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Tom Bawcock's Eve
Tom Bawcock's Eve is an annual festival, held on 23 December, in Mousehole, Cornwall. The festival is held in celebration and memorial of the efforts of legendary Mousehole resident Tom Bawcock to lift a famine from the village by going out to fish in a severe storm. During this festival Stargazy pie (a mixed fish, egg and potato pie with protruding fish heads) is eaten and depending on the year of celebration a lantern procession takes place. Origins There are several theories of the origins of this festival, but the first recorded description was made by Robert Morton Nance in 1927 in the magazine ''Old Cornwall''. Nance described the festival as it existed around the start of the 20th century. Within this work Nance also speculated that the name Bawcock was derived from Beau Coq ( French) - he believed the cock was a herald of new light in Pagan times and the origins of the festival were pre-Christian. The most likely derivation of the name 'Bawcock' is from Middle Englis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merlangius
''Merlangius merlangus'', commonly known as Whiting or merling, is an important food fish in the eastern North Atlantic Ocean and the northern Mediterranean, western Baltic, and Black Sea. In Anglophonic countries outside the Whiting's natural range, the name "whiting" has been applied to various other species of fish. Description ''Merlangius merlangus'' has three dorsal fins with a total of 30 to 40 soft rays and two anal fins with 30 to 35 soft rays. The body is long and the head small and a chin barbel, if present, is very small. This fish can reach a maximum length of about . The colour may be yellowish-brown, greenish or dark blue, the flanks yellowish grey or white and the belly silvery. There is a distinctive black blotch near the base of each pectoral fin. Distribution and habitat Whiting are native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Their range extends from the southeastern Barents Sea and Iceland to Scandinavia, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, Portugal, the Black S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Montol Festival
The Montol Festival (often just Montol) is an annual festival in Penzance, Cornwall, United Kingdom, which has been held on 21 December each year since 2007. The festival is a revival or reinterpretation of many of the traditional Cornish midwinter customs & Christmas traditions formerly practiced in and around the Penzance area and common to much of Cornwall at one point. The festival spans several days, but the main events are held on the traditional date of the feast of St Thomas the Apostle, usually 21 December, which always coincides with the winter solstice. Origin and history Montol came about from the same community which had created Golowan, a midsummer festival also held in Penzance, though different people were involved. The idea was formed after the success of Golowan, in order to celebrate the winter solstice in a similar manner. Montol sought to revive practices recorded by antiquarians, some of which reportedly only died out after the Second World War. The first ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guise Dancing
Guise dancing (sometimes known as goose, goosey or geese dancing) is a form of community mumming practiced during the twelve days of Christmastide, that is, between Christmas Day and Twelfth Night in West Cornwall, England, UK. Today, guise dancing has been appropriated for feast days at other times of the year. Guise dancers dress in a disguise to hide their identity allowing them to perform in an outlandish or mischievous manner in the hope of receiving payment of food or money. The principal activities associated with guise dancing have changed through time. These have included the performance of Christmas plays such as Duffy and the Devil or St George and the Turkish Knight and traditional Cornish dance, music and song. Historical description Guise dancing was observed in the late 19th century by Cornish antiquarian M. A. Courtney who reported that the practice had been largely eliminated by 1890 in Penzance due to a decline in the traditional nature of the celebrations a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brenda Wootton
Brenda Wootton (née Ellery) (10 February 1928 – 11 March 1994) was a British folk singer and poet and was seen as an ambassador for Cornish tradition and culture in all the Celtic nations and as far as Australia and Canada. Early life and career Brenda Ellery was born in London, during a brief few months when her Cornish-born parents were there looking for work, but was back home in Cornwall at 6 months old. She grew up in the fishing village of Newlyn. In 1948 she married John Wootton, a radio engineer from Wolverhampton, and their daughter Susan was born in 1949. They lived in Sennen, then Penzance, with Brenda running a bed and breakfast business and very involved in amateur dramatics. In 1964 she switched careers and helped her brother Peter Ellery set up his Tremaen Pottery business - becoming a director and running the family shop in Penzance, Tremaen Craft Market. She first found her voice as a young schoolgirl, singing in chapel choirs and village halls in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sardine
"Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Italian island of Sardinia, around which sardines were once supposedly abundant. The terms "sardine" and "pilchard" are not precise, and what is meant depends on the region. The United Kingdom's Sea Fish Industry Authority, for example, classifies sardines as young pilchards. One criterion suggests fish shorter in length than are sardines, and larger fish are pilchards. The FAO/WHO Codex standard for canned sardines cites 21 species that may be classed as sardines. FishBase, a comprehensive database of information about fish, calls at least six species "pilchard", over a dozen just "sardine", and many more with the two basic names qualified by various adjectives. Etymology 'Sardine' first appeared in English in the 15th century, a loanword ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantic Horse Mackerel
