VISITORS' HISTORIC BRITAIN: CORNWALL: Romans to Victorians

Cornwall has had a rich history from the prehistoric period, the Norman Conquest and the turbulent Tudor age, to the Civil War and the First and Second World Wars. The chapters of the book look at different parts of Cornwall: Saltash to Fowey, the Rame Peninsula, Truro, St Austell to Falmouth, Rock to Bude, Hayle to Padstow, Helston to St Ives, and St Keverne to Porthleven. Start your journey at Saltash, the first place people arrive at in Cornwall after crossing a bridge from Devon. Learn how the town grew around its waterfront where the ferry service operated and how, during Henry II's reign, a port was set up at Saltash for the export of tin from local mines. Travel around the coast to Polperro which is a popular holiday spot with original fishermen's houses dating back hundreds of years with a Royal document first recorded in 1303. Find your way to Penzance, the most westerly major town in Cornwall in Mount's Bay, and uncover the earliest signs of a settlement in the area (dating back to the Bronze age) including a spear head, a knife, pins and pottery. Discover Helston where Flora Day takes place annually on 8th May and visitors can take part in the Furry Dance whose origin goes back for hundreds of years. The book celebrates Cornwall's place in literary history from Daphne Du Maurier's books such as Jamaica Inn and Frenchman's Creek to Virginia Woolf's novel To the Lighthouse. Places for visitors to see in the region are celebrated, such as the Eden Project, the Tate Gallery in St Ives and Rick Stein's restaurant in Padstow. There are brilliant images included to bring Cornwall to life, from an early view of Porthtowan showing a tin mine on the horizon and a photo of Porth Bridge at Newquay where several prehistoric burial mounds exist in the area, to Marazion Causeway leading to St Michael's Mount and Marazion is one of the oldest chartered towns in Britain. Paperback, black and white images, 152pp.