Stories and Folk-Lore of West Cornwall: Third Series

The Penzance of our Grandfathers

THE OLD MARKET-HOUSE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS—BATTLE OF ARCHITECTURAL STYLES—THE SELF-TAUGHT ARCHITECT OF THE LAND’S END—BUSTLE OF A MARKET DAY—MADAM TREZILLIAN’S HEAD-DRESS—THE ANCIENT FISH-WOMEN OF PENZANCE—NEW MANSIONS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD—THE SCHOOLDAYS AND HOME OF PELLEW—THE WESTERN APPROACH TO PENZANCE (ALVERTON LANE)—PARSON SPRY, THE CURATE OF SENNEN AND ST. LEVAN, HALF-A-CENTURY AGO, AND HIS WOODEN HORSE AND DOG “SPORT”—“SPORT’S” BEHAVIOUR AT CHURCH AND IN CHURCHYARD—THE REV. JAMES BEVAN—COUNTRY CLERKS AND COUNTRY CHOIRS—OLD CHRISTMAS CAROLS—ANCIENT MODE OF CONDUCTING FUNERALS—FORMER MEANS OF INFORMATION AMONG THE PEOPLE—ASTROLOGERS OF THE WEST—CONJURORS AND THEIR SPELLS—OLD JUSTICE JONES AND CHEAP LABOUR—THE VINGOES OF TREVILLE—THE JUSTICE’S PUNISHMENT—PELLEW AND HIS CORNISH CREW—THE ANCIENT GAMES OF HURLING AND WRESTLING—OLD METHODS OF CONVEYANCE—RIDING PILLION—POPULAR SONGS OF THE TIME, MALBROOK, AND SENTIMENTAL DITTIES—GREEN LANES AND FOOTPATHS—PACK-SADDLES, OX-BUTTS, AND THE FIRST CARRIAGE—GOING TO TOWN ON MARKET-DAY—PENZANCE IN THE EARLY PART OF THIS CENTURY, &c.—Written September, 1867.

Dim, dream-like forms! Your shadowy train
Around me gathers once again,
The same as in life’s morning hour,
Before my troubled gaze you pass’d:
Oh! this time shall I have the power—
Shall I essay to hold you fast?

—Goethe’s Faust, Filmore’s Translation.