The church at Morwenstow today is of the Norman period, but before this, it is believed that a Saxon church stood on the site. In a document dated 1296, the church was referred to as an "old and well-known structure". The church is dedicated to St Morwenna and St John the Baptist. Originally, it was just St Morwenna, but St John was added as a dedication around 1285 when the church was gifted to the hospital of St John the Baptist, in Bridgewater. Amongst the tombs and gravestones in the churchyard is the preserved figurehead from a ship - The Caledonia - which was wrecked nearby. More than 40 seamen are buried in the churchyard.
Robert Stephen Hawker was the vicar at Morwenstow from 1834-1875. Before this, there hadn't been a vicar here for over a century. Hawker was regarded as a deeply compassionate person, giving Christian burials to shipwrecked seamen washed up on the shores of the parish, and was often the first to reach the cliffs when there was a shipwreck. He was an accomplished poet, publishing a number of works. Hawker was also something of an eccentric: he wore brightly-coloured clothes including a pink hat, talked to birds, invited his nine cats into church and took his pet pig for walks. Other eccentricities attributed to him include: dressing as a mermaid (with seaweed for hair) and excommunicating his cat for mousing on Sundays. His funeral was noteworthy because the mourners wore purple, instead of the traditional black.
Morwenstow vicarage is situated next to the churchyard, facing the fields of the appropriately named Vicarage Cliff. The vicarage was built by Rev. Hawker and is, as you might expect, remarkable. The chimneys are modelled on the towers of the churches in his life: Morwenstow, Welcombe, Tamerton (where he had been curate) and Magdalen College, Oxford. The old kitchen chimney is a replica of Hawker's mother's tomb.
The Latin name for the hemlock's genus (Conium) comes from the Ancient Greek word for hemlock. This word itself may be related to the Greek word for "whirl" as vertigo is one of the symptoms of ingesting the plant. The name hemlock is from the Old English word for the plant (hymlic which meant "hop-like", based on a vague resemblance to the vine on which hops grow). Other common names include "poison parsley" and "devil's porridge".
The Harvest Festival that we know today was invented in Morwenstow in 1843 by Rev. Hawker. Traditions celebrating harvest predate Christianity but Hawker revived this, centred around the church. Hawker invited his parishioners to a harvest service, as he wanted to give thanks to God for providing such plenty. The service took place on the 1 October, and bread made from the first cut of corn was taken at communion. It quickly caught on and spread throughout Cornwall and beyond. In the Port Isaac Harvest Festival celebration, fish, nets, oars and lobster pots took the place of the more conventional flowers and fruit.
St Morwenna was an early 6th century saint from Ireland, and is said to have been one of the many children of the Celtic King Brychan. She settled in Morwenstow and her brother, St Nectan, lived nearby at Hartland. Ethelwolf, the Saxon King, appointed Morwenna to be the tutor for his daughters, for which service, Morwenna requested land to build a church. It is recorded that as she lay dying, St. Nectan came to see her, and she asked him to raise her up so that she might look once more on her native shore. She was buried at the church in Morwenstow.
Images of her, in stained glass, may be seen in the Morwenstow parish church and a painting on the North Wall shows a gaunt female clasping a scroll to her breast with her left hand; the right arm is raised in blessing over a kneeling monk.
Morwenna's Holy Well, restored by Rev Hawker, survives in a virtually inaccessible position part-way down the cliff at Morwenstow. It was lost for many years and rediscovered after much searching towards the end of the 20th Century. Following this, the National Trust cleared a rough path and provided ropes to assist descent half way down the 450 foot cliff to reach the well. In the early 1980s, before Health and Safety had been invented, the local primary school children were taken on a school trip here and fortunately survived to tell the tale. Subsequently the ropes were removed and the path became overgrown with brambles, nettles and blackthorn. During this period, the path was used by at least one local family as a test of dedication for potential suitors. Recently the path has been cleared again but is definitely not recommended without safety equipment as it is dangerously steep and precarious.
Skylarks are the most common member of the lark family in Britain and are often known simply as "larks".
The phrase "to lark about" may have its origins in the aerobatics of the skylark. At the start of the 19th Century, young boys who played about in the rigging of ships were known as "skylarks". The use of "to lark" as a verb can be traced back as far as the early 19th Century. By the middle of the century, it had reach America where "larking about" is first recorded.
Hawker built a small hut from driftwood, on the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean at Morwenstow. He spent many hours there "communing with St Morwenna" (i.e. smoking opium) and writing his poems and letters. One of these was Cornwall's anthem - Trelawney - which he published anonymously but was later credited with, by Charles Dickens. Hawker's Hut is now the smallest building owned by the National Trust.
