Penzance and pirates, they go together like fish, tin and copper don't they? Been togather since time immemorial haven't they so what's the big deal with 31st December 1879?

A scuffle in the street, a knife, a stranger - just an argument over a girl or something more?

The wreck of the Anson on Loe Bar saw over 100 men drowned and battered to death by the waves but it also resulted in two advances in dealing with the consequences of shipwreck....

The magistrates are grinding the mill of justice today in Penzance Guildhall and fines are being handed out to the poor of Penwith but some unexpected wealth comes to light......

Questions surround the life and death of Dolly Pentreath. But the details matter little, what matters more is what she represents and what she represents is, in the Cornish words of a Yorkshire poet,  Mes den hep tavas a-gollas y dyr.

It's pantomime season in Penzance, at the Pavilion a chap calling himself Lanyon Cromlech is in charge of publicity.....

On Christmas Day 1724 Sir Francis Vyvyan of Trelowaren leased a decayed stamping mill in Trewellard to Sibella Hichens, John Ustick and John Dennard. The property was known as Sir Vyell's Stamps......

Sally Prowse grew up as a farmer's daughter at Rosemodress and after her marriage on Christmas Eve 1864 she lived as a farmer's wife at Tregiffian.....

The war aganist the Turks in Mesopotamia claimed the lives of several Pendeen men, among then Charles Pryor of Bojewyan Stennack.

The big day arrived on 19th December, we were to find out out what had happened to Batten, Carne to Carne and what plans were now in place to protect our savings. Or were we?

Tuesday 20th December 1870 in St John's Hall: Handel's Messiah under the baton of the estimable Mr J. H. Nunn with soloists of national fame including the celebrated James Maybrick.

The loss of the Solomon Browne exposed with all too chilling clarity the harsh reality of life on Cornwall's romantic granite coast.

Not knowing where you are at sea is never good but picking a fight with a lighthouse can only have one winner....

Probably Cornwall's most famous scientist, Humphry Davy was fortunate to be born at a time when west Cornwall was a place at the centre of technological achievement.

Sixty seven years ago the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall was holding its annual general meeting in Penzance, just as it does today and as it has done each year since 1814.

Lewis Charles Daubuz lived in Truro and died in London but he was a significant personality in the affairs of Penwith.......

The 'supporters' of Charles Campbell Ross are a destructive bunch but presented with a window of opportunity they can have a smashing time with the best of them.......

A house struck by electric fluid, bell wires burnt out but plaster more or less unscathed.....

"A pillar of fire, exceedingly vivid and apparently the thickness of a man's arm" between sea and sky where it spread out with “splendid coruscations followed by a terrific peal of thunder”. Not a performance of Elijah in the St Just Wesleyan but an electrical storm.....

On 11th December 1807 the Jews of Penzance celebrated taking possession of their newly built synagogue, built with the assistance of Joseph Branwell.

Today the Pedn Olva in St Ives is a place with a fine view up to Trevose Head where you might enjoy a scotch on the rocks but on 10 December 1846 it was a ship on the rocks, the Thomas  of St Ives.

Slave trading in illegal but slavers still sail the seas...

Stalking is not a new offence it seems thought the term was not used to describe what happened to St Ives MP T.B. Bolitho in the early 1890s.

The loss of the Trevessa, a Hain Line ship, happened in a remote area of the Indian Ocean and was followed by 1700 mile voyage to safety in open boats. The final meeting of the investigation into the ship's loss took place 7th December 1923.

Rinking: it’s already sweeping the nation, and now it can sweep Penzance.The old West of England Knitting Company in New Street has been transformed into “the People’s Palace”.

Frank Bodilly, the only Cornishman among the initial group of Newlyn artists, and scion of the old Penzance family of Bodilly was born to Thomas Hacker Bodilly and his wife Elizabeth on 5th December 1860.

It's 1902 and following a strike at the quarry James Runnalls has decided he needs more modern haulage to get his stone to Newlyn harbour.....

Penzance is looking to the future and Newquay is the competition. Strip lights on the prom, broadcasts concerts and to cap it all, an aerodrome, that'll do it!

Not every tragedy sees the light of day. For very good reasons the work of the Penzance Preventive and Rescue Society  was kept done out of the glare of publicity but it was recorded..... 

William Bolitho of Ponsandane has safely returned from his annual 6 week trip to the continent, whither he travelled with his doctor. In recent years he has handsomely endowed Gulval church. Is he perhaps feeling his years?

Major Davey, a man aquainted with the inner workins of the house of correction in Bodmin is back. He's a man who stirs up strong feelings.....

29th November 1813, the last time a bull was baited at Madron Feast.....

There a new cinema in Penzance and I predict it will be become on of the longest lived cinemas in the country!

St Michael's Mount is not normally associated with industry but it was one of the ports used for shipping copper ore to Wales and in 1812 William Jenkin paid the Mount a visit.....

Henric Kalmeter visited Penzance on 25th and 26th November 1724. He's often described a a spy, albeit of the industrial variety. Be that as it may, his journal provides detailed insights into a world which was undergoing some fairly big changes.

St Mary's church has been gradually taking shape on the Penzance skyline over the last three years and today, 25th November 1835, the first service in the new church takes place.

The flake plague has struck. The flake, or dogfish as it's widely known is a species of shark and has a particular liking for herring ...........

There's a war on you know! So the Mayor has set up a new fund for the wives and children of soldiers in South Africa.

Today is the anniversary of the death of John Mathews, the first Borough Surveyor of Penzance. Less well known than many, it's fair to say that John Matthews left a bigger mark on Penzance than almost anyone else.

Sir Rose Price - plantation owner, slave owner, gardener, agricultural improver, show-off, controversialist and dandy was baptised in Panzance in 1768.

It's 1839, coinage is gone in Penzance business is flourishing and professional men of the town need a new club in which to meet, one that rises above the humdrum everyday........

Unpredictable, that's fishing! On 19th November 1821 the St Ives boats went out after herring and they landed the biggest catch of pilchard known up to that time.

Depressed economic conditions can produce extreme reactions, as the Cornish diaspora bears witness. But among the tens of thousands leaving Cornwall's shores few did so in such dramatic fashion as the seven Newlyn fishermen who set sail for Australia on the 16 ton lugger Mystery on 18th November 1854. 

Between 1790 and 1830 a number of west Cornishmen were elected Fellows of the Royal Society including Humphry Davy, Joseph Carne, John Hawkins and on 17th November 1791, Davies Giddy, who would go on to become the Society's President.

The Furry Dance is "Helston's birthright"! If you want to see it the only place to go is Helston........

One of the Penzance banks has just gone out of business and not everyone is pleased with the way it's being handled.....

Today is the advent of a new era: no more red flags in front of motor cars and a new speed limit of 14 miles per hour. You have been warned!

Two days ago we covered the floods of 1894, torrential rains for weeks on end and torrents of water in Newlyn and St Ives. Today, just to show how variable our weather can be, we have record high pressure and clear skies.

Herring! Great numbers of herring, the like of which was scarce known before....

It's been raining for a month, 10 inches of rain since the 19th October....

