The ancient market town of Penzance is set in beautiful Mounts Bay - a body of water dominated by the grandeur of St. Michaels Mount. Located just 10 miles from Lands End, an area of Celtic culture and outstanding natural beauty surrounds the town.
Named Pen Sans in the ancient Cornish language, meaning Holy Headland, referring to the headland on the western side of the harbour on which a chapel was established by early christains well over 1000 years ago, the town received Royal Charters for its harbour in 1512, for markets and fairs in 1592 and was formally incorporated by Roayl Charter in 1614.
With a population around 20,000, it is both a market town and a popular tourist destination, and features an attractive promenade on its sea front. There are several historic houses in the town, amongst Regency and Geargian terraces, along with a number of museums and galleries.
The town has the most westerly major harbour on the English Channel and from there, ferry services operate to the Isles of Scilly, which lie some 28 miles beyond Lands End augmented by air services from both Penzance and Lands End.
In a sheltered position close to the sea, Penzance enjoys the most temperate climate of the British Isles while early spring flowers, vegetables and other produce demonstrate the mild weather conditions experienced here. Gardens, both formal and informal, provide a blaze of colour from early spring thtough to late Autumn with numerous sub-tropical flowers and palm trees adding to the unique nature of the local environment.
Mounts Bay has been acclaimed as one of the most beautiful bays in the world. It is a praise that is richly deserved by this vast stretch of glittering water and its spectacular coastline that runs in a great arc from Lands End to Lizard Point.
Majestic Cliffs, rocky coves, pristine sandy beaches and crystal clear seas vie with the heather and gorse of the moors and early Christian and Bronze Age sites to form a landscape that is the heritage of a proud culture, and a source of inspiration for artists, writers and poets.
Ancient fishing villages, cliff top walks, sub tropical vegetation and a wealth of industrial and maritime heritage combine with early Christian and Celtic legend to make the district surrounding Penzance a fascinating area.
The coastline of coves and caves, the history of smugglers and wreckers and its long tradition of music and song, inspired Gilbert and Sullivan to name one of the most famous of their productions Pirates of Penzance.
The River Tamar to the west of Plymouth marks the boundary between the rest of England and the County of Cornwall, which was once an independent Kingdom of Cornwall. While the last King of Cornwall died in the 10th century and the County ultimately became part of the United Kingdom, the Cornish identity is recognised today through the Duchy of Cornwall, presided over by the Duke of Cornwall.
West Cornwall has one of the most concentrated collections of ancient monuments in Europe, all within an ancient landscape that has changed very little since the Celtic Iron Age 2,500 years ago. Neolithic Bronze Age granite walled tombs and monuments from over 5,000 years ago stand isolated on the inspiring moorland.
There are legends that the Phoenicians, traders and explorers from the coastal area of Syria, reached St Michaels Mount and used the area as a centre for trade. While direct evidence supporting theses tories is scarce, it islikely that early Mediterranean peoples landed and traded with the Cornish and it is known that the ancient Romans traded with Cornwall particularly for copper and tin, using the harbour of St Michael Mount.
Cornwall is a Celtic region with a background similar to the Welsh, Scots and Irish and also the Breton (in North Western France). A fiercely independent people, the Cornish value their heritage and actively seek to preserve all that is best of it. Through its Celtic roots, Cornwall had its own language similar to Welsh and Gaelic but quite distinct deom the Saxon languages which became todays English. The Cornish language continued in use long after the end of the Cornish Kingdom, through the Middle Ages, and was last spoken regularly in the late 1700s. It is still spoken today in the form of revived Cornish.
In 1595, Penzance, Newlyn and Mousehole were invaded, sacked and burned by a Spanish raiding fleet in the aftermath of their ill fated Armada and only a few Medeival and Tudor buildings survived this experience. While these invaders were soon dispatched, this event marked the last time England was ever invaded by hostile forces.
Penzance can boast a proud commercial history marked by the granting of a charter for the harbour in 1512 by King Henry VIII. By 1614, the damage caused by the Spanish invasion had been repaired and Penzance rebiult. King James I granted the town a Charter of Incorporation. duringthe English Civil War in the mid 1600s, the town was again plundered, but its Charter was confirmed by King Charles II in 1663. During that year it also became a coinage town, reflecting its commercial importance in relation to the great mining era which peaked during the 19th century.
Life in Penzance and West Cornwall traditionally centred around the basic industries of agriculture, fishing and mining and many local families can trace their West Cornwall ancestry back for many hundreds of years. As these industries reduced their needs in employment over the years, many people emigrated overseas particularly to countries such as Australia, south Africa, Canada and the USA, with a major exodus in the late 1800s when mining for tin and copper declined.
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