Vellanoweth and St. Ives, Cornwall



Remembering that my archaeology professor is part Cornish, I asked around to see if anyone had heard of the name Vellanoweth.  Turns out, the 'village' of Vellanoweth was only a few miles from where I was staying, so I took the bus up there one afternoon and checked it out.  On the way I noticed The Mexico Inn, which opened about 150 years ago when some Cornish miners returned after working in Mexico.   I found that people in Cornwall are pretty aware that they have a historical relationship with Mexico.  Since my professor is Mexican, it was cool to see the connection.






I stopped at The Old Inn when I went looking for Vellanoweth, and met some fabulous folks.  One of them offered to drive me up to Tintagel the next day, so I went on a bit of a Cornish road trip.  The proprieters of The Old Inn informed me that pubs and free houses are closing down at an alarming rate in the UK - 10 to 20 per week.  They cannot compete with the cheap alcohol at grocery stores...it's sad because it's such a good way to get to know people.  SO, when in the UK or Ireland, help save a long standing tradition and GO TO THE PUBS.  That's where the good people are.



The view from Vellanoweth







Another pub - the Sloop Inn, in St. Ives, which is apparently quite famous because its been in continuous operation for over 700 years.  That's right, 700 YEARS! 





A small, narrow harbor that was used as a hideout for pirates, somewhere on the Cornish north coast.



St. Ives.  Very picturesque, artsy town.  Everyone loves St. Ives, at least that's what I hear.



Penzance, Cornwall. Pagan sites.

If any of you ever come out to the UK, I have three words for you: Survey Ordnance Map.  The lovely lady that runs the hostel here lent me one today.  It is filled with words like "standing stone," "tumulus," "cairn," "hut circle," all sorts of archaeological sites. This map led me along public footpaths through farms and woods to the Madron "baptistry," which dates to the 6th century AD, and the Madron wishing well, a sacred site.  A couple miles further up I reached a stone circle, the Nine Maidens, and saw numerous burial cairns on the way.  Magical today, and soaking wet as well. 

The above and below are a Celtic "chapel" or "baptismal font." (From what I understand, it's a pagan shrine of some sort). It dates to the 6th century AD.  The photo below shows where a spring has been diverted into a small gap in the wall (you can't see it in the shot) which then trickles into a small pool, where the black area is.

The footpath up to Nine Maidens from the Maden Celtic ruins and wishing well.  The paths go along walls that separate farming plots, and this one in particular went straight through a wheat field.  I noticed that someone had left some grains of wheat tied together and placed in a couple spots at the ruins.  I took off a head of wheat for myself as I walked through.  When I got back to the hostel, an Italian girl, one of my bunkmates, told me to keep it as an amulet.

3 of the stones at Nine Maidens.  I'm hugging one of them.

This one still retains much of its shape - you can see how careful they were to dress the stones.

Another shot of the three most intact stones

You can just make out many of the stones in the circle.  The little hill in the foreground is a burial cairn.

I don't know if this photo shows it well, but it appears that the stones are slightly concave facing the interior of the circle.  It tripped me out a bit.  I told the lady at the hostel that I counted 11 stones, and there must have been more...so why "Nine" Maidens?  She said the Victorians who "named" it only counted nine stones of significance, but that stone circles typically have nineteen stones.  "Nineteen," I say, "That's the same number as the lunar cycle."  "Yes," she said.  "They think the lunar cycle may have something to do with all these stone circles."  Cool.

Boudicca, Greenwich, and the Tower

I don't have time to say much - I have to catch the train.  If I don't leave London soon I'll end up staying here forever.  I booked a ticket to Penzance for tonight, which is a 5 hour trip from here, in Cornwall, on the far southwestern peninsula.  I did manage to put up some photos, and I'll add more later.  Yesterday I took the river boat up the Thames and had a lovely day wandering around Greenwich and the Tower of London.  Like I said, I need to get out of here and see the countryside or London will suck me in!  Until then...!

Boudicca, the Iceni Queen who fought the Romans ca 60 AD

Greenwich in the foreground, and London's financial center in the background.  This was taken from the Prime Meridian at the Greenwich Observatory

I'm standing in two hemispheres!  Its so weird, this little place on top of a hill is where some dudes decided would be the center of the world... but it made sense for naviagtion purposes at the time.  It was a logical point because it was used as an observatory, and the only people who really needed longitudal information were English explorers and map makers.  I liked Greenwich.

