Years End by Dave Hunt

Years End

by Dave Hunt

In the hours between the hours when day has
died and night not yet begun
and this old Earth is made to sigh by Autumn's dim
and dwindling days,
over hills and vales made mellow by the mists and
setting sun.
The Mother of the mystery walks her secret ways.
As old as time, and born of time itself She passes,
quiet, stealthy and unseen.
Shuddering with the cloying cold that surely
soon will come.
Making Summer's sun and warmth a half
remembered dream.
And as She passes, with caressing touch, She
plucks the life from all She does survey
and drops it, gently as a falling leaf, into
a basket made of dark decay.
Over all the land She wanders, dogged by
shades of darkness and of fear,
pausing for a while at homesteads locked
against the Crone,
to scratch at door and window or to
freeze the child's tear
who hears her in the chimney softly
moan.
When She has passed the land is
locked in Winter's sere and snowy hold.
The now dead sun hangs like a pearl in
the pewter bowl of sky,
yet folk in Albion, huddled round the
fires against the cold
quietly wait to hear from far a future
Child's cry.

Written in 1989, and originally published in ASH magazine no. 3.

Bodmin Riding

So, what do the Cornish towns of Penzance, St Ives and Bodmin have in common? Well the answer may lie in a folk-tune heard around mid-summer in the aforementioned ancient and historic towns.

Above: the beast, helliers and the casket of St Petroc.

So with the tune's catchy refrain reverberating all around, here is a review of the 2009 Bodmin Riding ceremony The Horns of the Beast, performed at Bodmin Jail on Saturday 5th July 2009.

Bodmin Riding is a new experience for me, having recently moved to the district from Penzance. The festival offers us an unusual gateway into the second half of the year, just as Mazey Day functions as a climax at the height of the season. Bodmin Riding falls on the first weekend of July, and complements the previous weekends celebrations in Penzance superbly.

The Ragadaziow had gathered, and the Helliers (Cornish language "huntsman") seek the Beast around the town. They soon caught him, and the whole troupe gradually processed to the turreted and historic Bodmin Jail courtyard. The ancient bones of Bodmin's founder St Petroc lay in the old wooden chest, guarded by the gang of musicians that is the Ragadaziow (worthies of the borough).

Copious amounts of Riding Ale was consumed, and the Helliers guarded the beast, whilst An Gwary Bosvenna (the Bodmin mummers play) was performed. This unique play is a whistle stop flash through Cornish history in just 15 minutes, and draws on other traditional Cornish mummers plays, ancient manuscripts and folklore. A truly subversive celebration of the spirit of Cornwall!

Once the play had been performed, and more Riding Ale consumed, The Ragadaziow processed from the courtyard, playing the Riding tune and beating their drums. The sacred relics of St Petroc followed and behind the Helliers with their chained and fearsome Beast! Members of the public joined the procession towards the town centre, where the trial of the beast would be performed, and the town's mummers play would be acted once more. It was fascinating to watch people’s reactions as the penny gradually dropped that the Beast was not a nasty monster but was in fact a totemic representation of themselves.

At the trial the modern story of the Beast of Bodmin is told along with other stories, like the legend that the founding saint of Bodmin tamed a dragon by taking a thorn out of its foot. So in some ways the beast has become St Petroc's dragon, and thus a symbolic icon of Bodmin Town.

Bodmin Riding is a unique festival, blending ancient folk-tales of the area with a fun contemporary folkish feel. The best part of the festivities surround the ritual parading of the Beast of Bodmin. True weirdness; and because of that, absolutely fantastic!

Above: the Beast of Bodmin is captured by the Helliers

Notes

Click here to read more about, and hear the Bodmin Riding tune.
See here for 2006 Video of the hunting of the Beast
Photos: Top. The Beast the Helliers and the casket of St Petroc. Right. A Ragadaziow piper. Left. Bodmin Jail. Bottom. The beast is caught! All photos copyright Alex Langstone.

