Day 27 – Tour around Cornwall and cemeteries

We were asked by some dear family friends if we could go to Pendennis and find a bench put there in memory of their mother and other family members in Cornwall.  Uncle Winston offered to take us today as it is a fair way down the coast and he wanted to come with us.  Also, I wanted to go to Looe as this is where Dad lived from the age of four.  So it made sense to head for the furthest place first, so Pendennis was the first stop.  Our directions was a bench on the bluff, huh, there are memorial benches everywhere here.  There were a few overlooking the dry docks, we didn’t think it would be here but checked in case, not here.  So we headed to the car park at the ‘point’.  Benches, benches, benches, as we knew it was fairly new I thought it might not be as weathered, so hopefully easier to spot.  Luckily it did stand out and what a prime position.  It overlooks the water to the other ‘point’ (not sure of name).  Pity the weather wasn’t the best, it was overcast and windy but thankfully not raining.  We had our photo shoot then headed off to Looe.

As I am into the family tree I couldn’t help myself when I saw the sign to Ladock.  Knowing that Uncle Winston’s aunties and uncles were born there I asked if we could stop at the church.   It is a small quaint church and churchyard.  We had look around the graveyard, there was a gardener working so I went up to him and gave my usual ‘I am from Australia’ spiel and asked if we could go into the church.  He said it was open, whilst inside a man came in and showed us where the lights were and also a book listing the burials.  To my amazement there were some family members whom I didn’t know were buried there, they were mine and Kylie’s 2x great grandparents and Uncle Winston’s great grandparents.  To our surprise they even had a headstone, so I took photos and also one of Uncle Winston with the headstone.

After this delay we finally got to Looe for lunch, well it was 3pm by now, so we were very hungry.  We had fish, chips and mushy peas with a cup of tea.  I absolutely loved the streets of Looe.  They are small narrow little street where all the shops are.  They lead to the river where all the fishing vessels moor.  Pity the tide was out. The seagulls are a lot larger here and so much noisier, it is very noticeable.  We walked to the street where Dad grew up.  It is a narrow very steep street in West Looe. There were two houses he lived in, two doors away from each other both have been done up, so they looked nice.  After this we made our way back to the car and headed back to Uncle Winston and Auntie Evelyn’s.

Due to our late lunch Kylie and I didn’t want any tea, so we decided to go for a walk to St Stephen’s Church, this is where several generations have been buried.  It was a lovely evening for a cemetery walk.  We entered the old part and started to read all the headstones, I took photos if any name might be in the tree.  After about half an hour we started to only read names, then after about an hour we turned the corner and was hit by absolutely 1,000’s of headstones!  We looked at each other in amazement and decided to head straight for the wooden crosses of our immediate family and forget the rest!  It is a very large cemetery but totally hidden from the road.  I would have loved to go into the Church, but it is always locked unless someone is in attendance due to vandalism.  I took note of the phone numbers and will call them tomorrow to see if I can get in to have a look.  We got back just as it was starting to get dark, only to find out that a few cousins popped in to see us, but we were not home.