I took my driving test in Launceston on a market day. The narrow streets were crowded with cattle and trucks, the ancient gateway as intimidating as it had ever been in Norman times, and I had the most severe tester on the team. My instructor was quite certain he'd be having me back for more lessons - but I passed (a miracle, we both agreed), and have never since been daunted by narrow roads or meandering cattle.
Not every Cornish town has a Norman castle to dominate its twisting streets, so Launceston is rather special. And it's worth taking the time to wander and investigate those narrow ways and hilly lanes. The castle, standing high above the River Kensey, is the most imposing feature but you can find other remnants from earlier times as well. The old gateway, part of the walls that once surrounded the town; the White Hart Inn, with its entrance which was once the doorway of the old priory; the 16-th century church of St Mary Magdalene, carved from Cornish granite; the graceful Georgian houses fronted by the cobbles of Castle Street.
The narrow streets are echoed throughout this county, whether you are in tiny Polperro with its colour-washed cottages and steep road leading straight into the sea, in the Iron Age village of Chysauster (pronounced Kiz-oyster) near Penzance, or simply driving through the countryside between stone walls or high, thick hedges. Sometimes, this can be frustrating - you just know there are wonderful views on the other side of the hedge! - but when you come to a clear spot and can look down on the tranquil reaches of Helford River or the Fal, you know the wait has been worthwhile.
Situated at the furthest south-west tip of the land, Cornwall is a county apart from the rest of Britain, with its own mysterious identity, wrapped as much in legend as in the sea-mist which occasionally rolls over its cliffs. You won't be able to go far here without coming across 'piskies' (Cornish elves, who seem to concentrate mainly these days on operating wishing wells) or references to the legendary King Arthur. The lonely, windswept Bodmin Moor has a chilling bleakness which can readily haunt the imagination - read Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn for the authentic sinister atmosphere - yet the modern world is much in evidence too, at seaside resorts such as Polzeath, where you can surf on the incoming breakers, or at Goonhilly Down where you can see the 'Earth Station'of one of the first communications satellites. And you can't go anywhere at all without being faced with the famous Cornish pasty, which has its own tradition (it was once the staple 'packed lunch' of Cornish miners, made as a sort of double pie, with meat and potatoes at one end and jam at the other) and clotted cream, about which there is no mystery. You just eat it, piled on top of jam on scones (no butter) or as 'thunder and lightning' with golden syrup.
Cornwall's greatest attraction (after clotted cream) is its dramatic coastal scenery. Nowhere else in England are there such rugged cliffs, such surging seas. And the South-West Peninsula Coastal Path - the longest footpath in Britain - takes full advantage of the drama. This path, leading from Minehead in North Devon, right round the peninsula to Poole in Dorset, will take you from one contrast to another - from the china clay spoilheap 'alps' of St Austell to the tiny fishing village of Coverack, from the caves of Kynance Cove to the fury of the breakers crashing at the foot of the cliffs at Land's End, from the artists' colony of St Ives to the modern resort of Newquay, the fishing harbour of Padstow and the wildly beautiful Tintagel Castle, standing proudly on its fortress of cliffs and reputedly the birthplace of King Arthur. (In fact, it was built 600 years later but when you are in Cornwall the mystic fervour is likely to grip you and you will not care about such pernickety details as that.)
There is a different kind of walking on wild and empty Bodmin Moor, its most prominent features being the granite tor of Brown Willy (at 418 m the highest point in Cornwall) and Dozmary Pool, where Arthur received the sword of Excalibur.
Cornwall is full of fascinating reminders of prehistoric times. One of the most interesting - and one of the most complete Iron Age sites in the British Isles - is Chysauster, a village of nine houses just over three miles north of Penzance, which dates from late Iron Age and Roman times. The village is remarkably well preserved and you can walk its narrow pathways and go into the cottages.
Zennor Quoit is a chambered tomb, built around 1600 BC, high on the moors above Iron Age field. Zennor, a tiny hamlet between St Ives and St Just, is close to the wild, rugged cliffs of Gurnards Head, where there is another Iron Age camp, and the lighthouse of Pendeen; it has its own museum and a church in which you'll find the carving of a mermaid.
Searching for prehistoric remains can be as good a reason as any for exploring Cornwall and there are many more to be found, from the cromlech at Lanyon Quoit to the ring-fort of Chun Castle and the Bronze Age stone at St Buryan.
