I was born, me! Aug 21 1901
My first awareness of those around me. Mother of course, and Grandfather- sitting on his lap while entertained me with a button strung with cotton in his waistcoat buttonhole!
Going to Trungle with cousin Dick to help Grandfather with his carpenters frail (??).
Grandfathers funeral. I was sitting in the stairs with all the bustle going on and bursting into tears -hearing someone say “oh the dear child is feeling all alone” and I don’t know who it was that gathered me into her arms, but I can feel to this day the lovely warmth of her body and the sense of complete and utter protection!
There were other days – Sundays no doubt when my cousin Beatrice took me out walking with her friends across the fields to Trevithal and the surge (of) emotion when eventually I saw my mother coming across the fields to meet us!
I remember too being taken to school by the same cousin and put to sit at the teachers table. In those days children were allowed to bring wee children to school etc.
I remember too the warm smell of paraffin lamps in church in the winter time and especially when there was a midnight new year service called “watch night service” at the passing of the old year and to hear the big bell being tolled by Peter Harvey the church constable, counting the 12 strokes!!
In those very early days I was about 4 years of age when the landlord of the inn – who was a friend of the family – used to call mother to ask where I was and eventually to carry me into the pub where I watched him filling glasses of beer from wooden casks behind the bar! He had no family of his own – so I came in for a lot of loving attention.
Gradually I was also aware of my various relatives – Grandma (paternal) several aunts. One lived in Mousehole where she and Uncle ran a bakery and grocery and my wandering around there in a sort of Aladdin’s cave, and of going out to the bathing cove etc.
Another aunt lived at Lamorna – that too was another wonderful experience, a journey into the wilds!
Soon after Grandfather died my father returned from S Africa quite suddenly one winter evening unexpected! And mother’s cry of joy as she rushed to him, of my saying hello “Da” for that is what we called Grandfather – and I got the reply “I am your father”! I was too young to be flattened and duly corrected the address.
Vividly I remember that winter, it must have been 1906 for there was a very heavy fall of snow and my father cleared a path to the back garden, directly opposite a window in larder. He set up a bird snare, a sort of manually tripped trap and caught numerous starlings, thrushes and blackbirds which eventually went into a pie. I felt no revulsion as it was food! Of course when he went out during the day, I set up the trap as I saw him do, and a robin ran under it and was duly killed! I was admonished gently, but the following couplet which was told me hurt and frightened me more than a slap might have done. It went “kill a robin or a wran (wren) you’ll never grow a full size man”. That users remained with me for a long time, even to this day I can see our tabby cat carrying the robin away (as cats invariably do) with her head held high! During that snow fall I saw father crouching below the front garden wall and heaving quite a large lump of snow right in the path of our neighbour who apt to be passing causing quite some fun.
Old Customs
Winter time above reminds me of some old customs indulged in here in the west – not confined to the village but generally held.
It was called “Guise dancing” generally pronounced “geese dancing” where men donned women’s underwear and clothes generally and showed the voluminous bloomers during a mock dance!
Also there used to be a little playlet which was enacted if the household who were invaded at the time would permit, where dancers were dressed for the various parts, such as “here comes a Turkish knight come all the way from Turkey land to fight, I’ll fight king George and all his men”. There would be a little imaginary battle when one wounded knight would fall [to] the ground, and the cry would go up – “is there a doctor to be found to heal this deep and deadly wound?” one would come forward carrying a suitable Dr’s bag saying “here comes I a little doctor” and proceed to bandage up the injured knight. (I can’t remember the ending of the verses). After all this of course the family invaded would hand around ginger wine and pieces of Christmas cake. But not every household would stand for it!!
I remember my father dressing up in my mother’s clothes, dancing with others and deliberately showing the long and voluminous bloomers causing lots of laughter! This was re-enacted throughout the village where friendly folks would accept them.
During the Xmas season pre Christmas day generally there was a great deal of carolling by different church groups and male voice and mixed voice choirs. I remember vividly lying in bed on a stilly night hearing the various groups going from place to place in the village and farm to farm – it used to sound wonderful. The old familiar tunes including traditional Cornish ones.
In the meantime I grew old enough to go to Sunday morning school in Sheffield which went under the name of Sheffield free Sunday School I.e, non-denominational. This school was founded by my Grandfather and friend, one Mr Thomas Wallis of Sheffield, a carpenter and wheelwright and between them they actually built the school. Mr Wallis’s son Romilly eventually took over the running of it as the father grew old. Rom was a great favourite with children and indeed was a wonderful soul. Incidentally he had a telescope which he kept in his carpenters shop.
