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Pendeen
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Pendeen is a small village close to the coastline, within the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, UK. It is away from the town of St Just and is part of the St. Just civil parish. It is from the town of Penzance.
ed around Pendeen are the villages of Carnyorth and Trewellard as well as the historical site: Geevor Tin Mine. In October 2005, Pendeen finished building its own Community Centre. It has a shop, two Inns, a post office, a primary school, fish and chip shop, parish hall, church and gem shop.
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Encyclopedia
Pendeen is a small village close to the coastline, within the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, UK. It is away from the town of St Just and is part of the St. Just civil parish. It is from the town of Penzance.
Geography
Dotted around Pendeen are the villages of Carnyorth and Trewellard as well as the historical site: Geevor Tin Mine. In October 2005, Pendeen finished building its own Community Centre. It has a shop, two Inns, a post office, a primary school, fish and chip shop, parish hall, church and gem shop. There is a strong sense of community in the village and it has many clubs including an art club, silver marching band and a football club.
Pendeen is overlooked by a hill referred to by locals as 'The Carn'. This was the site of a quarry used to mine the granite to build Pendeen church just over a hundred and fifty years ago. Overlooking Pendeen, above the Church, is a hill which the locals have nicknamed "Raw Carn", because of the wind which seems always to blow cold at the summit. Like many other old Cornish coast villages, Pendeen was believed to be a secret place for smuggling activities off-shore. One mile down a coast road from Boscaswell sits Pendeen Lighthouse and its noticeable fog-warning siren can be heard from miles around.
Buildings of interest & antiquities
The Church of St John was built of granite: it was designed by the parson (Robert Aitken) and built by the villagers in 1851. At Pendeen Vau is a picturesque farmhouse of the 16th century (front added in 1670) and a fogou (56 ft long, with a side passage of 24 ft).
Horsefield's Life in a Cornish Village
Pendeen was the subject of the book 'Life in a Cornish Village' by the Rev. F. J. Horsefield in 1893. Horsefield, being an amateur historian, wrote of a multitude of fascinating aspects of Pendeen's past.
He wrote, for example, that Chûn Castle, on the 'gump' (Cornish for moor) was most likely a Danish (pre-)viking castle. It was built when the indigenous Celts (viz. 'Cornu-Britons') were joined by Danish military allies against the invading Saxons. The gump itself was a battlefield with many discovered urns indicating this violent history. There remains little trace of provenance for this assertion. Chun Castle is much older than first thought and is possibly Bronze Age or earlier, and much more likely to be the site of a fortified village. It was excavated in 1930 and is thought to have been built in the third century BC, far later than its neighbouring Chûn Quoit.
Boscaswell, arguably a part of Pendeen, traces its name to Bos Castle. Horsefield suggests that what is now Boscaswell was once the site of another Danish castle. Again now not thought to be true, again a wrongful supposition and the name has nothing to do with castles. There is an ancient pagan well in Boscaswell which is where the name is thought to have its origins, the name suggests that it is the place (Bos) of Cas' (a person or entity or abbreviation thereof) Well (as in the English word. Problems often exist with such names when they become a hybrid of the indigenous Cornish and the persistent waves of English administration, land ownership and tourism that stretch back into time and continue today.
Geevor tin mine
Pendeen is famous for its Geevor Tin Mine. The Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited the mine in 1957. Little in the way of corroboration exists for the following speculations; however, mining has occurred in Pendeen for over 3000 years. 2000 years ago the Romans brought Jews to Pendeen to work the mines. These Jews, suggests Horsefield, came as slaves from the then recently sacked Jerusalem. Moreover, when Horsefield wrote his book, he claimed that locals still called a piece of tin a 'Jew's piece'. Jewish influence can be witnessed around Pendeen through names such as the village 'Bojewyn' (meaning 'abode of the Jews'); (Bojewyn is more likely to be translated from its Brythonic origins as meaning "John's Place", Jowan being a common Cornish family and first name whilst the prefix "Bos" could be most likely referring to a location or domain; Bosjowan is converted to Bojewyn through development of the indigenous dialect of West Penwith. 'Market Jew street' in Penzance, and the small town of 'Marazion' (of St Michael's Mount fame). Horsefield is now considered to be incorrect in his assertion about these names, with his interpretation of the place names; Market Jew Street and Marazion. Both places could derive their names from the Cornish language. Marghas yow is Cornish meaning Thursday market and Thursday is still considered as market day by many local people. Many Cornish place names survive in the form of the Middle or Early Cornish language and in this context the English meaning of the word Jew is probably completely different to that of its original Cornish Language meaning. For example dialectically the word Jew could be a phonetic version of the written Cornish word "Dhu" meaning Black, as Cassiterrite tin ore is often black in colour until smelted when it turns white this further complicates the debate whilst clarifying the assertions made by Horsefield and similar speculations.
Geography (continued)
Horsefield also writes of a large natural cave named 'Pendeen Vau', the entrance of which is to be found on a cliff. Apparently this cave is vast, going far below & into the sea but its existence is disputed by many villagers.
Below Boscaswell is an area known as 'The Craft' which is mostly overgrown by gorse, fern and brambles, although many pathways exist. Here can be found abandoned mine buildings dating from the 19th century (including wash houses, engine houses and arsenic baths).
Pendeen boasts three beaches although some are more accessible than others. The largest of the them was for many years the home of a wrecked ship until the army was called in to clear the wreck as it was presenting a danger to swimmers.
Below Pendeen Lighthouse can be found the wreck of 'The Liberty', although most of it has now been eroded away but the sea parts of the wreck are still visible at low tide on what locals call 'Liberty Rock' which is a favourite fishing spot.
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