I'm laying down on the Prime Meridian line pointing to Los Angeles

This is in the Tower of London; it's a recreation of what Edward the I's bedroom may have looked like in the 1200s.

The Tower moat, now all green grass.

The Tower of London in the back.  It is a really stunning place, but England has certainly tourist-ified the crap out of it.  It took a lot away from its essence.  Although I must say, the carvings on the walls where prisoners were kept in the 1500s because of the whole Catholic/Protestant issue were amazing to see.  I saw an E with a heart around it honoring Princess Elizabeth (this guy was put in the Tower by her half-sister Mary), Biblical references from Elizabeth's tutor, one man accused of witchraft drew a globe with ellipses all around it to signify the zodiac...Very cool stuff.

Karin, Malene, and Caroline - three sweet Swedes that I bunked with last night

The Tower Bridge

Green Man Archaeological Tour Begins.

Made it to London and have now been here for a good 24 hours, hunkered down at a hostel in Piccadilly.
So far I have just wandered.  It's a great place to walk aimlessly because you end up seeing the major spots anyway, while coming upon otherwise unknown onces on accident.


Yesterday evening when I set out to explore, I happened upon Trafalgar Square and then ended up at a very lovely little pub called Little Waxy's in the West End.  I asked the bartender, "This is my first night in London.  What beer do you recommend?"  He answered "Guinness."  "Guinness?" I thought, "Why an Irish brew?"  I ordered one since I like them anyway - and then, after being noticied with my Guinness, proceeded to hang out with a group of middle-aged Irish men having an after-work drink.  They are all employed by a contracting company doing major construction in London, including the new Google building.  They fly home to their families every weekend, but live here because they cannot find work in Ireland at the moment.  At least, not the kind of work they can get paid the big bucks for.  I told them it was my first night ever in London and they laughed, "Your first night!  And here you are hanging out with a bunch of working-class Paddys!"  I dare say they are a bit better off now than "working class," but as they all grew up that way, they made for excellent, down to earth company.


I spent a good chunk of today at Westminster Abbey.  I certainly hadn't planned on going there, and even more so because it was like 13 pounds to get in.  But I found it to be worth every pence.  That place is one big massive crypt for all the people that made the UK what it is.  It was built in the 1050s, and every monarch since William the Conqueror in 1066 has been coronated there.  I saw the tomb of Queen Elizabeth I - the face of her marble statue having been created from her death mask (a typical practice), is said to be the most realistic impression of how she looked.  She was buried in the same tomb as her half-sister Queen Mary, a Catholic whom she succeeded.  I found that pretty ironic considering how volatile their relationship was, how many people were murdered for being Catholic or Protesant during their reigns, and how much England changed due to both their personal convictions.  At the base of their tomb it reads

NEAR THE TOMB OF

MARY AND ELIZABETH

REMEMBER BEFORE GOD

ALL THOSE WHO

DIVIDED AT THE REFORMATION

BY DIFFERENT CONVICTIONS

LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES FOR

CHRIST AND CONSCIENCE SAKE

I could go on and on about Westminster Abbey - it was so cool.   It's a thousand freaking years old! I saw Britain's "oldest door" today, a small, thick wooden one that opens to who-knows-where.  Faded, chipped paintings all over the walls of the little side-chapels from the 1200s.  But among the many burials at the church, I was thrilled to see the following: Geoffrey Chaucer, D.H. Lawrence, Charles Dickens, Isaac Newton, and Charles Darwin.  I gave a cheerful salute to Darwin's tomb!


And that coronation chair - the one with all the carvings on it (the one that Lionel Logue sits in to taunt almost-King George in The King's Speech) - I always wondered why that chair had all those words etched into them.  It must be something special, something meaningful, I figured.  Turns out a bunch of naughty boys in the 1700s who attended school at Westminster Abbey decided to carve their names all over it.  And being staunch in tradition, I guess, to the point of superstition, the British continue to use it for all coronations.


For being the center of world domination for hundreds of years, this is certainly not the overwhelming, imposing city I was expecting.  I could move here tomorrow.