20th Anniversary of Cumbrian Quest for Bega

St Bega's church, Bassenthwaite Lake

Today sees the 20th anniversary of the birth of the Quest for Bega.

On June 24th 1989, Carole Young and I set off on an historic quest to the Cumbrian Lake District. What we discovered both inwardly and externally has continued to guide and inspire our lives to this day.

I am still in the process of writing a book about all of this, and I hope that it will be ready for the public domain sometime soon.

In the meantime, take a look at Esoteric Explorer for a taster of my earlier book, Bega and the Sacred Ring, which was published in 1992.

Celtic cross and dragon at St Bees Priory

Carwynnen Quoit: the Restoration of a Ruined Megalith

This report was first published by Heritage Action's Heritage Journal and is reprinted here with their kind permission. Heritage Action is an organisation dedicated to preserving our ancient heritage by protecting the ancient sites of Britain and Ireland. See www.heritageaction.org for further details.

Carwynnen Quoit: the Restoration of a Ruined Megalith

A Report by Alex Langstone

Carwynnen Quoit is one of the few Cornish portal dolmens to be found outside the Land’s End peninsula of the Duchy. The quoit lies in a field and, at present is nothing more than a collapsed jumble of stones.

Carwynnen Quoit today. Image credit: Pip Richards www.sustrust.co.uk

The monument fell down in 1842, but was re-erected shortly afterwards. However the mighty monument fell again during an earth tremor in 1967, and has since been largely forgotten. The quoit belongs to the Penwith Chamber Tombs category of ancient monument, and dates to the Neolithic circa 3000 BC. Also known as The Giant’s Quoit or the Devil’s Frying Pan, it would have had a similar appearance to Lanyon Quoit, sited a few miles to the west, close to Land’s End.

Above: Lanyon Quoit

The capstone formally stood on three supports standing 1.5 metres high, and the monument was formally owned by the St Aubyn’s Pendarves Estate, where it was known as the “Cromlech Park”.

A meeting of the Camborne branch of the Old Cornwall Society was held at the stones in the summer of 1925 and the Bards of the Cornish Gorseth held their annual gathering at the quoit in 1948.

The Sustainable Trust, (a small, locally based environmental trust) have now purchased Carwynnen Quoit, along with the five acres of land surrounding it. Their long term goal is to restore the monument to its former glory and have just had a geophysical survey carried out to see what may remain below the surface. The group are hoping to re-erect the monument without the aid of any mechanical assistance, which in turn, may give us a better understanding of how our ancestors built these monuments in the first place!

Depending on what archaeology is present, a strip may be planted with indigenous trees to extend a wildlife corridor between two close by adjoining woods. The Trust are aiming to design the area around it to provide an appropriate setting for the Quoit based on how the area may have looked when it was first erected. They are working closely with Historic Environment Local Management; an English Heritage led project providing information, training and guidance to ensure this is done in a sensitive and responsible manner. Also involved are Cornwall Heritage Trust, Cornwall Archaeological Society, Heritage Environment Service and the Cornwall Archaeological Unit.

Pip Richards, director of the Sustainable Trust, said “Bear in mind that phase one is only just under way:- the purchase, establishing a database of interested folk and bringing education to and involving a wide cross section of the public. We will form a group to fund phase two. The Heritage Lottery Fund have agreed in principle, but will probably need a series of further events associated with the re-erection. Patience is required.”

Carwynnen Quoit as drawn by William Borlase

Please see the following links for further details:

The Sustainable Trust

Save Pendarves Quoit

The Stone Circles of Cumbria

A great new lavishly illustrated guide to the stone circles of the English Lakes has recently been published. It fills a huge gap in the market, and as I have recently returned from the region I thought I would review the work for posterity!

A Guide to the Stone Circles of Cumbria

by Robert W. E. Farrah

This new guide book is an absolute gem. Loads of photographs and references, including map references are given to all the major and lesser known stone circles of Cumbria. The author talks about the sites within the wider context of the sacred landscape, and writes with passion and knowledge of his subject.

Site plans are included, both from the past, and new ones and detailed information is given on how to get to each site, which is essential for the more remote monuments.

