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Welcome to The Primitive Cornish Hovel. A place where I will share my love of prim, vintage, family history, many interests & everyday life. I hope to show you a glimpse of a bygone age through the history of my family & the many 'treasures' I hold dear. Mixed in with this will be snippets of life today. Do drop in again for a visit to see what is happening at 'The Hovel'. Comments are welcomed.

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Wednesday 11 June 2008

My Old House


Hello & thanks for stopping by. It was gloriously sunny in Cornwall yesterday on my first day as a blogger. I’d been toying with the idea of starting a blog for a while now and finally decided that now was a good time as any to join the land of blog (sounds like a good title for a book!).....First though I would like to say thanks to Polly of Counting Your Blessings for providing the beautiful banner you see on my blog & for giving instructions on how to download it....Thank you Polly for helping a technology challenged first time blogger....lol...

The name Primitive Cornish Hovel came from my love of anything prim, the beautiful county I live in & the fact that my house at present resembles a hovel. Being a very old house under renovation lends itself well to that name. It would be easier to rebuild it but it’s a solid old girl crying out to be restored to her former glory, so as a lover of anything old & vintage hubby & I are doing just that, slowly but surely. We are fortunate in having all the original documents including some beautiful parchment deeds with seals. Having read the history of my house I now know of all the people who have ever lived here (and some still do!!!). What I do not know is when it was built but I do have a will dated 1830 which shows a bequest of ‘The Land and Dwelling Thereon’. The house was once surrounded by green fields & stood detached on an area called Meadow Row. But along with progress comes change & due to the busy iron foundry owned by the local Harvey family this quite little Hamlet soon developed into the small town of Hayle (Heyl) that is seen today. Although my house didn’t change the area around it did. The fields gave way to houses to accommodate the foundry workers and Meadow Row became Penpol Road, which can be seen in the picture below as it was in about 1910. Very little has changed to the area since those days. The shop seen on the left is now a house & cattle no longer walk down the road but the houses still stand....where’s mine you may ask, well it's just around the corner in the background opposite the tree. I’m yet to find a picture of my house as it was then. I do know that it was once a police house for about 50 years & at one time owned by a vicar...so I better behave myself...


Don’t you just love those pinafores, makes me want to get out my sewing machine & start making one.....for a doll of course, my days of wearing one are over......a little extra snippet about Hayle. It was also a thriving port as well as a busy industrial centre. One of the greatest ships built at Hayle was the Cornubia . Built in 1858 for the Hayle Steam Packet Company she served as a packet ship and ferry. During the American Civil War the Cornubia was purchased by agents for the Confederacy , taken to the USA, renamed Lady Davis and became a famous blockade runner (information curtsy of eyehistory.mysite)......Well that’s all for now from the Hovel..lol...

15 comments:

The Team at The Primitive Pear said...

Oh you blog looks wonderful Chrissy..well done..and your first post is very interesting, I love history..will definately be checking back hun...and don't forget to add in "The amusing adventures of Andy Pandy" at some stage..hehe..Hugs Michelle xxxx

Anonymous said...

Oh Chrissy...love, love this little piece of history about your gorgeous town and home. Oh you are going to be fabulous at this blogging business..lol.
Isn't that photo great and to think, not a lot has changed since then..love to see a photo of your home now..
luv Ann.xx

Anonymous said...

Hehe..just me again..I did the Fairy Name too..not sure if i like mine too much..
GOSSAMER MOONFEST:
She lives in a spiderwebbed wonderlands & insect grottos. She is only seenduring the first snow of winter.
She wears black spiders on her dresses. She has beautiful blue butterfly wings..
I don't like spiders at all..lol..but there you have it. A great bit of fun.
luv Ann.xx

KernowWitch said...

Thanks Michelle, appreciate it... What a brilliant name for a regular posting, TAAO Andy Pandy, never thought about that. Guess which one I'm going to start with..hehe...Hugs Chrissy xx

KernowWitch said...

Thanks Ann, glad you liked it. I will try & find a photo of my house, well a decent one anyway...plus I will take a photo of the bottom of the road so we can compare 'A Now & Then', should be intersting....
Oh dear...spiders & insects...your wings sound nice though..hehe..& you do like snow, so not that bad really!!!!! Hugs Chrissy xx

Kady said...

Hi Chrissy! I love your blog and your style of writing. Your house sounds so interesting. Best of luck in the Land of Blog. I do think that would be a good book name.......Hugs, Kady

Anonymous said...

You have done a great job Chrissy and so much information for the readers!
Christina

Anonymous said...

Hi Chrissy I had to jump right on over here and congratulate you on venturing into the blog world. I love your first post, it is very interesting. Can't wait to read more! Hugs, Lisa

KernowWitch said...

Hi Kady, thank you so much. Glad you like it....my house is certainly that, cobwebs seem to think so too....now about that book, we could be co-authors...lol..Hugs Chrissy xx

KernowWitch said...

Thanks Christina for having a look, I appreciate your comments....hopefully I will be able to show some crafts soon...you never know...lol...Hugs Chrissy xx

KernowWitch said...

Hi Lisa, thanks goodness you didn't jump too high..hehe. Yep, I finally did it..Glad you liked my first post, lets hope I can keep the interest up....Watch this space...lol..Hugs Chrissy xx

Debra said...

Hi Chrissy! What a gerat job you have done with your new blog! I love history so I will be back! I will also you add you to my blog list on Pilgrims & Pioneers
Deb

KernowWitch said...

Thanks Deb, glad you liked it....I know you like history as I visit your blog often, you do a great job & your family's photos are lovely. I hope to interweave my FH into my blog....it's fun, isn't it...lol..Hugs Chrissy xx

Anonymous said...

I love your Blog Chris. Absolutely wonderful and reflects your very special nature so well.

Lots of love,

Your friend

Ian

KernowWitch said...

Well what a lovely surprise Ian, only you could find me....I'm so pleased you like it & you for one should know my nature as we go back a long way (won't say how long!!!)...You are a special friend, thanks for dropping by...Cornwall is magical & I will show you one day (hint hint..hehe)...Special love & Hugs Chrissy xx