60 Falmouth to Porthscatho
Three ferries, two forts, a lighthouse and a fine residence with its own church. Not a tough walk, but no sunshine for the photos.
Drei Fähren, zwei Festungen und ein Herrensitz mit eigener Kirche. Die Wanderung war nicht anstrengend, und für die Bilder gab es leider keine Sonne.
The route, day 60
A ferry from Falmouth to St Mawes, a smaller ferry to Place, round the coast to Porthscatho, a bus and ferry back to Falmouth for a circular walk around Pendennis Point. Place to Porthscatho, 9 miles, 14.5 km, 390 metres up and down; Pendennis circular 3.5 miles, 5.5 km, 96 metres up and down.
Die Fähre Falmouth - St Mawes, die kleine Fähre nach Place, um die Küste nach Porthscatho, mit Bus und Fähre nach Falmouth zurück, um die Halbinsel Pendennis Point zu umrunden. Place - Porthscatho, 14.5 km, 390 Höhenmeter; Rundwanderung Pendennis 5.5 km, 96 Höhenmeter.
Falmouth to St Mawes Ferry
St Mawes
St Mawes, an ancient fishing village named after Maudez, a Breton saint, is a place where the wealthy buy second homes. The ticket collector on the ferry from Falmouth entertained us with stories: „The rich people live half-way up the hill, and at the top of the village there's a slum for the locals.“
St Mawes Castle was built in 1540-42 under Henry VIII, when an invasion by allied forces of France and the Holy Roman Empire was expected, following Henry’s divorce of Catherine of Aragon, the aunt of Emperor Charles V. Its pendant on the other side of the estuary was Pendennis Castle.
A chic place, a lost place?
Not all of St Mawes looks wealthy: we found the old petrol pumps in front of the abandoned rowing club in a charming state of disrepair. Two pounds and three pence per gallon (pre-decimal currency) is 44 pence per litre in modern money. No wonder they are sold out.
St Mawes to Place Ferry
The tiny Place Ferry takes passengers from St Mawes to Place House and St Anthony’s Church.
Place House
Be wise and simple; or active and nimble
Place House has been the home of the Spry family since the 17th century. It occupies the site of a former priory and stands directly next to the priory church. The Oxford English Dictionary defines "spry“ as "active, nimble, smart, brisk; full of heath and spirits“, but the family motto is "Soyez sage et simple“.
St Anthony's Churchyard
An atmospheric burial place with a stone medieval coffin and a gravestone for, presumably, someone who played the ancient instrument known as a serpent..
St Anthony's Church - Another Obscure Celtic Saint
The Church of St Anthony in Roseland is not dedicated to either of the well-known saints called Anthony (Anthony of Padua, who helps to find lost property; or St Anthony the Great, a hermit who lived in the Egyptian desert in the 3rd century and was horribly tempted by the devil) but to a legendary local holy man and king named Antoninus (Entenin in Cornish). The church retains its Norman doorway with zig-zag decoration. Most of the beautiful interior dates from around 1850.
Memorials to the Spry Family
In the north transept of the church adjacent to their home, the Spry family erected memorials to themselves. Many of the family served in the armed forces, especially the Royal Navy, and two admirals are commemorated in the north transept.
The monument to Sir Richard Spry († 1775) depicts a warship and Britannia in mourning. He held the title Rear Admiral of the White, commanded squadrons in North America and the Mediterranean, and was envoy to the emperor of Morocco. The memorial is by Sir Richard Westmacott, who carved the Achilles in Hyde Park and monuments in Westminster Abbey.
Thomas Spry, Admiral of the Red, died in 1828, and is commemorated with a male and a female mourner, pennants and arms, and the Spry family shield. The Royal Navy was divided into three squadrons: red, blue and white, in that order of precedence. The Admiral of the Red was the highest-ranking commander after the Admiral of the Fleet.
The Coast from Place to St Anthony Head
St Anthony Lighthouse
The octagonal lighthouse, built in 1835, is now a holiday home for rent.
In this little building, paraffin to power the lighthouse lantern was stored.
St Anthony Head to Porthscatho
Ferry from St Mawes to Falmouth. Look, No Hands!
Pendennis Castle
A Royal Navy ship being fitted out, with the green Pendennis promontory in the background
Pendennis Castle, the original fort from the reign of Henry VIII (image from Wiki Commons by kind permission of Willhsmit)
The fort was expanded in the 17th and in later centuries. Here ramparts and the entrance in classical architecture. In 1646 during the English Civil War, Pendennis Castle was one of the two last royalist strongholds to surrender to the parliamentary army - after a five-month siege. Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, and her son, the future Charles II, left from here to exile in France via the Scilly Isles.
"Little Dennis", a smaller outer fort. Across the estuary is the lighthouse at St Anthony's Head.
Pendennis Castle was modernised and adapted in the 18th and 19th centuries ...
... and in the Second World War
At Pennance Point, a mile south of the centre of Falmouth, stands this memorial: "For Freedom. This sea and the path leading thereto have been provided as a memorial to the men of Number One Falmouth Company of the Home Guard who during 1940, 41, 42, 43, 44 After their day's wok nightly patrolled this coast armed and vigiland against German landings. Thus thwy watched 1,000 dawns appear across these great waters which form our country's moat.
St Mawes. John Sykes was here, 9 June 2025.
