The Cornish Riviera

by Sidney Heath

IN THE HARBOUR, NEWLYN

The next point of interest is Pendeen, or Pendinas, the "castled headland", near to which is Pendeen House, now a farm, but once a seventeenth-century manor house, in which the celebrated Cornish historian and antiquary, Dr. William Borlase, was born in 1695. He corresponded with Pope to whom on one occasion he sent a Cornish diamond, which was thus acknowledged by the poet: "I have received your gift, and have so placed it in my grotto, that it will resemble the donor, in the shade, but shining". The famous cave called the Pendeen Vau, was discovered a few yards from his home. For his day he was quite an enlightened antiquary, and although modern research has shown his Antiquities of Cornwall to be full of pitfalls for the unwary, it is a book that has formed the basis for many an interesting volume on the county. The church of Pendeen occupies as bleak a site as could anywhere be found in England. It was designed and built by Robert Aitken the famous Cornish missioner. It was fashioned on the plan of the ancient cathedral of Iona, and was built almost entirely by the people themselves.

A little eastward of Pendeen is the church town of Morvah, "the place by the sea", which has traditions relating to mermaids. Northward is Porthmorna, or Porth Moina, the Monk's Port, formed on one side by the fine cliff of Bosigran, where the rocks of granite have a pale reddish tint; so that when lit up by the sun they have a very brilliant appearance. A few years ago the bleak hills and towering cliffs in this locality were a favourite haunt of the peregrine falcon, the cliff hawk, while the blue rock dove, and Baillon's crake have been found in the district. Bosigran lies just under Cairn Galva, whose boldly-formed outline is a conspicuous landmark. Just beyond Porthmeor is the Gurnard's Head, the finest and most romantic point on the north side of the Land's End, and one of the show places of the county. The ancient name for the headland was Treryn Dinas. Portions of a small chapel remain on the isthmus, and there was once a holy well close by.

The village of Zennor, about a quarter of a mile distant, lies in a wild and stony district. Within the very interesting church are some quaint bench ends, one of which depicts a mermaid, complete with comb, mirror, and fishy tail, but the carving is of a very primitive order. On Zennor Beacon is the famous Zennor Quoit or Cromlech, the largest in Cornwall, and one of the finest in the country. Between Zennor and St. Ives a wild tract of country forms the parish of Towednack with an ancient church within which is a true chancel arch, a constructional feature that is of rare occurrence in Cornish churches.

The irregularly built little town of St. Ives, which has not inaptly been called the "Art Centre of England", is made up of two distinct parts. The older portion, which consists of oldfashioned houses, and narrow tortuous streets, is situated on a low spit of land called the "island", while "up-along" on the higher ground above the station, is the favourite and fashionable holiday resort. The ancient name of the place, Porth Ia, perpetuates the memory of another Irish saint, Ia, who is claimed as a convert of St. Patrick, and who is said to have floated from the shores of the Emerald Isle to those of Cornwall on a miraculous leaf, "by which", Mr. Arthur Salmon tells us, "is clearly meant a coracle of the kind still to be seen in parts of Wales". The cell of St. Ia stood on the site of the present parish church, which is said to contain her bones, and this saint is not to be confounded with those of St. Ive, near Liskeard, or St. Ives in Huntingdonshire. The position of St. Ives, on the western slope of an extensive bay, and with two remarkably fine sandy beaches, is one of uncommon beauty. The finest views of the town and the neighbourhood are those obtained from the grounds of the Tregenna Castle Hotel, and from the Battery Rocks.

A lofty hill to the south of the town, has a pyramidical erection of granite in memory of John Knill, born in 1733. The obelisk bears three inscriptions: "Johannes Knill, 1782"; "I know that my Redeemer liveth"; and "Resurgam". After serving his apprenticeship to a solicitor, Knill became Collector of Customs, and afterwards Mayor of St. Ives. Long before his death, which took place in 1811, he erected this mausoleum on Worvas Hill, but it was never applied to its purpose, as he was buried in London. Among the provisions of a curious will he ordained that "certain ceremonies should be observed once every five years, on the festival of St. James the Apostle; ten pounds to be spent in a dinner for the mayor, collector of Customs, and clergyman, and two friends to be invited by each of them, making a party of nine persons, to dine at some tavern in the borough; five pounds to be equally divided amongst ten girls, natives of the borough and daughters of seamen, fishermen, or tinners, each of them not exceeding ten years of age, who shall, between ten and twelve o'clock of the forenoon of that day, dance for a quarter of an hour at least, on the ground adjoining the mausoleum, and after the dance sing the 100th Psalm of the old version, to the fine old tune to which the same was then sung in St. Ives Church; one pound to a fiddler who shall play to the girls while dancing and singing at the mausoleum, and also before them on their return home therefrom; two pounds to two widows of seamen, fishers, or tinners of the borough, being sixty-four years old or upwards, who shall attend the dancing and singing of the girls, and walk before them immediately after the fiddler, and certify to the mayor, collector of Customs, and clergyman, that the ceremonies have been duly performed; one pound to be laid out in white ribbons for breast-knots for the girls and widows, and a cockade for the fiddler, to be worn by them respectively on that day and on the Sunday following". The observances have been duly carried out since the death of John Knill. The next observance will be in 1911, and when once at St. Ives the present writer was fortunate enough to witness the quaint ceremonies that are enacted every five years around the mausoleum of John Knill, who has succeeded in making a posthumous name for himself at a very trifling cost.