The causeway to St Michael's Mount has been repaired many times over the centuries and the locations of the two ends were altered at the end of the 19th Century. There are records from 1433 documenting funds for the causeway that suggest it may have been constructed shortly after the mediaeval harbour, started in 1427. It is thought that the more random areas of paving, located towards the centre of the causeway are likely to be the most ancient.
After the Norman conquest in 1066, St Michael's Mount became the possession of the monks of Mont St Michel in Normandy. In the 12th Century they built the church and priory on the island. The original building was destroyed in an earthquake in 1275 and rebuilt in the 14th Century. When Henry V went to war with France, the priory was seized and the French monks evicted, ending the connection with Mont St Michel. After improvements to the harbour in 1727, the mount flourished as a sea port with 53 houses and 3 pubs recorded in 1811. The mount was given to the National Trust in 1954 but the St Aubyn family retained a 999 year lease to inhabit the castle.
The main line railway through Cornwall was originally conceived as a means to link the port of Falmouth to London. However, whilst funds were being raised for the railway, much of Falmouth's Packet trade was transferred to Southampton. The line was built to Truro instead but initially failed to make money and was bought up by Great Western. Once established, the new railway allowed rapid exports of perishables to London including fresh flowers and fish. It also made large-scale tourism possible and the term "Cornish Riviera" was coined.
From mid-September until roughly the last week of March is rainbow season in Cornwall when the sun is below the critical angle for rainbows all day long.
Alder trees are recognisable by their female catkins that look a bit like small brown pine cones and are present all year round. They also have slender male catkins in February.
Alder is adapted to living in wet conditions such as swamps. The wood doesn't rot when waterlogged - in fact it is only durable if it is kept wet and was traditionally used to make boats and sluice gates.
Alder trees are able to obtain nitrogen their from the air with the help of bacteria that live in large knots on their roots. The tree provides the bacteria with sugars (from photosynthesis) and mineral (hoovered-up by its roots). In return, the bacteria create nitrates which are released into the soil. This nourishes the alder tree but some of it also dissolves and washes to other parts of the forest floor, fertilising other plants. Alder is consequently often planted on industrial wasteland to help to regenerate the soil.
Poniou was recorded in 1327 as Ponseu. It is thought to be from ponsow the Cornish plural word for "bridges".
By Victorian times, the courses of streams in the area had been highly modified to drain marshland for agriculture but at least one still crossed a road nearby.
The entrance to Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens is about 450 metres along the lane to the right then about 100 metres along the pavement, should you wish to visit before continuing the walk.
The land takes its name from the surname of a farming family who worked the land here for 600 years which included growing strawberries in the sunny, south-facing fields. Prior to that the land was owned by the monks of St Michael's Mount and said to have been used as a vineyard. The Sculpture Gardens project began in 1997 by clearing and landscaping an overgrown valley. The surrounding fields were later purchased and the gardens expanded into these.
St Michael's Way is a 12.5 mile route on footpaths and some roads established in 1994 by Cornwall Council, waymarked with a symbol that looks a little like rays of light but is actually a stylised shell, based on the Council of Europe's sign for pilgrim routes.
The route is based on a prehistoric route from Lelant crossing the peninsula to Marazion. This avoided the need to negotiate the submerged rocks and strong currents at Land’s End. Later, St Michael's Way was used as part of a pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in North West Spain. It is believed that this route was a key factor in Cornwall's rapid conversion into a Christian faith.
The modern route has two different options for reaching Marazion. The more direct route involves crossing through A30 and A394 traffic followed by a path through Marazion marshes. The longer route is via Gulval towards Penzance and then doubling back along the coast path from Penzance to Marazion.
Christianity in Roman Britain began in the 4th or 5th century AD. However there were no known cities west of Exeter, so the spread into Cornwall is likely to have been very limited. The majority of Cornwall is likely to have remained Pagan until "The Age of Saints" - the late 5th or early 6th century - when the Irish missionaries including St Piran and St Petroc settled in Cornwall.
The name Gulval is thought to be based on a 6th Century saint to whom the church was dedicated and was recorded as St Welvele in 1327. In ancient times, the settlement was known by the Cornish place name Lanisley meaning "low church".
The current church building at Gulval dates from the 12th Century. The tower was added in 1440. The lychgates into the churchyard were added in Victorian times when the churchyard was also extended.
During late winter or early spring, if you encounter a patch of plants with white bell-shaped flowers, smelling strongly of onions, and with long, narrow leaves then they are likely to be three-cornered leeks. Once you're familiar with their narrow, ridged leaves, you'll be able to spot these emerging from late October onwards.
