THE HARBOUR, FOWEY
The cathedral is not entirely a modern building, for it has incorporated with it the south aisle of the old parish church of St. Mary, with its long associations with the municipality. The narrow lanes and streets surrounding the stately pile of buildings differ essentially from the gardens and canonical residences that are the pride of so many of our mediæval cathedrals; but they make a fitting environment for the mother church of a working ecclesiastical centre.
Of several interesting houses in the neighbourhood the most important is Tregothnan, the residence of Lord Falmouth. The mansion is beautifully placed upon high ground, the views from which include the numerous wooded creeks of the lovely Fal, and the wide expanse of Falmouth Harbour, studded with the shipping of many nations. The house was designed by Wilkins, the architect of the National Gallery, and is in the Early English and Tudor styles.
The gatehouse of Tregothnan is situated at Tresilian Bridge, the spot where the struggle between Charles I and Cromwell was brought to a close in Cornwall, by the surrender of the Royalists to General Fairfax.
The ecclesiologist will find many interesting old churches in this neighbourhood, of which perhaps that at Probus is the most important, as it is the least known. The tower is over one hundred feet in height, being the highest in the county, and is exceptionally rich in delicate carvings and clustered pinnacles. The present building is mainly Perpendicular, but the foundation of a church here is attributed by tradition to Athelstan, who is said to have established a college of secular canons dedicated to St. Probus. The chancel screen is modern with the exception of the lower portion, which has been made up of the old fifteenth-century bench ends. A full and highly interesting account of this church, by Canon Fox Harvey, appeared in the Truro Diocesan Magazine for 1905. Above the woods of Tregothnan, on the left bank of the Truro, stands the fourteenth-century church of St. Michael Penkivel, with numerous brasses to the memory of the Boscawens; while on the right bank of the Fal is Trelissic, a classical building whose portico is an exact reproduction of the temple of Erectheus at Athens.
All visitors to Truro make their way to the historic port of Falmouth by water, when they travel along a length of river scenery that possesses no equal in beauty with the exception perhaps of a somewhat similar reach of the romantic Dart, in the adjoining county of Devon. Any mention of the Dart, however, as a possible rival to the Fal, is much resented by Cornishmen, and one that had better be left unsaid within the boundaries of the delectable Duchy.
The old port of Falmouth is situated in a sheltered bay with the glittering sea beyond. Landward lie the villages of Mabe and Constantine, with their great granite quarries, and beyond them wide expanses of undulating and treeless land that is not devoid of beauty. Here the climate is so mild that hydrangeas become large bushes, and the eucalyptus attains the proportions of a forest tree. The port rose perhaps to its greatest height of prosperity in the days of the fourth George, when the famous Falmouth packets—ten-gun brigs officered by naval men—carried the mails to various Mediterranean ports, and to the North American and West Indian stations. A well preserved relic of these good old days may be seen at Swanpool, where, in a cottage built by Commander Bull, may be observed a chiselled relief of the old "Marlborough" packet at the top angle of the façade. As a port Falmouth has not kept pace with the steady growth in the size of steamships, although the opening of the railway to Truro set Falmouth cogitating great schemes in the way of spacious docks and large hotels. Some of us do not regret that the town's maritime ambitions have been but partially realized. We have many busy and flourishing seaports, but there is only one Falmouth, with its quaint little alleys leading to the waterside, inconvenient and hopelessly behind the times, yet picturesque beyond description and redolent of the spirit of the past. One of the most pleasing views of Falmouth is that obtained from the little township of Flushing across the harbour, once a quite fashionable suburb, but now a rather poor little fishing village.
The excursions from Falmouth, and the places of interest that lie within easy reach are too numerous to mention, for their very names are an attraction to the inquisitive topographer. Mylor lies over the hills of Flushing on the beautiful waters of the Fal; St. Mawes and the fishing town of Gerrans are equally near; while the most hardened tourist could not fail to wish to visit a village endowed with the charming name of St. Just in Roseland.
A reference should be made to the fine promontory of Pendennis, almost surrounded by the sea, on the summit of which stands the historic castle that has played no small part in our island story.
There are two road routes from Falmouth to the Lizard—the regular route through Helston, and the other, a trifle longer, by way of the woods of Trelowarren, the seat of the Cornish Vyvyans. The most enjoyable way, however, of viewing this well-known promontory is to sail from Falmouth. Those who would woo the charms of the Cornish coast from the water should remember that even on the calmest day sailing along this exposed seaboard is no child's play, but a serious business. As a matter of fact no one who is not intimately acquainted with the coast should take a boat out of the harbour without an experienced man on board, and no amateurs should attempt unaided, to sail the lugsail boats in general use among the fishermen. The best boat for yachting in these waters is a ten or fifteen ton cutter or yawl, such as can be hired at Falmouth for quite a moderate sum. But the coast is a dangerous one, for although the morning run past the dreaded Manacles, Helford river, St. Keverne's, and right down to the Lizard, may present no difficulties, the return evening journey, with a stiff breeze from the land making a choppy sea, and the puzzling lights at the complicated entrance to the anchorage, are disturbing elements that make one feel thankful to have the skipper on board to guide the little craft through the maze of shipping, and pick up her moorings. For small boat sailing the waters of the Fal are ideal, but here also, as on the salt waters beyond the river mouth, great care is required by reason of the wind cutting down the creeks and gullies with practically no warning. What a halo of tragedy lies over the dreaded Manacles! and what wonderful escapes some fortunate vessels have had. The author once saw a schooner of five hundred tons thread the narrow channels of the needle-pointed rocks in safety, but the feat was regarded by his companion, an old sailor of Falmouth, as little short of a miracle. As a matter of fact captains who get their ships among the Manacles are so anxious to keep the news from reaching the owners that they hang a sail over the names of their ships.
By a glance at the map it is obvious to anyone that no vessel going up or down the Channel need be within a dozen or more miles of the Manacles. Yet many still get there; and few are fortunate enough to get away without becoming total wrecks. Not only on account of nearness of time do the Mohegan and the Paris disasters take undoubted precedence in the Manacles' victims, but on one occasion the loss of life was appalling. The Mohegan was a steamship of 7000 tons in charge of Captain Griffiths, the commodore of the Atlantic Transport Company. At half-past two on her second day out she signalled "All well" at Prawle Point. Four and a half hours later, when the light was good and the wind not high, she dashed into the Vase Rock, one of the outer Manacles, and within twenty minutes all except the upper portions of her masts and funnels were beneath the water. How the City of Paris got on the rocks is equally a mystery, for she is computed to have been twenty miles out of her proper course when she struck, and the weather was fine and the night clear.
