THE 500 PLUS YEAR OLD BRIDGE, ST.AUSTELL, CORNWALL

West Bridge, St.Austell, Cornwall

On the outskirts of  St.Austell town there is a very old bridge that is rarely given a second glance. It no longer carries traffic, other than perhaps a few bicycles. This is a shame because the bridge is well over 500 years old.

We know it's minimum age because it was mentioned by someone called John Leland in 1538. He was King Henry VIII's Chaplain who was sent out around the country to gather material for a history of England.

Leland, sometimes spelt Leyland, didn't seem to think much of St. Austell as he wrote (in old English): "... the poore toun of St Austelles is nothing notable but for the paroch chirch. And there is a bridge of the same name."

500+ years ago things would have been different. The bridge would then have carried all of the visitors and tradespeople to and from the west of St.Austell town. How times change.

The roadway of the bridge (photo below) has, unfortunately now been covered with tarmac but the passing V-shaped places can be seen.

The roadway of West Bridge, St.Aystell, Cornwall

There is a scratched etching of the bridge from 1803, as shown below. The river was wider and faster back then.

1803 etching of the approach to St.Austell town

Besides the river and bridge St.Austell church tower can be seen to the right of the etching. This remains today as can be seen in the photo below. I snapped the photo during the summer months - thus the blue sky!

St.Austell church

How life moves on, to think of all of the people who have walked the bridge and visited the church over many hundreds of years. The tales they could tell us.

TINTAGEL OLD POST OFFICE, CORNWALL

Tintagel Old Post Office, Cornwall

One of the attractions of the village at Tintagel, on Cornwall's north coast, is the Old Post Office. It is actually a 14th century stone house of a medieval manor style.

The house became the post office during Queen Victoria's reign when the building was granted a licence to become the receiving office for the local area.

An old red post box can be seen in the photo below - which is built into the wall and has Queen Victoria's initials.

Tintagel Post Office showing a red Queen Victoria Post Box

There is an 1890s photo of the Tintagel Post Office on: Old Cornwall: Tintagel

WALKING ON THE BEACH AT CARLYON BAY, CORNWALL

This morning we went for a stroll along the beach at Carlyon Bay. Not many people about as it had been a blowy old night. The people who were there tended to be dog walkers.

It's a pleasant beach, or perhaps I should say: it was a pleasant beach. The problem is that, for what seems like forever, there have been plans to develop parts of the beach with shops and apartments. As yet nothing has materialised - other than disagreements and piles of rocks delivered for a possible sea wall. It's a shame as they have messed up large parts of the beach.

ST. DENYS, KING ARTHUR AND ST.DENNIS CHURCH

It was a dark and dismal day, not really a time for taking photos, but somehow we ended up in St.Dennis, a village away from the normal Cornish tourist trail.

The old church at St.Dennis - St Denys - stands high on a conical hill overlooking the village and Goss Moor. The church was originally built on the site of a fortified Iron Age settlement.

The Cornish language word for a hill fort is 'dinas' so perhaps this is how the church name came about. But, in saying that, the church was dedicated to St Dionysius in 1327 and this could well have changed over the years to Denys or maybe Dennis. Whatever, the church itself has been in place since the 11th century and the site was probably used for religious meetings well before this.

Looking across the fields and moors from the church

The legendary King Arthur may have walked these fields The The Megalithic Portal website quotes the following from the Chronicles of British Kings' by Geoffrey of Gloucester:

King Arthur. king of the Britons took refuge in the South West from the Angles, a Turkonic (sic) race who invaded Britain during the 5th century. Demelihoc was a secondary fortress of Gorlios, King of Cornwall. We asume Dimelihoc was a dinas of dennis on which the church was built. During the fight with Arthur, Gorlios put his wife Igeme in the strongest fort Castle an Dinas and he commanded Demelihoc hoping that he would survive. He was slain and his wife captured. She afterwards married Uther of round table fame.

Ancient Celtic Cross

Going back to the St, Denys churchyard, along the main entrance path is an ancient Celtic Cross. The age is unknown but there are crude markings of a cross and also an hour glass shaped design on the shaft.

I'll have to go back to the church at St.Dennis on a sunny day to take some decent photos. On a dismal day the church yard looks kind of creepy!

A final view looking from the church. There is an old pathway - and in the distance the white hills of the china clay industry

IN PRAISE OF THE CORNWALL AIR AMBULANCE

I was at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro yesterday (nothing serious) when out of the sky came the Cornwall Air Ambulance helicopter.

The air ambulance service is something special. It has been operating since 1987 and has carried out something like 20,000 missions - thus saving many lives. The helicopter can reach anywhere on Cornwall's mainland in about 12 minutes - which is often essential, especially in the summer months when many of Cornwall's main roads can get clogged with traffic.

The Cornwall Air Ambulance is not government funded but is, in effect, a charity so has to raise funds from sponsors and the general public. At the moment they are trying to raise £2.5 million to
bring the next generation air ambulance to Cornwall.

THE WHITE HART, ST.AUSTELL

This is the White Hart Hotel and Bar in the center of St.Austell, right opposite the church. I chose this particular photo today because there is a link with a previous post about Charlestown.

The link being that the Georgian White Hart was once the home of Charles Rashleigh - the man who built the harbour and village of Charlestown in the late 1700s.

The distinctive red/orange building in the background  was built a lot later in 1898 and is now a bank. It was designed by Silvanus Trevail and the red terracotta bricks came all the way from Ruanon in North Wales.

That's it for today, other than another photo of the White Hart.

THE VICIOUS SEAGULLS

This fellow was checking out the sign and pleading his innocence!

Must admit though that some of the seagulls have a definite taste for take-a-ways, sandwiches and chips. I saw one recently swoop down and snatch a child's cake - so there were floods of tears.

The problem is that visitors will feed them - the seagulls, that is - so they take the easy option when looking for their lunch.