Cornwall was not always a rural county. In fact, with its poor agricultural land, other ways of making a living were essential and although fishing was vital to many, others turned to the land for their prosperity. Not that Cornwall has ever had a very high degree of prosperity (until it began to farm tourists, anyway) but there was richness in the minerals to be found there, and the Cornish tin-mines are famous worldwide. Cornish tin-miners (Cousin Jacks) too are famous, taking their skills all over the globe when the mines at home closed down. You can still see the evidence of their labours in the ruined engine houses and chimneys dotted over the landscape, and hear it in their evocative names: names all beginning with the Cornish 'wheal' - Wheal Mary, Wheal Betsy and so on.
One of the most beautifully situated tin and copper mines is that at Botallack, near St Just-in-Penwith, perched high on the edge of the cliff. The workings extend as deep as 366 m under the sea. The former manager's house is now a restaurant.
More industrial landscape can be seen around St Austell, where the china claypits still turn out their mountainous white heaps of spoil and the sticky clay dust runs down the river and turns the sea itself white. I once took a young French geology student here, and he spent the afternoon with the miners and came out with a bag full of lumps of amethyst! China clay has been quarried here for over two hundred years.
More picturesque and worth spending a whole day in, is the reconstructed village at Morwellham, on the banks of the River Tamar. Here you can see all the workings of both copper-mine and port. When I took my own family there, we found it best to start with a trip by narrow-gauge train into the depths of the hill, including some highly effective tableaux and a working water-wheel, which gives a vivid idea of what a miner's life was like, and follow this with a wander around the village itself. Here there are shops, a pharmacy, farriers' and coopers' workshops - all with demonstrations given by the 'villagers' themselves - the port with its docks on the banks of the Tamar and some of the ships which would have moored there in the past. And - best of all - the chance to hire your children out as labourers for an hour.
We found this fascinating for both adults and children. The labourers, aged from 7-12, are dressed in appropriate clothing - mostly sacking! - and given a short lecture on child labour in the past, then marched through the village (a clever touch, this, attracting maximum attention) to the minehead - a specially set up working facsimile where they are introduced to all the delights of stone-breaking, pumping water, washing the spoil, inspecting for ore and so on before marching back.. For twelve hours of this, they were told, they would have received one old penny - but for this hour, labour was free!
After this we dressed ourselves up as middle-class families - we could have been working-class, but felt we'd had enough of that - and took photographs which turned out so enchanting that we have enlarged them as family 'heirlooms'.
The 'historical village' is an idea which has spread all over the world - I've met them everywhere from North America to Australia and Singapore - but Morwellham ranks amongst the best, not only because there really is so much to see and do but also because it is authentic - so many are just replicas. This was a working port and mine. These ships really did ply the Tamar. And once you have paid your entrance fee, there is no more charge. You can join any demonstration, mine trip, horse and carriage ride, and dress up without having to spend any more money.
All in all, a day out which was fun, instructive and different. Good value for money - but you do need all day.
A different kind of 'industry' in Cornwall was that of wrecking, when ships would be lured ashore at the rockiest coves and their cargo looted by the friendly natives. (I have it on good authority that this practice is now discouraged.) So ingrained was this tradition that they've even got a museum about it - The Shipwreck Centre at Charlestown, illustrating the history of wrecks on the Cornish coast. At closer sight, it transpires that more of them were caused by Cornish weather than Cornish cousins - at least, that's what they say..
No county in England is without its castles, and Cornwall has its own share, each with its unique place in history. The keep at Launceston Castle was used as a prison and housed a number of famous captives, including George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement. The motte, or earthwork, at Boscastle, on the northern coast, marks the foundation of a twelfth century village close to the narrow gorge of a harbour.
All castles occupied dramatic positions, but those in Cornwall must be amongst the most impressive. Perhaps most famous of all is Tintagel, towering above the sea on its peninsula of twisted black slate - now so eroded that it is almost an island, reached only by a footbridge (don't look down if you suffer from vertigo). Here, Merlin is supposed to have taken the newborn King Arthur to his inheritance, but whether you believe this or not (and the village of Tintagel will do its best to convince you) nothing can detract from the grandeur of the castle in its dramatic situation, nor from the cliff walks that you can take along part of the South West Peninsula Coast Path.
Looking at other people's homes is a fascinating holiday occupation, and there are plenty to see in Cornwall, from the Iron Age cottages of Chysauster to the medieval romance of Cotehele, with its leper's squint and turrets, and the grand Jacobean halls of Lanhydrock. But most fairytale of all has to be St Michael's Mount, built on a tiny conical island just off the shore at Penzance. Complementing Mont St Michel in Normandy, this began life in 1044 as a chapel built by Edward the Confessor, and through all the centuries since it has been added to and altered, to result in the higgledy-piggledy jumble it is today. It is reached by a causeway from the mainland.
