Around St Just in Penwith Part One

A Virtual Walk Around The St Just Area.

By Sandra and George Pritchard

There are many roads that will take you westward to St Just and everyone requires a long, slow climb. From the sheltered rim of Mounts Bay the granite hills rise in soft folds, creating gentle valleys and soft river bottoms. Numerous pathways criss-cross the land created by the many packhorse trains that brought the hard won mineral wealth of the hills down to the shores to trade.

Trencrom, Castle an Dinas, Carn Galva & Carn Kenidjack act as sentinels to the hidden charms of the north coast, their surface dotted with the remains of the ancient ones.

Once their slopes are conquered, the road drops down to a flat tableland where the air is always stirring. Trees only grow in the sheltered hollows and plants are sometimes burnt brown by salt laden winds. The seas are whipped up until the peaks are snow white with flecks of foam that then get carried on the air to land on the unsuspecting flora.

The main road from Penzance through Morvah parish to St Just was not built until 1763. Before that each hamlet had a road leading up to the open moors to meet the old mule track which went across the high land. This track started at the Land's End [near the present day airport] and climbed the hill called Bound an Arth or High Lane which led on to Crows-an-Wra. At the summit it crossed the ancient track from Sennen to Penzance and on to St Ives. This is known as Vounder Go Glas or Little Green Lane. Parts of these track ways are still in evidence. With the construction of a road there was now a way for the mining industry to develop. However, when the Rev John Sweete, a native of Devon, undertook a tour of Cornwall on horseback in 1780 it was still relatively unspoilt.".. we reached an immense carn, the most craggy and extensive of any I had been near to. [Carn Kenidjack].From hence we had a fine view of St Just in Penwith, which arose with a few orchards and green fields !
in the midst of a barren uncultured scene.Today this approach is still only possible on horseback or foot as the main highway veers around the base of the hill but we can take a short walk to reach this compelling stretch of moorland and experience the stillness that has prevailed up here since time began.

This carn is bare of natural landmarks save for a work of nature - the weird pile of stones that crowns its summit and several works of man - stone circles, tumuli and round houses. Most are now reduced to vague shapes and outlines save for one complete circle on the southern flank. Some 150 years ago here were the ruins of a sacred metropolis, with highways leading to it from the coast, each marked by standing stones at intervals along the way. Truly this must have once been a seat of great power; a place were those with knowledge of the unseen and unknown worked their magic.

The people of St Just in the 1850's believed this was the place where the the dark horseman rides after midnight : perhaps the devil himself in disguise. Beyond the craggy summit stretches a plain all the way to the ancient impressive Chun Cromlech and the nearby fortified Chun Castle. This is Goon Gumpus, known simply to locals as "The Gump". A place where people got "pixie led", saw faerie folk and mysterious lights. Near a track across the Gump was a well with the purest of water. This was best avoided after dark as then, sitting on the hedge nearby would appear an old women in a red shawl who would silently watch. No matter how many times the pitcher was plunged into the sweet water when lifted it would be empty. This was the ghost of "Old Moll " she had terrified the populace when alive and continued to do so after death

Imagine if you will it is again 1851 and it's a still, moonlit summer's night with scarce a breath of wind. The air begins to move, slowly at first, over the grassy mounds and the seed heads tinkle as they shake. The breeze rises and draws the warm air ever upward to the peaks and then, as it passes through the pinnacles and fissures of the rocks, there is a long low hum that reverberates and echoes in this primeval silence. "The Hooting Carn": feared and respected by generation after generation. The warm evening air now has a chill to it and as a cloud passes over the face of the moon, there is a faint hiss from behind you ; turning sharply to see what made it there follow pops and splutters and within seconds will o' the wisp lights dance across the ground, glowing yellow and blue, flicking on and off as they rise and fall in the dank air. Follow them at your peril as they lead to the deepest parts of the bog . A sip or two of Dutch courage [gin] was often taken if !
a journey across this moor was necessary after dark. A drop too much and who knows where you might find yourselves by morning.

