ABOUT THE BOOKS
The Bedrock Cornwall Books is a series from Cornwall-based author, Robert Meller. Book I is the first in the ten book series and is an introduction guide book providing background information on all aspects of Cornwall from the oldest rocks to the most recent plans to build a spaceport at Newquay Airport.
Books II to X correspond to the nine Ordnance Survey Explorer Maps that cover the county. By chance, these nine maps roughly correspond to the nine old Hundreds which were first used in Anglo-Saxon times: Penwith, Kerrier, Pydar, Powder, Trigg, West Wivel, East Wivel, Lesnewth and Stratton.
If you want to understand Cornwall in greater depth, visit some unusual sites, and have a bit of an armchair read, then the Bedrock Cornwall Books are for you. For a long time there has been a gap in the market for the 4 million plus people who visit Cornwall every year, as it has too often been assumed that they would only be interested in “popular guide book attractions.” The Bedrock Cornwall Books overcomes these limitations with over 700 places that can be visited, most of which are off the beaten track, away from other visitors and free of charge. The range of sites that can be visited is diverse with many of them being quite unusual.
The Bedrock Cornwall Books will eventually consist of 10 books. So far 5 books have been published and the remaining 5 have all been written but need shaping up for publication.
Available to buy from Wadebridge Book Shop
Wadebridge Book Shop, 43 Molesworth Street, Wadebridge, Cornwall, PL27 7DR
T: 01208 812489 E: info@wadebridgebookshop.co.uk
Book I:
An introduction covering all aspects of Cornwall
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In the past, why was Cornwall situated below the equator?
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Which town in Cornwall was ransacked by the Vikings in AD 981?
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Why do people think Jesus visited Cornwall?
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Why were the selling of religious indulgencies in medieval times important for building bridges in Cornwall?
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Where in Cornwall did Surrealist painters like to spend the summer months in the 1930s?
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How did the coastal path come into being?
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How did Cornish miners come to play the English Cricket team, captained by W.G. Grace, that toured Australia in 1874.
Find answers to all these questions, and much more, in this book!
BOOK I is an introductory guide book to BOOKS II ‒ X. It provides background information on all aspects of Cornwall from the oldest rocks to the most recent plans to build a spaceport at Newquay Airport.
The Bedrock Cornwall Books, Book I: 444 pages
Book II
Covers St Ives, Penzance, Land's End, Hayle, Newlyn, St Buryan, Zennor and the surrounding area.
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In 1824 why did Lieutenant Hugh Goldsmith have to lift a 70-ton boulder and return it to its rightful place?
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From the late 1880s Porthcurno became the largest oceanic cable station in the world. How was a cable repaired if it broke in mid-ocean?
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Who was the Cornish King of Prussia?
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What did Bill Stickers, Red Biddy, See Mee Run, Sister Agatha, and three other women, known as the Ferguson’s gang, achieve in the 1930s?
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Canon Martyn said he would challenge any labourer in his parish to fight him if they didn’t what?
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Which beach in Cornwall was sprayed with machine gun bullets on 28th August 1942 by a German fighter plane causing 54 injuries and 1 death?
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In 1595 who burnt and laid to waste Mousehole, Paul, Newlyn and Penzance?
Find answers to all these questions, and much more, in this book!
THE BEDROCK CORNWALL BOOKS: BOOK II covers the Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 102.
“The most detailed guides to any county in Britain, I wager, and so richly endowed
with history, geology, facts, figures, stories and heaven knows what else, that every Cornish house should have a complete set…. These are guides for the curious, the educated and the resident—and the occasional fascinated visitor.”
Alastair Sawday. Publisher of ‘Sawday’s Special Places to Stay.’
The Bedrock Cornwall Books, Book II: 505 pages
Book III
Covers Lizard Peninsula, Falmouth, Helston, Mullion, Coverack.
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Where was the first wireless message to cross the Atlantic transmitted from?
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Why was a ‘mass dial’ carved into the door jamb of Manaccan Church?
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What did Operation Chariot achieve, which departed Falmouth Harbour in 1942, and was awarded 5 VCs?
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What is Cornwall’s national flower which only grows on the Lizard due its unique soil and geology?
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Which cove did Queen Victoria and Prince Albert drop anchor to “pick up shells and other natural curiosities?”
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Where did a Cornish man fly a powered air machine 6 months before the Wright Brothers?
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Where can a child get lost in Cornwall’s best maze?
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Why has the Lizard had more shipwrecks than anywhere else on the south coast of England?
Find answers to all these questions, and much more, in this book!
THE BEDROCK CORNWALL BOOKS: BOOK III covers the Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 103.
A fascinating and detailed guide book, as well as an armchair read, for both locals and anyone visiting Cornwall.
The Bedrock Cornwall Books, Book III, 303 pages.
Book IV
Covers Redruth, St Agnes, Cambourne, Newquay and Penryn.
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When and where in Cornwall were 15 tons of the nerve gas Sarin produced?
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How did Redruth come to be a centre of excellence for the treatment of head injuries in the 1700s?
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Why did the early followers of Methodism not take cane sugar in their tea?
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Who held Thomas Pellow as a Cornish slave for 23 years in Morocco before his escape?
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How did Richard Trevithick, the world-famous Cornish engineer, come to die a pauper?
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Why was Father Walsh hung by a chain from his own church tower in 1549?
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Murdock House in Redruth was the first house in the world to be lit by what?
Find answers to all these questions, and much more, in this book!
A guide book and armchair read that takes you on a varied journey through: geology; prehistory and history; the coastal path and beaches; mines and quarries; railways, canals, roads and bridges; defences and communications; fishing, smuggling and farming; holy wells, churches and crosses; legends and fables; houses and gardens; flora and fauna; arts and culture; towns and villages; miscellaneous and children.
The Bedrock Cornwall Books, Book IV: 292 pages
Book VI
Covers Padstow, Port Isaac, Wadebridge, St Columb Major and the surrounding area.
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Why is there a submerged forest at Daymer Bay?
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How did 300 ships come to be wrecked on the Doom Bar in the 18th and 19th centuries?
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What was Carl Jung, the psychoanalyst, doing visiting Polzeath in July 1923?
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Why did the pocket borough of Mitchell village have an electorate of 3 voters to elect 2 MPs in the 1790s?
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How did 39 miners come to drown at East Wheal Rose Mine in 1846?
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Where are the sites of the 13 holy wells that can be seen in the area?
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Why has 40% of the parish of St Stephen-in-Brannel disappeared?
Find answers to all these questions, and much more, in this book!
BOOK VI covers the Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 106.
A guide book and armchair read that takes you on a varied journey through: geology; prehistory and history; the coastal path and beaches; mines and quarries; railways, canals, roads and bridges; defences and communications; fishing, smuggling and farming; holy wells, churches and crosses; legends and fables; houses and gardens; flora and fauna; arts and culture; towns and villages; miscellaneous and children.
The Bedrock Cornwall Books, Book VI: 282 pages