Places to visit

Castle Pencaire

Castle Pencaire

Castle Pencaire is an Iron Age hillfort on the summit of Tregonning Hill. This northwest of Breage and north of the A394 off a minor road north of Tresowes Green. It is oval with two ramparts and ditches with east and west entrances. There is evidence of hut circles within the site. On the northeast of the hill are the remains of two smaller defended sites. On the hill south of Castle Pencaire is a Bronze Age Barrow.

Marazion - Marghasyow

Marazion - Marghasyow

Marazion (Marghasyow) is west along the A394 from Breage, about two miles east of Penzance and on the shore of Mounts Bay. The town is recorded in the 1088 Domesday Book. It is a popular tourist destination with a number of art galleries. About half a mile offshore is St Michaels Mount accessed by a causeway at low tide and passenger ferry otherwise.

St Michael's Mount - Karrek Loos y'n Koos

St Michael's Mount - Karrek Loos y'n Koos

St Michaels Mount (Karrek Loos y'n Koos) is offshore from Marghasyow and reached by causeway or ferry at high tide. Linked to the tin industry as a port the island took on a religious significance by the sixth century. Following the Norman Conquest it was granted to the monks of Mont St Michel (on which it is modelled) in France after the support they had given to the Dukes of Normandy. It has been a site of battles and sieges over the years. Around the castle are the remains of the old fishing village.

Penzance - Pensans

Penzance - Pensans

Penzance (Pensans) is situated in Mounts Bay facing southeast to the English Channel and bordered to the west by Newlyn. The economy of Penzance is a mixture of tourism, retail and light industry. There are some Georgian and Regency buildings in the town and parts of the Penzance Parish are classified as local conservation areas which also cover Newlyn and Mousehole. On the seafront is a promenade with an Art Deco open-air seawater swimming pool. Penlee House in the town is a museum and art gallery and houses a number of paintings from the Newlyn School and has information on the prehistory of Cornwall. The large granite cross outside of the museum dates from the eleventh century, although this is not it's original location.

Newlyn - Lulynn

Newlyn - Lulynn

Newlyn (Lulynn) is a fishing port and the immediate neighbour of Penzance and fishing continues to be of prime importance today. It is known as the last stopping point for the Mayflower in 1620 before leaving British waters. It was also known in the 1880s and 1890s for The Newlyn School of artists. The Newlyn Art Gallery is located in the town exhibiting a modern art collection.

Mousehole - Porthynys

Mousehole - Porthynys

Mousehole (Porthynys) is a Mount Bay fishing village with a very pretty harbour about two and a half miles south of Penzance. The small St Clements Isle lies offshore from the harbour entrance. Mousehole, Penzance, Newlyn and Paul were destroyed in the 1595 raid by Spaniards on Mounts Bay. It is currently known for holding a number of festivals.

Lamorna - Nansmornow

Lamorna - Nansmornow

Lamorna (Nansmornow) is a fishing village and cove on the Penwith Peninsula about four miles south of Penzance and southwest along the coast from Mousehole. It was popular with Newlyn artists.

Merry Maidens Stone Circle

Merry Maidens Stone Circle

The Merry Maidens or Dans Maen is made up of nineteen granite stones. It is a Neolithic stone circle with the highest stone being 1.4 metres. The diameter is about twenty-four metres and circles of this type are thought to serve a ritual purpose and placed relative to relate astronomical features. The site is located in a field by the B3315 west of Lamorna.

Tregiffian Burial Chamber

Tregiffian Burial Chamber

This Neolithic or early Bronze Age chambered tomb. A chamber and passage is covered and walled by stone slabs. A cup marked stone, now in the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro, was found in the chamber. A number of standing stones are nearby which include the Pipers, two large uprights which are aligned to the Merry Maidens circle to the northeast. The site is close to the Merry Maidens Stone Circle.

St Buryan - Eglosborrie

St Buryan - Eglosborrie

St Buryan (Eglosborrie) is on the B3283 north of the Merry Maidens circle and about five miles west of Penzance towards Landsend. It is situated in an area with a history of settlement stretching back to the Neolithic period where stone circles and standing stones remain. Other sites relate to the Bronze, Iron Ages and through to the Middle Ages. The parish named after the Irish Saint Buriana and the village has a number of listed buildings. A church dedicated to the Saint has been on the site since 930 AD which has been enlarged and added to over the centuries. The tower was built by 1501 and the main part of the current church having been built in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

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