There is a simple explanation due to natural inversion currants and marsh gas in the ever wet boggy ground on the heights etc. etc. but a night on the carn alone never was an inviting prospect.. The tales were embellished and repeated by those who wished their nocturnal activities in the same area to have few witnesses. The pack-horse trains that left with their loads of ore for Penzance the smelter never returned empty handed. Another route over the hills was on the old pack road up through the Tregaseal Valley. Near the top is a farmhouse called Chyoone. In 1983 a Mrs Ethel Waters said she had heard maybe twenty times phantom hoofbeats and the rumble of carriage wheels from inside the farmhouse. The approach of the unseen coach could be heard as it turned off the main road at the top of the hill and slowed down and halted at the farm. The theory is that the farmhouse was once a toll house on the turnpike. Research shows that the main road at the top of Tregaseal Hi!
ll was not cut until after 1888 and before that it was a green lane track on the OS map. Coaches were comparatively rare west of Penzance until 1851 and the horse buses went via Pendeen and Morvah. The toll house for this was at the Nancherrow Hill bridge on the main coastal road, so this apparition is a bit of a mystery.

>From Carn Kenidjack today the view is pleasantly green and the mining scars have healed leaving only picturesque remnants. It was much like this before the great expansion of the 1840's. when the Rev Sweet saw the town of St Just and continued on his journey
" Having descended the hill we came onto a very excellent road to Penzance on the southern coast, formed for the conveyance of tin with which these parts abounded. 

We arrived at the town about 12 and, understanding that there was no sort of accommodation to be met with nearer than Lands End about six miles further on, we were under the necessity of resting here to dine" He probably ate at one of the inns in St Just of which there were only two at that time, 'The Star' or the " King's Arms". Whilst waiting for his meal he took a short walk to see the ancient Plen- an-Gwary.

" [the amphitheatre]... enclosed in by the houses of the town.......still retains its open and circular form.the diameter 135 ft and the height of the bank from without 10ft...there was to be seen in one part .. the appearance of six stone steps, which is the number that the amphitheatre consisted of. In these cirques, plays taken from scripture history were
acted by the Britons and in them also were performed all their athletary exercises, for which the Cornish men were of old so remarkable and even to this day, here they celebrate their rural games. The town for the most part consists of little houses pleasantly ranged round a small open area on the eastern side of which stands a very decent moor stone church"

A report in West Briton of 28 October 1836 some 56 years later has a little less romantic view of the historical site: [and says so in what must be oneof the longest sentences ever]

" Few are the persons in St Just who have any knowledge of the supposed religious character of the amphitheatre; the association rather which they have in connection with it, are, that it has been used from time immemorial, a goal for hurling, a prize ring for wrestling, a place where fowls were staked on Shrove Tuesdays (as a target for thrown sticks, a barbaric sport virtually extinct by 1800), and such like idle and unprofitable exhibitions."

Miners held drilling competitions on Feast Monday. Today you can still see the lumps of granite where 12 inch plus holes were drilled by hand with a time limit ; one man held the iron drill, giving it a quarter turn at every blow and another wielded the hammer. Sometimes they worked "double- handed" to increase the depth in the time allowed; two men striking alternately, now that's trust !There are a tales of young miners learning the technique, their aim slipping in their temerity and anxiety. The person holding the drill was more often than not a close relative of the apprentice. When the hammer came cracking down on their arm they barely flinched and assured the youngster . ......

"Get on wid'n. I 'ardly felt a thing. Slipped off me arm like sweat"

The skill needed to be learnt and it required nerves of steel and bodies tough as iron.The Playing Place site deteriorated somewhat and over the next forty years the stone walls had lost some of their height and the whole area was treated as the town dump. About this time also the area know as Bank Square was laid out;

According to the West Briton 31 Oct 1878:

"Mr Chenalls stated that within the last two or three weeks thirteen or fourteen men had been engaged in St Just, with the object of restoring the old Amphitheatre [the mediaeval playing place or Plen-an-guar] there to its
original shape, and that it had taken off those who had been hanging about the corners of the town seeking employment."

The town of St Just is still dominated by the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel whose builders' sole aim was to glorify their God in a house of prayer to rival that of the 15th century parish Church. They succeeded. The greater
part of the town was built between 1770 and 1870 mostly by miners under laws and conditions that were nothing short of iniquitous. Not being built on freehold land, it was almost a wasted effort. After 3 lives or a 99 years
lease, the landlord could demand a greater rent, due to any improvements made by the sitting tenant. For many the death of the last life was to mean the end of the family home, coming as it did around the time of the depression of mining when they could ill afford to pay the increases in rents demanded by the landowners.

