With the tourist season upon us I thought that I would take a look at how travellers of the past saw Newlyn.
Having made a start I am not convinced that this was a good idea.; It has to be said that many of the visitors didn’t even bother to visit the village and, for the most part, those who did made only brief mention of it, as with John Leland writing in 1536:
Newlin is a poor fisher town, and hath only a quay for ships and boats with a little succor of land water. Also in the bay by the same town is a good road for ships called Guaves Lake.
He makes one other reference to Newlyn which will do little to improve the relationship between that village and Mousehole:
Newlin is an hamlet to Mousehole.
This was written long before the Spanish raid of 1595 in which Newlyn also played a part, if a minor one!
Having tried the writings of several other early travellers without success I turned, with feelings of relief, to the earliest guide book to the Mount’s Bay and Land’s End published in 1816 by T. Vigurs, a Penzance printer.; The name of the author is not given in the text but it is known to be a Dr John Ayrton Paris who lived in Penzance from 1813 to 1817.; As well as topography the contents of the book include the natural history, agriculture, fisheries, antiquities, mineralogy and geology of Western Cornwall. The second edition added, for the information of invalids, a dialogue on the peculiar advantages of the mild climate of the Penzance area.; Dr Paris was to become President of the Royal College of Physicians from 1844 to 1856.
What colour are your eyes? Writing about the fish market in Penzance, Dr Paris wrote of the variety of fish offered for sale every day by:
….the Newlyn Fish-women, whose delicate complexions, and the vivacity and brilliancy of whose jet black eyes, darting their rays from beneath the shade of large beaver hats, fascinate the traveller.
Dr Paris does not enlarge on the delights of Newlyn but at least he is not dismissive, recommending the coast road from Mousehole to Penzance as affording a fine view of St. Michael's Mount, and it's beautiful bay, as well as an opportunity of visiting the villages of Mousehole and Newlyn,
....which may be called colonies of fishermen; the Pilchard and Mackerel fisheries are here carried on to a very great extent, fish of every kind which frequent this coast are sent in abundance to Penzance, and most other Cornish towns, they supply the London Market with mackerel, which are conveyed by way of Portsmouth.
The next guide book was published in 1845 and was written by J. S. Courtney .; In the intervening years the town of Penzance had expanded considerably but not towards Newlyn. Courtney writes:
....In spring scarcely any place can exceed the beauty of the Vale of Alverne; it is one continued garden, delightfully; closed in by the woody heights of Lariggan...
and further on(on entering Newlyn):
....on the right hand is the Tolcarne, a fine group of rocks, from whence is a; sweet view of the richly cultivated valley, which extends upwards as far as Trereife. We now cross the bridge and are in Street-a-nowan (New Street) a sort of adjunct to the fishing town of Newlyn.; Before us is a steep ascent , we are in fact at the foot of what is commonly called Jack Lane.; For a while; the road is lined with houses, or closed in by steep hedges, shutting out the view, but soon....some of the finest views in the west spread themselves before us, Mr Davies Gilbert says that it is not easy to imagine anything more beautiful than the prospect from the summit of the hill above Newlyn.
....The town of Newlyn contains nothing remarkable to attract attention, indeed with the exception of some pleasantly; situated dwellings at its southern extremity, it is a confused assemblage of houses.; Being however the principal fishing station in the Mount's Bay....(he then goes on to give an account of; hook, trawl, drift net and seine fishing).;
I next turned to a book written in 1936 by J. R. A. Hockin; Walking in Cornwall. Mr Hockin holds neither Penzance or Newlyn in high regard .He can think of no valid excuse; for hanging around Penzance and recommends catching a bus to Mousehole from Marazion, bypassing both Penzance and Newlyn. Of Newlyn he writes:
The fishing industry may have declined but there seems to be no lessening of the luscious smell of both Newlyn and Mousehole; a stink that cannot have been seriously interfered with since the Spaniards burnt these ports in 1595.; very likely its stimulating flavour had something to do with the vigorous originality of the Newlyn artists...even in the fastidious fifties Newlyn was re-commended to 'all artists who entertain a proper sense of the value of dirt.';
There is more of this but I think you have read enough to form an opinion of Mr Hockin – don't buy the; book! Present day writers are more kind, extolling the natural beauty of the area, the contribution made by the artists of the Newlyn School and the importance of fishing to the economy. No longer are we dismissed as a 'small fisher town'.
Margaret Perry
