Cornwall's Hidden History Blog
In the dark depths of the winter of 1870 the tiny Cornish fishing village of Cadgwith made the national newspapers when it became unwittingly embroiled in the ongoing Franco-Prussian war. The strange story of the lost balloon post brings to life a forgotten period of history, a time when the postal service (and a speedy […]
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Ann Boswell, better known as Granny Boswell, is one of Cornwall’s best known characters and an important figure for many in the gypsy community but who was the real woman who has inspired so much affection, so many stories and has even been depicted in one of the biggest TV shows of the past decade?! […]
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In September 1937 workmen digging the foundations of Truro’s new Telephone Exchange unearthed human bones. This macabre discovery in the heart of the city surprised everyone and would lead to rumours of a forgotten burial ground, while a curious carved head found nearby would give rise to tales of an ancient curse. Why those bodies […]
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“Max Barrett started life as the wild boy of Penzance and ended as the wild man of sculpting.” – Annie Gurton, The Independent, June 1997 If there is one thing I love it is discovering something hidden in plain sight! The people, places and objects that have been forgotten or overlooked. That is not to […]
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A year or so ago an old Porthlevener asked me if I knew about the Moonstone. (I think that he might even have called it an asteroid at the time.) When I said I hadn’t he told me I couldn’t miss it, this rock that had supposedly fallen from space, if I went to cliffs […]
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For the past couple of years I have been a bit of a guinea pig for the iWalk Cornwall team! I have been helping them to test their amazing new range of MYSTERY WALKS. These brilliant interactive walks bring together so many things I love – they get you out and about, they are fun […]
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In the 1920s Cornwall adopted Frederick Albert Mitchell-Hedges as one of their own and he in turn returned here again and again to relax, to write and to give lectures to rapt audiences. Always a controversial figure, Mitchell-Hedges was a traveller, an adventurer, a hunter of sea-monsters and is believed by many to have been […]
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I have always been fascinated by the odd and the obscure. And most especially the lost and forgotten. So when I learnt that there was a very unusual relic from the past hiding on the grounds of Falmouth Hospital I was determined to find out more. I first came across the Meridian Stone in a […]
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In the summer of 2017 I interviewed Dr E. Emma Carlyon about her role as County Coroner for My Cornwall magazine. It was the first professional interview that I had ever done but she put me completely at ease. Although I only met her that once I still remember how struck I was by her […]
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The narrow headland of Sharrow Point juts out into the waves that wash into Whitsand Bay on Cornwall’s far eastern coast. At first glance the most remarkable thing about the little promontory is the breath-taking views it affords, stretching from Rame Head to Dodman Point but this rocky outcrop also hides an unusual relic from […]
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