October 2021
Notice
Some of you may have noticed rather a long silence this end – which resulted from the sad and sudden death of our website manager, Joost Kouwenberg of Choughmountain, who had very ably uploaded our content for several years.
We would like to publicly thank Joost for his very efficient and prompt service; without him, the site would be a much lesser thing than it is today.
We hope that we will now be once more in a position to update the site regularly, and we begin with our news from the summer:
Stiles, Stones and Strawberries at Wicca Farm
Penwith Local History Group has devised ingenious means to keep going during the past -months, but on June 30th we were delighted to welcome members and guests to an outdoor event - and also to celebrate the birthday of member Jean Nankervis of Wicca, who was our host.
We began the afternoon by collecting data for the CALH ‘stiles’ project. Two groups were taken for a short and informative tour of the eight stiles on the farm and nearby, led by informative guides Ann-Marie Hopkins and Sarah Hopkins. After this short walk in perfect weather, we settled down to watch a demonstration of stone-splitting by Rose Nankervis, who showed how the traditional ‘feather and wedge’ process enables a few minutes of light tapping, careful observation and skilled adjustment to separate a useful gatepost from a lump of granite.
The spectators were astonished at the speed and ease of the process when conducted by an expert: ‘are you actually hoping to split this stone this afternoon’ one member had asked as the feathers were applied, possibly mindful of the cream tea scheduled for later. But within fifteen minutes or so, all that the new Wicca gatepost was needed was a spot of finishing off – and the use of a tractor to drag it into position.
Jean then gave a fascinating short talk about the stiles and farms in the Zennor area. The farm boundaries originated in the Bronze Age, were expanded during the Iron Age, and during the early mediaeval period were extended to give every farm a holding of land that extended from the shoreline to the skyline. This is an almost unique survival. The stiles are of more recent date and their purpose was to allow human access between fields without encouraging cattle to wander happily after a leader – which, as Jean explained, given half a chance they will do for miles.
The cream tea (with splits all of its own) finished off the afternoon in style, and the sunshine continued while the group – many of whom had not met face to face to since March 2020 – caught up on chat and remarked on how much we had enjoyed the event. Many thanks to Jean and her family members for their hospitality and expert input, and to Ros and Paul for organising the catering.
Since then, the group has resumed its meetings at the Morrab Library. The history-inspired theatrical duo Camidge & Stringer – half of which is a member of the Penwith Local History Group - has presented ‘The Laughter of Friends’ to a large and appreciative audience at the Newlyn Centre, and performed their latest show ‘Unhappy Visitors’ as part of the St Ives Festival. The same show will be coming to the Acorn Penzance on November 25th.
PLHG publications can be purchased online here or perused in the Morrab Library.
Penwith Local History Group
Edited by
Sally Corbet
price £10
plus p&p
Photo Glyn Richards