Some Penzance, Newlyn and Mousehole history

First:

The Spanish raid on Mousehole, 1595

I've had Cornwall in my head for a few days...and, today, started some research on a few things, starting first with the Spanish raid on Mousehole in the 16th century, and the Jewish Cemetery that lies behind my home (Gwavas Street) in Penzance.

I'll keep adding to this as I find out more.

Here is what A.L. Rowse says in Tudor Cornwall, published in 1947, about the Mounts Bay raid of 1595. It is extracted from chapter 15 of A. L. Rowse’s “Tudor Cornwall” [Rowse 1947]. 

In January 1595 the English troops in Brittany, having prevented the Spaniards from capturing Brest, (a huge naval port in NW Brittany) were withdrawn. That set the galleys at Blavet (an estuary harbour in southern Brittany) free to prowl round the Cornish coast…

At Plymouth Drake and Hawkins were fitting out their last voyage to the West Indies, upon which both were to die. The Spaniards were very anxious to learn its destination. In May a fast boat from Blavet, manned by sixteen sailors and twenty-four soldiers, appeared in Falmouth Bay and captured a fisher-boat of St. Keverne, carrying the men over to Brittany. There they were examined, but fortunately could tell the Spanish general nothing of the objectives of the expedition, but that it consisted of 100 sail and was under Drake’s command.

An English gunner, a Bristol man, whom the Spaniards would not release told the fishermen to report to the first J.P. they could upon their return that there were four galleys and ten ships of war at Blavet, and that they were expecting seven more galleys and ten ships with which to surprise shipping at Scilly. The fishermen on their return told their story.

On July 10th 1595 Godolphin wrote to (Lord) Essex that more men would be needed for the defence of Scilly: “I rest still of the same mind that it needeth a stronger garrison, for the gathering of those Spaniards seemeth as a cloud that is like to fall shortly in some part of her Majesty’s dominions.”

In the next ten days galleys were seen at several places off the Cornish coast :

• — At St Eval, and Padstow in the north where Grenville’s son hastily mustered some sort of miliatia, the sight of which disccouraged the Spaniards from landing.
• — At St. Keverne on July 21st a number of foreign ships were seen cruising around the Manacles reef—Falmouth Bay area

Then at dawn on July 23rd 1595, four Spanish galleys were seen close-in to the shore, immediately off Mousehole. There they landed a force of marines, (Rowse says 200 men, mixed pikemen and musketmen, who proceeded to fire the little fishing town and the hamlets round about, including the church-town of Paul, whose church was ruined by the fire)

The inhabitants fled. Many reached Penzance where by chance Godolphin, (of Godolphin Hall, one of the two Deputy Lord Lieutenants of Cornwall, and in charge of the local militia musters) happened to be visting.

“Godolphin met them upon the green to the west of the town and tried to put them in order to resist [but] they were virtually unarmed. Godolphin sent a messenger to Drake and Hawkins at Plymouth “to consider what is to be done for your own safety and our defence.” He clearly thought that the raid, and the ships in Falmouth Bay, were the prelude to invasion.

But the Spaniards disconcerted his plan by leaving Mousehole, returning to their galleys and landing their whole force at Newlyn, next Penzance. They were some 400 men in all. They sent two ranks of soldiers to the top of the hill to spy out the country, and when they saw the smallness of Godolphin’s forces, they made for Penzance. The galleys kept up a fire upon the Cornishmen, who by this time were in a panic. Godolphin hoped to make a stand at the market place; but nothing could induce them to stay, neither his persuasions nor threats with his drawn rapier. Only a dozen or so of his own servants stood with him in the rear of the retreating mob. The Spaniards were in possession of three parts of the town; there was nothing for him to do but withdraw. The enemy then set fire to Penzance as they had fired Newlyn and Mousehole. It was reported afterwards that they had a mass said on the western hill, where they vowed to build a friary upon the conquest of England. They then returned once more to their galleys.

By evening an encouraging number of volunteers and local militiamen had turned up to help Godolphin, and they encamped upon the green outside Marazion, further along the bay, for the defence of that place and the Mount. Hannibal Vyvyan sent word to Drake of the state of affairs, asking him to send down some of his leaders who had commanded in war and to put some ships in readiness. The success of the Spaniards might encourage them to land elsewhere further to the east, as well as on the north coast.

Next day they made show to land again on the west side of Mounts Bay; but the Cornish made a better show of resistance, and the galleys moved farther off out of range.

The day after, Sir Nicholas Clifford and other captains arrived from Plymouth, while Drake sent down some of his ships to the Lizard. The plan was to cut off the retreat of the Spaniards if they should land again, as they would shortly have to, for they were hard pressed for water. The wind was strong at south-east, which prevented them getting away. But within an hour of the captains’ arrival from Plymouth, it suddenly shifted north-west, and the galleys seized a heaven-sent opportunity to get clear away.

The episode was over, except for the examination of English prisoners who had been landed by the Spaniards in Mounts Bay. [Note by AT—This seems remarkably civil for the times, the return of previously captured prisoners, probably most of them taken from fishing and merchant boats intercepted on the high seas, and taken for questioning. During the Spanish/English fighting in Brittany in the past few years prisoners of war had often been slaughtered by both sides]

The freed prisoners told Godolphin that the galleys would have stayed longer and done more spoil along the coast, had they not stood in fear of Drake’s fleet. The Spanish had intended to have gone to St. Ives and Padstow, and thence into the Bristol Channel, but they were much in want of fresh water when the change of wind enabled them to get away. The Spaniards purposed to take Scilly. where they would keep their galleys under the protection of the fort. Godolphin drew the moral of the affair: two good pieces of ordnance to beat them from the Roads, a better store of ammunition, and, some skilful leaders in places where they might land.