It’s been a dismal day in court. Dismal, that is, for those of us on the Bench who still hold out a glimmer of hope for the youth of West Cornwall in general – and Penzance in particular.

A clear night, a calm sea and only a short passage home to Cardiff. What could go wrong?

Regular readers may remember that, on October 26^th, we left two Penzance men awaiting sentence. Here is the third and final part of the story. If the wait has seemed long to you, imagine how it might have felt to them…

The name Batten had been synonymous with Levant since the reopening in 1820 but in 1849 John Batten IV brought the association to an end.....

New Street, the morning after, a whiff of smoke and some broken glass..........

Tonight Oscar Wilde is going to speak on the subject of America, about which he will later say that, "America has never quite forgiven Europe for having been discovered somewhat earlier in history than itself". 

Penzance's finest are holding a ball in Chapel Street but their enjoyment is about to be interrupted by news of a great victory....and a great death!

Councillor Thomas is the man who runs Penzance entertainment but today he is at the centre of the drama and doing none to well.........

To have the postal service served by by a building which is "second to none of any building of that kind in the west of England" is essential for a civilised town.................

It's two o'clock in the afternoon at St Michael's Mount, the tide has just started to flow, when suddenly the sea level rises by about six feet. It falls away then, 10 minutes later, rises again and again by six feet. And not just at the Mount, St Ives, Newlyn, Penzance all report the same occurence............

Lemon Hart, founder of a rum distilling business which was selling 100,000 gallons a year to the Royal Navy by 1849, was born in Penzance on 31 October 1768.

On 30 October 1899 the fishing boat Emeline left Lowestoft to return home to Mousehole. She never arrived. What happened to her?

There's something fishy about the closure and reopening of Levant Mine in 1871, and it's nothing to do with being under the sea..............

Thirty contestants are participating in a round-Penwith race which will end at Penzance Pavilion. Crowds have gathered, medals have been truck and maintenance completed. Newlyn has never seen the like! 

Lawyer Lanyon was arrested yesterday, along with Richard Stevens and now they're up before the magistratefor forgery and perjury..........

Morrab Place, bastion of middle class values, has been raided by the police and there they go, prisoner discretely held between them............. 

In 1851 Mary Kelynack, an elderly woman from Newlyn, walked to London over the course of five weeks. Did she really set off to see the Queen, or the Great Exhibition, or was it something else?

Penzance Corporation borrowed and spent a lot of money in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Mayor Henry Boase was one of those who found himself dealing with the consequences........

A glimmering light spotted through the murk and a ship is saved, but the Admiral, his flagship and 1400 men will not survive the night....

It’s Saturday evening, and the departure platform at Penzance is packed with 60 people.

The second worst accident in the history of mining in Cornwall happened at Levant Mine on 20^th October 1919. Thirty one men were killed and 19 were recorded as injured when the Levant man engine rod crashed down the shaft carrying with it its human cargo of miners coming up to grass from the morning core.

Cornishman, Thursday, 21st October. Newlyn, Tuesday.
With sunlight streaming across the Bay, the Rosebud set sail this morning from Newlyn.

It used to take 32 men to unload a collier at Penzance, but Taylors now have a steam crane............

St Ives Young Conservatives think they have a cunning plan to thwart the Socialist governments attemps to speed up progress.....

Vessel on fire reported off St Ives. Boats manned for rescue attempt…….

Coastguard Charlie May can hardly believe his eyes. There before him is a brilliantly lit leviathon of a ship and she's heading for the Manacles..............

Penzance Free Library, a beacon of light illuminating the path to the future......

There a public, or is it private, enquiry in Sennen today. Did the lifeboatmen fail in their duty, that's the issue under scrutiny.

The 11th October 1837 marked the first appearance of shoals of herring off St Ives for 14 years. It was the first day of a plentiful season....

The St Keverne gold rush: Ballarat expert forecasts bright future.

On the 9th October 1821 Joseph Carne presented a paper to the Annual Meeting the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall on the Mineral Productions and the Geology of St Just. The paper included the first mineralogical map of the St Just Mining District.

It’s 9.15 of a Tuesday morning, and the Swift – with Captain John Jacka at the helm – is heading out to sea. Captain Jacka is proud of the Swift: she’s a long-liner, only seven years old, with a proper motor.

The seafront at penzance is subject to fairly regular assaults by the sea. Many ppeople will remember the damage caused to the Jubillee Pool in 2014 but in 1880 the road to Newlyn was destroyed and lives were lost.

Elixirs, remedies, renewed vigour, improved performance etc. The snake oil salesman has been ever with us. But have you ever heard of Casumen which will put an end to "weakly, stunted men?" 

On 5th October 1900 Edward Hain, fourth of the name of head of  the family shipping business, was elected as M.P. for St Ives.

It's been hot, but the pressure has suddenly fallen, a storn is coming. How bad will it be?

This is Penzance. This is Penzance. The train now standing at platform 1 is the 10.00 am train for Paddington. Passengers for Aberdeen please board the rear two carriages. This train calls at St Erth, Hayle, Camborne..........arriving in Aberdeen at 8.35 tomorrow morning. 

Sunday 2nd October 1938. Chamberlain is back from Munich with his piece of paper and the church sermons give thanks for the lessening of international tensions while, in a less sombre mood, harvest festivals are celebrated across Penwith.

On 1 October 1817 a house belonging to Admiral Linzee, in Chapel Street, Penzance, was put up for sale. Which house was it? Is it still there? And who was Admiral Linzee?

1660: The restoration of the Monarchy, good times all round with the Merry Monarch and his friends and supporters. But this is a king who is a bit short of his own resources so how are the good times going to be paid for? People can be difficult to count, they move about, let's try hearths!

It's the "first annual demonstration" of the St Ives, Lelant and Towednack United Conservative Association and Mr Charles Ross M.P. is just arriving at the Malakoff, in a carriage and pair I hasten to add........

The St Just Wesleyan Chapel is a huge place, in its day it regularly hosted congrations in excess of 1000 people. Opened in 1833 it is a monument to a cultural moment which has now passed in into history but the iconic building still seems to draw the people......

100 degrees fahrenheit, high humidity, low oxygen, quarter of a mile out under the Atlantic ocean and about 1500 feet beneath the ocean floor. Why would anyone want to go to such a place...............

It's 1882, just three years since Joseph Swann amazed the Lit. and Phil. in Newcastle with his electric light, and now the people of Penzance can visit an exhibition lit by electric light.

The steam packet ship Herald made her first voyage from Bristol to Hayle on 24 September 1831, ushering a new service which would bring numerous benefits to west Cornwall over the next 30 years.

World Championship Heavyweight Boxing comes to Penzance, two years after the event on Coney Island but now's your chance to see the Cornish Blacksmith and World Champion Bob Fitzsimmons of Helston face challenger James J. Jefferies of California....

Today is the 100th anniversary of the day Richard Trathen was called up to serve in the army. Not the British Army, Richard Trathen was a Pendeen boy who gone to Grass valley, California in search of work and the joining the U.S. Army. 

28 September 1928: Boscawen-Un, the stone circle in St Buryan parish, hosts a bardic gathering for the first time in a millennium.