When there was a storm (westerly) the bay would be full of sailing ships of all sizes from 2 masted ketches to 4 masted schooners. These were accepted as normal, but on this particular Sunday he took me in with him to see two steamers amongst that lot! That was really something ‘steamers a rare sight in those early years!
While on the subject of those early years I remember well the first glimpse of the aeroplanes flown by Gustav Hammel and Graham White – the early aviators. They were giving a display from a field at Marazion. Unfortunately there was a low cloud condition at the time and we saw very little. However it was historical, for Gustav Hammel crashed in the sea off Lands End and was seen no more!
My first sight of a motor car, steam driven – I can’t quite place the date, but I remember seeing this enormous (to me) black machine which was parked just outside the Alms house below the round shed (?) of the churchyard. I can feel the heat of the coke fire which was piled up behind the drivers seat. Eventually a man came along, got into the driving seat off it went toward Sheffield making a ch-ch noise like a thrashing bin the speed of it seemed to me to be terrific!! Guided by a tiller and not a wheel.
Up to that moment my only comparison was the speed of a trotting horse! As I remember this event there wasn’t another soul who witnessed it as far as I can remember. Certainly it was a lovely summers day, those days there was little or no traffic simply the odd farm vehicle. At such a time of day the village would naturally be deserted as men folks were at work from 7am to 6pm either on farms or quarrying.
During that same summer my parents went for a holiday to Newquay! This was a treat for me too. Rarely did anyone in the village bar perhaps the vicar or members of his family have holidays away from the village. High spots of that trip stand out still in my memory such as playing on the sands with my parents, and when walking over the golf course hearing the cry “fore” being shouted from time to time and which puzzled me greatly! Of the journey there and back I can only remember the motor train as it was called which from the junction at Bodmin I presume – to Newquay. The cane covered seat backs were reversible to accommodate the direction of train – a sort of push pull! I can’t even remember the homecoming!!
My father returned to S.A. early 1907 – my mother stayed at home. I think the reason was that she was fearful of the journey -being pregnant at the time. That she never did go eventually is still a bit of a mystery to me, apart from the fact that she was scared of the sea, or afraid of the journey with two young children.
I’ve been digressing a bit so will go back to page 2, mentioning my outings on Sundays with cousin B. At that time, very young children were allowed to accompany older pupils of the same family to school where they were put to sit at the teachers table out of the way so as not to interrupt proceedings. The idea was to help mothers who might have to go to work and couldn’t take the child along. The authorities tolerated a limited number of children being cared for but the custom was finally abolished.
I think I must have started school properly at the Easter term of 1906, in fact I’m sure it was so for I remember a certain happening about that time. At that point in my life I wasn’t aware of poverty or riches so until one went to school a while and could make observations and/or comparisons with other children of the same age it was a question of comparing with ones little friends. It was quite a while before such things became obvious or evident. There were lots of poor children attending the school, some of whom came quite long distances too. There was no transport in those days and in winter they got wet through and had to sit in their clothes all day. They brought “dinner” with them tied in large red handkerchiefs or such things and were lucky if hot water could be found to make a hot drink.
Families were fairly large in the village. One such had 8 children. It was always a source of wonder how the poor mother coped. I never did see or hear any of them crying for food. Four, five and six was about the size – the odd one only two in family. Footwear was the great problem – roads were very rough generally and muddy in winter -no such thing as “wellies” in those days.
Perhaps here would be appropriate to describe road conditions surfacing, sewerage, water supplies, loos etc. Parish council responsibilities.
Parish councils in those days were more or less self sufficient and raised what cash was needed via the rates. There was a full time clerk, rates collectors, surveyor – the latter being responsible for maintenance of all roads in the parish and the trimming of hedges of the main roads and cleaning the ditches etc. A regular road man with his wheelbarrow, shovel and brush was a familiar sight (Jose). Road repairs consisted of large broken granite stones with some mixture of Blue So can which was very hard. Two brothers supplied these broken stones and were employed all the year round. They were called Hicks. The older Charlie and brother Joe. Stones were broken from large irregular lumps into approx 1 ½ to 2 inch cubes (by weight). These were to be seen in various laybys of those days, using a small headed knapping hammer and by knowing the grain in the granite in particular built up large square or rectangle heaps which could be measured and for which they were paid by the cubic yard! As far as I remember this was their livelihood pure and simple. The more they broke the more they earned.
