Photos of West Cornwall
West Penwith in Cornwall is my home.
I love it here, and these pictures will suggest why!
West Penwith, where I live, is the part of Cornwall west of Hayle and Marazion.
Its main town is Penzance (in Cornish Pen Sans, or 'holy headland').
Penwith means 'the headland beyond' or 'the far beyond'.
Click any picture to see a larger version.
Cornwall is not England - it is Kernow, one of the old Celtic realms of Britain. Being half-Welsh, Kernow's ancient roots mean something to me, jiggling my cells.
Cornwall is quite isolated (5-6 hours from London and Birmingham). Yet it has a global feeling, with four continents over the horizon across the seas - North and Latin America, Europe and Africa.
Surrounded by ocean, we sit on solid, deep granite which doesn't budge an inch, no matter how much the waves crash and the winds blow.
Cornwall is memorable for its cliffscapes, ancient sites and atmosphere, for surfing, seals and cetaceans, fishermen, pirates and tin miners. It is home to many interesting people who like living at the end of the road - including yachties, arty types, authors, greenies, returned expats, alternative types and sundry oddbods.
It's rich in wind and wave power
and geothermal energy, as yet under-exploited.
and geothermal energy, as yet under-exploited.
We have lots of weather too - want some?
Let's visit some of West Penwith's many ancient sites.
With the Orkney islands, this area has more ancient sites per square mile than anywhere in Britain - both areas are at the extremes of Britain.
With the Orkney islands, this area has more ancient sites per square mile than anywhere in Britain - both areas are at the extremes of Britain.
One reason why Penwith has so many ancient sites is that, 4-5,000 years ago, the Irish Sea was the centre of activity in Britain and Ireland. Penwith became a tin-mining area, one of Britain's more prosperous regions at the time. Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans bought Cornish tin, and St Michael's Mount was the main trading place.
Here are some of the headlands
of West Penwith.
Some of them were
ancient strongholds
of West Penwith.
Some of them were
ancient strongholds
and sacred sites.
Here's the cliffscape south of Land's End
- Pordenack Point, Carn Boel and Carn Les Boel -
a dramatic area populated with many rock-beings
(to find out what I mean, see Simulacra)
- Pordenack Point, Carn Boel and Carn Les Boel -
a dramatic area populated with many rock-beings
(to find out what I mean, see Simulacra)
St Michael's Mount and Trencrom Hill
- legendarily the homes of battling giants -
act as the gate-posts of Penwith, guarding the peninsula
- legendarily the homes of battling giants -
act as the gate-posts of Penwith, guarding the peninsula
It's easy to love Cornwall
and the magic of West Penwith.
It's slightly more difficult to leave it
and heave back up the A30
back into the madding crowd!
and the magic of West Penwith.
It's slightly more difficult to leave it
and heave back up the A30
back into the madding crowd!
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