchard.drifters,” were prepared for catching this specially Cornish fish, the pilchard season lasting from June to September.

Pilchards were caught in Mount’s Bay, the pilchard drifters leaving the harbour at 4 p.m. to arrive on the “ground” and “shoot” nets at sunset.

Each boat had a crew of three men and carried 12 nets, each “250” long (25 fathoms). When the nets were shot they extended for more than half-a-mile, and to these the boats “rode” and drifted with the current. No prettier picture was ever witnessed than that from Gwavas Hill, on a summer night about 9-30 or io o’clock, when all the lights of the little pilchard-drifters, dotted about under a velvety, star-lit sky, formed a crescent around the outer part of the bay and looked like fairyland.

At 10.30 or 11 p.m., the nets were hauled in, and the boat made for port. One often heard a quiet call from a watcher on the cliff, “What fish have ‘ee got ?“ and the equally subdued reply in a deep voice, so many “hogsheads,” “thousands,” or “hundreds,” and occasionally “Not a life !“

At times a boy or girl, or two, or a visitor, would be taken out “pilchard-driving.” What an experience was theirs when a good catch rewarded the fishermen’s efforts, to see the glistening fish being drawn into the boat out of the deep, dark water! These pilchards were all disposed of in the early mornings to jousters, or to local fish-curers.

During September and October pilchard-seining took place. This was one of the most exciting and interesting of all the seasons. The pilchards first made their appearance off Newquay, then gradually travelled down all round the coast to Mount’s Bay and on to Mevagissey. The seine-boats for Mount’s Bay were kept at Gunwalloe, Mullion and Cadgwith, the fishery having died out at Newlyn, Mousehole and the Mount, formerly all dependent on it. When news came that the pilchards had passed Newquay, the “huers” at Mullion were ever on the watch on the cliffs.

As soon as a school was sighted, the signal was given to the crew of the “seine-boat,” a long open rowing-boat with a great hump of net in the centre. Beside her were the “tuck-boat” and “cock-boat.”

All hands were in readiness, and at the sign speedily pulled out from the shelter of some rocky headland to the spot indicated. Bonfires were lighted to signal to the Western Shore for boats to come for fish, and as soon as the blaze was seen the cry went up, “Hevva! Fire in Mullion!”

Such a commotion in the sea met the eyes of the delighted seiners !—Here were millions of pilchards dancing and leaping out of the blue water and lashing it to fury. What a prize if the men are quick enough! They encircle the “school” with the heavy seine and draw the ends securely together; to keep the fish in the enclosure the boys in the “cock-boats” frantically splash with their oars, and plunge big round stones slung on ropes up and down in the water to the cry of “Plouncy, boys! Plouncy !“

Meanwhile the encircling net is drawn closer and closer, and those in the “tuck-boat” dip up basketful after basketful of silvery fish into the waiting huggers, whose crews, on hearing the familiar cry of “Hevva !“ carried from street to street, emptied their boats of nets to fetch a load. They fill up till they are deep down to the gunwale in the water, and so return home across the bay.

Eager hands await the harvest of the sea, and the precious burden is carried, by men, women and children up the slip-ways and stiff streets, to the cellars in readiness to receive them. Horses and carts toil up the inclines by the aid of torches as the night advances. Women bend under the weight in their cowals. One might see three persons carrying two baskets of fish between them, and children following, picking up what fell out of the baskets.

Now let us look at the cellar, It is a big stone-paved court with lofts, or the dwelling-house, over part; these being supported by tall granite pillars. The covered portion is paved closely with very small oval stones in cambered strips, divisions being made for drainage with long narrow pieces of wood. The rest is open to the sky. About four or five feet above the pavement, and at intervals along the walls, are square apertures to accommodate the ends of long beams, or “pressing-poles.”

When the pilchards reached their destination the whole cellar was illuminated by candles, and everyone was busy till far into the night. As soon as day-light appeared, men and women were again in the cellars to start the curing of the fish. “Bulking” was the first process. This meant the forming of huge piles of pilchards on the small paving stones, in alternate layers of fish and salt, the outer row showing all the fishes’ heads. These “bulks” were allowed to remain 3 weeks before the fish were considered cured and fit to “break out.” Now the salted pilchards, known as “fairmaids,” were washed in a kieve, or huge wooden tray having a grating in the bottom through which the fish scales could drop. From this the pilchards were lifted on a big griddle into a wooden stand, having a barred bottom, on high legs. This stand containing the fish was carried by two men to the women already waiting to pack the “fairmaids,” into hogsheads, numbers of which were standing in readiness against the walls, under the apertures.

Each woman placed as many fish as she could on her open palm in the shape of a fan and placed them in the hogshead, head to cask, until the circle was complete. The centre. called the “rose,” was filled in alternately head and tail, this being repeated until the cask was full. A heavy wooden cover called a “buckler,” was next placed on top, with blocks on its inner side for leverage. A long “pressingpole,” inserted in the aperture above and projecting some distance beyond the cask, was weighted at the end by means of a big, rounded “pressing-stone” hung by its hook on a rope sling, and so the fish were pressed for 2 or 3 hours. At the end of this time the cask needed a refill. 24 hours later a further repacking was necessary, and at the end of two days the final “back-laying” was done. - This time all the backs of the fish were uppermost. Two thousand “fairmaids” were now in each hogshead, and the whole had a last pressing before the cooper came to “head in” the cask. Buyers’ agents next came to examine the fish, which were weighed, and, if approved, passed and stamped with the purchaser’s name, usually “Bolitho & Co.” They were then despatched to their destination, Italy, in schooners, and later, steamships.

Each hogshead of fairmaids fetched about £3. Everything from the pilchard was valuable. Nothing was lost. The oil obtained through pressing, was sold for refining and came back as—who knows? Drugs, the scum, were sold for lubricating engine-wheels. The salt, used in preserving the fish, was sought after by the farmers for manuring their land.

At the settling up of the season’s accounts, the “seines’ account” took the form of a feast at one of the inns. Punch was the drink, and the toast was, “Long life to the Pope, death to our best friends, and may our streets run in blood !“ No wonder such a toast was pledged when the pilchard industry was so remunerative.

Editors note:- J Kelynacks grandfather was a partner in a fishing boat with Henry Vingoe. In 1840 they were fishing the Irish sea and this report appears in the Collectanea Cornubiensia by George Clement Boase.

Pg. 1452: under "Recollections of the Irish Church". written by Richard Sinclair Brooks M.D., Pubpilshed by Macmillian & Co. 1877.

"Contains under date of 1840 Notices of John Kelynack, Henry Vingoe, Thomas James (who was afterwards drowned) Nicholas Wright, Hitchens, Boyns and of Simmons (who died of consumption). These men were in Ireland fishing and Brooke held a service on board their boat at Kingston Harbour."

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