20th September 1816: Banker Boase to run for Mayor of Penzance. Mayor for only a single term, one of only five single term Mayors of Penzance between 1800 and 1834, his diary throws light upon the affairs of Penzance in the wake of Napoleon.

Farron, Greet and Grattan, not a new firm of solicitors but a visiting company of players come to entertain Penzance as the nights draw in. 

Parade Street pickled pork from Perrys. Lit by 'lectric lighting!

Another step up the ladder for Penzance as the one vital component lacking in the life of the town is addressed with the first edition of the Penzance Gazette. 

First and Last landlord takes first flight to Lyonesse as Dragon offers Christmas joyrides.

Fishpaste Gang's crime spree in Market Jew Street ends in 12 month cinema ban in Juvenile Court.

M.V. Alacrity ran aground at Portheras Cove on 13 September 1963. She has remained a topic of interest ever since.......

It's Pirates versus Wanderers in the big match on Moday night and an opportunity to see the magic Jennings strut his stuff, AND LOSE and the pirates cut their opponents down to size.

“Bubbles" is missing! Of unimpeachable character, utterly blameless, attentive to his duties. The perfect employee. Kidnapping suspected.  

Yellow jack, musket balls, cannon balls, flying splinters, power explosions and mutiny - Walter Tremenheere faced them all and emerged unscathed from an active service career in the Marine Corps during the Napoleonic Wars.  

My pal Charlie’s in a spot of bother. He's landed up in court due to what the Chief Constable’s seen fit to refer to as his “unfortunate attitude”.  

8th September 1838: Rover burnt in effigy in St Ives, Penrose to blame.

Whitesands Bay, 7th September 1497. It's just 9 weeks since the execution of An Gof and here's a Plantagenet claimant hoping to rouse the Cornish in pursuit of the throne of England.

Thomas Victor was a well thought of Cornish artist who never travelled beyong Truro despite being offered a scolarship to the Slade.

In his history of Levant Mine, Cyril Noall provides a brief outline of the wreck of the William Cory

on 5^th September 1910. The wreck proved to be a bit of a windfall for the mine but how did the William Cory come to run aground on a calm day with excellent visibility?

Elisha Trewartha is settling into the working day. He’s a “middle-aged man… the foreman” at Upton Towans Dynamite Works, Gwithian.

Between 1498 and 1508 the itinerant Stannary Court at Lelant registered at least 10 St Just tinbounds. While an Cruen ton Gwynn was registered on 3^rd September 1502.

Harry and Fred Poole have brought their Myriorama to town. The craze of the new century – moving pictures! This is the “Largest, latest and most beautifully designed machine for the projection of Animated Photography”

Francis Oats died in Port Elizabeth aged 69 on 1^st September 1918. In St Just today his most lasting monument is the the house he build overlooking Cape Cornwall – Porthledden House – built in the years 1907-1909.

Phantom photographers snap bathing beauties in Penzance conspiracy scare: read all about it!

On Sunday 30th August 1931 the St Just War Memorial was dedicated. Why did St Just have to wait so long for a public memorial to its war dead?

On 29th August 1828 the Dutch ship Enterprize arrived in St Ives with over 350 refugees on board. Where were they from........

Cholera reached Britain in October 1831 and took its first victim in St Ives on 28 August 1832.....

27 August 1808: The greatest abundance of pilchards ever know have been taken this week in the Mount's Bay. At St Ives there are more than 10000 hogsheads landed...........

Cornwall's always had a bit of a thing about royalty, particularly since that dreadful business back in 1649, but in 1933 the people of Penzance really go for it: it's a gloomy time, nationwide depression and mining virtually ended in the Duchy, so let's have Two Queens............

Susanna Trevorrow was a bal maiden who was crushed to death when a mine burrow collapsed on her in August 1854.

On 24th August 1898 Ambrose Rouffignac of Newlyn passed his Master's Certificate. He was now a master mariner but who was this man with the strange foreign sounding name?

Private John Leggo of St Just was killed on 23 August 1914, the British army's first day of fighting on the Western Front. He was 24 years old, one of the first of many Cornishmen to die in World War One, a war which saw 7.2 million battlefield deaths.

The 18th to the 22 August 1887 saw numerous sporting events in west Cornwall and beyond. But star attraction was the Trewellard v Penzance cricket match..............

Admit it, you thought Nadia Comăneci was the first child sports star! Nadia was 14 when she hit the headlines but today we bring you Phyllis Bottrell, the 13 year old swmming prodigy from Penzance.......

The School of Science - no, nothing to do with Everton Football Club - is to come out into the light! It's subterranean era beneath the rocks and strata of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall is to come to an end and the foundation stone of its new home is laid......

It's 1903 and the GWR in 'branching out', God's Wonderful Railway is introducing motor cars, charabancs, buses, call them what you will, to link Helston to Lizard.........

On 18^th August 1663 Charles II issued letters patent to”appointe our Towne of Pensanse within our said stannery of Penwith and Kerrier in our said County of Cornwall to bee from henceforth for ever one of the Coynage Townes…..”

When R.M. Ballantyne, celebrated author of boys' adventure stories such as Coral Island, went underground at Botallack on 17th August 1868 he was just one of many to visit the wonder mine of the west and sign the sign the Vistors Book.

On August 15th 1779 William Williams of Newlyn recorded the sighting of great armada of French and Spanish ships......

Miss M is notorious, she has a history of misdemeanours and when roused has a tendancy to fly into a fury of window breaking. And now she's up before the bench again......

One of the richest tin mines in Cornwall is near Penzance and lies under the sea, which is excluded by iron funnels, or shafts rising above the level of high-water…..(Sherborne Mercury 13 August 1792)

Tourists in court for taking pictures at Land's End, foreign sailors interned, suspicion and zenophobia rife and prices rising. It's all change now war has been declared!

Tide overshadows eclipse at Marazion amd "Cornwall Full" alarms....

Beauty of St Ives: Will it be Spoiled by Slum Clearance? The Cornishman's succinct summary of the controversial proposals for the future of St Ives in 1834…..

It's Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee and David Bischofswerder is at the height of his power in Penzance. To celebrate he is opening his new Jubilee Hall on Market Jew St....

In 1838 William Lovett, born in Newlyn in 1800, drafted the People's Charter, a revolutionary document which demanded nothing less than the statutory right of the working man to involvement in the political decision making of the country. 

It's a Tuesday morning in August and the staff and pupils in Mousehole are about to take possession of their new school...

On 5 August 1836 the West Briton advertised the sale of Wheal Cock Mine, St Just, drained by a water pressure engine with a 40 fathom head of water.

On 4th Auhust 1914, as clocks around the country struck 11pm, Britain entered into a state of war with Germany. At 11.02pm First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, send a telegram to the Fleet, “Commence hostilities against Germany”.

The vessels of the Welsh Fleet were small boats, worked hard, often under-manned and working to tight schedules and like the colliers of the North Sea they could be deadly on the unforgiving north coast of Cornwall.

Panic seized the people of Mounts Bay on 2 August 1595 when Mousehole, Paul Churchtown, Newlyn and Penzance were all set ablaze. The Spanish raid was just one of a number of actions in the intermittent Anglo-Spanish War of 1585-1604 in which both sides made frequent incursions on each other's territory and shipping. This is the age of Raleigh, Drake, Hawkins and the Armada.............