Cornwall's mild climate makes it a haven for gardeners, although the wind can be a problem in some of the more exposed parts. Cotehele, near Calstock, again is a must, for its terraced gardens, ponds and secret passage, while Lanhydrock's more formal park and gardens on the banks of the River Fowey are a reminder of a more expansive age. Not far away, Trelissick has wonderful views over Falmouth Harbour, with exotic plants such as fig cultivars, and extra fine rhododendrons and hydrangeas.
There are more rhododendrons at Trewithen, together with magnolias and camellias, and a lawn 200 yards long to set off the 18th-century house. The garden is newer than the house, created in the early 20th century and containing many plants from Asia which had not previously been seen in England. Indigenous woodland blends with the exotic, and there is a formal walled garden too with all that is best in borders, yews and a pergola festooned with wisteria.
Cornwall has long considered itself a special part of England - a country in miniature, with its own language and traditions. The language struggles to stay alive but persists in the names that begin with Tre-, Pol- or Pen-. And some of the houses and gardens you can visit have these names, redolent of Cornwall's past - Pencarrow, Penjerrick, Trebah, Trelissick, Trengwainton, Trerice.
Cornwall is the only county in England to have north, west and south coasts - indeed, it is very nearly an island, for the River Tamar, rising close to the north coast and reaching the sea at Plymouth, almosts splits it from its neighbouring county of Devonshire. These coasts vary from long, sandy beaches with rolling surf, to minute rocky coves straight out of a children's adventure story, to the spectacular, wave-battered cliffs of Land's End and Tintagel. And because Cornwall is quite narrow - no more than 100 miles or so at its widest point - it is quite easy to visit either north or south coast in a day. East to west takes a little longer - from the Tamar to Land's End it is almost 250 miles, and if you choose the twisting route of the Cornish lanes could be rather further than that.
To explore the Cornish coastline, start from the mouth of the Tamar, where it reaches the sea at Plymouth Sound. This part of Cornwall is kept from floating away from the rest of Britain by two ferries, a car ferry at Torpoint and pedestrian ferry at Cremyll, and two bridges at Saltash - one, the historic railway bridge built in 1859 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and the other the more modern road suspension bridge opened just over a century later. For the coast road, the ferries are the most convenient, though they are often busy, but before long you will reach your first Cornish villages - the twins of tiny Cawsand and Kingsand, with their pink-washed houses and sandy beach.
The bulk of Rame Head rises above the sea here, with a tiny St Michael's chapel at its tip, reached by a short, breezy walk from the car park. From here you can look south towards the Eddystone Lighthouse, east into Plymouth, with its magnificent harbour, or west along the 4-mile sandy stretch of Whitsand Bay - glorious for walking, less safe for swimming. For bathing, try Portwrinkle, the archetypical Cornish cove with tiny harbour, at the far end of the sands.
The coastal villages of South Cornwall are quite different from those in the north, but all are popular with visitors - out-of-season, or at least out-of-school-holiday visits are likely to be more comfortable. If you like souvenir shops, with a never-ending array of wishing-wells, piskies and invitations to send clotted Cornish cream home by post (they haven't cracked the e-mail on this yet) you will love such places as Looe, Polperro and Mevagissey. But even if these delights leave you cold, you can still look past the trappings of modern holidaymania and enjoy the minutely narrow streets, the crowded, coloured cottages and the very real history of fishing, wrecking and smuggling, which was probably far less romantic than poetry and fiction would have us believe.
Some of these villages have had the good sense to ban traffic, thus making them comfortable to walk in once again. In any case, no stranger would want to find themselves driving a car through these Lilliputian streets. But it does mean that there is a walk, often downhill (and therefore uphill on the way back) from the car park into the village itself. Well worthwhile, if you have the legs for it.
Many of these apparently sleepy little seaside settlements were once busy ports - like Fowey, still a major port for the china-clay industry as well as being a haven for small sailing-craft. The River Fowey is crossed by another car-ferry from Bodinnick, and the town itself is a pleasure to explore, with a tumble of houses cascading down the steep little streets. Fowey has strong links with some of Cornwall's famous writers - Daphne du Maurier lived close to Bodinnick Ferry for a short time, and then for 26 years at Menabilly, thought to be the inspiration for Manderley, the setting for Rebecca. Another of Fowey's famous literary inhabitants was Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch - 'Q' - once a town mayor, many of whose novels featured Fowey as 'Troy Town'.
