Eighteenth Century Life in West Cornwall

Edited by Jenny Dearlove, Eighteenth Century Life in West Cornwall covers a wide variety of topics researched from primary sources including:

• People, possessions and house in Zennor , based on analysis of 38 inventories;
• The people, occupations and characteristics of the parish of Morvah;
• The life of Edward Giddy, cleric, gentleman, scholar, magistrate and father of Davies Gilbert, researched from Giddy's notebooks;
• Penzance prisons is based upon the reforming writings of philanthropist James Neild published in 1804;
• HM Sloop Fly at Penzance looks at two marriages which took place in the 1740s between members of the Firefly's crew and local girls and the subsequent history of their families;
• Magic and Medicine was researched in various London libraries including the Royal College of Surgeons, Lambeth Palace and the Guildhall. It records a century of change with a growing number of doctors, more skilled surgeons but, unfortunately, few insights into the nature of disease while treatments remained based on the use of herbs, prayers and charms;
• The state of transport in Penwith is examined through the eyes of William Borlase, a frequently critical an somewhat jaundiced commentator on the subject. The diaries and journeys of John Wesley demonstrate that the determined could get around but in general road were very poor and transport was on foot, horseback or, the case of heavy loads, mule back. Wheeled vehicles were few.
• West Cornwall Through Travellers' Eyes is also frequently concerned with transport but also with food, the habits of the people, landscape and mining. The travellers include: Celia Fiennes (1698); Henric Kalmeter (1724), Angerstein (1754), James Heywood (1757); Rev John Swete (1780); James Forbes (1794); John Skinner (1797); Henry Woolacombe (1797).

The book also includes brief notes on Wesley's preaching house at Newlyn, 18th century prices, a brief piece on the Wherry Mine and the text and music of an "ancient duet" entitled the Husbandman and Serving Man.

Eighteenth Century Life in West Cornwall is a mine of information for anyone interested in the subject and meticulous references make it an ideal starting point for further research.

 Prices

Price is:

£10.00

 Posting and packaging charges

Collected from the Morrab Library:	nil
1 book UK:	£3.00
1 book EU:	£5.50
1 book to the rest of the world:	£8.00

Contents of this publication:

18th Century timeline

Zennor and its People in the Early 18th Century

The Parish of Morvah and the Lives of its People

Zennor Houses in the Early 18th Century

Edward Giddy (1734-1814)

Penzance Prisons

HM Sloop Fly at Penzance: Maritime Protection and Matrimony

Magic and Medicine in West Cornwall

Ways and Means: Road Communications

Glimpses of West Cornwall through Travellers' Eyes

John Wesley's Preaching House at Newlyn

Prices in the 18th Century

The Husbandman and the Serving Man Folksong

The Wherry Mine

The book is provided with a bibliography and index.

Eighteenth Century Life in West Cornwall

The ninth publication of
Penwith Local History Group is out in May 2014
Did you know that in the 18th century there were only 23 surnames for 85 families in Zennor? Or that beer was brewed at home? That clergyman Edward Giddy thought ‘long sermons are neither edifying nor decent’? Or that prisoners in a Penzance goal were fed through bars measuring merely 5 inches apart? That John Wesley recommended swallowing live spiders and woodlice to cure common ills? Or that in the eighteenth century naval ships frequently came into Mount's Bay and Penzance for shelter and supplies? And did you know that despite wheeled vehicles being almost unknown here, early tourists visited and wrote up their travels?


Read our book and find out!

92 pages, A4, illustrated throughout in colour and black/white
RRP £10 from local bookshops, Morrab Library, Penzance, or from Penwith Local History Group email swalker804@btinternet.com


Publication May 2014
Editor: Jenny Dearlove
ISBN 978 09540249 7 0