NOOKS & CORNERS OF CORNWALL
IN THE SAME SERIES
NOOKS & CORNERS OF YORKSHIRE
By J. S. Fletcher
IN PREPARATION
NOOKS & CORNERS OF DEVON
By C. A. Dawson Scott
NOOKS AND CORNERS OF HAMPSHIRE AND SUSSEX
By Douglas Goldring
Price 2s. 6d. net each (with map)
NOOKS & CORNERS
OF CORNWALL
By C. A. DAWSON SCOTT
WITH A MAP
LONDON: EVELEIGH NASH
FOREWORD
At first sight it seems incongruous to speak of the Nooks and Corners tobe found in so rugged a land as Cornwall. The masses of rock atTintagel, Tol-Pedn, and the Lizard, the sheer drop of the High Cliff andthe Dodman, the moors, the cromlechs, and the granite tors, are soimpressive that we are apt to overlook the fertile valleys thatintersect the country, the coves, coombes, and "pills" in which thehillside vegetation is often semi-tropical, and where the houses areembowered in flowering shrubs till they look like Jacks-in-the-Greenthat have taken root.
Nor do these picturesque villages, sheltered and fruitful, thismagnificent coast scenery, these grey moors, comprise the whole of thishalf-smiling, half-frowning land. Here in out-of-the-way places arerelics of forgotten creeds and peoples, earthworks, amphitheatres,castles, the caves of smugglers, and the subterranean hiding-places ofneolithic man. There is so much to interest, so much to see—almost toomuch it would seem, certainly too much for any one holiday; but Cornwallis a place to go to again and again, to go to till it seems as your ownland, and its people have forgiven you for being a "foreigner."
This Cornish folk, clannish but kindly, has of late years beendecreasing. Not only is there the competition of foreign tin, but thelodes being now deep the cost of home production has proportionatelyincreased. "Cousin Jack" therefore has to go in search of moreremunerative[Pg vi] metal, leaving "Cousin Jenny" at home to manage as bestshe can on his remittances.
Warnings
"You can only see Cornwall by walking through it," said George Borrow,but the traveller must bear in mind that a name, large on the map, isapt to materialise into a few cottages, a lonely farmhouse, or a rockygorge with never an inhabitant. Nor though the voice of the tourist hasnow for several years been heard in the land has the response, inhotels, been great; while there are not as many country inns as might beexpected. The cheerful, pleasure-loving Cornishman has another aspect tohis character. Generally a Nonconformist and a Sabbatarian he—perhapsmore particularly she—thinks the fewer inns the better. Hamlets thesize of which would lead one to expect a wayside tavern are often drawnblank, and it is as well to make inquiry, when mapping out the day'sjourney, as to the accommodation to be found at its latter end.
It cannot be too firmly impressed upon the traveller that along thenorthern and western shores both boating and bathing are unsafe. It is adangerous coast. Fortunately very