Sir Nicholas Clifford reported well of Godolphin’s conduct: “For the town of Penzance, had the people stood with Sir Francis Godolphin, who engaged himself very worthily, it had been saved; but the common sort utterly forsook him, saving four or five gentlemen.” Those same common people took refuge in “an ancient prophecy, in their own language… that hath long run amongst them, how there should land upon the rock of Merlin, those that would burn Paul church, Penzance and Newlyn. And indeed so is the rock called where the enemy first stepped on shore…

Ewra teyre a war meane Merlyn
Ara Lesky Pawle Pensans ha Newlyn.”

From a letter of Thomas Treffry we learn what happened further to the galleys. On their way back they encountered a fleet of seventy hulks and gave chase to fourteen of them which were severed from the rest. They sank one of the hulks, but in the fight lost 140 men and “had one of their galleys so torn as they could not carry her to Blavet.” The other three were still there [Note by AT—Presumably moored in the Blavet river in Southern Brittany]. Two Spanish fly-boats had recently chased a Bristol ship into Fowey, while there were Spanish men-of-war at Conquet. (Western Brittany)

Second:  The Jewish Cemetery in Penzance.

Gravestones in the Jewish Cemetery, The Battlefield, Penzance.
Picture taken and sent to me by Tony C.....
THANK YOU, Tony!

When I was a young kid, I used to climb over the granite wall into the cemetery that was hidden behind St. John's Church Hall............

Grass snakes, up to a foot long,  

would sunbathe on sunny afternoons, and I would stand and stare and be totally captivated. Now I want to know more about the cemetery and the Jewish families that lived in Penzance. 

OK, my research starts today.....February 19th, 2013.

This is what I discovered on the internet site: This is Cornwall: 

Keith Pearce co-edited a book with Helen Fry called The Lost Jews of Cornwall.

Tucked in among rows of terraced housing in the Battlefield, on side-streets which run away from the town centre, the Jewish Cemetery is easy to miss. Its walls are tall and thick, made of granite stone and built to last, with only a window in the gate giving a glimpse of what is inside. •

This has proved fortunate for the cemetery and those buried in the grounds as their height and security have helped preserve the plot since the last of Penzance's Jews left town in 1913.

Custodian of the cemetery, Keith Pearce, said: "It's extremely unusual – an almost perfectly preserved Georgian Jewish cemetery."

He explained: "There are 25 extant cemeteries outside of London and this is recognised as the finest of them."

Being situated on a natural incline has allowed water to drain away and the strong, high walls have saved it from the worst of our weather.

For the last 12 years Mr Pearce has supervised the site having taken on the duties when his friend Godfrey Simmons, a descendant of a former minister at the Penzance synagogue, moved from the area after 25 years as the cemetery's custodian.

He explained how the prosperity of the region during the industrial revolution drew Jewish families to Penzance with the first settlers arriving in the 1720s.

They came from the Rhineland, Germany and the low countries to England before moving on to the south west.

"They came here when the economy was booming, mainly in the 18th century when mining was flourishing, fishing was a healthy industry and the packet boats stopped here.

"The Jewish community never grew very large in total population and even at its height there couldn't have been more than 15 to 20 families."

Once they were settled, developing a burial ground became a priority. In the 1750s it wasn't entirely certain whether Jews could own land in Britain. Leases often required a Christian signatory.

Mr Pearce said the Rogers Estate leased the land straight to the Jews at a time when it could easily have been sold for building.

This, he explained, was a testament to the regard with which Jews were held in Penzance and the ease with which they were received by people.

Among the prominent early settlers was the Hart family. Abraham Hart possibly arrived as early as the 1720s and the Hart name is recorded, trading as silversmiths and shippers, from the mid 18th century.

Lemon Hart was perhaps the most famed. He developed the family's shipping concerns, building links to the West Indies and establishing a successful wine and spirit business.

As the community grew, so did the cemetery. Land was extended and additional leases were brought. In 1811 work began on the walls, completed in 1845, which would prove so helpful in preserving the site.

Fresh water ran near the cemetery which is essential for cleansing and ritual purification of the deceased. At the entrance a chapel of rest or Bet Tohorah was built for the body's preparation for burial and is a rare surviving feature.

Families in the congregation bought plots but space was retained for the burial of the poor and this was carried out by the community.

The slate headstones were worked by local, Christian masons who extended their skills to engraving in Hebrew.

As local industry declined from the middle 19th century, many Cornish families moved up country or abroad to Australia, South Africa and to America. The Jewish community would follow.

Limited opportunities to marry within their religion in such a small Jewish community meant many of the younger generation were already moving on and as the local economy shrank, the service industry struggled.

By 1906 congregational life had finished and in 1913 the last Jew left Penzance, the settlers had moved on to the cities where cultural facilities were found in abundance.

They were gone, but not forgotten. The site was maintained and when a bomb destroyed part of the cemetery in the Second World War the people of Penzance saw it was restored.

Mr Pearce noted this was once more a sign of the appreciation the Jewish community had experienced here.

Penlee Museum and the Town Council act as guardians to the site and the museum organises visits for schools, groups and individuals to the cemetery.

● 

Then I discovered this:

Reading this - and it doesn't take long - gave me some background in to the
Jewish community in Penzance.