Our British friends half-jokingly tell us what Americans consider
history is actually current events.
As we travel through Cornwall, the southwestern part of England, we
can’t argue the point. Its history
pre-dates the Romans and the landscape is dotted with castles from the 13th
Century and the villages must date from the same time. We are trying to piece together British
history one castle at a time.
Many of the roads we are driving on have been around for centuries,
some from Roman times. Countless wagons
and carts and herds of cattle have worn the roadbed down as much as five
feet. Now that they are paved it
is like driving in a narrow ditch with high walls on either side. The roads twist and turn and visibility
is nil. I am becoming more
comfortable behind the wheel but it still takes immense concentration.
The metals for the Bronze Age came from the area and as recently as
1900 Cornwall produced most of the world’s copper and tin. Cornish miners were in demand all over
the world and many immigrated to North America. Even the Mayflower
sailed from Plymouth in Cornwall.
It was supposed to land in New York, but bad weather forced it off
course and now Massachusetts has towns with the same names as Cornwall;
Plymouth, Falmouth, Truro. But
Cornwall also boasts Gweek, Land’s End and Mousehole.
We have been making good use of our English Heritage pass to visit
sites like the 2000 year old village of Chysauster and a series of castles like
Portland, St. Mawes, and Pendennis that were constructed during the reign of
Henry VIII to defend against the anticipated Spanish invasion. The invasion never materialized but the
castles saw action in England’s Civil War between the Monarchists and the
Parliamentarians in the mid-1600s.
They were also manned during both world wars.
We have been based in a B&B in the town of Penzance, made famous
by Gilbert and Sullivan. It isn’t
anything special but it is convenient to a number of World Heritage and
National Trust sites as well as several RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection
of Birds) birding hotspots. The
weather has been surprisingly phenomenal, “lovely” in British parlance, and we
have taken advantage of every minute.
We are running out of adjectives to describe the area. “Charming,” “rustic,” “lovely,” “quaint”
– you get the idea – hardly do justice.
Take a look at our photos and see if you can come up with some more.