A K Hamilton Jenkin 1800's gives a description of these homes in the early 19th century in his book, The Story of Cornwall

" Most of the cottages of this date, especially in the mining districts, are built by the people themselves. The walls were generally of clay and chopped straw beaten hard; whilst the roofs were thatched. Stone of course was
sometimes used but only when this could be got free of cost......Such cottages were dumped down anywhere and anyhow, wherever a bit of land could be obtained. Some of them still remain in odd corners by the roadsides photo
or on rocky ledges above the fishing coves. Hundreds more were built by the miners amidst the shafts, burrows and engine houses of the mines which gave them work. It is said that in certain cases cottages of this sort have
actually been built in one night. This was to gain the advantage of an old customary right which is supposed to have entitled the owners of such buildings to have claimed the freehold of the ground on which they stood for
ever afterwards"

An example of a 3 lives lease appeared in the West Briton 31 July 1812

"Rights of Turbury: St Just in Penwith Sundry estates in the tenement of Gorland to be leased, in lots, for terms
of 99 years, determined by the deaths of three lives of the purchaser's nomination. The Town Place, cliff and moors containing about 33 acres, are in common. The premises are capable of great improvement, lying close to Whitsands bay, whence sand and ore-weed may be procured. Each lot will be entitled to cut and carry home from Bartinney Forest, in the same parish, upward of 3,100 turves annually.This farm holding was in the area close to the Sennen -St Just Parish boundary south of the road from St Just to Lands End. The land would have required a great deal of sand and seaweed over several lifetimes to make it productive. The name "Bartinney Forest" is very ancient, At the time of the sale there wasn't a stick of timber on the downs but furze and turf for fuel was in abundance."

If we turn our back on the ancient playing place and cross the square we can take a closer look at the two main gateways of the church, in particular the great iron gates outside the south porch, the last surviving example of
a local iron founders art.

In 1834 a branch of the Holman family settled in St Just and set up his foundry at Tregaseal [of which more later] Nicholas Holman made his living chiefly from producing boilers, headwork and winding gear for the many mines of the St Just district but the casting shops also produced profitable sidelines such as the Cornish Range, lamp posts and gates and railings.

In 1863 the design for the heads of the railings that were to enclose the forecourt of the St John's Hall, Penzance were submitted to various manufacturers. Each in turn refused the order saying it was "impossible" to make a pattern in wood that could then be drawn out of the mould. The design was far too complicated. Working for Holman's in those days was a very skilful pattern maker that took great pride in his work. His name was 'Ould Mathy Eddy'. After carefully studying the design he made a pattern of the head in mahogany. It was then cut into about forty pieces in such a way at to enable the moulder to draw them out of the sand, one by one, and to leave the cavity into which the molten metal could be poured. This made an exact replica of the original design. The trial pieces were used to make the corner-heads of the St Just churchyard gates. Until the last war the wooden patterns were still in the possession of the Holman family but part of the foundry at Tregaseal received a direct hit and sadly they were lost. The majestic railings at St Johns Hall were cut down and went towards the war effort. Some were later sold back to Holmans at 30 shillings a hundredweight [£1.50p for 56 lbs] They ended up being melted down and cast into gratings, manhole covers and plough shares. So the gates at St Just are truly UNIQUE

Before continuing our rambles it needs to be said that St Just Town was more than the cluster of buildings around the church, pubs and Market Square. Each area fanned out and each has its own local name. The churchtown itself was formerly referred to by its old name of Lafrowda from the ancient manor of that name. This was before the formation of the ecclesiastical parishes and sadly its history is mostly lost in the mists of time. All these local names for the various hamlets and districts were well known in the days of my youth but many are now long forgotten and have gone unrecorded in present day street or place names. The areas tended to be named after the mine workings or the original old names. Places like Nineveh and Wheal Zandra exist no more. Most of the original St Just family names arose from these area names and nearly all of these have also passed into history. we will look more closely at this in the next episode.