i’ll be giving you just some Cornwall tidbits of places I visited that had some interesting things to take photos of.
Bovey Tracey
i’m going to tell the long story after the photos of this small town which was most likely named after members of my family, Tracy. This is a cute small town requiring only one day to walk around. The food is nice and you will most likely enjoy staying here.
from Wikipedia
Bovey Tracey was an established Saxon community and takes its name from the River Bovey. The name first appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Bovi I2! and possibly earlier as Buui. The town gained its second name from the de Tracey tamily, who were lords of the manor after the Norman Conquest of 1066, and was first documented as Bovitracy in 1309.31. One member of the family, William de Tracy, was implicated in the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. It is thought that he rebuilt the parish church of St Peter, St Paul and St Thomas of Canterbury as penance for the murder. In the early 13th century, Henry de Tracey created a borough here and, in 1259, was granted the right to hold a weekly market and an annual three-day fair. 4]. During the English Civil War, on 9 January 1646, Oliver Cromwell and a contingent of his Roundhead army entered Bovey Tracey after dark and caught part of Lord Wentworth’s Regiment by surprise, catching a number of officers playing cards in an inn. Many of Wentworth’s Royalist troops escaped, but Cromwell did capture about 400 horses. ‘5! If local legend is to be believed, the Royalists escaped by throwing coins from the windows in order to distract the poorly paid Roundhead troops.
OK, so I’ll try to keep this as short but understandable as possible. You all know the Roman empire fell and Christianity almost disappeared in Europe. The monks and Ireland kept as many religious documents as they could and then after things settle down in Europe they brought Christianity back to Europe. In the area which was Normandy the Irish monks named a church Tracy after Saint Treasaigh. In 1066 you also know that William, of Viking roots, killed Harold in England and took the throne creating the house of Plantagenet. His trusted friend Henry who was from Tracy and therefore named Henry de Tracy fight with him and his family married into the royal family. Two generations later William Tracy killed Thomas Beckett in the Cathedral at the behalf of Henry II. Henry then assigned William to take lands in the west, Cornwall and Wales. This town was named after William. He was also told to subdue Ireland. So my family, Tracy, either came from these Norman’s or from the original Tracys near Galway. That’s how I got my first name but mostly due to my mother‘s very close love of her brother Tracy. So one of my family branches either comes from murderers or saints.
Cheddar
everybody knows about cheddar cheese. I noticed on my map the name of this town and read that it was the origin of cheddar cheese so of course I had to visit. Most of the cheddar cheese factories have closed down but the town is still keeping some traditional method of making the cheese.
Helston
this is a cute little town but really not much to see here. Most of the sites are in the countryside around or on the Oceanside which is very beautiful.
Mousehole
St. Ives
Port Isaac
Portishead
Tintagel
as I mentioned in another post this castle is the legendary home of King Arthur. Not only this castle here which is very well preserved and the tourist infrastructure is very good but also the town is an interesting place to walk around. There are ice cream parlors in town.
