The History of the Town and Borough of PENZANCE by
P.A.S.Pool, M.A., F.S.A., Hon.Research Fellow, Institute of Cornish
Studies. Forward by The Mayor of Penzance,
Councillor David Pooley.
Published by The Corporation of Penzance, 1974.
Excerpt from pages 1 – 2
About three quarters of the way between Marazion
and Newlyn a low rocky headland extends south-eastwards into the bay. The southern termination of a ridge between
the Chyandour and the Lariggan streams
which can be traced northwards right across the peninsula past Madron and Ding
Dong to Bosigran Castle on the Zennor cliffs.
This headland in Mounts Bay provided a firm rock foundation close to
sufficiently deep water, and also shelter from the prevailing westerly winds,
for the construction of a small quay for fishing boats, and here grew up the
fishing village which became, eventually, the Town of Penzance.
The Town
owes not merely its existence but also its name to this little headland. The name is found first in 1284 and regularly
thereafter as Pensans, with the variant form Pensant (1368), Pensauns (1482), Pensance (1555), Pensanse (1620)
and Penzanz (1698); its meaning has been variously interpreted
by Richard Carew as “the Saint’s Head”, by John Norden as “the Head of the Sand”,
and by Thomas Tonkin as “the Head of the Bay”, but there is really no doubt
that the correct interpretation is “Holy Headland:, in Cornish pen sans (the noun preceding the
adjective). Of the two elements in the
name, pen in Cornish means ‘head’, ‘top’
or ‘end’, and is also regularly found in names meaning ‘headland’; sans or
sant means holy or sacred, and is
found much less frequently in names than pen,
but occurs also in Lezant (lan sant, holy
enclosure), in Tresance in Cardinham
parish (either tre sant, holy farm,
or tyr sant, holy land), and in Elgosant (eglos sans, holy church), a
former name for Sancreed. Penzance was
so called because a chapel was built on the end of the headland just inland
from the quay, and later another chapel, a little further inland and fifty feet
above sea level, where St.Mary’s Church now stands. The name should be compared with its English
equivalent Holyhead, in Wales, and
anyone who doubts its appropriateness to Penzance has only to look at the town
from east or west along the shore; the
most prominent feature is the headland with the Church, occupying the site of
one of the old chapels, standing proudly above the buildings of quayside
Penzance.
Excerpt from pages 12 – 15:
We now consider the evidence for the development
of Penzance prior to 1500: first its
ancient chapels, then its markets and fairs, and finally its quay and
harbour. The word ‘chapel’ is here used
in the sense of a building other than a Parish Church used for Christian
worship, not in its much later sense of a place of worship used by a sect
dissenting from the Established Church.
No chapel could lawfully be used without a License from the Bishop, and
many were so licensed, either as domestic chapels for use by some important
figure and his family and household, or as chapels of ease for people who lived
inconveniently far from their Parish Church;
but in Cornwall many chapels existed for which no license can be traced,
and some of these at least may have been Celtic foundations. In Penzance we must consider the chapels of
St.Anthony, of St.Gabriel and St.Rafael, of St.Mary, and of St.Clare.
The chapel, presumed to have been dedicated to
St.Anthony, at the corner of Barbican Lane and Coinagehall Street just above
the quay, is of such importance as regards the site and name of Penzance that
the evidence concerning it must be considered in some detail. First is that of Cornwall’s greatest scholar,
Dr William Borlase of Ludgvan, who noted c.1750:
The
ancient chapel belonging to the town of Penzance may be seen in a fish cellar
near the key; it is small and as I
remember had the image of the Virgin Mary in it.
Next came the Rev. John Whitaker, contributing
in 1804 to Richard Polwhele’s ‘History of Cornwall’:
This town
originally rose from a few fishermen settling near the present pier, and
building themselves a chapel dedicated to St.Anthony, that universal patron of
fishermen. The chapel continued within
these three years, when it was rebuilt into a fish cellar. It was only small, however, but had the
statue of its saint in a niche.
Tradition preserved the name of the saint, and antiquarianism has saved
the statue of him. It is merely a bust,
and of alabaster.
{Note: J.Whitaker, ‘Supplement to Polwhele’s History
of Cornwall’, 1804. St.Anthony of Padua was believed to have
preached to fishes, and was therefore regarded as the Patron Saint of
Fishermen. The site of this chapel at
Penzance should be compared with those of St.Anthony in Meneage, St.Anthony in
Roseland, and East Anthony; Charles
Henderson suggested (Cornish Church Guide, 1928) that the names might contain a
Celtic word for “Promontory”.}
The next evidence is that of J.S.Courtney in
1845:
The
remains of a chapel said to have been dedicated to St.Anthony still exist near
the end of Barbican Lane. A rude image
of the saint cut in granite is the principal relic; it was to be seen a short time since, but is
now hidden from view by a hog stye or some such erection.
