When Ships Sailed Up the Gannel
The Gannel carried cargo, served mines and supported shipbuilding. Restoring that movement changes the relationship between Newquay and Crantock.
WRITING
What I’m thinking about while I’m actually making things.
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The Smelter on the Other Side of the Gannel
Ore from Newquay crossed the Gannel to be processed near Crantock. A forgotten works connects the town’s mines to the opposite bank.
The Woman in Piper’s Hole: The Crantock Carving and the Story That Grew Around It
The woman, the horse and the verse at Piper’s Hole look like one tragic story. Their chronology tells a more complicated—and rather revealing—one.
Crantock’s Lost Chapel: St Ambrusca, the College and the Old Churchyard
A named chapel, a wide cemetery and a newly excavated medieval building make Crantock’s religious history much larger than the surviving churchyard.
The Gannel Crake: The Ghost That Was Supposed to Save Your Life
A strange cry on the Gannel acquired a surprisingly useful ghost story. Its real setting was a crossing where the tide decided when the journey ended.
Langarrow: The Lost City Under the Dunes — and the Real History Inside the Legend
Seven churches, a corrupt city and three days of divine weather: Langarrow is a magnificent legend, rooted in a landscape that really did disappear beneath sand.
The Strange Holes in the Rock at Fern Pit — A Gannel Mystery Since 1890
The hollows beside Fern Pit have attracted explanations for more than a century. Their history is easier to establish than their purpose.
Seven Churches Under the Sand? The Crantock Story That Keeps Changing
Seven churches, seven churchyards and a real religious community: how much of Crantock’s most persistent story can we put back on the ground?
Four Saints at the Crossroads: The Lost Chapel That Linked Piran, Carantoc and Cubert
A vanished chapel east of Cubert brought four saint traditions together. Its story includes relics, road works and a remarkably versatile stone.
I Went Looking for Cornwall's Smugglers' Tunnels
I remembered a smugglers’ tunnel under a Cornish pub. The records confirmed the building, not the smuggling—and that became the more interesting story.