The name Morwenstow has been Saxonified at some point in history and had "stow" added to indicate the presence of the church, perhaps replacing a "lan-" at the start. According to legend, the "morwen" part comes from St Morwenna. However, it's also worth noting that mor is the Cornish word for "sea" and gwenn means "white", so it's also possible that the name may have its origins in the rough seas around the rocky shores here.
There is no actual village of Morwenstow - it's just the name of the parish. The central settlement in the parish is simply called Shop, and does indeed have a shop (aka "the shop in Shop"). However, the origin of the several places in Cornwall with "Shop" in the name is actually from "workshop" i.e. a blacksmith.
At the bottom of the Tidna valley, rather that meeting the coast at the part of the valley most eroded by the sea, the river Tidna continues along a gully carved into the soft shale rocks along the side of Higher Sharpnose Point. The Tidna Chute ends in a waterfall which tumbles down the cliff at the end of the point.
Large daisy-like flowers on the coast are likely to be oxeye daisies, also known as the dog daisy or moon daisy - the latter is said to be because they are so bright that they appear to glow in the evening. The flowers of oxeye daisies are edible and can be used in salads or deserts. The flower buds can also be pickled in vinegar and spices and used like capers.
The interdependency between plants and pollinating insects is thought to have accelerated the formation of new species (i.e. a group where members can only reproduce successfully with other members from that group, not from other groups) both for the plants and for the insects. This is thought to explain why there are a few hundred species of conifer but a few hundred thousand species of flowering plant. This has allowed flowering plants to become highly specialised for habitat niches (e.g. salty coastline) and so dominate many of them.
Several species of heather grow in Cornwall and are most easily recognised when they flower from July to September. The one with the most brightly coloured (purple) flowers is known as bell heather due to the bell-shaped flowers. This is the earliest one to start flowering - normally in June. Bell heather is usually interspersed with ling or common heather which has much smaller flowers which are usually paler and pinker and come out at the start of July. A third kind known as cross-leafed heath is less abundant but can be recognised by the pale pink bell-shaped flowers that grow only near the tips of the stems, resembling pink lollipops. A fourth species known as Cornish heath grows only on the Lizard and has more elaborate flowers which are mostly pale with a dark purple crown at the front.
Hanging valleys are common on the North Cornish coast and are created due to erosion of the relatively hard cliffs by the Atlantic waves being faster than erosion of the valley by a small river. In many cases, this results in a waterfall where the small river meets the sea cliff, though many of these are little more than a trickle in dry weather. When there is a strong onshore gale, the waterfalls sometimes run backwards!
The walk continues up the valley to the left from the waymark but first you may want to admire the view from Higher Sharpnose Point by follow the path to the right before returning here.
To continue the walk, follow the path up the valley to another waymark.
To reach the point, turn right at the waymark and follow the path through the kissing gate to the top of the headland, then bear right to follow the path out onto the point.
The headland is known as Higher Sharpnose Point as there is another headland further along the coast to the south near the satellite dishes known simply as Sharpnose Point. The lookout building beside the coast path was built by the Coastguard. The Caledonia was wrecked on the headland here; the figurehead was salvaged and placed as a memorial in the churchyard.
Hart's tongue ferns thrive in shady places and are tolerant of the lime used in mortar so are sometimes found growing in old walls. It's an evergreen so leaves can be seen all year round but there's usually a flurry of new growth in mid March when new leaves can be seen gradually unfurling over a number of days.
The shady valley is a good place for fungi
Fungi are often most noticeable when fruiting, either as mushrooms or as moulds but their main part is a network made up of thin branching threads that can run through soil, leaf litter, wood and even living plant tissue.
Tannins are natural preservatives. The reason why red wine keeps much longer than white is that the grape skins that give the red colour also contain tannins. Oak leaves, wood and acorns all contain a high level of tannins. When wine is aged in oak, the wooden barrels release more preservative tannins into their contents.
The Saxons had a stronghold in northeastern Cornwall, which is reflected in many of the place names (-stow, -bury, -ton, -worthy, -cott, -ham, -ford etc). As you move further west, the Celtic place names (Tre-, Pen-, Lan-) become more common.
Primrose flowers provide an important nectar source for pollinators that hibernate over winter and emerge quite early like brimstone and small tortoiseshell butterflies - these are some of the first butterflies to be seen in spring. Primrose is also the food plant for the caterpillars of the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly.