Look out next for the white 'hills' of the china-clay spoil-heaps of St Austell. The stuff gets everywhere - even the sea is a milky blue with it, and if you swim or paddle there you will feel unusually sticky - but fortunately the industry is very concentrated and you are soon out on the cliffs again and heading for Mevagissey with its two harbours. Another of the jewels in Cornwall's crown, Mevagissey was once the home of an important pilchard-fishing fleet. Today, although you can still fish for small game, it is the larger ones - the sharks which bask off the coast - which attract the adventurous.
Villages like these are scattered all along the coastline of southern Cornwall and there are harbours, beaches and cliff walks (all part of the long-distance Coastal Path) to satisfy everyone. Try Gorran Haven, Portloe, Portscatho and Portholland for the authentic atmosphere of a Cornish village, and Portmellon, Porthlunley, Pendower and Towan for coves and beaches.
The next place of significance is St Mawes, a pleasant little resort which attracts retired people. The mildness of the weather here and the sheltered position of its harbour, at the mouth of the Percuil River, have earned it the title 'Cornish Riviera' and it is guarded by the bastions of St Mawes Castle which dominates the clifftop. St Mawes stands on the Carrick Roads, the wide estuary of the rivers Truro, Tresillian and Fal, and on the opposite shore stands one of Cornwall's largest towns, Falmouth.
This is one of the prettiest parts of Cornwall. Carrick Roads is fed by a number of branching rivers, each with its own converging creeks which form a meandering network of waterways through this quiet countryside. A maze of narrow, hedgelined lanes will bring you to such charming spots as almost subtropical St Just in Roseland (where legend has it that Christ came as a boy, while travelling with the merchant Jospeh of Arimathea), Turnaware Point, St Michael Penkevil and King Harry Ferry - more recent history here, for this was visited by General (later President) Eisenhower during the preparations for the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944. On the west side of the estuary you can wander through a similar web of narrow Cornish lanes to Mylor Churchtown and Mylor Bridge, which boasts the oldest pub in the county - the Pandora, dating from the 13th century - and down to Flushing, named by the Dutchmen who built its quays nearly three hundred years ago, and also looking across the creek to Falmouth.
Falmouth itself has two centuries of links with the sea, a history you will find depicted in the Maritime Museum. But four hundred years older is Penryn, a little further inland, once also a busy port and now quiet in its own retirement, with grassed-over quays and a few small fishing boats and private craft.
Although 10 miles from the coast, the cathedral city of Truro can be reached by passenger ferry from Falmouth. Truro was a Middle Age 'stannary town' which controlled the tin industry but its development as a port was arrested by the rise of Falmouth in the 17th century. The cathedral, though imposing enough, is less than 100 years old. There are two indoor markets every weekday and on Wednesdays there is a cattle market.
Moving west from Falmouth, you are in Daphne du Maurier country. The upper reaches of the Helford River include the famous Frenchman's Creek, setting for one of her most famous historical romances, but each little creek is a delight in itself, often with a hamlet or small village of its own to enjoy, such as Carne or St Anthony-in-Meneage. (The names of Cornish villages are as picturesque as the villages themselves.) The village of Helford is a real postcard, with thatched, whitewalled cottages and bright gardens -another where cars are banned and you must walk for all of 2 minutes to reach the ford and wooden footbridge, generally thronged with ducks and swans who know visitors are a soft touch for food. And here is another ancient ferry, dating from medieval times, this time crossing to Helford Passage.
There is enough in this short stretch of Cornish coast and hinterland to keep a tourist busy for a week or more. And even if you are coming a long way - further, even, than Plymouth! - it's worth taking the time to explore properly, for nowhere else in Cornwall is there quite this combination of hidden, leafy lanes with their sudden breathtaking glimpses of quiet blue rivers, and wild cliff scenery interspersed with sandy beaches and sheltered coves.
The romantic scenery of Cornwall has attracted a good many authors, many of whom have written about the county itself. Among these are:
DAPHNE DU MAURIER
SIR ARTHUR QUILLER-COUCH ('Q')
HOWARD SPRING
WINSTON GRAHAM
RICHARD TREVITHICK (1771-1833) Born near Redruth. Mining engineer and inventor of the high-pressure steam engine and steam locomotive.
SIR HUMPRHEY DAVY (1778-1829) Born Penzance. Chemist, famous for the invention of the miners' safety lamp. Took Michael Faraday as his assistant at the Royal Institution. <!"date November 20th 1995"> <!"fee none">
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