All parts of the plant are edible by humans and the flavour of the leaves is relatively mild so they can be used in recipes in place of spring onions or chives. They are at their best for culinary use from November to April. By mid-May, they have flowered and the leaves are starting to die back.
The long leaves can be mistaken for bluebells or daffodils which are both poisonous but do not smell of onions. However, fingers that have previously picked 3-cornered leeks also smell of onions and so mistakes have been made this way.
Tesco began in 1919 as a group of market stalls selling war-surplus groceries. After a shipment of tea arrived from T.E. Stockwell, the stall owner formed the name TESCO by adding the first two letters of his surname (Cohen) to these initials. The first Tesco shop opened in 1931 and by 1939 there were over 100. In 1995, Tesco overtook Sainsbury's as the market leader in the UK which Sainsbury's had been since 1922. In 2018, Tesco rebranded some of its own-brand products as "T.E. Stockwell and Co since 1924" where the 1924 refers to the year when the first shipment of tea was received.
The trees and bushes provide perches and cover for birds such as robins, crows and blackbirds.
In the Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas", the line "four colly birds" is thought to be from 18th Century slang meaning "black as coal" and was a popular nickname for the blackbird. Whilst many people today sing and write "four calling birds", this is thought to be a modern misunderstanding of what was originally written.
The first record of Pendrea is from 1416 as Pendre. The name is Cornish for "top of the village" (the "dre" is a variation of "tre" meaning farmstead/settlement).
Chyandour was recorded in 1452 as Chiendour. It transliterates from Cornish as the bare-bones "house the stream" with the preposition left to fill in using common sense. The overall gist would be more like "house by the stream".
In the 17th Century, there was a "blowing house" at Chyandour to produce metallic tin from its ore through a primitive smelting process. In 1818, a more modern smelting works was built on the site and operated until 1912.
The Penzance NCI lookout is based in a derelict Gunnery Observation Tower on the landward side of the A30. The elevation gives a good view over Mount's Bay. Renovation work by volunteers began in 2001 and involved gutting the interior and replacing the upstairs joists and floor, replacing the windows and rewiring it. The work was finished using some donated leftover paint and the (strangely coloured) station opened in early 2002. It has since been repainted.
Penzance is from the Cornish "penn sans" (holy headland) which is thought to have been a reference to the mediaeval chapel of St Anthony. The chapel is thought to have been located somewhere here, possibly on the opposite side of the passageway from the Dolphin Tavern. In the 1800s the remains of the chapel was used to build a cellar and this became a boat store which was in use during the 1980s. The gardens were opened in 1933, named St Anthony Gardens to commemorate the lost chapel and contain an archway said to have been taken from the chapel site.
The shopping centre is built on the site of the gas works which was built in 1830 and still recorded in 1939. It was used to supply the town's 121 street lights which were installed in 1831. The gas works was known for not being very efficient and the streetlights were turned off when there was bright moonlight.
Penzance railway station opened in 1852, initially as part of the West Cornwall Railway that went as far as Truro. The original buildings were wooden, on a single platform, under a wooden roof.
In 1867 a track upgrade and link through Truro had been completed which connected it directly to Paddington and Penzance station was rebuilt with new platforms and stone buildings under a larger wooden roof. In 1937, the station was altered again with a new layout and longer platforms. The roof was replaced in 1990.
On 31st January 1885, the Norwegian ship "Petrellen" was anchored in Mount's Bay in a heavy sea. Fearing that she might run aground, the crew fired distress signals and were attended by the Penzance lifeboat. Eight of the ten crew disembarked but the captain and mate remained onboard. The weather improved and the rest of the crew returned to the ship the next day. However by the evening, the sea conditions had worsened to the point where the anchor ropes snapped. The ship ran aground at Long Rock and the crew were rescued by the Penzance lifeboat before the vessel was completely wrecked. The remains of a wooden ship exposed at low tide on Long Rock beach could well be the Petrellen.
Between Penzance Harbour and Long Rock, the remains of a prehistoric forest around 4000 to 6000 years old are occasionally uncovered at very low tides after winter storms. Stumps, trunks and branches have been found and the tree species identified include oak, hazel, alder and pine. The tree-like sculptures along the coast path are an allusion to this.
In May 1888 the "Jeune Hortense" was sailing along the Channel to Poole but came ashore at Long Rock to unload the body of a Fowey man who had died in France. After relaunching from the beach, the vessel became grounded and despite attempts by the lifeboat to pull it free, remained stuck and was wrecked. All the crew were rescued. Eventually the wrecked remains were refloated and towed to Penzance dry dock where they were broken up.