Richard Pentreath was one of the most accomplished artists of his generation and his works give an invaluable insight into west Cornwall's places and people before the Newlyn School painters were even born.

A fine load of mugs they all sounded in the witness box today, the victims. Taken for a ride, all right: motor car or otherwise. It was as if they were falling over themselves: a sovereign here, ten shillings there........

In 1744 it was said that St Just  was "so very populous…..it is impossible to know the exact number..” Rapid expansion in mining was attracting lots of incomers to the district, but not all were miners......

Cornwall has had many links with Brittany over the centuries, one of the lesser known ones is the St Ives salt trade......

William Borlase was a keen observer of the weather and other natural events andhe certainly got his fill on 28th July 1761...

There’s a mighty new cinema in town, on the site of the old Horse and Jockey – closed since way back, before the Great War.

When the secret select are abolished, 
As all of us wish them to be, -
In short, when James Halse is demolished
There’ll be room in the Market for me.

The Crown employed supervisors to check blowing houses and smelters to ensure that coinage tax was paid, but it wasn't always straightforward as in this incident on New Street Stairs... 

Today is the anniversary of the opening of Alexandra Road, opened by and named in honour of Princess Alexandra, consort of the future King Edward VII. Later the Royals will go underground at Botallack but his morning the Princess has a less exciting  duty to perform....

The three fleet static review in Mount's Bay to celebrate the coronation of George V avoided air attack by a whisker on 23 July 1910.............

Penzance's first talkie - The Doctor's Secret - read Toestrap of the Cornishman's of the gripping story of........well, read on to find out....

Miners in St Just have a tradition of doing a bit of fishing to help put food on the table but a man who can find his way around underground in virtual darkness can be hard pressed on an ebb tide in a thick fog and so it proved for four pards fishing out of Priests Cove......

The Royal Cornwall Gazette has had things it's own way for ten years now, but the launch of the West Briton is going to change all that.........

Sunday 19^th July 1908. You might like to picture a lazy and peaceful day in a fine Edwardian summer. Boaters. Croquet.  Cucumber sandwiches. That sort of thing.

But for some it’s a working day. Take James Curnow, for example. He’s 20 years old, and has a steady job at Penbeagle Farm – been there working for John Pearce since he was 16. James is a conscientious young man.  Pearce – who is currently serving as Mayor of St Ives - will later, to applause, “testify to his good behaviour, thoughtfulness and good work.” 

140 years old today and still going strong(ish). The Cornishman was first published on 18th July 1878.

About 200 years ago a small coasting vessel carrying a cargo of mining equipment sailed in a leaky state into Crow Sound, Isles of Scilly. She was sinking and her crew of five were just hoping she'd make St Mary's or at least get near enough for them to save themselves. This is the Wheel Wreck......

The loss of a British Airways Helicopter, together with 20 of the 26 people on board, on a sceduled flight from Penzance to the Isles of Scilly was, until 1986, the worst civilian passenger helicopter acident in Europe.

"That lady from the church...", how not to render assistance.

Penzance market cross gets around a bit: Greenmarket, water shote in Causewayhead, old town hall and now it's off again...

Bucket's silver key opens the door to a healthy future....

John Wesley visited Newlyn on fourteen occasion. Today, 12 July, is the anniversary of his first visit in 1747...

I was married three days ago; to Caitlin Macnamara; in Penzance registry office; with no money, no prospect of money, no attendant friends or relatives, and in complete happiness”.

What does Morvah have in common with Peterloo? Answer, the Riot Act was read in both places. Why was the Riot Act read in Morvah? Read on........

Charles Campbell Ross: Scoundrel, Fantasist or Fool?

Tin dressing floors could be hazardous places and required an adult attitude from the children and young people who provided much of the work-force......

High on the windswept moors of West Penwith isolated Ding Dong Mine has accumulated its share of myth and legend. So old it was commonly believed that Christ had been there as a boy, so deep you could hear Australian church bells if you listened by one of the many shafts. But Ding Dong would not get any deeper............

Saturday nights: you never know what might happen. And last night, up at Polteggan Farm Heamoor, things were definitely getting lively.

Father absent at sea and mother mother unable to cope and taking solace in the bottle, it was never going to be easy for the Yates children.........

Blasting in mines was a dangerous business, especially if Bickford's safety fuse was not being used.........

The Wesley brothers visited St Just on more than 30 occasions but John Wesley's encounter with Squire Stephen Usticke of Botallack is one of the more bizarre events to arise from these frequent visitations of west Cornwall.....

St Ives Coastguards had a busy time in July 1831 seizing nearly 450 tubs of brandy and gin and assorted other contraband......

The stranding of whales on Long Rock beach in 1911 revealed conflicting attitudes in the Cornwall of the time, a place still heavilt dependant upon harvesting the sea........

Don’t mention Trafalgar, and certainly don’t mention De Ruyter burning Chatham. For here we present: the Western Union Fleet....

St Peter’s Feast Day, June 29, 1885. Charles Campbell Ross, MP for St Ives, laid the foundation stone of the new South Pier at Newlyn.

At one o’clock the doors of the new Guildhall, Corn and Shamble-markets were thrown open for the Great Dinner provided by public subscription. More than 1,000 people sat down to a meal of “good old English fare” including the beef Penzance market was famous for.....

Michael Joseph, a blacksmith from St Keverne on the Lizard, one of the leaders of the Cornish Rebellion of 1497, is reputed to have said on his way to his execution that he would have ‘a name perpetual and a fame permanent and immortal’.

The convinced, curious, the frankly sceptical:  all have gathered today at Tregeseal to listen to a report of the latest antiquarian enquiries based upon the work of Sir Norman Lockyer.

It is not easy to find any document from almost 700 years ago but Penzance is fortunate in that one is held in the National Archives of today’s date. It describes the property of Henry Tyes, who held the manor of Alverton.

Parish of Pendeen was created by the tin and copper mining industry, its church was created by the people of the industry and the human cost of the industry is cut into the stones in the graveyard which surrounds the church.

As night fell, youths gathered, “vainly endeavouring to assume a very careless air” but with “an anxious manner” and “mysterious protuberances” beneath their coats......

The restoration of the monarchy in 1660 was quickly followed by the restoration of the stannaries and a new Lord Warden. 

Saturday afternoon, and the season’s begun. Down at the Jubilee Pool, in a match between the two county champion teams, we’ve had the better of Devonport. The score..........

On board the Febrero, a Spaniard out of Bermeo bound for Newport are 23 crew including: the cook, Roque Iriarte, a small, moustachioed youth of 20 who has worked at sea for the past few months; and the chief engineer, Jose Espinoso, in the pockets of his blue trousers a lottery ticket............

who was the unfortunate Richard White who was buried in 1840?

On 18^th June 1817 a meeting was held at the Guildhall in Penzance, chaired by the High Sheriff - Mr Harris of Kenegie, to consider how to help the widows and orphans of the 14 fishermen on “two mackrell boats” who had drowned in a great storm on 13^th June.

after six weeks of money hunting we are informed at a meeting of the Committee that only sixty pounds have been raised and that several leading hotel keepers …….. have, with extreme munificence, contributed the extraordinarily large sum of ten shillings.....

