This is a series of caches around the village of Perran-Ar-Worthal, placed in memory of my grandfather, E.E.W. Ryall (1910-1986) who published a short history of the village in 1957. We are in the process of getting it republished but in the meantime have included short extracts in this series. It is about 4.5km and should take about an hour and a half.
YOU WILL NEED TWEEZERS AND A PENCIL OR PEN FOR SOME OF THE CACHES.
Silver Hill
Silver Hill is reportedly named after a silver mine that existed from Elizabethan times.
“Mining took first place among the occupations of the parishioners, and then came agriculture, and then local industries such as the foundry and the woollen factory.”
“Perran has produced at least one man who has gone down in history as a scientist of more than ordinary repute. William Jory Henwood was born in a house at Perranwharf in 1805. His parents, John and Mary Henwood are commemorated by a stained glass window and a tablet in the church, these monuments being erected by their son. John was a clerk in the Perran Foundry from 1822 to 1827 and for some time William worked in a similar capacity. He read a paper to the Royal Geological society of Cornwall in 1826 and from 1832 to 1838 was Assay Master to the Duchy. Many honours came to him viz. the Telford Medal of the Institute of Civil Engineers for a paper on pumps, Fellow of the Royal Geological Society in 1828, and Fellow of the Royal Society in 1840. In 1843 he went to Brazil and in 1835 went on a mission for the Indian Government. Bad health caused his retirement in 1855. Henwood became president of the Royal Institute of Cornwall in 1869. He died a bachelor, at Penzance in 1875. You may see his tomb near the church on the south side. His rise in the scientific world was greatly helped by local gentry who were alive to the power of the foundry clerk. Papers to the Royal Geological Society during his lifetime totalled 55 and in honour of his geological research a mineral was and is called ‘henwoodite’.”