Rev Hawker of Morwenstow documented a "Witan-Stone" (rock of wisdom) at Tidnacombe Cross "...grown over with moss and lichen, with a moveable slice of rock to conceal its mouth...a dry and secret crevice, about an arm's length deep". Its use was described to Hawker by a local smuggler:
"There, sir have I dropped a little bag of gold, many and many a time, when our people wanted to have the shore quiet and to keep the exciseman out of the way of trouble; and there he would go if so be he was a reasonable officer, and the byeword used to be, when t'was all right, one of us would go and meet him, and then say, 'Sir, your pocket is unbuttoned;' and he would smile and answer, 'Ay! ay! but never mind, my man, my money's safe enough;' and thereby we knew that he was a just man, and satisfied, and that the boats could take the roller in peace..."
The location of the stone is now a mystery, but it's possible it may be rediscovered one day. The chances of it still containing a bag of gold are fairly slim, though.
Buttercups produce a toxin called protoanemonin, which is at its highest concentration when flowering. It is thought that buttercups may be partly responsible for Equine Grass Sickness. Fortunately the toxin is quite unstable and drying of the plant in haymaking leads to polymerisation into non-toxic anemonin. Buttercups are also toxic to dogs, cats and humans. They have a bitter taste which puts dogs off eating the plants but pollen can collect on fur and be ingested, particularly by cats when they clean themselves. A man in France who drank a glass of juice made from buttercups suffered severe colic after four hours and was dead the next day!
The Bush Inn at Morwenstow has a history dating back to AD 950, and is thought to have been a monk's rest on the pilgrimage from Wales to Spain, via the ports of North Devon and the Saints Way to Fowey. The current building dates from the 13th Century. A monastic cross is carved into the flagstone floor leading to the garden, and in the main bar is a Celtic piscina (shallow basin) made of serpentine.
Rectory Farm is situated next to the church and Rectory at Morwenstow - thus the name. Rectory Farm dates back to 1296 when it belonged to an order of Monks. The house contains oak beams salvaged from shipwrecks, floors of local slate, and a number of antique furnishings. The house was opened as a Tea Room in 1950 and since then has won a number of awards. A number of the ingredients are grown on-site in the kitchen garden or are from the farm, and many others are locally sourced.
The gateway into the churchyard, known as a lychgate (after the Saxon word lych meaning corpse), was constructed 1641. The small building - the lych house - which is now a store, was originally a mortuary where Hawker stored the bodies of drowned sailors prior to their burial.
St John's Well is located in the private gardens of the Old Vicarage but there is public access from the lane leading to the house. The first record of the well is from 1296 when it mentioned as ad quendam fontem Johannis. The building over the well is relatively recent but the stone cross embedded in its roof is thought to be mediaeval. The water from the well is still used for baptisms and also forms a gravity-fed water supply for the Old Vicarage; it is reported as making wonderful tea.
Lundy is the largest island in the Bristol Channel, situated about one-third of the way to Wales. It is an outcrop of granite, which rises 400ft out of the sea. The name of the island is thought to come from an old Norse word for puffin.
There is evidence for human habitation from the Neolithic period onward. There are also Celtic remains from the early mediaeval period. Several inscribed stones have been found and also the remains of a chapel.
From late mediaeval times through to the early 1700s, the island was occupied by pirates a number of times and used as a base to plunder cargo ships which needed to navigate along the centre of the Bristol Channel at low tide to avoid grounding on the shingle banks.
The island has had many different owners. When it was bought in the 1920s, the owner decreed himself a king and issued his own currency of "one puffin" and "half puffin" coins which were stamped with his portrait. He was prosecuted by the UK Government for this and the coins were withdrawn but during his "reign", residents didn't pay UK taxes and had to pass through customs when travelling to and from the mainland.
The island is now owned by the National Trust who lease it to the Landmark Trust and thus development has been tightly controlled: the island doesn't have a single tarmacked road, pavement or streetlight, and the electricity is turned off at night, resulting in incredible views of the night sky. Lundy was England's first marine reserve and subsequently the first Marine Conservation Zone.
C.S.O.S. Morwenstow is a satellite ground station, comprised of 21 satellite antennas which are thought to span the full range of communication frequencies. It is staffed by GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), the British signals intelligence service, and the United States NSA (National Security Agency). The activities remain classified but it's thought that these relate to the interception and decryption of electronic communications. Prior to the satellite station, the site was the location of RAF Cleave, a World War 2 airfield used by Fighter Command. Some of the concrete foundations of the airfield buildings are visible near the coast path.
Ferns evolved a long time before flowering plants and dominated the planet during the Carboniferous period. The bark from tree ferns during this period is thought to have been the main source of the planet's coal reserves.