The new pier, completed in 1813, represented an extension of 150 feet which significantly increased the capacity of the harbour but not all vessels wished to pay the increased dues...................

At the Baptist Church, the Reverend Alfred Bird does not look a happy man. To be honest, the congregation perhaps reflect, he hasn’t looked happy for quite a while. But here he is in the pulpit – and what is he saying?

June 14 1942: the last day to register for the egg ration.

Long, long before the train from London bearing the evacuee children was due to arrive every available vantage point overlooking the station was crowded with spectators. ..... There was an air of expectancy about, a feeling of curiosity mingled with sympathy for these children sent so far from their own firesides.

Penzance has always been a good venue, what with the excellent trains and all the West Penwith farmers. The 1912 attendance of 21,454 hasn’t been bettered by any show since.....

On 11^th June 1787 some of the women in Ludgvan met at the home of local blacksmith, William Glasson, to set up a Female Friendly Society - their own self-help organisation for the mutual relief of its members in old age, sickness and infirmity

The electors of St Ives in the 1820s would have been perplexed by the lack of enthusiasm of today's electorate……………

....at Trereiffe they were practically neck and neck, Ford just leading. Up Toltuft hill Jasper, who was the strongest in this work, passed Ford, but the latter regained the lead when the downhill work started again, and a desperate finish resulted. 

‘If Mr Walter Langley did not exactly invent Newlyn’, wrote a columnist in the Cornishman, on October 10, 1889, ‘he was the first to make it famous when he migrated from the Midlands.’

William Maddern Eddy, Private 54172 Durham Light Infantry, son of John and Constance Eddy of Carnyorth. Born 1897, missing presumed dead 7 June 1917. 

The first modern census of the UK was taken on Sunday 6 June 1841. Four national census enumerations had been taken previously in 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831 but these had been purely numeric, except where names were collected locally as in St Hilary in 1801..............

Alderman Thomas has masterminded the whole enterprise. They’ve gone for luxury and comfort.

Cycling can be a dangerous business when Ludgvan's on your route....

Penzance: the magistrates are busy. In fact so busy that the Mayor was taken ill yesterday, and had to go home. What’s been happening? Well, it’s the new pre-fabs they’re building over at New Street. Or supposed to be building.

The news came into Penzance from London, yesterday evening – the end of a sleepy Sunday afternoon. When the telegram arrived at the Post Office, the operator said it was better than being handed a five pound note. The news was bound for the Telegraph offices in Chapel Street, and was posted up outside. 

The St Erth to St Ives branchline was the last new broad gauge line to be built in Britain and celebrates its 140th anniversary this year (2017).

George V’s silver jubilee is the big event of May 1935, and the opening of the already-floodlit Pool three weeks later is to be the central part of Penzance’s celebrations...

Greeting to Buffalo Bill: From the far Wild West to the Western Wilds

Buried in Geneva, commemorated in Westminster Abbey, remembered in Penzance. Sir Humphry Davy died far from home and while he was esteemed by his peers at the Royal Society he was, perhaps, most fondly remembered by the colliers of Britain whose working lives were rendered much safer by the Davy Lamp.

Long days at sea, fat wads of cash, plentiful booze, a cultural misunderstanding of two and an exchange with the boys in blue. Fish, fight and copper?

The miners from the western mines assembled at Penzance to endeavour to get corn and flour sold to them at a reduced rate. John Tregerthen Short, St Ives 27 May 1847

Empire Day 1916 - there is to be a ceremony in Penzance but, at the insistence of Richard Foster Bolitho, it will be unpublicised and winessed only be a few passers-by......

Spring 1916 but not a lot to smile about with the war grinding on and on and the casualty lists growing longer and longer. But this after, in St John's Hall, Mrs Tupper will be openig the Patriotic Housekeeping Exhibition........

What a scene the field presented! Immense crowds everywhere; and all pleased, all delighted. A lovely day, a splendid ceremony……..”

There have been mutterings – and at times official complaints – for some time about railway freight charges. And as if that isn’t enough, trains to the north are slow, and the railway companies don’t seem to appreciate the need to catch the market....

Reinhold Angerstein was considered to be an industrial spy, no surprise then that he visited Cornwall in 1754 and made a special point of a visit to St Just.

The shareholders of Crysede Ltd have every reason to be pleased. Their first annual meeting has been held today, and the story is one of enterprise and hard work rewarded; of good design finding favour; of success.

On 19 May 1835 John Tregerthen Short (JTS) wrote in his diary, “The foundation of the Gas Works was laid by Camborne masons, the St Ives masons having demanded one-third more money to carry out the work.”

It is rumoured that Professor Albert Eistein, famous as the exponent of the space-time theory, is coming to live at Land's End.

Numerous pictures on the Internet claim to show the remains of the schooner Jeune Hortense exposed on Long Rock beach. Her skeleton is occasionally exposed by storms, or is it?

They came in cars from Newquay, Perranporth, Redruth, Camborne, Hayle, St Ives and scores of other places………. A sight that will probably never be repeated….. (The Cornishman 21 May 1936)

At 9.30am the Ono, of St Ives, captain Thomas Brooking Williams, with eighty-two emigrants, sailed for Quebec. - John Tregerthen Short in his diary for 14 May 1849

Sir Rose Price elected President of the new Penzance Library, Dr Forbes as Honorary Librarian.

His Majesty driven off by house surgeon at the West Cornwall Hospital. Read all about it!

Just as turnpikes were being superseded elsewhere, St Just was finally connected to the rest of the country by one of these new fangled roads, enabled by a Parliamentary bill which received its third reading on 11 May 1863.

In the PLHG publication Women of West Cornwall Jean Nankervis wrote on Zennor Women and Wills 1600-1750. What Jean was looking for was evidence of how men treated the women in their families.....

Hear ye, hear ye. From this day forth the Common Seal of the Borough of Penzance shall be the head of John the Baptist, on a platter, as demanded by Salome of King Herod II - nice pun terrible association.......

The water was brought into the town this day. The expense was defrayed by public subscription – Mr Stephens, of Tregenna, giving £100 and Mr Praed £100. There are eight public fountains. To celebrate the event a band of music went round the town, followed by a great concourse of people. John Tregerthen Short, 8 May 1843 in his diary.

Son of a famous father, traveller, cowboy, lumberjack, soldier, writer and the man credited with creating the inspiration for Poldark – Crosbie Garstin, born Penzance 7 May 1887……...

In 1882 it seems to have been more acceptable to use a horsewhip on a woman than to abuse a horse or donkey.......

In his diary entry for 7 July 1821 John Tregerthen Short of St Ives wrote, “The news reached St. Ives of the death of Napoleon Bonaparte at St. Helena on May 6th.” He was a day out on the date but……..

It's the late 19th century, mining in west Cornwall is in a terrible depression. Many men have left the county and some of those who remain and in work are not being paid.......

The groom is “a sturdy youngster of eighty-six”. You may picture the scene: rehearse the familiar story. Chaucer’s January and May; the folk song chorus of “girls, when you’re young, never wed an old man”.

