Lamorna

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 50.055768
longitude= -5.563669
official_name= Lamorna
population =
shire_district= Penwith
shire_county = Cornwall
region= South West England
constituency_westminster= Falmouth and Camborne
post_town = TRURO
postcode_district = TR19
postcode_area= TR
dial_code= 01736
os_grid_reference= SW449234
map_type=Cornwall
cornish_name=Nansmornow Lamorna ( _kw. Nansmornow) is a small fishing village on the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall, England. It is effectively a small congregation of houses clustered around a natural harbour. At the end of the 19th century it became popular as a subject among many of the painters of the Newlyn School, including, particularly, the artist S J "Lamorna" Birch, who lived there in a small cottage.

It has a pub, "The Wink", whose name alludes to the other occupation of its inhabitants in days gone by, smuggling, "the wink" being the indication that contraband could be obtained. The pub is the subject of a novel by Martha Grimes, entitled "The Lamorna Wink". A small pottery, Lamorna Pottery, was founded in 1947 by Christopher James Ludlow and Derek Wilshaw.

Newlyn School of Art

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Lamorna became a popular muse for painters of the Newlyn School, with a small colony led by Samuel John "Lamorna" Birch and included painters such as Alfred Munnings, Laura Knight and Harold Knight lived and painted there. This period is dramatised in the novel "Summer in February" by Jonathan Smith. Lamorna also housed the jeweler Ella Naper and her husband, the painter Charles, who built Trewoofe house there.

Lamorna in song

Lamorna has been immortalised in the song "Way Down to Lamorna", about a wayward husband receiving his comeuppance from his wife. The song, beloved of many Cornish singers. This may refer to local geography as there was an Albert Square, which features in the first line of the song, in nearby Penzance (near the current Albert Street) in Victorian times. 'Jorey’s Jingle', a horse drawn vehicle, used to run from Albert Square, Penzance to Lamorna Cove which was three miles South West. [ [http://www.an-daras.com/music/m_dialect_lamorna.htm Dialect Index | Lamorna ] ] . Another theory is that it may actually hail from Manchester, where there is a Pomona Dock, near an Albert Square [ [http://www.brycchancarey.com/places/cornwall/songs.htm Cornish Folk Songs ] ]

"'Twas down in Albert Square,"
"I never shall forget,"
"Her eyes they shone like diamonds"
"And the evening it was wet, wet, wet."
"Her hair hung down in curls,"
"She was a charming rover,"
"And we rode all night"
"In the pale moonlight"
"Away down to Lamorna"

"Lamorna Cove" was the title of a poem by W. H. Davies published in 1929

Lamorna Stone

Granite taken from Lamorna cove has been used world wide for construction, most famously the Thames Embankment. Stone from the cove was also used to construct the nearby church of St Buryan, whose 92 foot wrought granite tower is an imposing local landmark often used as a line of sight by fisherman coming into port.

External links

* [http://www.ianlewis147.com/029_lamorna_cove/ Photographs taken at Lamorna Cove by Cornwall resident Ian Lewis - 4th Ocotber 2007]

References