Cornish Towns, Villages and Districts

The village of Altarnun Altarnun is named in the Domesday Book as Penpont but takes its present name from the 6th century church of St Nonna…

St Petroc's Chruch in Bodmin Bodmin is the former county town of Cornwall. It was the only Cornish town to be recorded in the Domesday Book,…

Boscastle Harbour Boscastle is a tiny port with a natural harbour, set in a narrow ravine, and boasts some very attractive thatches and white-washed…

Bude is Cornwall's most northern town and has been a popular seaside resort from Victorian times. In the l9th Century, the town was notorious…

Callington is a small town with a population of around 4,500 situated in the beautiful area of south east Cornwall. It is 6 miles from the lovely…

Camborne is a comparatively recent town. Much of its growth was associated with the mining boom in the early 19th century. Before this, Camborne…

Camelford is an attractive, ancient town straddling the A39, which runs between Bude and Wadebridge. As implied by the name, the town is situated…

Delabole village is situated about a mile from the North Coast of Cornwall. It is close to Camelford, Tintagel, Boscastle and Port Isaac and…

The original harbour in Falmouth around which the town grew Until the middle of the 16th century, the only building in Falmouth was Arwennack…

Fowey is a bustling small port which still has a busy commercial life in addition to providing attractive moorings for leisure boats. Its harbour…

Situated on the opposite side of St Ives Bay, Hayle is famed for its three miles of golden sand. The beaches start at the mouth of the estuary,…

Long ago, Helford Village was quite an important port. This is difficult to believe today as one approaches the sleepy little place on the banks…

Helston is perhaps most famous for the 'Furry' or Floral Dance held on the 8th May, unless this falls on a Sunday or Monday when it takes place…

The Isles of Scilly is an archipelago of five inhabited islands, St. Mary’s, Tresco, St. Martin’s, Bryher and St Agnes, and some…

Launceston is the ancient capital of Cornwall and still boasts a medieval south gate and the ruins of a castle. In the 11th century Domesday…

The ancient stannary and market town of Liskeard is situated in South East Cornwall, close to the popular resorts of Looe and Polperro. The…

Looe is situated on both sides of the River Looe. The two towns are joined together by a bridge across the river. In medieval times East Looe…

Lostwithiel is situated in a beautiful wooded valley at the tidal reach of the River Fowey. Located in central Cornwall, it is within easy reach…

The attractive old town of Marazion is a popular destination for beach holidays and water sports, including windsurfing, kite-surfing and sailing.…

Mevagissey is an attractive old town which was once the centre of Cornwall’s pilchard fishery and which still boasts a working harbour,…

Minions is the highest village in Cornwall, high up on Bodmin moor in South East Cornwall, not far from Liskeard. Most of the village is over…

Mousehole Harbour Mousehole is a picturesque fishing village on the south coast of Cornwall between Penzance and Land’s End. It was sacked…

Mullion is the largest village on the Lizard and has shops, inns, cafes and restaurants, craft shops and art galleries. There is a golf course…

Newlyn is home to one of the largest fishing fleets in the United Kingdom, with over 40 acres of harbour. The industry is one of the most important…

Newquay was originally the fishing port of Towan Blistra before the new quay was built in the fifteenth century. Among other things, the quay…

Padstow harbour. Busy as ever and still the focal point of activity Padstow was already a bustling little port of fishermen and boat-builders…

The Borough of Penryn was enfranchised by the Bishop of Exeter in 1236 and in 1259 Henry III granted a weekly market in the town. Around the…

The name Penzance is derived from the Cornish Pen Sans, meaning holy headland, as a chapel once stood on the point to the west of the harbour…

In the 19th century Perranporth was a tin mining village. It is now a family resort with miles of golden sands, attracting surfers, sunbathers…

Just south of Looe is the smaller port of Polperro. A surfeit of touristy gift shops do not quite manage to spoil this quaint old Cornish fishing…

Polzeath is a small village on the headland opposite Padstow. It was a favourite haunt place of the late poet laureate, Sir John Betjeman and…

Port Isaac has been an attractive fishing village since the early fourteenth century. Its narrow, winding streets are lined with old white-washed…

Porthcurno was once an important place on the map. It was the centre of world telecommunication and, until recently, there was a training school…

View out over Porthleven harbour Porthleven is the most southerly working port in the United Kingdom and boasts a picturesque harbour, with…

Set in narrow winding valley flanked by impressive granite cliffs is the seaside village of Porthtowan. The village itself is not by any stretch…

Portreath is a small resort with a very narrow harbour located about 5 miles north of Redruth. It was once a busy port, importing coal and exporting…

The village of Redruth began to take shape in the 12th century. It developed around the ford, some distance away from the parish church. This…

The town of Rock is located across the Camel estuary from the fishing port of Padstow. For somewhere so sandy Rock might not seem like the most…

The Roseland Peninsula is an attractive area of quiet beaches, impressive coastal and river scenery and picturesque villages, within easy access…

Saltash is known as the Gateway to Cornwall, as it lies just across the River Tamar from Plymouth. Travellers arriving in the county by train…

Sennen Cove boasts one of the loveliest stretches of sand in Cornwall, Whitesands Beach, and still retains much of the atmosphere of an old…

St Agnes was yet another centre of the tin and copper mining industries in Cornwall. Many of the old engine houses can be seen around the area.…

The old market town of St Austell is just a few miles from the coast and is one of Cornwall's biggest towns. It was for centuries an important…

The village of St Breward boasts the highest church in Cornwall at a height of about 700ft. The local feast day is on the Sunday closest to…

St Buryan, named for the Irish Saint Buriana, is an attractive village located at the heart of the West Penwith peninsula. Granite cottages…

After the Conquest of Cornwall, the local church at St Germans became Cornwall’s cathedral from AD926, when King Athelstan made Conan…

St Ives, the perfect Cornish holiday resort Perhaps the nicest approach to St Ives is by way of the train from St Erth along the coastline through…

St Just-in-Penwith is the nearest town to Land’s End. It has an ideal situation for visitors to the far west of Cornwall as it is situated…

St Keverne is the largest village in the Helford area and somewhat unusual (for Cornwall) in that it is clustered around a central square. This…

The pretty village of St.Mawes looks out over the River Fal towards Falmouth. The old fishing port boasts steep and narrow streets rising from…

Lizard Point with its lighthouse is the most southerly point in Great Britain. It is famous for the local serpentine stone, a unique metamorphic…

The name of Tintagel immediately conjures images of King Arthur and the legends associated with him. The blackened ruins of Tintagel Castle…

Torpoint could be described as the gateway to Cornwall. It is situated on a peninsula in East Cornwall, across the River Tamar from Plymouth.…

The only city in Cornwall, although Bodmin is still nominally the county town. Truro’s most striking feature is the Cathedral, with its…

One of the earliest recorded references to the town of Wadebridge was in 1313 when a market and two fairs were granted to Wade, within the manor…

The village of Zennor lies between St Ives and St Just, on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall. It lies above the high, rocky cliffs of the coast…