Penzance and pirates, they go together like fish, tin and copper don't they? Been togather since time immemorial haven't they so what's the big deal with 31st December 1879?

A scuffle in the street, a knife, a stranger - just an argument over a girl or something more?

The magistrates are grinding the mill of justice today in Penzance Guildhall and fines are being handed out to the poor of Penwith but some unexpected wealth comes to light......

It's pantomime season in Penzance, at the Pavilion a chap calling himself Lanyon Cromlech is in charge of publicity.....

The big day arrived on 19th December, we were to find out out what had happened to Batten, Carne to Carne and what plans were now in place to protect our savings. Or were we?

Tuesday 20th December 1870 in St John's Hall: Handel's Messiah under the baton of the estimable Mr J. H. Nunn with soloists of national fame including the celebrated James Maybrick.

Probably Cornwall's most famous scientist, Humphry Davy was fortunate to be born at a time when west Cornwall was a place at the centre of technological achievement.

Sixty seven years ago the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall was holding its annual general meeting in Penzance, just as it does today and as it has done each year since 1814.

The 'supporters' of Charles Campbell Ross are a destructive bunch but presented with a window of opportunity they can have a smashing time with the best of them.......

A house struck by electric fluid, bell wires burnt out but plaster more or less unscathed.....

On 11th December 1807 the Jews of Penzance celebrated taking possession of their newly built synagogue, built with the assistance of Joseph Branwell.

Rinking: it’s already sweeping the nation, and now it can sweep Penzance.The old West of England Knitting Company in New Street has been transformed into “the People’s Palace”.

Frank Bodilly, the only Cornishman among the initial group of Newlyn artists, and scion of the old Penzance family of Bodilly was born to Thomas Hacker Bodilly and his wife Elizabeth on 5th December 1860.

Not every tragedy sees the light of day. For very good reasons the work of the Penzance Preventive and Rescue Society  was kept done out of the glare of publicity but it was recorded..... 

William Bolitho of Ponsandane has safely returned from his annual 6 week trip to the continent, whither he travelled with his doctor. In recent years he has handsomely endowed Gulval church. Is he perhaps feeling his years?

Major Davey, a man aquainted with the inner workins of the house of correction in Bodmin is back. He's a man who stirs up strong feelings.....

There a new cinema in Penzance and I predict it will be become on of the longest lived cinemas in the country!

Henric Kalmeter visited Penzance on 25th and 26th November 1724. He's often described a a spy, albeit of the industrial variety. Be that as it may, his journal provides detailed insights into a world which was undergoing some fairly big changes.

St Mary's church has been gradually taking shape on the Penzance skyline over the last three years and today, 25th November 1835, the first service in the new church takes place.

There's a war on you know! So the Mayor has set up a new fund for the wives and children of soldiers in South Africa.

Today is the anniversary of the death of John Mathews, the first Borough Surveyor of Penzance. Less well known than many, it's fair to say that John Matthews left a bigger mark on Penzance than almost anyone else.

Sir Rose Price - plantation owner, slave owner, gardener, agricultural improver, show-off, controversialist and dandy was baptised in Panzance in 1768.

It's 1839, coinage is gone in Penzance business is flourishing and professional men of the town need a new club in which to meet, one that rises above the humdrum everyday........

One of the Penzance banks has just gone out of business and not everyone is pleased with the way it's being handled.....

Two days ago we covered the floods of 1894, torrential rains for weeks on end and torrents of water in Newlyn and St Ives. Today, just to show how variable our weather can be, we have record high pressure and clear skies.

It’s been a dismal day in court. Dismal, that is, for those of us on the Bench who still hold out a glimmer of hope for the youth of West Cornwall in general – and Penzance in particular.

Regular readers may remember that, on October 26^th, we left two Penzance men awaiting sentence. Here is the third and final part of the story. If the wait has seemed long to you, imagine how it might have felt to them…

New Street, the morning after, a whiff of smoke and some broken glass..........

Tonight Oscar Wilde is going to speak on the subject of America, about which he will later say that, "America has never quite forgiven Europe for having been discovered somewhat earlier in history than itself". 

Penzance's finest are holding a ball in Chapel Street but their enjoyment is about to be interrupted by news of a great victory....and a great death!

Councillor Thomas is the man who runs Penzance entertainment but today he is at the centre of the drama and doing none to well.........

To have the postal service served by by a building which is "second to none of any building of that kind in the west of England" is essential for a civilised town.................

Lemon Hart, founder of a rum distilling business which was selling 100,000 gallons a year to the Royal Navy by 1849, was born in Penzance on 31 October 1768.

Lawyer Lanyon was arrested yesterday, along with Richard Stevens and now they're up before the magistratefor forgery and perjury..........

Morrab Place, bastion of middle class values, has been raided by the police and there they go, prisoner discretely held between them............. 

Penzance Corporation borrowed and spent a lot of money in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Mayor Henry Boase was one of those who found himself dealing with the consequences........

It’s Saturday evening, and the departure platform at Penzance is packed with 60 people.

It used to take 32 men to unload a collier at Penzance, but Taylors now have a steam crane............

Penzance Free Library, a beacon of light illuminating the path to the future......

The seafront at penzance is subject to fairly regular assaults by the sea. Many ppeople will remember the damage caused to the Jubillee Pool in 2014 but in 1880 the road to Newlyn was destroyed and lives were lost.

It's been hot, but the pressure has suddenly fallen, a storn is coming. How bad will it be?

This is Penzance. This is Penzance. The train now standing at platform 1 is the 10.00 am train for Paddington. Passengers for Aberdeen please board the rear two carriages. This train calls at St Erth, Hayle, Camborne..........arriving in Aberdeen at 8.35 tomorrow morning. 

On 1 October 1817 a house belonging to Admiral Linzee, in Chapel Street, Penzance, was put up for sale. Which house was it? Is it still there? And who was Admiral Linzee?

It's 1882, just three years since Joseph Swann amazed the Lit. and Phil. in Newcastle with his electric light, and now the people of Penzance can visit an exhibition lit by electric light.

World Championship Heavyweight Boxing comes to Penzance, two years after the event on Coney Island but now's your chance to see the Cornish Blacksmith and World Champion Bob Fitzsimmons of Helston face challenger James J. Jefferies of California....

20th September 1816: Banker Boase to run for Mayor of Penzance. Mayor for only a single term, one of only five single term Mayors of Penzance between 1800 and 1834, his diary throws light upon the affairs of Penzance in the wake of Napoleon.

Farron, Greet and Grattan, not a new firm of solicitors but a visiting company of players come to entertain Penzance as the nights draw in.