New interpretations are discussed and landscape alignments put to the test. The only downside to the book is the physical size of the volume, which prevents it from being taken out in the field! For anyone wanting to explore the ancient past of the Lake District, this book is a must, and for folk interested in the Earth Mysteries of Cumbria, it is a welcome publication.

Highly recommended!

166 pages. Hayloft Publishing. £20.00. ISBN-10: 1904524532. ISBN-13: 978-1904524533

Photos: Blakeley Raise stone circle (NY 0601 1403) and Long Meg (NY 5711 3721)

Castlerigg, Castle How and Blencathra

A recent visit to the Cumbrian Lakes brought new insights into some well known, and some not-so-well-known ancient sites. A dawn vigil at Castlerigg stone circle at the Vernal Equinox proved interesting and initial exploration of newly visited Castle How hill fort upon the shores of the beautifully mystical Bassenthwaite Lake was inspiring. The ancient sacred peak of Blencathra seems to play a central role within the mythic landscape in this area.

Castlerigg, Castle How and Blencathra

by Alex Langstone

Blencathra - the ancient seat in the fells

Castlerigg stone circle is the most popular ancient monument in Cumbria, the circle is set within a circle of mountains, upon the summit of Chestnut Hill high above the Victorian lakeside town of Keswick. There are 38 stones in a circle approximately 30 metres in diameter. Unusually, within the ring is a rectangle of further standing stones about which very little is known. The tallest stone is 2.3 metres high. It was built around 3000 BC - the beginning of the later Neolithic Period - and is one of the earliest stone circles in Britain. Several of the surrounding peaks seem to play an important factor in the geometry of the site, and recent research has shown that Blencathra (2,848 ft) can be placed in a central role in the sites alignments.

The circles northern entrance aligns precisely towards the divide between the summits of Skiddaw and Blencathra, with the Summer Solstice sun arising over Blencathra and setting over Skiddaw. The stone circle is also an observation site for the Major Lunar Standstill. We visited this site at the Vernal Equinox for the first time this year, and we witnessed the sun's rays moving slowly up the side of Threlkeld Knots, eventually rising precisely in a notch just below the summit of Clough Head Fell. The rectangle of stones as mentioned above seems to point towards the Vernal Equinox sunrise, and this alignment continues for another 6 miles to the east, towards Great Mell Fell, with it's mountain-top tumulus. This alignment is said to mark the rising of the constellation of the Plaiedes, heralding the approach of Beltane, and of the summer! Despite the amazing sunrise

The Equinox sun moves along the edge of Clough Head, and rises in a prominent notch just below the summit.

we witnessed, it was sad to see (but obviously totally necessary) that the National Trust have had to rope off part of the circle, to allow the grass to grow back - another sign that this is the most visited pre-historic tourist attraction in the region. We also noted two bare patches within the circle, one due to bonfires being lit at the centre and the other, again due to erosion by tourists, walkers and livestock.

Another nearby ancient site seems to have an important alignment to Blencathra. Mayburgh Henge, near Penrith (pictured right) is one of three henge monuments situated closely together of which two now only survive. In the centre of Mayburgh henge is a solitary 9 foot standing stone, originally one of four. The main axis of the site is east-west, and the equinox sun rises in the entrance to the east and sets on the saddle notch of the very prominent but distant Blencathra. Several other ancient sites seem to focus on Blencathra; the Tumulus and stone circle on Knipescar Common, Swarth Fell stone circle, Castlerigg (as previously mentioned), Moor Divock Stone Circles and the Cockpit stone Circle. All-in-all a very special mountain! Its Cumbric name may give us clues to what it may symbolise? It is likely that the name Blencathra is derived from the ancient Cumbric language blaen (a bare hill top) and cathrach (a chair). This would give a meaning of "the bare hill top shaped like a chair", which perfectly describes the topography of the hill. So Blencathra becomes the ancient seat or throne of the land!

Castle How, Faerie Gateway of Bassenthwaite?

