Roche Rock Stories

Roche Rock and the Chapel

Today we follow on from my previous post The Mysterious Roche Rock, Cornwall. Following are three legends / stories about the chapel / hermitage that have been passed down over the years.

Looking through one of the Roche Rock chapel's windows

Tristran (Tristram) and Iseult. Tristran was a nephew of King Mark of Cornwall - in the 6th century - and he was given the responsibility of escorting the King's bride to be, Iseult, from Ireland. This seemed an easy duty to perform but Tristan and Iseult sipped a love potion - well, it's easily done - and the two fell helplessly in love. Needless to say, King Mark wasn't too pleased with the news, so the lovers took flight - and guess where they took refuge? Yes in Roche Rock's chapel, which may have been a hermitage at the time.

There are various versions of the Tristran and Iseult story. In some King Mark finds out about the relationship and sends Tristran to be hanged. Somehow Tristran escapes and the King decides to forgive the lovers - but banishes Tristran from the area, He travelled to France brokenhearted. .

Inside Roche Rock Chapel

Saint Conan. Another story is that of the Celtic saint, St.Conan, of the 6th century. He took refuge at the chapel to commune with his God. He must have done a good job as he became one of the first Bishops of Cornwall. He left Roche Rock to install himself at St.Michael's Mount - a small island off Cornwall.

Gundred. One more brief story for today, the tale of Gundred. Her father was a leper.and had to remain separate from the local society by living in the Roche Rock chapel. Gundred tended to all of his needs. Daily she bathed him with water from a Holy Well, about mile from Roche Rock. The well became known as St.Gundred's well and is still there today The photo above shows a view from one of the windows high on Roche Rock. This is looking towards the village and church.

The Mysterious Roche Rock, Cornwall

As the evening shadows fall on Roche Rock, and it's tiny chapel, the wind howls heartily over the heath-land. It is definitely not a place for the faint-hearted. The ghost of an old tin miner casts his shadow with no earthly presence to be seen ... gulp ...

But luckily, while I visited Roche Rock, there was a blue winter's sky and the dangers had dissolved in the sunshine.

Okay what we know about Roche Rock is that a small chapel, or maybe a hermitage, has been built on natural rocks. Many say that these rocks are granite, but they are wrong. They are a mixture of grey quartz and black tourmaline. They are very strong and have supported the chapel since the 1400s - the chapel was dedicated to St.Michael in 1409. The rocks themselves are a little bit older - they were created some 270 million years ago!

Around the Rock is one of the last areas of heath-land locally. It probably looks much as it did a thousand or more years ago.

I'll mention some of the stories and myths about Roche Rock another day. But below is an old picture of Roche Rock together with a description (in old English) by John Norden in 1584:

A verie high, steepe and craggie rocke, upon the top whereof is placed a cell or hermitage, the walls whereof are partly wrowghte, and that with great labour, out of obdurate rock. It standeth upon the wylde Moares, farr from common societie"

Also see Roche Rock Stories

Robin Redbreast In The Sunshine

Brrr! Quite chilly and windy this morning, but while out walking I saw this lovely young robin almost basking in a moment of sunshine. We had a brief chat and each went on our separate ways.

PENTEWAN, CORNWALL: COMPARING HOW IT LOOKED IN 1900 WITH TODAY

The photo above is of of Pentewan, Cornwall and part of the harbour, circa 1900. So over one hundred years later I tried to find the same scene.

It was difficult and I was unable to get the exact view. I climbed a small path (safely) up the side of the cliff and found the very same cottage, as the photo above shows. It looks very much the same - as was the skyline. When I tried to go higher, to exactly match the 1900 photo, there were too many bushes and trees to take a photo.

I snapped a photo from ground level to show where the cottage is positioned. Unfortunately another property has been built partly in front of it - spoiling the view. I placed a red dot on the cottage.

The house directly below the red dot is the old Harbour Master's residence.

In the late 1800s, and early 1900s the harbour would have been full of tall sailing ships exporting local china clay, metals and the like all over the world. That is all in the past, it's now a quiet village during the winter, spring and autumn - but gets its share of holiday makers and tourists during the summer season.

The photo above and below show how Pentewan looks nowadays - well on a sunny, blue sky day when all the holiday makers must have been on the beach!

TRADITIONAL PHONE BOX AND POST BOX

On Wednesday's visit to The Lost Gardens of Heligan it's always good to see the traditional red phone boxes. It would be such a shame to see them all disappear.

LOST GARDENS OF HELIGAN IN WINTER

Camellias at Heligan

A strange day yesterday: cold, grey but at times flashes of a blue sky. We decided to visit The Lost Gardens of Heligan. Not the best time of year to go to Heligan but we have a local's annual pass, so it's interesting to see the gardens through the seasons.

Not much colour this time of the year, just early flowers, like snowdrops and camillias. Only a few farm animals bracing the cold, mostly sheep at the moment.

Sheep feeding

The different formal gardens are all tidy and well cared for and there are lots of woodland to walk. I like to head for the jungle and the lost valley.

Sundial Garden

On the way to the jungle we passed the 'witches hat' (photo below) - a sculpture made of charcoal. Make of it what you will!

Witches Hat Sculpture

At last the rope bridge and jungle scenes.

The Burma Rope Bridge

After walking through the jungle we made our way back to the car. The photo below shows the view from Heligan's overflow car park - not that it was used yesterday.

Heligan's Overflow Car Park

THERE'S ALWAYS A WELCOME IN CORNWALL!

I decided it was advisable to retrace my steps - it can sometimes be a problem walking along unknown paths and tracks!