A

GUIDE TO PENZANCE

AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD,

INCLUDING

THE ISLANDS OF SCILLY,

WITH AN APPENDIX,

CONTAINING

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF WESTERN CORNWALL,

ETC., ETC.

BY J. S. COURTNEY.

PENZANCE:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY E. ROWE.

LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.

1845.

INTRODUCTION.

NEARLY thirty years have passed since the first publication of a Guide to the Mount's Bay; in that time Penzance has been doubled in size and more than doubled in importance, both as regards its commercial prosperity and its attractions as a fashionable watering place. The want of a new guide suited to these altered circumstances, having been long felt by our visitors, and frequently represented to the publisher, his urgent application, and the kindly promised assistance of several gentlemen, encouraged me to undertake the office of its compiler, without being exactly aware of the time and labour it would require. This will perhaps be allowed to excuse the long delay which the subscribers have experienced, and although it cannot be pleaded as an apology for the imperfections of the work, it will I trust in some degree mitigate the severity of criticism.

As in compliance with the wish of the publisher, and contrary to my original intention, my name appears in the title page, I am desirous of procuring the Guide a more favorable reception than it could derive from its ostensible author, by directing attention to those to whom it must owe whatever credit it will enjoy, whilst I acknowledge that its errors in design and execution must rest on my own head.

For the Geological notices scattered throughout, I have to thank Joseph Carne, Esq., who has also kindly supplied the materials of some of the excursions. The chapter on the Islands of Scilly,