Castle How Hill Fort, Bassenthwaite

Castle How (sometimes spelt Howe) is a small Iron Age hill fort which rises steeply near the northern tip of Bassenthwaite Lake. Marked on OS Maps (NY202 308) and known locally as the fairy mound, there are stories of people disappearing into thin air whilst walking near the site, and other stories of things appearing and then disappearing again.

The hill fort is now thickly wooded with birch and beech and is very atmospheric, with superb views across the lake. Ramparts can clearly be seen at the periphery and the hill top is completely flat. A beautiful and little known ancient site, though a well worn pathway to the summit shows that local folk like to visit, and it is a shame that a recent fire has been lit on the summit of this archaeologically sensitive site.

Inspecting fire damage on the summit of Castle How

References.
A Guide to the Stone Circles of Cumbria by Robert W.E. Farrah
www.visitcumbria.com/stonecir.htm
Guidelines for visiting ancient sites click here
Photography by Paul Atlas-Saunders

Spring Folk Festival Round Up

The folk traditions of Beltane are numerous. A time to celebrate Spring, and to welcome in the Summer. A festival of fertility and a celebration of nature's beauty. A time to honour all that is Sacred within Nature. Britain has a plethora of festivals at this special time of year, and to get us in the mood, folklorist and esoteric explorer Alex Langstone delves into some of them.

SPRING FOLK FESTIVAL ROUND UP

With Spring just around the corner, and the promise of warmer days and lighter evenings, I thought I would look forward to some of the great and unusual British folk festivals that the season brings forth annually. There are plenty to chose from, but here are some of the best from Shropshire, Yorkshire, Edinburgh, Cornwall and North Essex.

THE BELTANE FIRE SOCIETY

This fantastic community festival is held in Edinburgh, and along with the other fire festivals is celebrated on Calton Hill every year on April 30th. Visit their fantastic website here or better still, visit the unique festival!

Fire Arch, Calton Hill, Edinburgh

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CLUN GREEN MAN FESTIVAL

For a unique May Day holiday weekend, Shropshire's Clun Green Man festival looks set to be a top contender. Click banner above to check out their website, and see below for a taster of the colourful weekend!

The iconic Green Man of Clun

Shropshire Bedlams Border Morris
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Another cracking festival is held at Thornborough Henge in Yorkshire on Sunday 3rd May and will include the mystery play "The May Eve Haul - The Birth of Taliesin" performed by The Sacred Brigantia Players. Children coming to the event are invited to bring water pistols so that they can participate in the play! The event is free, and it all kicks off at midday. Camping is available at a nearby camp site. For details click banner above.

The Green Knight of Thornborough Henge
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PADSTOW 'OBBY 'OSS

The Padstow 'Oss

The Padstow 'Obby 'Oss is one of Cornwall's most famous festivals and it all happens every year on 1st May. Come early as the town gets absolutely packed, but I would thoroughly recommend that you visit at least once in your life!

See here for details of this fantastic ancient celebration of the return of Summer.

Padstow 'Obby 'Oss Musicians
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THAXTED MORRIS RING

At the end of May the annual Morris Dancing bash is held at Thaxted in Essex. This visual spectacle is an amazing gathering of Morris clans from around the country, and all forms of Morris are there to be seen!

This festival is the spiritual home of the Thaxted Horn Dance, which is performed at dusk, unlike its counterpart at Abbots Bromley in the autumn. Visit the Thaxted Morris website for more details of the amazing and unusual festival. See website here

Thaxted Morris
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Lastly we have the Penzance May Horns Beltane Procession! Revived in 2008, the festival was a huge success last year, with many of the townsfolk processing along the seafront, led by the Green Man and the May Queen, who were joined by many musicians and dancers.

This years do is to be held on Sunday May 3rd. Please click banner above to go to the website.

The May Horns Green Man of Penzance

There are hundreds more events like these across Britain, many of them virtually unknown outside the towns and villages that hold them. Seek them out, for they are a valuable living resource of folk tradition and magic, often hidden amongst seemingly every day things within these colourful and entertaining celebrations of the ancient feast of Beltane.