Fern fronds form in a coil (known as a crozier or fiddlehead) with the delicate tip protected in the centre. As the outer parts begin to photosynthesise, the sugars they produce cause more water to be drawn into the leaf, causing it to expand and gradually unfurl.
Ferns produce 2 different types of leaf (although they often look quite similar). The normal leaves are used for photosynthesis of sugars just like in other plants. Ferns also produce a special kind of spore-bearing leaf which can often be identified from the dots on the underside. In hart's tongue ferns, these are really obvious.
Ferns produce neither flowers nor seeds and rely on the tiny spores for their reproduction which are most commonly distributed by the wind. This allows them to colonise some quite random places such as rocky ledges that heavier seeds might not reach. Since the spores come from just one parent fern, the offspring is a genetic clone.
The spore from a fern doesn't grow into a fern. Instead it grows into an organism resembling a liverwort (i.e. a small green blob). Instead of producing spores, these produce eggs and also sperm which they interchange with neighbouring blobs to get a new mix of genes. The fertilised egg grows into a new fern and so this alternating process of ferns and blobs repeats.
Wild thyme grows along the coast and flowers from June to September with tiny pink flowers. During mediaeval times, the plant was a symbol of bravery, possibly due to derivation from the Greek word thumos, meaning anger or spiritedness. An embroidered motif of a bee on a sprig of thyme is said to have been given by mediaeval ladies to their favoured knight.
Coastal land management including removal of excess gorse and grazing to keep taller plants in trim has allowed wild thyme to become more widespread as well as the Cornish chough. Wild thyme is a nectar source for many bees and butterflies and the food plant for young caterpillars of the large blue butterfly.
Gorse is a legume, related to peas and like other members of the pea family it's able to get its nitrogen from the air. It's also tolerant to heavy metals in the soil and to salt. This makes it able to grow in Cornwall's harshest environments: moorland, coast and mine waste tips.
Like other members of the pea family, gorse produces its seeds in pods. The seeds are ejected with a popping sound when pods split open in hot weather. This can catapult the seeds up to five metres. The plants are able to live 30 years and survive sub-zero temperatures, the seeds can withstand fire and remain viable in the soil for 30 years.
Gorse seeds each contain a small body of ant food. The seeds also release a chemical which attracts ants from some distance away. The ants carry the seeds to their nests, eat the ant food and then discard the seeds, helping them to disperse.
The seeds of common gorse are the source of the chemical used to identify people with the rare "hh" blood group. The red blood cells in the vast majority of people (in blood groups A, B, AB and O) have a material called "H substance" on their surface. It turns out that the chemical extracted from gorse binds remarkably specifically to this and cells from the "hh" blood group (that have no H substance) are left alone.
Gorse is also known (particularly in the Westcountry) as furze from the Middle English word furs. This itself is from the Old English word fyres, closely related to the Old English word for fire.
Before the Industrial Revolution, gorse was valued as a fuel for bread ovens and kilns as it burns rapidly, very hot and with little ash. It was in such demand that there were quite strict rules about how much gorse could be cut on common land.
In more recent times, due to reliance on fossil fuels, this is now out of balance and gorse has increased in rural areas which have been abandoned agriculturally.
As gorse ages, it accumulates more dead material. The spiky, springy nature of the plant even when dead means air can circulate well through the dead material and when this dries out in the summer, it substantially increases the risk of fires. As gorse seeds have evolved to withstand fire, controlled burning can be used to used to keep the gorse at a young age where uncontrolled fires are less likely.
Gorse is present as two species along the Atlantic coast and size is the easiest way to tell them apart: Common Gorse bushes are up to 10ft tall whereas Western Gorse is more of a mat - less than 1ft tall. Common Gorse flowers in spring whereas Western Gorse flowers in late summer - early autumn.
In 2005 a man had to be rescued from a 10ft deep patch of coastal gorse by helicopter. Whilst mountain biking home along the coast from a bar, with the assistance of a not insignificant amount of alcohol, he managed to catapult himself into the bushes where he remained stuck for 2 days before being found by a passer-by. She asked if he needed help, to which he replied "can you ring the RAF?".
Between the two species, some gorse is almost always in flower, hence the old country phrases: "when gorse is out of blossom, kissing's out of fashion" (which is recorded from the mid-19th century) and "when the furze is in bloom, my love's in tune" (which dates from the mid-18th century). Common gorse flowers are bright yellow. Western gorse flowers are very slightly more orange - more like the colour of the "yolk" in a Cadbury's creme egg. Also like creme eggs, gorse flowers are edible but are significantly better for use in salads and to make a tea, beer or wine.