What could be a more delightful to a town with aspirations to become a sought-after watering place, than a commodious bathing machine?

On May day 1964 the helicopter service to Scilly began to operate. The helicopters replaced De Havilland Rapide bi-planes and initially operated from Land's End airfield, St Just.........

Picture this: three little children playing outside at Tregeseal. Imagine the spring sunshine, the usual childish boasts and claims - and that sense of limitless possibility and freedom, the peculiar quality of those moments in early childhood when no grown-ups are about................

April 1901 and the Penwith boys and their mates from Hayle and Helston are coming home from South Africa........ well nearly, the train is pulling into Bodmin!

 Christopher Hawkins of Trewinnard, St Erth, died on 28 April 1767. He'd been born in Cornwall in about 1694...........

On 27^th April 1864 not one, but three foundation stones were laid to start the building of the Penzance Public Buildings.........

On April 2 1832 the St Ives Chronicler, aka John Tregerthen Short (JTS), wrote in his diary that the demolition of the old market house had begun. He noted that the old building had been constructed in 1490......

On 25 April 1332 Penzance was granted a charter to hold a weekly market. Why was it granted then in particular and why is it important?

Harold Morris was the third of the four sons of Richard and Charlotte Morris of 5 Boswedden Road, St Just. He is one of the forgotten men of World War One, those who survived and whose names appear on no war memorials.

The story of the last days of the Warspite is well known, the old ship gallantly contesting the best efforts of the shipbreakers to take her to Faslane to be broken up. Warspite's battle with the breakers made waves across the British press……………

On 22 April 1722 William Borlase, aged 26, became rector of Ludgvan and so secured, courtesy of his father, a secure living for the rest of his life.

There’s no doubt about it: the world is changing, and for the better. The Russians have orbited the moon, The Spencer Davis Group are topping the charts, and Harold Wilson is back in for a second term. But locally? Open your copy of the Cornishman, folks, and see what you shall see...................

I have reached the conclusion, after due thought and observation, that if times are hard at Newlyn the men have only themselves to blame...........

War Weapons week is upon us. They’re already calling it the Battle of Britain. 

The nation needs your metal, but the nation also needs your money. Drop in at any Post Office or bank – or see your stockbroker – for War Bonds.............

“In the parish of S. Levan, there is a promontory called Castle Treryn. This cape consists of three distinct groups of rocks. On the western side of the middle group near the top, lies a very large stone, so evenly, poised that any hand may move it to and fro; but ......... it is morally impossible that any lever, or indeed force, however applied in a mechanical way, can remove it from its present situation.”

Although born in Truro, Joseph Carne probably ranks as one one of Penzance's most eminent sons, a man whose days seem to have 48 hours in them, so much does he achieve...........

Although it is quite difficult to decide on the actual date of the surrender of St Michael’s Mount, since there are several different possibilities, the most likely is Thursday 16^th April 1646, 

John Oates died at Camp Sherman, Ohio, on April 15 1919, he had just returned from Europe where he been serving in the 112^th Engineers.................

At 11.40 pm on April 14 1912, the largest steamer in the world, Titanic, part of the White Star Line, hit an iceberg and sank with the loss of 1502 lives...............

All is not well at St Ives. The fishermen have been bringing good money into the town – their official returns for the year up £5,000 last year to £52,000. Money like this should – surely – bring a substantial voice...........

Levant mine reopened in November 1820 after being closed for about 25 years. It was to remain open virtually without interruption until 1930 and the first sale from the newly reopened mine was made on 12 April 1821.

April 11 1823 saw the opening of “Sir Christopher's School” in St Ives. Sir Christopher was Sir Christopher Hawkins of Trewithen, the local M.P., and the school was described by John Tregerthen Short (JTS), in his diary entry for 11 April 1823) as a free school for the education of poor children.

The winter of 1836/37 is not generally cited as a particularly bad one but in St Ives the weather was severe enough to prompt John Tregerthen Short to comment several times in his diary:

King Edward VII is driving about Penzance, with fifty cyclists as a vanguard.............

On 8^th April 1812 Humphry Davy was knighted by The Prince Regent .......

A census has been taken every 10 years from 1801 until 2011, covering England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.....

Sir Christopher Hawkins died aged 70 on 6 April 1829. He was born in Probus in 1758, second son of Thomas Hawkins of Trewithen and grandson of Christopher Hawkins of Trewinnard........

Residents of Redruth were astonished today to find two Mexican miners in there town...............

Richard Rowe of Newlyn is a post office messenger. We can picture him, this ordinary lad. He’s probably proud of his work, and enjoys being out in the open air, especially now spring is on the way. He works evenings, and sometimes he cuts it a bit fine......

These two plays and accompanying entertainment were performed on 3 April 1805 in Penzance's Georgian Theatre in Chapel Street built in 1787. The site is at the rear of the Union Hotel.

At that time England was still at war with France, artist Samuel Palmer was travelling and painting in Cornwall, and a Cornish movement for Parliamentary reform was begun by 14 Cornishmen meeting in the Freemasons' Tavern ....

The 1871 census took place on 2 April 1871 and was similar in structure to the previous one in 1861. 

This was the last census of the time of prosperity and expansion in West Cornwall......

All over the nation, it’s time for a brand new start.

Town councils, rural districts, even some counties, have long been enamoured of bold schemes. Penzance Town Council has been no exception.....................

Anyone looking for something a bit out of the ordinary on the weekend of 30/31 March 1930 got a bit of a treat at Porth Nanven. Washed ashore on Saturday 30^th was the British World War One submarine L1.  

On Tuesday 30^th March 1875 the Penzance Choral Society, assisted by the 32-strong orchestral band and by bro. Rd. White at the organ, gave a performance of Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah, which the Royal Cornwall Gazette considered to be the best amateur rendering of this piece to have taken place in Penzance.......................

Until spring 1916 recruitment into the British Army to fight World War One was voluntary. One of the big recruitment initiatives to encourage volunteers was what became known as the Pals Battalions................

The Channel swarmed with French privateers that seized English merchant vessels on an almost daily basis. This was the fate of the brig, Friendship – a vessel of 15 tons burthen, built at Swansea in 1801 and partly owned by Josias Sincock of St Ives.

It’s the last weekend before the election. In the St Ives and Western Divisions, the contest is becoming heated. The contestants have already published lengthy election addresses in the newspapers...................

The St Ives built schooner Eldred left for Swansea with her first cargo on 26 March 1829. Eldred had been launched on 20 January and Lloyd's Register for 1830 shows her to have been a single deck schooner of 93 tons skippered and owned by J. Matthews. Her crew on that first trip was probably something in order of five men and a ship's boy.

The Antient house belonging to the sayd vicaridge consistinge of many Rooms was wholely burnt and demolished by Certaine Spanish Invaders aboute the yeare 1595, of which sayd house some parte was Reedifyed and some parte left ever since to ruines......

The Ritz in Penzance has a new film starting tonight and showing over the weekend: Moira Shearer in The Man Who Loved Redheads. One thing you can say for that – it won’t be in black and white. The advert actually says “rich colour” just in case anyone was wondering................