The Company of the Green Man

A great new website has recently emerged, based upon an original idea by the late Ronald Millar. The Company of the Green Man was founded in 1998 and flourished until Ron's death in early 2006. Chris Walton has now re-started the Company, and has launched a website of the same name. Ronald Millar wrote the book The Green Man Companion and Gazetteer in 1997 and in a note at the back of the book invited interested people to join The Company of the Green Man and thus (with a little bit of encouragement) the Company began. Members enjoyed receiving copies of Ron's Newsletters from number 1 in September 1998 up until number 27 in September 2005. The new website takes up the quest for the green man where Ron left it, membership is free and open to all, and the website has a growing picture gallery, some original articles from the newsletter a really useful book list, gazetteer, maps, plus loads of information on "those mysterious green chaps". More articles are promised and the site is already proving itself as a fantastic online resource for all those interested in the Green Man.

You can visit the website by clicking the following  www.thecompanyofthegreenman.co.uk

Green Man, Ely Cathedral

Montol and the Lord of Misrule

In this article, Alex Langstone looks at some of the folk traditions surrounding Christmas and the New Year, and links them to ancient esoteric mystical practises in Britain and Europe both in the past and very much in the here and now.

Montol and the Lord of Misrule
by Alex Langstone

The Christmas traditions we are used to today are largely the invention of Victorian society and early 20th century advertising! Before this time, Christmas was only observed in church, and much of the pagan mid-winter traditions that have become mainstream today, were largely forgotten. In Yorkshire, Wales, Cumbria, and Cornwall, however there were Chistmas and mid-winter folk-traditions stretching back hundreds of years, with many traditional folk-carols, music and rural traditions connected with the birth of Christ and the winter solstice now being revived. In Cornwall some Christmas church services now include the ancient traditional carols, and at the recently revived Montol festival in Penzance, a special choir has been formed to sing these Cornish folk carols.

In Yorkshire, many pubs now encourage the singing of folk carols at Christmas, and in South Wales the festival was known as Y Gwyliau, and would often be the only prolonged holiday in the year when most of Wales made merry to commemorate the end of the year and looked forward to the next one with all agricultural work grinding to a halt for this much anticipated season.

Native evergreens have been collected for decorating the home during the Gwyliau for thousands of years. Ivy, holly, yew and mistletoe have a mystical ability to produce fruit in the depths of winter and were a symbol of the eternal cycle of life on earth.

One of the most celebrated and terrifying sights to travel around the narrow alley ways and winding roads of South Wales was the Mari Lwyd. A horse's head, festooned by a white sheet, ribbons and bells with its jaws set in a trap to make that all important snapping; the Mari Lwyd is an integral and mythical part of the Welsh Christmas and New Year festivities.

Mari Lwyd (Welsh Y Fari Lwyd) translates as the Grey Mare and the horse is a highly significant animal or symbol in the mythology of Britain. Carried around Wales by wassail-singing groups of men, Mari Lwyd was an extremely popular figure in parts of south and north east Wales during the last century although the tradition has slowly died out and is today only performed in small pockets of Glamorgan.

The ritual of the Mari Lwyd begins with the singing of traditional stanzas by the Mari Lwyd choir, travelling door-to-door soliciting both permission to sing and to gain entry into the houses of the towns and villages. Ale and Cider would be given as gifts, and gradually the whole event would become a community merry-making party! A similar tradition can be found at Aberconwy, in North Wales, where Penglog, (Welsh language: head or skull) assumes a similar role.

Bucca Dhu and Penglaz, Montol 2008

In Cumbria, the St Bees Traditional Mummers have recently revived Mumming and Guising around the pubs of St Bees on Christmas Eve and in Cambridgeshire the East Anglian folk-tradition of Molly Dancing at Christmas and the New Year is once again popular!