Common gorse flowers have a coconut-like scent but rather than fresh coconut, it is reminiscent of desiccated coconut or the popular brand of surf wax, Mr Zoggs. However, not everyone experiences the smell in the same way: for some people it's very strong and for others it quite weak. One complicating factor is that Western Gorse flowers don't have any scent, so you need to be sniffing a tall gorse plant to test yourself.
Flower scents are volatile organic compounds which drift though the air and has evolved as an advertisement to pollinating insects that nectar is available. Squeezing the flowers releases these compounds onto the surface where they can evaporate and therefore intensifies the smell. Similarly the warming effect of sunlight helps the compounds to evaporate faster and so the smell is more intense on sunny days.
Gorse flower wine can be made using 5 litres of gorse flowers stripped from the stems and simmering these in 5 litres of boiling water. Once the flowers are removed, 1.3kg of sugar should be dissolved in the hot water and allowed to cool to room temperature. Then add 500g of chopped raisins and juice and zest of 2 lemons and ferment with white wine yeast and yeast nutrient. Although flowers are present year-round, they are best picked in spring (April and May) when they are most profuse and fragrant.
Rooks can be distinguished from other members of the crow family by their pale, hairless, pointy beak (other members of the crow family have black beaks and also a moustache on the top of their beak).
Rooks nest in colonies and are one of the most social members of the crow family. Scientists have found that rooks are happy to work cooperatively to solve problems (e.g. each pulling on a separate string to release food).
Experiments have shown that rooks are able to use tools to solve problems, choosing tools with optimal sizes and shapes to solve a problem. They are also able to adapt tools e.g. bending a wire to make a hook to retrieve food.
Rooks eat pretty much anything but their primary food source is earthworms and insect larvae which their beak is evolved to probe for.
Symbols on the front of ships arose both out of superstition for good luck and symbols of power. The general practice of putting a carved figure on the bowsprit became common practice from the 16th Century. Figureheads often depicted either the role of the ship (e.g. warship) or the name of the ship allowing it to be recognised by sailors who couldn't read. During the 18th Century, a figurehead of a woman (preferably showing some breast) was thought to bring calm to a stormy sea.
Lesser celandines are common plants along woodland paths recognisable by their yellow star-shaped flowers. Despite their name, they are not closely related to the Greater Celandine. Lesser celandines are actually a member of the buttercup family and, like buttercups, they contain the poisonous chemical protoanemonin.
From December until the spring, celandine leaves are quite noticeable along the edge of paths. They have a shape similar to a "spade" in a pack of cards and are patterned with lighter green or silvery markings.
Lesser celandines are one of the first flowers to appear in springtime, and start flowering in late February with the peak in late March before the bluebells come out in April. They continue flowering through the bluebell period into early May so they are often seen together.
Due to their early flowering period and prolific quantities in shady places, celandines are an important nectar source for pollinators emerging from hibernation such as a queen bumblebee.
On one of our walks we encountered a schoolteacher telling a group of children holding a celandine that they had found a buttercup. Children can correct their teachers by noting that that "normal" buttercups have wide petals that overlap whereas celandine petals are thin spikes with a large gap between each. Also whilst celandines are out from mid-February, buttercups are normally seen from mid-April and their peak flowering is in May and early June. Their flowering periods do overlap slightly in late April but by May, celandines are past their best.
The name celandine is thought to be derived from the Greek word for swallow, based on the arrival of swallows being a sign of spring. Another common name for celandine is spring messenger, based on the early flowering. This was presumably also the basis of the Victorian use as a symbol of "joys to come".
Celandine flowers close each night and open each morning. This is controlled by a circadian rhythm, so they really are "going to sleep" at night and "waking up in the morning". It is likely that this has arisen to protect the internals of the flowers from any frost during the night as they begin flowering in March when frosts are still common.
Celandine roots have numerous knobbly tubers and when these break off, a new plant can regrow from the tuber. Digging animals such as rabbits and squirrels can therefore help to spread celandines. In some parts of the world they have become an invasive problem where their dense mat of leaves chokes out native species which have not evolved to compete with them.
Another name for celandine is pilewort as the tubers of the plant are said to resemble piles. Based on the "doctrine of signatures" (i.e. a plant that looks a bit like something must be a cure for it), the resemblance suggested to mediaeval herbalists that celandines could be used to cure haemorrhoids. This was done by applying an ointment containing crushed celandine leaves to the relevant area. Since celandine contains a poisonous compound, some attempts to ingest celandine in an effort to cure piles have not gone too well.
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