Midnight has fallen, bringing in Saturday morning, the 23^rd of March 1968. But 500 Penzance and district youngsters have had a great night out, and (leaving aside any possibility of illicit substances having been consumed) are probably just too excited to sleep.

On the 6 April 1883 the Royal Cornwall Gazette carried an advertisement dated 22 March 1883. The advertisement was for The Lamb and Flag Smelting Works, otherwise known as Treloweth.

In a letter dated March 21 1877, the Rev John Pope Vibert said 'I venture to write on paper with a picture of my church and parsonage on it although not quite accurate.'

At the itinerant stannary court which met at Lelant on 20 March 1498 two tinworks in Truthwall, While an Woth and le Neue Worke were registered................

An afternoon in mid-March, the local boys are amusing themselves by chasing and hanging onto cars going up the hill. They've been doing this for quite a while but today they've been joined by a little lad of five...............

Torrey Canyon was, in 1967, the biggest ship ever to be wrecked; two and a half times the length of a football pitch, and carrying 119,000 tons of heavy crude oil..............

A few weeks ago the paper really was first with the news, and confirmation has arrived today that the story has legs. For readers of the Cornishman – and only the Cornishman – will know about the imminent marriage plans of the new king, Edward VIII.

It’s first thing Monday morning. Never a good time, not for anyone who has to work for a living, but on the deck of the steamer Hayle the men are getting back into harness for another normal week’s routine.

Sir Clifford Cory, at a public meeting in St John's Hall just after the armistice said that the Base had been the means of “destroying and damaging many submarines around the coast from Mount's Bay to Hartland Point”. The vessels of the Base had convoyed no fewer than 11,000 vessels to and from France.........

The last sentence of Cyril Noall's history of Botallack Mine reads, Rodda's Almanack tersely records that Botallack Mine closed on March 14^th 1914, just five months before the outbreak of the first World War.

Raymond Harry is better known as Jack Penhale, author of The Mine Under the Sea, an account of his days at Levant Mine between 1917 and 1921. Raymond/Jack worked at Levant when the disaster took place on 20 October 1919.................

On Friday March 12 1915 the steamer Indian City was torpedoed by a U-Boat 10 miles south of St Mary's, Scilly en route from Galveston to Le Havre laden with cotton, copper and cask staves.

On 10th March 1852 the Cornish Telegraph published the timetable for the Penzance to Redruth railway which was to re-open the next day...........

The 1801 Census was based on the Parish system, forms were sent to local clergy and landowners who were responsible for collecting different types of data. In St Hilary the responsibility fell to the Reverend Malachy Hitchins....

It was on Monday March 9, back in 1891 that the giant blizzard struck the county. The fine weather of the past weeks suddenly ended, the temperature dropped quickly, and snow began to fall as the wind increased in strength. There was tremendous damage to property in the next few days, trains were de-railed, many ships wrecked around the Cornish coast, and throughout the county there were stories of lives lost in snowdrifts…

Poldark lives…. And although some may contend that W S Graham, who started it all when he published Jeremy Poldark in 1945, might be turning in his grave, West Cornwall is alive with excitement.

Penzance has every reason to be pleased with itself. The new floating dock is nearing completion, and tonight, the engineers are to close the new coffer dam and keep the sea out.........

Davies Giddy is probably more well known as Davies Gilbert but if you try to find a birth date for young Mr Gilbert by searching parish registers you'll run into a problem. In short, he is not there! So, just who is this famous man of west Cornwall and why the enigma concerning his birth?

Today is St Piran's Day. Patron saint of Cornwall and patron saint of tin-miners, his flag is the flag of Cornwall and his day is celebrated widely throughout the Cornish world. But who was St Piran?

On 4 March 1863 Richard Trevorrow, a miner previously of St Just, came before the West Penwith justices to sue Captains Carthew and Wearne of St Just United Mine for non-payment of his wages.........................

All the parish priests and their officers for the whole of Penwith and Kerrier were due to meet in Helston that Thursday to take the oath. We don’t know what the weather was like but on Friday and Saturday when the men of St. Ives and St. Just took the oath the lists, called Protestation Returns, got wet and the ink ran.

In their accounts of the Petty Sessions local newspapers can shine a light on the murky affairs of the past, often to reveal that they are in fact little different from the present......

1st March 1867 saw the first broad gauge passenger train from Plymouth to Penzance. The availability of broad gauge all the way to Penzance opened the way for through trains from Paddington to Penzance.................

On Tuesday last sennight the last day of February Mr Trevannion of Carhease and Mr Kenipt, Sir Robert Carey's man, Mr Slader with 7 or 8 men came in the copper mines at St Just and took all the tools from the workmen by inventory and said they should work no more...........

Cornubia was the only iron passenger vessel ever built in Cornwall and between 4000 and 5000 people are estimated to have turned up to watch the launch. 

At the Three Tuns Hotel in the Greenmarket, something out of the ordinary is taking place. The Loyal Queen's Own Lodge No 3910 is holding its first meeting. The Odd Fellows have come to town.

On 25 February 1739 William Borlase, now engaged in serious study of the natural history and antiquities of Cornwall, wrote to Archdeacon George Allanson at Exeter regarding the lack of libraries in Cornwall...

......the purser had just declared a profit of £2357 for the quarter with a dividend of £10 per 200^th share.

Throughout the land, though, a new threat is making itself felt. There is illness – a lot of it – about. So perhaps, as you feel a little bit of a tickle in your throat, a little bit of a shiver in your shoulders,...................

It’s spring, and the end of another weary, wartime winter. What could be finer than a bunch of Cornish daffodils, to brighten the home? A dealer who only gives a box number is crying out on the front page of the Cornishman for “Anemones, Violets, Daff.s, Etc”. He will take “any Quantity, for CASH”. He will pay “London prices”.

Annie Eliza was born in Newlyn Town. When her fisherman father died, the family moved out-the-Green to Gwavas Terrace, three doors from Henry and Annie Tonkin, a childless couple who let rooms to visiting artists. Annie Eliza was soon modelling for the artists to help the family finances.

Clark described Penzance as being in one of the most beautiful positions “upon a bay proverbial for its salubrity and beauty” yet stated that “It would be difficult to find a spot so foul in which life is so seriously affected “– the sickness and mortality caused by dysentery had been excessive in his judgement.

The Penzance and District Electric Supply Company have done themselves proud. Mr Lawrence will be giving his special lecture on the Holophane System of Illumination at 7 30 sharp, but while you wait there is plenty more to see.  

But now, after the first winter of what will soon be called the Great War, those lads are not so sure. And in Penzance, on February 18^th 1915, matters have come to a head. They know that, should they be drowned or blown to smithereens, their families will be given ample compensation. But that doesn’t seem like enough.

Not Nelson's famous flagship but a smack from Bristol bound for Exeter laden with freestone and castings. Victory hit The Ridge and became a complete wreck......or did she.........

The closure of Geevor Mine in 1990 brought to an end over 3000 years of mining history for  the Pendeen and St Just district. Though not unexecpected, the end, when it came, was sudden, swift and final.

Edwin Varker died in an explosion at a mine in Silver City, Idaho, USA in 1902. He was 38 years old and left a wife and two daughters.

History is made every day, but interpretation can only come with distance. So today we present the raw stuff of History – some primary sources, free of the intermediary hand.  