Marazion is the oldest chartered town in Cornwall, granted by Henry III in 1257, and one of the oldest in Britain, possibly evolving from a Roman tin-trading port. It was the major town in southwest Cornwall throughout the mediaeval period until both it and the other major port of Mousehole were eventually overtaken by Penzance. The name is from the Cornish for the market here: marghas byghan, meaning small market, and Marghas Yow, meaning Thursday Market. The town was recorded as Market Jew on maps from the 17th Century - a name which still persists in the street name of Penzance.
There is a beach at all states of the tide at Marazion. The upper part is shingly but smooth sand is revealed towards low tide. Particularly around Long Rock, the sand extends out quite a long way at low tide. Alongside the causeway to St Micheal's Mount, there are lots of rockpools. There's quite a lot of bird life, including winter visitors such as sanderlings. In autumn, seaweed is often washed up in storms which can get very smelly for a couple of weeks as it rots.
The large black birds nesting on offshore rocks, known colloquially as the cormorant and shag, are two birds of the same family and to the untrained eye look pretty similar. The origin of the name "shag" is a crest that this species has on top of its head and the cormorant doesn't. The cormorant is the larger of the two birds with a whiter throat. The shag's throat is yellow, and mature shags have a metallic green sheen on their feathers which cormorants lack.
The domestic radish has been cultivated from one of the subspecies of wild radish - a member of the cabbage family. Another of its subspecies is found on the coast and appropriately known as sea radish.
Sea radish is a biennial plant (2 year lifecycle) and during its first year it creates a rosette of leaves that are dormant over the winter. These are quite noticeable during January and February when there is not much other vegetation. The leaves are dull grey-green, slightly furry and each leaf consists of pairs of fairly long thin leaflets along the length of the stem plus a final bigger one at the end. Alexanders grows in similar places at similar times but its leaves are glossy green and each leaf is made up of 3 leaflets.
By the late spring, sea radish is a reasonably tall plant, recognisable by its yellow flowers that have 4 narrow petals. The flowers go on to form tapering seed pods later in the year with 2 or 3 large seeds in each pod with a spike at the end.
The plant is edible and probably at its best in the autumn and winter when the leaf rosettes are present. The leaves have a mild cabbage flavour but the leaf stems and ribs taste like a milder version of radish.
Starfish can be found in rockpools though much larger numbers of starfish occur a short way out to sea on the mussel beds of the reefs. In winter, storm waves and high tides can result in mass strandings on beaches.
Starfish are members of a bizarre family of animals with bodies that have five-fold symmetry and date back at least 450 million years. They have no brain but instead have a complex decentralised nervous system spread throughout their bodies. This connects up to sensors which can detect light, vibrations and chemicals, equivalent to eyes, ears and a nose. Starfish eat shellfish such as barnacles and mussels which they lever open with their feet and then extrude their stomach into the shell. This releases enzymes which dissolve the prey into soup which is then absorbed.
Oystercatchers are recognisable by their black-and-white bodies, their long, straight red beaks and loud, piercing call. In flight, the white markings form an image of a white bird towards the back of their otherwise black backs which may have evolved to confuse predators.
The long beaks are adapted to open shellfish - mainly cockles and mussels - "cocklecatchers" would be a more accurate name. They can also use their bill to probe for worms.
There are several reasons why seagulls should not be fed.
One is that human foods are not nutritionally suitable for seagulls but seagulls are not smart enough to know these can damage their health.
Another is that seagulls become dependent on humans and lose the skills to obtain food from natural sources.
The reason most affecting us is that feeding seagulls makes them less scared of humans. Since seagulls do not have have the emotional wiring to empathise with humans, fear is the only thing preventing that interaction being aggressive. Seagulls are innately aggressive when it comes to food as their behaviour with other seagulls demonstrates. There are many examples of children being attacked (who then drop food, reinforcing the behaviour).
The herring gull is the gull most commonly encountered in Cornwall, with a grey back and red spot on their yellow beak. They live for around 12 years and are highly intelligent birds with strong communication and social learning skills. This has allowed them to evolve strategies to obtain food more easily by stealing it from humans, either when briefly left unattended or by swooping and grabbing from unsuspecting hands.
Whilst their pasty and ice cream stealing antics in coastal resorts might give the impression there are lots around, the coastal herring gull population dropped by about 50% from 1970 to the mid 1980s and the decline has continued with another drop of around 50% up to 2020.
Part of the decline in coastal herring gull populations can be explained by a migration of birds inland to urban areas. Birds have been driven inland in search of food and roosting sites due to declining fish populations and lack of undisturbed coastal nesting sites. In urban areas, streetlights allow gulls to forage by night and there is no longer much competition from red kites, which scavenged the rubbish tips in the Middle Ages.
