Lamorna
Encyclopedia
Lamorna is a fishing village and cove
in west Cornwall
, United Kingdom
. It is situated on the Penwith
peninsula approximately four miles (6 km) south of Penzance
.
. It is particularly associated with the artist S. J. "Lamorna" Birch
who lived there. The colony included Birch, Alfred Munnings
, Laura Knight
and Harold Knight
. This period is dramatised in the novel Summer in February by Jonathan Smith. Lamorna was also the home of the jeweller Ella Naper and her husband, the painter Charles, who built Trewoofe house there.
.
The author Derek Tangye
lived in Lamorna where he wrote his famous books "The Minack Chronicles". There is still a piece of land called "Oliver Land" which is only accessible from Lamorna that he left after his death as a wildlife sanctuary.
Lamorna Cove was the title of a poem by W. H. Davies
published in 1929.
The name of Lamorna's pub, The Wink, alludes to smuggling
, 'the wink' being a signal that contraband could be obtained. The pub is the subject of a novel by Martha Grimes
, entitled The Lamorna Wink.
The Lamorna Pottery was founded in 1947 by Christopher James Ludlow (known as Jimmy) and Derek Wilshaw.
The Lamorna Arts Festival was launched in 2009 to celebrate the original Lamorna Colony and today's Lamorna art community.
Lamorna was the village used in the novel The Memory Garden by Rachel Hore.
Lamorna was the location used for the shooting of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 thriller Straw Dogs.
. Stone from the cove was also used to construct the nearby church of St Buryan
, whose 92 foot granite tower is an imposing local landmark often used as a line of sight by fishermen coming into port.
Cove
A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often inside a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are often considered coves...
in west Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It is situated on the Penwith
Penwith
Penwith was a local government district in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, whose council was based in Penzance. The district covered all of the Penwith peninsula, the toe-like promontory of land at the western end of Cornwall and which included an area of land to the east that fell outside the...
peninsula approximately four miles (6 km) south of Penzance
Penzance
Penzance is a town, civil parish, and port in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is approximately 75 miles west of Plymouth and 300 miles west-southwest of London...
.
Newlyn School of Art and the Lamorna Colony
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Lamorna became popular with artists of the Newlyn SchoolNewlyn School
The Newlyn School is a term used to describe an art colony of artists based in or near to Newlyn, a fishing village adjacent to Penzance, Cornwall, from the 1880s until the early 20th century. The establishment of the Newlyn School was reminiscent of the Barbizon School in France, where artists...
. It is particularly associated with the artist S. J. "Lamorna" Birch
Lamorna Birch
Samuel John "Lamorna" Birch, RA, RWS was an artist in oils and watercolours. At the suggestion of fellow artist Stanhope Forbes, Birch adopted the soubriquet "Lamorna" to distinguish himself from Lionel Birch, an artist who was also working in the area at that time.-Biography:Lamorna Birch was...
who lived there. The colony included Birch, Alfred Munnings
Alfred Munnings
Sir Alfred James Munnings KCVO, PRA was known as one of England's finest painters of horses, and as an outspoken enemy of Modernism...
, Laura Knight
Laura Knight
Dame Laura Knight, DBE was an English Impressionist painter known for painting the world of London's theatre, ballet and circus.-Early life and education:...
and Harold Knight
Harold Knight
Harold Knight was an English portrait, genre and landscape painter.-Life and work:He was born in Nottingham, England, the son of an architect, and studied at Nottingham School of Art under Wilson Foster. It was at the School of Art that he met fellow artist, Laura Johnson, whom he married in 1903...
. This period is dramatised in the novel Summer in February by Jonathan Smith. Lamorna was also the home of the jeweller Ella Naper and her husband, the painter Charles, who built Trewoofe house there.
Lamorna in culture
Lamorna has been immortalised in the song Way Down to Lamorna, about a wayward husband receiving his comeuppance from his wife. The song, beloved of many Cornish singersBrenda Wootton
Brenda Wootton was a Cornish poetess and folk singer and was seen as an ambassador for Cornish tradition and culture in all the Celtic nations and as far away as Australia and Canada....
.
The author Derek Tangye
Derek Tangye
Derek Tangye was a well-known author who lived in Cornwall for nearly fifty years. He wrote 19 books which became known as 'The Minack Chronicles'--they were about his simple life on a clifftop daffodil farm called Dorminack, affectionately referred to as Minack, at St Buryan in the far west of...
lived in Lamorna where he wrote his famous books "The Minack Chronicles". There is still a piece of land called "Oliver Land" which is only accessible from Lamorna that he left after his death as a wildlife sanctuary.
Lamorna Cove was the title of a poem by W. H. Davies
W. H. Davies
William Henry Davies or W. H. Davies was a Welsh poet and writer. Davies spent a significant part of his life as a tramp or vagabond in the United States and United Kingdom, but became known as one of the most popular poets of his time...
published in 1929.
The name of Lamorna's pub, The Wink, alludes to smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
, 'the wink' being a signal that contraband could be obtained. The pub is the subject of a novel by Martha Grimes
Martha Grimes
Martha Grimes is an American author of detective fiction.She was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to William Dermit Grimes, Pittsburgh's city solicitor, and to June Dunnington, who owned the Mountain Lake Hotel in Western Maryland where Martha and her brother spent much of their childhood. Grimes...
, entitled The Lamorna Wink.
The Lamorna Pottery was founded in 1947 by Christopher James Ludlow (known as Jimmy) and Derek Wilshaw.
The Lamorna Arts Festival was launched in 2009 to celebrate the original Lamorna Colony and today's Lamorna art community.
Lamorna was the village used in the novel The Memory Garden by Rachel Hore.
Lamorna was the location used for the shooting of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 thriller Straw Dogs.
Lamorna stone
Granite taken from Lamorna cove has been widely used in construction, most notably in the Thames EmbankmentThames Embankment
The Thames Embankment is a major feat of 19th century civil engineering designed to reclaim marshy land next to the River Thames in central London. It consists of the Victoria and Chelsea Embankment....
. Stone from the cove was also used to construct the nearby church of St Buryan
St Buryan
St Buryan is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom.The village of St Buryan is situated approximately five miles west of Penzance along the B3283 towards Land's End...
, whose 92 foot granite tower is an imposing local landmark often used as a line of sight by fishermen coming into port.