These stones were simply laid roughly on the existing road and rolled in by the traffic which was mostly farm vehicles of all sorts and sizes. Usually put on late in the autumn when roads were becoming wet enough to allow the layers to be ground in by traffic. For cattle and pedestrians it was purgatorial. In months of winter before the stones were pressed into the surface. Naturally roads were muddy in winter and dusty in the summer. Imagine walking to Newlyn, picture Paul Hill with its steep drop down to Newlyn and imagine how dreadful it was to go up or down while the stones were being pressed in by wagons and carts! Same with Mousehole lane. Terrible for mothers with prams and go-carts!
For water supplies there was a choice of a chute and a well, the latter was close to the river by the road through Trungle. The chute was about 200 yards up the road to the moor. The source of the chute was from a spring in a field under the cemetery and piped to the position indicated. It never failed that I know of and I remember 3 drought summers up to 1921. Incidentally the overflow from the chute fed a cattle trough lower down where farmers brought the animals to drink before piped water was available on the farms. The overflow from the tank also fed a chamber which in turn supplied the Vineries with all the water they needed!! Mr Curnow who owned the Vineries had his own domestic supply from a well in his property. Households fetched water from either the chute or well in pails – usually two pails held away from the body by a wooden square called a hoop!
There was no piped water at all in the village until the water scheme of 1963-4 when the dam was built at Drift to form the reservoir which was to feed the whole of West Penwith.
In 1909 or 10 with the setting up of an icemaking plant in Newlyn a private reservoir was built in Sheffield on the prospect of RRBach and son a founder member of the company neighbour the ice plant. The water supply came from a well close by and on the above mentioned family’s farm. So naturally water was pumped to tanks in all their fields for cattle and as their property bordered Paul Village, water was available for one or two houses who could afford same such as the Board School, Boslandew house, the inn and the vicarage also of course the board school. These properties then had water labs which were connected to a very limited waste water (sewerage) system which already existed in the village. This was piped to Mr Curnows vineries terminating in an open cesspool – as I remember this was limited to the higher side of the village – there were no drains in Trungle area (if my memory serves me right) with ref to the above ice making plant I remember ice for fishing fleets being brought to Newlyn by three masted schooners from Norway – huge blocks insulated by layers of sawdust. Sailing ships were the norm in my early childhood. I remember vividly one mighty storm when there were thirty or forty such vessels sheltering in mounts bay with only one steamship in the group. These latter were such a rare sight that we went specially see them from higher ground! Coal also came to Newlyn by schooner, Mousehole too had its coal via large ketches and occasionally a three masted schooner. A good day for the children when these arrived. Men winched up the coal by hand driven winches and loaded into farm (dead) carts – the men carrying the huge baskets along a plank. I believe the local coal merchant – named Morrish, used to pay farmers and others £1 per day for horse, cart and driver! Those were the days – full of interest for children.
To return to water supply and drainage.
Until the advent of the Drift Dam, there were no water lavs in the village other than those referred to so earth or bucket loos were the norm, wherever there was enough space or garden available. As everyone had to endure this situation, which in fact wasn’t as bad as it might appear when viewed from the present happier position of modern sewerage – there was no embarrassment. Despite these rather primitive conditions families managed to keep themselves clean.
There was little or no unemployment, generally speaking farms were labour intensive in those days before advent of machinery, such as tractors. Horse drawn reapers cut both hay and corn. Sheaves were also hand made and bound with straw binds. A lot of skill was needed during harvest. Wheat in particular at the turn of the century was cut with scythe and carefully rolled in bundles with a blunt hook called a “rolling hook” and of course bound by a straw bind and handled carefully to avoid knocking out the grain.. gradually reapers were replaced by “self binders” still horse drawn. These threw out the sheaves at the rear end already tied with yarn. (Binder twine) there were very few tractors before the end of the 1914-18 war when Fordsons became available and wonderfully reliable they were.
At this period some years before the First World War villages held flower shows locally which were red letter days in themselves. Included in the schedule was one of the best cottage gardens where competition was very keen -one old gentleman called John Keast invariably won first prize. Again all the water needed for gardens of any sort had to be carried from the chute.