We had a slight change of plan today as the forecast was for rain on and off all day, our original plan had been to go to Lands End and do a walk along the cliffs but we decided to stay local and explore Penzance. I had managed to find a walk around the town which actually started about 100 yards from our front door so with map in hand we set off. We started by walking along the wharf to the old lifeboat station, Penzance was the first cornish port to buy a lifeboat, brought for 150 guineas in 1803, nine years later having never been used it was sold to pay off a debt! Later as the harbour grew busier a new lifeboat house was built with a brand new lifeboat to go with it! We walked over a swing bridge which opens to allow boats into the dry dock but seems to be where the open water swimmers set off from and onto the Dolphin Inn. It is said that this was the headquarters of Admiral Sir John Hawkins during the hostilities between britain and Spain, it was also where George Jeffreys, the infamous ‘Hanging Judge’ based himself in the 17th century when he summarily condemned many of Monmouth’s followers after the Westcounty rebellion of 1685. In the 20th century workmen restoring the building discovered a secret hideaway and a hidden room in the roof, although no explanation of what these may have been used for, finally it is also said to be the first place tobacco was smoked in England! We continued along the front to the Jubilee Pool which was opened in 1935 to celebrate the Jubilee of King George V, it has recently been refurbished and looks really nice, but is currently closed! We turned inland here through the churchyard of St Marys and out onto Chapel Street where we found the home of Maria Bronte, mother of Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell, there was no explanation as to how they ended up living in Yorkshire I later found out that she actually met Patrick Bronte in Yorkshire while she was visiting an Aunt so not so strange after all!. From here we walked around a few of the back streets, definitely more designed to be walked down than driven along, and finally ended up back at the promonade again. It was then time to turn inland again and walk up towards town again, passing St Johns Hall which was built in 1864-7 which has a granite facade which came from Lamorna quarry just down the coast. The hall was the largest granite Italianate style building in Britain and its top step measures 5.75m x 1m which is one of the largest pieces of granite ever quarried. This led us to the top of Causway head which was one of the busiest shopping streets in Penzance. The street was filled with every conceivable trade, bookmakers, tailors, butchers, an anchor foundry as well as stables, piggeries and rag and bone stores, it was the place where the town’s ‘caused’ (paved) streets turned into the country road to Madron, hence its name. At the bottom of this road we turned left to head back to the town centre passing the Humphry Davy statue, dedicated to the inventor of the Davy lamp who was born in 1778 just a few doors away from his statue, he was a classical scholar and professor of chemistry who was also responsible for discovering the elements potassium, sodium and chlorine. As we were not far from the end of the walk we stopped for a coffee and our first Cornish pastie in Cornwall then headed back to the apartment for a bit of a relax before heading out this afternoon to St Michael’s Mount. Because of the way the tides fall we had to take the boat over to the mount but we were able to walk back over the causeway as it had been revealed by the time it came for us to leave. From as far back as 495AD there are tales of seafarers lured by mermaids onto the rocks, or guided to safety by an apparition of St Michael as well as four miracles said to have happened here during 1262 and 1263 made this a magnet for pilgrims from far and wide but it is the Cornish legend of Jack the Giant Killer that the islanders apparently know well! It sounds a bit like David and Goliath Cormoran the giant made the Mount his home, stealing cattle when his tummy began to rumble, it is said that one moonlit night Jack a young lad from Marion made his was across the cobbled causeway to lay a trap and kill the giant by digging a pit then the following morning blowing his horn which caused the giant to run towards him, unfortunately as the sun was in his eyes he didn’t see the pit and fell in, so Jack filled in the pit thus killing the giant! By 1066 the island was owned by the Benedictine abbey of Mont St Michel in Normandy, construction began in 1135 on the church and priory buildings from 1193 when the Mount was seized by Henry La Pomeray (who disguised his men as pilgrims), through the War of the Roses in 1473 when the Mount was held by the Earl of Oxford to the Civil War then Royalists valiantly held back the forces of Oliver Cromwell the mount has weathered many battles. It finally became a family home in 1659 when the St Aubyn family took ownership, in 1954 the St Aubyn family went into partnership with the National Trust and the castle and grounds were opened to the public, however part of the deal is that the family can use the gardens during the winter and still live in the parts of the castle that are not open to the public, so the gardens closed on September 3rd this year which meant although we could see them from the windows we were not able to go round them but we were able to walk through a number of rooms and the chapel which was all rather nice although I am not sure it would be where I would want to live. We finished with an ice cream then walked back across the causeway to come home, this was actually a nice way to do it as we got to visit the mount both by boat and foot! We got back about 4pm and decided to have a bit of a relax before heading off to get something to eat.
