| Look out, the Falmouth Trollops are coming to Shag Town |
|
|
|
Page 1 of 4 Pete London explores the colourful connotations of some Cornish parish nicknames. In the past, many parishes in Cornwall acquired a nickname. Sometimes these were associated with local occupations or parish customs. Others related to animals and birds found in the neighbourhood. Yet at a time when rivalry between local areas was often fierce, frequently the names were less than flattering. Some of the earliest recorded nicknames appear in the West Cornwall newspapers, The Cornishman and the Cornish Telegraph; pieces in the latter from the 1870s are thought to be by William Bottrell. In 1875, the Rev E J Harvey listed 11 names in his Mullyon, particularly the St Ives Hakes, as well as the jeer “Who flogged the hake?” The story behind this recalls a time when the St Ives fishermen could catch nothing but hake, though they were searching for herring. To deter the unwanted fish from local shores, they flogged a hake on the quayside and threw it back in the water as a terrible warning to its brethren to leave the area. Mount’s Bay and Newlyn fishermen became known as Newlyn Buccas after their custom of leaving fish on the sand as an offering to Bucca, the storm god. Newlyn folk had other names too: Pirates, Rob-the-Dead and Walk-the-Plank, given to them by St Ives people. Mousehole’s Cut-Throats were so-named after a local woman who was said to have slit the throat of a sleeping Spaniard during the incursion at Mount’s Bay in 1595.  A Newlyn 'Bucca' or so the fishermen from that port were called. Picture courtesy of Penlee House photographic archive. Elsewhere in Penwith, St Just people had several nicknames. Red-tailed Drones referred to the miners’ clothing, stained by iron oxide. Other names were St Just Witches, Santusters and Santust Fuggans. The fuggan was a cake beloved by St Just people, consisting of lumps of potato and raisins, rolled in dough and baked. It was frequently eaten in the mines at croust. |
||||||