Of fortifications, communication, and sea-topics
Friday, 15 April 2016
Of the five castles/fortifications planned to protect the mouth of the River Fal, only two were built, and only this one has the flavor of its architectural roots from 1540–1542. This is St Mawes Castle.
It faces its much modified and much larger opposite number across the river-mouth, now Pendennis Castle.
The interior is mostly empty, although cannons still point out their special windows on the ground floor. On one floor curators have placed artful dummies who mostly look like they are waiting for the order to fire.
We opted to skip Falmouth and Pendennis Castle, taking a car-ferry, yippee! (Don’t remember seeing that icon before.)
Yup, the King Harry Ferry. £6 please, one way (£8 return, a great deal for those traveling in circles).
Found a town named Gweek. The car soon filled with no end of puns and word games.
This installation at Goonhilly is now technology so old the contract has been let to remove it. Last chance to see it….
Hiked out this long peninsula with two artificially narrowed bottlenecks. It was used as a fortified promontory fort in the Iron Age, or so They say. The name must have had the word “wind” in it in some form.
Lizard point is Cornwall’s and England’s southernmost (on the mainland). The name is from the pre-Celtic/Cornish lis meaning court and ard/ardh meaning high. The name thus refers to a locally important building here.
And, what a surprise, right there on the north side of Lizard (town)! Not green…just saying. [Sorry; sign says GREEN COTTAGE.]