In 1862 Richard Edmonds wrote as follows:
The walls of
St.Anthony’s Chapel were standing, not a century since, on the west side of
Barbican Street leading from the quay to the battery, but were soon afterwards
taken down and a fish-cellar erected in their place, on which occasion a cross
which had stood on a bracket or projection from the western wall of the chapel
and near the font was used as common building-stone. When the cellar was rebuilt in 1850 the relic
was. . . preserved from further desecration, and may now be seen in St.Mary’s
churchyard. It is a very rudely carved
piece of Ludgvan granite (with a mica of silvery hue), bearing on the one side,
it may be, a seated figure, and on the opposite side a crucifix. . . {R.Edmonds, The Lands End District – 1862}
But the fullest account is that given by
G.B.Millett in 1880:
There are
some slight vestiges of ancient masonry which are pointed out as having formed
part of the chapel of St.Anthony. The
site is at the south-west corner of Barbican Lane, where it occupies the summit
of a little eminence. . . It was a small oblong structure, pointing directly
east and west, of about 30ft in length by 15ft in breadth. A fragment of it only now remains in situ,
consisting of the north- west angle, which has the appearance of being old
work. It is roughly built of irregular
masses of greenstone. . . and amongst them some red bricks of unusual shape and
size, smaller and flatter than any ordinarily in use. . . Within the memory of persons living, the four
walls were comparatively perfect. The
entrance was from the south, and towards the west. In the interior, in the east wall, there
stood in a niche, a figure said to have been of St.Anthony, rudely carved in
that. . . variety of granite known locally as Ludgvan stone. About 50 years ago it was removed from its
original position; and made useful in forming part of the wall of a pig stye,
but the chapel had previously about 1800 been converted into a fish cellar. . .
At the time of its removal from the chapel, the stone had the rude
representation of face and hands upon it, but one day a stranger. . . chanced
to see it in its degraded position; taking a fancy to the stony countenance and
rough hands, they were. . . broken off and carried away as relics. . . This
last piece of vandalism served to call attention to the now mutilated stone,
which in 1850 was removed to St.Mary’s churchyard. . . The mason who removed
the stone told me. . . that he “popped St.Raffidy into a wheelbarrow and
trundled him off to the chapel yard. .”
Though differing in detail, these accounts
concur in recording a dismal tale of the neglect and desecration of the oldest
site of Christian worship in Penzance.
With one possible exception, considered below under the Chapel of
St.Gabriel and St.Rafael, there is no documentary reference to this chapel
earlier than those mentioned above, and the supposed dedication to St.Anthony,
first mentioned by Whitaker, seems to depend entirely on tradition and may be
groundless. A small public garden
adjoining the site of the Chapel was in 1933 named “St.Anthony’s Gardens”, and
contains an archway believed to have been taken from the chapel site.
The stone from the Chapel mentioned in all the
above accounts has remained in St.Mary’s Churchyard where it was taken in
1850; it is a piece of granite four feet
high showing on one face a defaced figure of Christ in loincloth, with feet,
arms and head missing, and on the other a seated Maddona, throned, holding a
child. Each side of the shaft is
surmounted by an uncertain figure, possibly an angel, and the head, which was
apparently a cross of Latin form, lacks both arms, which apparently carried
Christ’s arms in high outstretched position.
This stone, dated by Prof. Charles Thomas as early 12th
century, is certainly one of the most important relics of old Penzance, and
well deserves the tribute paid to it by G.B.Millett in his poem ‘Vox Lapidis
(the voice of the stone): A Plaint heard in St.Mary’s Churchyard, 1882.
I’m but a
block of stone;
‘Tis true,
I am, ah well a day!
Unheeded
and unknown:
From
Ludgvan’s rock hewn long ago
When
saints were Cornwall’s glory,
But can
you in this borough show
A stone
with such a story?
In 1492 Bishop Lacy licensed for Divine Service
the Chapel of St.Gabriel and St.Raphael at Penzance; {F.C.Hingeston Randolph: Exeter Episcopal Registers} nothing more is known of any such chapel, and it
is possible that the license marked re-dedication of the chapel traditionally
ascribed to St.Anthony; there is a great
temptation to claim, as supporting evidence for this, the name ‘St.Raffidy’
given to the stone from St.Anthony’s Chapel by the mason who moved it.
---------------------------------------------------------
Recent
developments at St.Anthony’s Chapel Site.
In August 2009
the remaining 3 massive pieces of masonry were removed from the site of St.Anthony’s Chapel, on the Holy
Headland of Penzance. The largest of
these objects was similar in size and shape to an altar-stone, such as the one at Madron
Baptistry. Repeated letters and Freedom
of Information Requests to Cornwall Council have not been able to disclose the
whereabouts of this archeologically important material. Following removal of these massive stones,
the area around the chapel site was fenced off and turned into a temporary
car-park.
Links to previous
blogs and articles in ‘The Limpet’, journal of Save The Holy Headland:
Statue from
St.Anthony’s Chapel, showing vandalized Christ figure.
The other side of
the cross shows Mary with the infant Jesus.
St.Anthony’s Chapel Site in April 2012. To quote the words of historian Peter Pool: “a dismal tale of
the neglect and desecration of the oldest site of Christian worship in
Penzance.”
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