Montol hag Nadelik

In Penzance, Cornwall the ancient traditional festivities have been revived as the Montol Festival. Montol is a Cornish word meaning Winter Solstice, and many ancient customs of Nadelik (Cornish language Christmas) have been incorpoated into the modern festival.

Christmas as celebrated by the Cornish prior to the Victorian era had much of the elements we see in the modern Montol. In particular the singing of Carol's (Christmas folk songs as opposed to Christmas Hymns), the lighting of the Mock or Cornish Yule log and its chalking or carving with a stick man symbolic of what has been lost, and is still to come. The candle dance and 'Obby 'Oss also form a central part of the festivities.

Guisers and Musicians in a Chapel Street Hostelry (Photo: Sarah Jenner)

Many from the diverse communities of Penzance come together for this celebration of balance and harmony. It is both a mystical and religious celebration, combining the pagan folk-traditions of old, with the traditional Cornish Christmas observance of the Virgin Birth. This truly is a time of year where old customs and religious observance become entwined and entangled,and Montol is a perfect example of this

Penglaz, the Penzance town 'Oss leads the torchlit candle dance, and Carols are sung up on the Iron Age hillfort above the town, aound the Solstice beacon fire. School children make lanterns, and many folk dress up in traditional guise of mock formal, topsy-turvy or mock tatters. This years festival included Mummers, ghost story telling, guise dancing and the iconic Penglaz, the Night Mare 'Oss of the old ways...

I mentioned in my article The Solstice Goddess of Penzance, about the links we can find between the iconic image of Penglaz and Robert Graves' classic folk-prose-epic The White Goddess, and the sovereignty of the land. Penglaz, as the Goddess of the Dark Winter truly comes alive at this fantastic festival.

The Lord of Misrule and the Christmas Fool
As part of the masking tradition a Lord of Misrule would have been chosen to oversee the revels. He is also known as The Abbot of Unreason. Traditonally selected by the local community by some sort of lottery or game of chance, in many places this Lord would have been accompanied by other "mock" officials, such as the Mock Mayor, as happened at this years Montol festivities in Penzance, where Tony 'Mock' Blair, the towns official Mock Mayor was in attendance alongside the real Mayor and Mayoress and other dignitaries.

The figure of the Lord of Misrule is an ancient archetype, often refered to as the Christmas Fool , and he officiated over the great inbetweenness. The time of chaotic revery at Chistmas and New Year is the perfect in-between-time of the modern age, and so perfectly lends itself to this primordial archetype. He is often seen as the Horned God Capricorn, and he who turns the universe upside-down and bends time unexpectedly! Within this chasm of chaos, infinite possibilities briefly emerge and the modern concept of making new year resolutions maybe an ancient echo of this ritual of new possiblitites and fresh ideas! The Lord of Misrule was prelavent in the Roman rites of Saturnalia, which pre-dated the Christmas feast in ancient times. This feast held many similarities to the revived festivities in Britain today, including all social norms and constraints being cast away, whilst crowds gathered in the streets by the feiry braziers glowing warmly in the winter air. In 15th century France the Christmas Fool wore Asses ears, and was identified with Saturn.

The image of the Holy Fool liberates us all from the profane and mundane, and esoterically he is the Lord of the Night who sows the seeds of the future, whilst sailing upon the Ship of Fools across the landscape of our deepest dreams and desires.

In Cornwall the Lord of Misrule is known as Bucca Dhu, the dark face of the twin faced God of the Year. In Wales he is known as Pwca, and in Cumbria and Yorkshire he is the Boggart.


