Cornwall in the Blood
The home of my ancestors was beyond my imagining.
The town of St Just in Penwith, Cornwall was a hub of the tin and copper mining industry which dominated the south western coast of Cornwall from ancient times until the mid-twentieth century. Research into my own family tree revealed that my ancestors had lived in and around St Just for centuries and only left for Australia, New Zealand and the United States less than 200 years ago.
I wanted to see the rugged, natural majesty of the Cornish coast, I wanted to know if I’d feel any affinity with my ancestral home and I wanted to know more about why they departed for Australia in the 1850’s.
So, adding a week’s holiday to a London business trip, my husband and I seized the opportunity, hired a car and went to find out. After a night in Bath and a stop at Glastonbury Abbey, we found ourselves becoming quickly immersed in one of our most beautiful adventures.
Day One
St Just is located on the south-western coast of the UK, not far from Land’s End. At nearby Cape Cornwall the steep cliffs of the dramatic rocky coastline form a background to silhouetted ruins of the characteristic Cornish mining engine houses with their tall chimney stacks. Old mine buildings still cling to their once industrial clifftop sites, now largely returned to original lush green…
