In 2009, the world-famous Mousehole Male Voice Choir will mark its centenary, which is being commemorated with an array of events and concerts. Launching this year of celebration, Penlee House Gallery & Museum, Penzance, is staging an exhibition looking at the whole history of the village of Mousehole, bringing together paintings, photographs and artefacts celebrating the village’s fascinating heritage.
Famously described by the poet Dylan Thomas as ‘the prettiest village in England’, Mousehole has a distinguished and rich history dating back many centuries. In the late thirteenth century, it came to prominence as one of Cornwall’s most important ports, a position it held until the devastating Spanish Raid of 1595. The village never fully recovered from this unexpected onslaught, and during the 17th century was superseded as a fishing port by the neighbouring village of Newlyn.
Despite this, Mousehole’s fishing industry continued through the 18th century, the majority of the inhabitants working as fishermen and fishwives. The most famous Mousehole fishwife was one Dolly Pentreath (d.1777), a formidable lady well known for her sharp tongue and allegedly the last person to speak the Cornish language as her mother-tongue.
The 20th century saw the steady decline of the fishing industry in Mousehole. The community received a further heavy blow on the night of 19 December 1981, when the merchant ship Union Star got into difficulties. The Solomon Browne lifeboat, crewed by eight Mousehole men, launched a rescue mission despite 40-foot waves and 100 mph winds, all eight losing their lives in the attempt.
More recently, children all over the world have come to know and love Mousehole through Antonia Barber’s book ‘The Mousehole Cat’, telling the tale of the legendary Mousehole-man Tom Bawcock, whose heroism in saving the village from famine is celebrated every year on 23 December.
All these fascinating and often moving tales are represented in the exhibition through objects, paintings and photographs ranging from the cannon ball alleged to be the one that killed Squire Keigwin in the Spanish Raid, through to the RNLI gold medal posthumously awarded to William Trevelyan Richards, Coxwain of the tragically ill-fated Penlee lifeboat. The show includes the original artwork for Nicola Bayley’s superb Mousehole Cat illustrations alongside major paintings of Mousehole by Newlyn School artists such as Stanhope Forbes, Harold Harvey and Frank Heath, together with portraits of key figures such as Dolly Pentreath. The exhibition truly includes something for everyone and makes an ideal visit for all the family this Christmas – don’t miss it!