Montol 2008
This years festival climaxed on Satuday 20th December, after a week of mask making, Christmas late night markets, ghost stories and Mummers plays. The evenings festivities kicked off at St John's Hall at 6pm, where many school children had gathered with the beautiful lanterns they had made. Many people were in traditional guise costume, and the Turkey Rhubarb Band led the procession with traditional music of the Geese or Guise Dancers. The fire procession made its way up to the ancient Lescudjack Hill Fort above the town, where the children created a circle of lanterns around the Solstice beacon, which was set in the centre of the Iron Age Hill Fort. The Master of Ceremonies then said a few words, reminding us that it was the shortest day of the year, the Eve of the feast of St Thomas and that the ancient hill fort we were now occupying was fully in use at the time a child was born away in a manger! Here the Turkey Rhubarb band continued to play their traditional mysterious tunes, whilst Mock Tatters Guise Dancers from the Druid Grove of Bega danced their own peculiar Solstice Dance! The Lord of Misrule then danced around the circle before lighting the Solstice Beacon. The Montol Choir then took centre stage, led by Rev. Julyan Drew. The crowd was in for a treat, as many traditional Cornish Carols (Curls Kernewek) were sung into the sacred night.

Later in the evening Guise Dancing took place in Chapel Street, before the torchlit procession, led by the Golowan band, took shape from the Exchange gallery. As the torch bearers, musicians and guise dancers snaked their way down this historic district of old Penzance; Penglaz, the dark skeletal 'Obby 'Oss of Midwinter joined the magical prosession, led in a mystical trance-dance by Her teazer the androgynous spirit of winter's darkness Bucca Dhu.

Penglaz led us all to the final ceremony of the night. On the Sacred Headland, close to the docks, by the ancient shoreline; the Chalking of the Mock ritual was re-enacted. A serpent dance then weaved its way around the Winter Solstice fire, as Penglaz and Bucca Dhu mysteriously dissapeared into the primeval chaotic darkness of the longest night of the year.


References
Masks of Misrule by Nigel Jackson
The White Goddess by Robert Graves
www.penglaz.co.uk
Druid Grove of Bega: Winter Solstice Gallery

Photos
Montol Lescudjack Beacon
Y Fari Lwyd
Bucca Dhu and Penglaz
Guise Dancers and Musicians (Credit: Sarah Jenner)
Penglaz is teased by Bucca Dhu!
Lord of the Night entranced by Penglaz (Credit: Sarah Jenner)
Chalking the Mock

With grateful thanks to the organisers of this fantastic community festival, without whom, Penzance would surely be a lesser place to be! Contact them here www.montol.co.uk

Stop the Destruction of the Sacred Heart of Penzance!

The town of Penzance lies at the far south-western edge of Cornwall, overlooking the beautiful and unique Mount's Bay, where the last vestiges of the English Channel melds with the wild Atlantic Ocean. The town's name means holy headland or sacred head, and is traced from the Cornish language Pen Sans. One of the oldest parts of Penzance lies at the sandy beach adjacent to Battery Rocks. It was along this shore on the holy headland where Dark Age Celtic hermits and settlers arrived from Brittany and Ireland. St Buriana, St Gulval, St Paul Aurelian and St Madern are all localised Celtic saints, and it is easy to imagine them landing at this beach in the 5th and 6th centuries.

Sandy Cove, Penzance

Gradually a fishing community was established and the site of an 11th century chapel was discovered where St Anthony's gardens lie, just a few yards from the beach. It was here that the remains of a Celtic cross of late antiquity was discovered. This can now be seen in nearby St Mary's churchyard, at the top of the ancient low-lying cliffs of this holy headland. St Mary's is an 1830's Victorian rebuild, built on the site of a medieval Church. From St Mary's church, the oldest street in the town leads away from the headland towards the modern shopping centre. Chapel Street takes its name from the ancient Celtic chapel by the beach, neither from the Victorian St Mary's nor the neo-classical Wesleyan Chapel, both of which now sit along this old road of beginnings.

Remains of Dark Age cross

It is difficult to understand then, why this ancient sacred heart of the town is about to be completely destroyed. The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company in association with Halcrow Group Limited and Cornwall County Council are developing a project to build over the beach and battery rocks, completely destroying what remains of the ancient sacred headland where Penzance was born. This is one of the towns last pieces of wild shoreline, most of which has been destroyed over the last couple of hundred years of "development". Dolphins and Seals are regularly seen here, and the rock-pools are full of life, with anemones, fish and crabs. The view from this small beach is unsurpassable! St Michael's Mount with the Lizard peninsular stretching out behind is a wildlife paradise. It is difficult to believe that this project is even being considered, as back in the 1950s over half of the existing harbour was filled in to make a car park. This car park remains as a constant reminder of idiotic planning!

