The vessels of the Welsh Fleet were small boats, worked hard, often under-manned and working to tight schedules and like the colliers of the North Sea they could be deadly on the unforgiving north coast of Cornwall.

Panic seized the people of Mounts Bay on 2 August 1595 when Mousehole, Paul Churchtown, Newlyn and Penzance were all set ablaze. The Spanish raid was just one of a number of actions in the intermittent Anglo-Spanish War of 1585-1604 in which both sides made frequent incursions on each other's territory and shipping. This is the age of Raleigh, Drake, Hawkins and the Armada.............

Richard Pentreath was one of the most accomplished artists of his generation and his works give an invaluable insight into west Cornwall's places and people before the Newlyn School painters were even born.

A fine load of mugs they all sounded in the witness box today, the victims. Taken for a ride, all right: motor car or otherwise. It was as if they were falling over themselves: a sovereign here, ten shillings there........

In 1744 it was said that St Just  was "so very populous…..it is impossible to know the exact number..” Rapid expansion in mining was attracting lots of incomers to the district, but not all were miners......

Cornwall has had many links with Brittany over the centuries, one of the lesser known ones is the St Ives salt trade......

William Borlase was a keen observer of the weather and other natural events andhe certainly got his fill on 28th July 1761...

There’s a mighty new cinema in town, on the site of the old Horse and Jockey – closed since way back, before the Great War.

When the secret select are abolished, 
As all of us wish them to be, -
In short, when James Halse is demolished
There’ll be room in the Market for me.

The Crown employed supervisors to check blowing houses and smelters to ensure that coinage tax was paid, but it wasn't always straightforward as in this incident on New Street Stairs...