At the time of writing, a survey of the inland populations is being carried out to determine the relative size of these vs the coastal population and if these are stable. The first datasets from some of the devolved UK Nations suggest that is unlikely to explain the majority of the decline. Since the 1990s, 96% of the population in Northern Ireland died out predominantly from botulism. It's thought that birds seeking food on rubbish tips might be bringing this back to colonies.
The herring gull is an example of a "ring species". In Europe, the lesser black-backed gull and herring gull are distinct species, yet as you circumnavigate the globe, the populations become more similar until they merge in the middle as a single species.
Herring gulls are able to communicate nuances both by altering the frequency and timbre of their calls - conveying, for example, the relative severity of a threat in an alarm call. They also analyse and remember the personality of their neighbours, ignoring more skittish birds but taking action when a more trusted bird raises an alarm.
Black-headed gulls are found in rivers, lakes and estuaries but rarely on the sea itself, preferring brackish or freshwater.
Despite the name, the head of adults during breeding season (spring and summer) is dark brown. In winter this fades to white with just a small dark dot. During February, dark patches appear and by March most are in their breeding plumage. They are also recognisable by their red beak and legs.
Turnstones are small wading birds which can often be seen scavenging for small crumbs of pasty along harbour fronts in Cornwall. Their name arises from one of their ways of finding food on the seashore: they are able to lift stones as large as themselves using their strong neck. As their pasty foraging skills suggest, they are very versatile feeders and will eat almost anything including dead animals.
Sanderlings are members of the sandpiper family. These small grey and white birds are likely to be encountered on sandy beaches in winter and possibly in spring and autumn. They spend the summer in the Arctic and migrate thousands of miles to temperate areas such as the UK for the winter. They eat worms, crustaceans and even jellyfish and their bills have vibration sensors that are able detect worms moving up to 2cm beneath the sand. Sanderlings move with a distinctive running motion (likened to a clockwork toy) because they only have 3 forward facing toes and are missing the hind toe that many birds have.
Humpry Davy was born in Penzance in 1778 and worked in a dispensary in the town. He is commemorated by a statue next to the market hall.
After experimenting with nitrous oxide, Davy coined the term "laughing gas" and identified its potential as an anaesthetic as well as a hangover cure!
It is thought that consideration of why the iron floodgates at Hayle were so rapidly corroding may have been the start of Davy's scientific journey which led him to invent electrochemistry.
Davy used electrochemistry to discover many chemical elements including potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium and he worked out that chlorine was an element and named it. He also pioneered the use of sacrificial metals to stop ships corroding. He created the first incandescent lamp, the first arc light and a safety lamp for coal miners.
His laboratory assistant Micheal Faraday built on his work and became one of the most influential scientists in history.
In 1548, the governor of St Michael's Mount, Hugh Arundell, led a Cornish rebellion which culminated in a siege on Exeter. During the rebellion, the town of Marazion was burned. Exeter withstood the siege until reinforcements arrived and the rebel leaders were executed.
The National Coastwatch Institution was set up to restore visual watches along the UK coastline after two Cornish fishermen lost their lives within sight of an empty Coastguard lookout in 1994. The first station - at Bass Point on The Lizard, where the fishermen had died - opened in December 1994. The organisation, staffed by volunteers, now runs 50 lookout stations around England and Wales.
Blowing houses were mills used for smelting tin and are documented in Cornwall as early as 1402. A pair of bellows was powered by a water wheel, and was used to drive air into a furnace. An account from the late 18th century describes the operation:
The fire-place, or castle, is about six feet perpendicular, two feet wide in the top part each way, and about fourteen inches in the bottom, all made of moorstone and clay, well cemented and clamped together. The pipe or nose of each bellows is fixed ten inches high from the bottom of the castle, in a large piece of wrought iron, called the Hearth-eye. The tin and charcoal are laid in the castle, stratum super stratum, in such quantities as are thought proper; so that from eight to twelve hundred weight of Tin, by the consumption of eighteen to twenty-four sixty gallon packs of charcoal, may be smelted in a tide or twelve hours time.
The molten metal drained from the bottom of the furnace into a granite trough from which it was ladled into stone moulds. A stick was inserted into each, which burned away to leave a hole which could be used to lever the ingot from the mould.
Mounts Bay is a partially-enclosed body of water which is prone to a phenomenon known as seiching where the tremors from an earthquake form a standing wave which reflects back and forth between the opposite coasts. The seiche from the Lisbon Earthquake in 1755 caused a sudden 8ft rise in sea level which flooded Penzance.
In December 1891, the wooden sailing ship "Torbay Lass" was being towed out from the harbour at St Michael's Mount but grounded on the rocks near Penzance. As the tide rose the following evening, she was floated off the rocks and towed towards Penzance for repairs but sank in deep water before reaching the harbour.
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