The plan now is to build a combined passenger and freight ferry terminal to service the Isles of Scilly, along with another car park and numerous buildings and warehouses. The present Lighthouse pier will be extended, and the beach and rocky headland will be obliterated in the name of so-called "modern progress". So in the 1950s one side of the historic port was ruined, and now in 2008, the proposal is to completely obliterate the other side of the historic harbour and docks at Penzance.

The road leading to and from this historic area to the immediate west of the present docks is totally inadequate for any increase in traffic, and this project will bring increased freight traffic, which in turn will cause many problems on the narrow roads in the Barbican and harbour areas of the town. The existing Isles of Scilly freight and ferry service is more than adequate, and given the lack of space available to add any kind of development at this historic and much loved Cornish port, I believe the plans should be scrapped.

Snakelocks Anemone, Sandy Cove, Penzance

The Route Partnership Proposal Isles of Scilly Link has come up with the worst possible option for Penzance in spite of hundreds of thousands of pounds being given to Hyder Consulting (UK) and others. The council tax paying residents of Penzance and Cornwall are expected to pay millions of pounds to guarantee the funding from the Department for Transport for this project. It does not remove traffic congestion from Penzance, in fact it will only increase it! They propose a development that is detrimental to Penzance sea front and will destroy the valuable and irreplaceable beach and Battery Rocks. It will ruin the setting of many listed buildings - the Lighthouse Pier, Jubilee Pool, and the Promenade. The war memorial, which sits between the beach and the art deco splendour of Jubilee Pool, will be lost amongst the new buildings, not very respectful to those who lost their lives during two world wars!

So what about the archaeology of the site? As mentioned the remains of a dark age cross was found at this site. If this project goes ahead, any remaining archaeological discoveries will be lost forever. Penzance thrives on the tourist industry, and the people who visit, do so because they are interested in the unique history of the place. If we allow part of the towns history to be destroyed, what will that tell future visitors about us? It is also worth remembering that this beach falls on the so-called St Michael/Beltane Line, a loose alignment of ancient sacred sites spanning the entire length of Southern Britain.

Autumn Equinox Sunrise from Sandy Cove, Penzance

So what can we do?

There is now an online petition courtesy of the Save the Holy Headland group. The petition is to the Secretary of State for the Environment and is requesting the rejection of a proposal put forward by the Route Partnership to build a passenger terminal and warehouses over Sandy Cove! The whole beach and rock pools would be buried under metres of concrete and obliterated forever. This proposal was rejected in 2004 by local people but since then plans have been going through without the townsfolk direct involvement. I know that this project will not affect people outside of Penzance but it is a stand against private companies who believe that their money can buy anything! We cannot simply stand by and do nothing to protect our ancient shoreline. A shoreline littered with the ghosts of dark-age Celtic hermits and the founding souls of this ancient settlement; a place where the sacred landscape and diverse wildlife of the sea meet and merge!

If you feel you could support this cause then please click on the link below and sign the petition.

Sign the online petition now by clicking this link here http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-the-holy-headland-penzance

Protest now by writing to the following:

Andrew George MP, Trewella, 18 Mennaye Rd, Penzance TR18 4NG. Tel: 01736 360020 Fax: 01736 332866 www.andrewgeorge.org.uk

Secretary of State for the Environment. The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR

Keep up to date with the latest developments by subscribing to the online newsletter on this site http://www.pznews.co.uk/pzHarbour.htm

If you are local, visit the beach, take photos of the wildlife and protest, tell people and keep in touch.

STOP PRESS
It was reported in last weeks Cornishman newspaper (20/11/08 ) that due to massive public opposition, the plans have been put on hold whilst further consultation is held with the public!

Let's keep up the pressure by continuing to protest and lets hope for a sensible outcome.

This article first apeared in Heritage Action's Heritage Journal here