According to local rhyme, however, the settlers in their new town were not lacking in sturdiness:
"Old Penrynners up in a tree
Looking as wisht as wisht can be,
Falmouth boys as strong as oak
Knocked 'em down at every poke."
So the burgesses of Falmouth took the matter before the courts and succeeded in establishing the claim of their town to a free control over the waters of its harbour.
The General Post Office and Falmouth
In spite of the Killigrews, however, Falmouth remained small and insignificant until the General Post Office chose the port in 1688 as a station for its newly established mail boats. The next few years was the time of its greatest prosperity, and Flushing—the other side of Penryn Creek, and said to be so named from a colony of Dutch merchants—became its fashionable suburb. Travellers came from all parts of England to embark at this port, warships were stationed here, and the wives of naval officers and others made it their home. The stir and bustle of life has, however, departed with the service that created it; and the fine harbour now only rocks on its broad bosom some little cargo steamers and a fleet of fishing-boats. Arwenack House, said by some to have been burnt by Sir Peter Killigrew in order that it should not enable the Parliamentarians under cover of its walls to attack Pendennis, was never rebuilt in its former splendour, and the ground that once constituted its park is now laid out in town plots. Portions of the old building are, however, still to be seen in Arwenack Street.
Penryn
At the head of the creek is Falmouth's ancient rival, the town of Penryn. A Killigrew and his wife—strong men are sometimes gey ill to live with—fell out and the dame, being divorced, sought refuge in Penryn. The Mayor of this place still has in his possession a silver cup and cover given to the borough by this lady. On it is the inscription: "1633.—From Maior to Maior, to the Towne of Penmarin, when they received mee that was in great misery.—Jane Killygrew."
Penryn, still busy at its wharves with the exporting of granite, is the site of Glasney College, where most of the old miracle plays performed at the various plan-an-guares throughout the county were written. But the main industry of the Roseland towns and villages is connected with mines and quarries, the acme of arid desolation and dreariness being reached at Gwennap. The mines there are of great depth, have been worked for centuries, have produced in tin and copper during the last hundred years at least ten million pounds sterling, and are now all abandoned. Imagine the grey wilderness of stone and rubble, of old workings and knacked bals. It rivals the sterility of the Black Country, but that is teeming, while here in very truth is nothing but a littered and abandoned waste.
The Fal
Between Falmouth, which, as Byron said, "contains many quakers and salt fish," and Truro lies the lovely wooded estuary of the Fal. Once navigable to Tregony, large boats can now only go as far as Ruan Lanihorne. At the latter place the river meets the tide. After passing Tregothnan (Lord Falmouth's seat) it joins the St. Clement and Truro Creeks, and finally, after forming by its twists and turns a series of land-locked lakes of surpassing beauty, it broadens into that fine sheet of water which is known as Carrick Roads. The way to see it properly is to hire a suitable row-boat, stock it with provisions, and go up the silent reaches till you discover some flat brown rock. There boil a kettle gipsy-fashion and linger or go on, as the fancy takes you, up this creek or that—they are equally beautiful—and so winding in and out come at last to the capital city.