This spring has been the most severe and most backward known for a number of years. No grass; cattle dying for want of fodder….”

“arrived the Usk steamer from Bristol, having on Board the three Chartists (Frost, Jones and Williams) who were condemned to death for high treason after the late riots at Newport,"

Royal Cornwall Gazette, 19 February 1814 reported that a meeting was held on Friday 11^th February to look into the formation of a geological society for Cornwall.

...

the public were invited to help scrape and paint the undersides of three old luggers or to set up their easels on the Quay and paint....

“Arrived the Welsh fleet; some having been nearly twelve weeks on the voyage. Coals advanced 2s. Per way; price now 46s.”

Conflict between the 'tradition­alists' and the 'modernists' at the St Ives Society of Artists in 1948 led to the resignation of 24 modernists and the following year they formed the Penwith Society

History, it is said, repeats itself. Be that as it may, today's proceedings were somewhat reminiscent of occurrences in the “Hungry Forties,” when St Just miners marched to Penzance.

Villagers have read the reviews, and are hoping that Chang, the Chinese giant, will be there, and Captain Kidd. They want to hear the patter of Mr Lobb, the “capital” showman, as he introduces the Chamber of Horrors

On 5 February 1818, 79 years after William Borlase wrote to George Allanson bemoaning the lack of libraries and centres of learning in Cornwall, the Cornwall Literary and Philosophical Institution was founded in Truro.  

Tail-piping or pralling dogs in the neighbourhood of Penzance ranked as an amusement, next to bull baiting, with the lower orders of society....

The Nile was a four year old, iron-hulled, sail assisted steamer, a cargo ship with passenger accommodation. She hit the Stones at night in bad weather with the loss of all hands......

William Borlase was born at Pendeen House on 2 February 1696. Pendeen House still stands, one field away from the Atlantic near Pendeen Head.

Richard Oxnam, one of the original partners in Penzance's first bank, leading merchant and investor in mines looks as if he's made it.

Like the Levant Packet which was launched at St Ives on 4th January 1828, Brunel's Great Eastern was also a difficult ship to launch and needed several attempts to get her afloat. On 31st January 1858 Great Eastern finally floated...

Penzance seemed to be full of marching men in late January 1915 and inevitably there was a certain amount of competition.

Cyril Noall describes the collapse as "perhaps, the largest ever known in the neighbourhood. At surface, the effects resembled a minor earthquake."

Walking over from Sheffield to Kerris for his day’s work in the fields, young Willie Wallis hears something unusual. “I thought it was funny sound”, he will explain later. It’s coming from a distance, from way over by the old Snell’s quarry.

Penzance is alarmed. Hoteliers, be on your guard – your “difficulties” will be “increased”. Farmers – be ready. You must prepare for longer journeys on the difficult January roads. Housewives beware – there will henceforth be less “odds and ends".........

Urgent military training requirements in 1915 saw men travelling all over the country to attend training camps....

Honour Roberts died in 1679 and the inventory of her property is dated 25 January 1680. She was the widow of William Roberts and lived at Chykembro in Zennor

Open your copy of the Cornish Tidings, hot off the press. It’s 1921 now, and after the long war everything’s getting back to normal. Or what will pass for normal, in the coming age.

Blight’s death on January 23rd 1911 will go unremarked. And why? Because, as far as the world knows, he is already long dead...........

The outbreak of WW1 saw an urgent need to grow the small, professional, British Army which was now committed to war on four fronts against the huge conscript armies of the opposition.

Mr Branwell, President of the Penzance Gas Company, has not enjoyed 1887 so far. There are new boys in town, selling what they claim is a better – albeit more costly – product than his company can offer. Coming to a street near you, and soon – the new electric light.

The bottom of a vessel was observed about four miles from the land. The gigs went to the wreck, which proved to be the Riga Packet, of London, from the West Indies. Nothing has been heard of the crew.

Is West Cornwall a place where the people dwell in harmonious sympathy with dumb creatures? Or are the ways of the place cruel, outlawish? Today, 19th January 1912, a hearing in London is considering this very matter.

Penzance Choral Society is one of the country's oldest mixed voice choral societies, and almost certainly its most westerly one..........

Charles Ross has left town, the self-appointed liquidator of the affairs of Batten, Carne and Carne has made himself scarce and now his house and possessions are up for sale.

Here comes Mary Bolitho of Trewidden, with her silver key.....

A boy born in 1895 could be said to have been born at an unfortunate time. By 1914 he'd be 19 years old old and a prime candidate to be a soldier in World War One. This was the destiny fate had in store for Willie Tonkin....

If you walk along along the road from Nancherrow Bridge to Tregeseal you'll see, on your right, a small “well” behind a metal fence. This is the shote and the fence carries a notice to the effect that this shote was the sole source of water for the people of Nancherrow until 1963.

The shock is felt throughout the county – from Land’s End to Callington. On a night unusually dark at St Ives; “thick and hazy with very little wind” out at Ding Dong; the earth moves.

Window dressing - sounds harmless enough, not exactly a high risk activity.......or so I thought

On 11th January 1851 the 250 ton Whitby-built brig New Commercial hit the Brisons ledge off Cape Cornwall in thick fog and a high wind. Bound for the ”Spanish Main” from Liverpool she was immediately dashed to pieces but everyone on board, nine men and one woman, the wife of the captain, managed to get off onto the ledge.......

On 10th January 1893 about 40 men and boys were underground, having descended the Cargodna Shaft which lies part way down the cliff below the Wheal Edward engine house. A cross-cut was being driven at 65 fathoms, at 8.45am charges were fired.............

Penzance, Saturday morning, 9th January 1937. What’s on at the pictures, darling? Shall we look and see?

We tend to suppose that people in the past didn't really have holidays, but maybe that isn't true…. On 8th January 1856 the Reverend Henry Usticke wrote to his brother William, who lived in London, to report on local news including William's mining interests around St Just......

James Halse was MP for St Ives between 1826 and 1838, a period which saw six general elections and the passing of the Great Reform Act of 1832. He lost the seat briefly at the August 1830 election but regained it the next year in July 1831. He was elected for the 4th time on January 7th 1835.

There have been complaints. And today there is a hearing. The Penzance and Newlyn men are at it again......

At first, it feels like an earthquake. Windows shatter in Penzance, and oscillation disturbs mid-morning visitors to St John’s Hall. At St Ives, shops lose their plate glass and roofs are damaged. The earth rumbles; a “dull, hollow boom” is in the air. But then the rumours start.....

January 4th 1828. Launched at St Ives, the Levant Packet – a “fine-built brig of 190 tons burden”, built and registered at St Ives. “Finally” launched at St Ives, one might say. For this is not the first attempt

A brand new newspaper for the brand new year. And what better title? How else to suggest the exhilarating pace of modern life, the new communications media that are changing the world?

New Year’s Day – resolutions, new beginnings; we somehow expect major events. January 2nd can be an anti-climax. So, on January 2nd in a typical Victorian year - 1886 for example? What is going on in West Penwith?

In his diary entry for 1 January 1870 John Tregerthen Short of St Ives records that the Wolf Rock Light was illuminated for the first time.