The Atlantic horse mackerel (''Trachurus trachurus''), also known as the European horse mackerel or common scad, is a species of jack mackerel in the family Carangidae, the jacks, pompanos and trevallies. It is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean off Europe and Africa and into the south-eastern Indian Ocean. It is an important species in commercial fisheries and is listed as a Vulnerable species on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Description The Atlantic horse mackerel has quite a slender, quite compressed body with a large head in which the rear of the upper jaw reaches the front of the eye and the lower jaw projects beyond the upper jaw. The eye has a well developed adipose eyelid. It has two dorsal fins, the first is tall and has seven thin spines, with the final spine being much shorter than the others. The second dorsal fin is separated from the first by a narrow gap and is considerably longer than the first with 29-33 soft rays. The anal fin is about as long as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sand Eels
Sand eel or sandeel is the common name used for a considerable number of species of fish. While they are not true eels, they are eel-like in their appearance and can grow up to in length. Many species are found off the western coasts of Europe from Spain to Scotland, and in the Mediterranean and Baltic seas. Sand eels are an important food source for seabirds, including puffins and kittiwakes. They are a commercially important for the production of fish meal and made up 4% of fish globally caught for fish meal production (behind anchovy, capelin and blue whiting) between 1997 and 2001. Habitat The preferential habitat for sand eels is a seabed floor, with a relatively smooth bottom of gravelly sand; an example of this prime habitat is the floor of the Sea of the Hebrides. Sand eel species Most sand eels are sea fish of the genera ''Hyperoplus'' (greater sand eels), ''Gymnammodytes'' or ''Ammodytes''. The three genera listed above all fall within the family Ammodytidae, the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Small-spotted Catshark
The small-spotted catshark (''Scyliorhinus canicula''), also known as the sandy dogfish, lesser-spotted dogfish, rough-hound or morgay (in Scotland and Cornwall), is a catshark of the family Scyliorhinidae. It is found on the continental shelves and the uppermost continental slopes off the coasts of Norway and the British Isles south to Senegal and in the Mediterranean, between latitudes 63° N and 12° N. It can grow up to a length of , and it can weigh more than . It is found primarily over sandy, gravelly, or muddy bottoms from depths of a few metres down to 400 m.Rodriguez-Cabello, C., Sanchez, F., Olaso, I. 2007. Distribution patterns and sexual segregations of ''Scyliorhinus canicula'' (L.) in the Cantabrian Sea. ''Journal of Fish Biology''. 70: 1568–1586 ''S. canicula'' is one of the most abundant elasmobranchs in the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. The majority of the populations are stable in most areas.Ballard, W., Mellinger, J., Lechenault, H. 2005. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antonia Barber
Antonia Barber (real name Barbara Anthony; 10 December 1932 - 4 April 2019), was an English author of books for children and adults. Barber resided in Kent and Mousehole, Cornwall. Her book ''The Mousehole Cat'' was adapted as an animated film and is being adapted as a stage musical. She graduated from University College London. The younger sister of fellow author Pamela Oldfield, Barber was married to a structural engineer. Selected works * ''The Affair of the Rockerbye Baby'' (1966) * ''The Ghosts'' (1969; filmed as ''The Amazing Mr Blunden'', 1972) * ''The Ring in the Rough Stuff'' (1983) * ''The Enchanter's Daughter'' (1987) * ''Satchelmouse and the Doll's House'' (1987) * ''The Mousehole Cat'' (1990) * ''Catkin'' (1994) * ''Hidden Tales from Eastern Europe'' * ''Dancing Shoes'' * ''Dancing Shoes, Dance to the Rescue'' Awards and recognition * ''The Ghosts'' (1969) ** Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal (literary award), Carnegie Medal * ''The Ring in the Rough Stuff'' (198 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mousehole Cat
''The Mousehole Cat'' is a children's book written by Antonia Barber and illustrated by Nicola Bayley. Based on the legend of Cornish fisherman Tom Bawcock and the stargazy pie, it tells the tale of a cat who goes with its owner on a fishing expedition in rough and stormy seas. The book has won awards, including the 1998 British Book Award for Illustrated Children's Book of the Month. It has since been adapted into a 2015 animated film, a puppet show and is being adapted as a stage musical. Plot One very stormy winter, none of the fishermen of the village of Mousehole in Cornwall have been able to leave the harbour for a long while and the village is near starvation. Tom Bawcock (only called 'Tom' in the book) and his loyal black and white cat, Mowzer, decide to brave the storms and set sail to catch some fish. When the boat hits the storm, it is represented by a giant "Storm-Cat", which allows Mowzer to eventually save the day by soothing the storm with her purring. This purri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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