Penzance

Penzance (Pensans, also Penzans, ) 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 (120 km) west of Plymouth and 300 miles (500 km) west-southwest of London.

Granted various Royal Charters from 1512 onwards and incorporated in 1614, it has a population of 21,168.

Situated in the shelter of Mount's Bay, the town faces south-east onto the English Channel, is bordered to the west by the fishing port of Newlyn and to the east by the civil parish of Ludgvan. The town's location gives it a temperate climate, warmer than most of the rest of Britain.

Etymology
Penzance (Pensans), or "holy headland" in the Cornish language, is a reference to the location of the chapel of St. Anthony that stood over a thousand years ago on the headland to the west of what became Penzance Harbour. Until the 1930s this history was also reflected in the choice of symbol for the town, the severed 'holy head' of St. John the Baptist. It can still be seen on the civic regalia of the Mayor of Penzance and on several important landmarks in the town. The only remaining object from this chapel is a carved figure which is now largely eroded known as 'St. Raffidy' which can be found in the churchyard of the parish church of Penzance, St. Mary's near the original site of the chapel.

Bronze and Iron Ages
Evidence of Iron Age settlement can be found in Penzance in a number of sites including Lescudjack Castle, an Iron Age settlement within the current Penzance parish boundaries.

Middle Ages
Evidence of historical settlement from this period can be found in the St Clare area of the town, where a chapel not unlike St Anthony's existed dedicated to St. Clare or Cleer. Throughout the period prior to Penzance gaining borough status in 1614 the village and surrounding areas fell within the control of the Manor of Alverton and was subject to the taxation regime of that manor.

Although the first historical mention of Penzance (as a place for landing fish) was in 1322 in local manorial records, the town was, until the 17th century, overshadowed by its near-neighbour Marazion. (Marazion was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1088 and is the oldest chartered town in Britain, having been granted this status by King Henry III in 1257.) In medieval times and later, Penzance was subject to frequent raiding by "Turkish pirates", in fact Barbary Corsairs.

Plague
In the summer of 1578 Penzance was visited by the plague. The burial registers of Madron (where all Penzance births, deaths and marriages were recorded) shows a massive increase in deaths for 1578, from 12 the previous year to 155. This is estimated to be about 10% of the population of the village at the time. The plague also returned in 1647 and the registers again show an increase of from 22 burials to 217 in one year.

Spanish raids
Being at the far west of Cornwall, Penzance and the surrounding villages have been sacked many times by foreign fleets. On July 23, 1595, several years after the Spanish Armada of 1588, a Spanish force under Don Carlos de Amesquita, which had been patrolling the Channel, landed troops in Cornwall. Amesquita's force seized supplies, raided and burned Penzance and surrounding villages, held a mass, and sailed away before it could be confronted.

Penzance as a town since 1614
The reason for Penzance's relative success probably stems from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries when Henry IV of England granted the town a Royal Market. Henry VIII later granted the right to charge harbour dues, and King James I granted it the status of a borough.

During the English Civil War Penzance was sacked by the forces of Sir Thomas Fairfax apparently for the kindness shown to Lord Goring and Lord Hopton's troops during the conflict.

Penzance borough council undertook several major projects, including the building of the Market House (which was the home of the Corn Exchange and the then Guildhall), and the harbour, the first pier of which was built in 1512. The southern arm of the pier was built in 1766 and extended in 1785.

Civic improvements in this period included the construction in 1759 of a reservoir which supplied water to public pumps in the streets.

Penzance has a long-standing association with the local parish of Madron. Madron Church was in fact the centre of most religious activity in the town until 1871, when St. Mary's Church (prior to this period a Chapel of ease) was granted parish status by church authorities.

1755 tsunami
On 1 November 1755 the Lisbon earthquake caused a tsunami to strike the Cornish coast, over 1,000 miles away from the epicentre. At around 14:00 in the afternoon, the sea rose eight feet in Penzance, came in at great speed, and ebbed at the same rate. Little damage was recorded.

19th century
At the start of the 19th century (1801), the town had a population of 2,248. The census, which is taken every ten years, recorded a peak population in 1861 of 3,843, but it then declined, as in most of Cornwall, through the remainder of the century, being just 3,088 in 1901.

By the time Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, Penzance had established itself as an important regional centre. The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall was founded in the town in 1814 and about 1817 was responsible for introducing a miner's safety tamping bar, which attracted the Prince Regent to become its patron.

The pier had been extended again in 1812 and John Matthews opened a small dry dock in 1814, the first in the South West. In 1840 Nicholas Holman of St Just opened a branch of his foundry business on the quayside. These facilities proved valuable in supporting the steamships that were soon calling at the harbour in increasing numbers.

Gas lighting was introduced in 1830 and the old Market House was demolished in 1836. Its replacement, designed by W. Harris of Bristol, was completed at the top of Market Jew Street in 1838. St Mary's Church, another prominent feature of the Penzance skyline, was completed in 1836, while a Roman Catholic church was built in 1843. Another familiar building from this period is the eccentric Egyptian House in Chapel Street, built in 1830. The first part of the Promenade along the sea front dates from 1844.

After the passing of the Public Health Act (1848), Penzance was one of the first towns to petition to form a local board of health, doing so in September that year. Following a report by a government inspector in February, the Board was established in 1849 which led to many facilities to enhance public health. The report shows that most streets were Macadamised or sometimes paved, and the town was lit by 121 gas lamps from October to March each year, although they were not lit when there was a full moon. Water was supplied from 6 public pumps, and there were a further 53 private wells. There were no sewage pipes at the time, waste being collected from the main streets by a refuse cart.

Penzance railway station, the terminus of the West Cornwall Railway, opened on 11 March 1852 on the eastern side of the harbour, although trains only ran to Redruth at first. From 25 August 1852 the line was extended to Truro, but the Cornwall Railway linking that place with Plymouth was not opened until 4 May 1859. Passengers and goods had to change trains at Truro as the West Cornwall had been built using the standard gauge, but the Cornwall Railway was built to the  broad gauge. The West Cornwall Railway Act included a clause that it would be converted to broad gauge once it had been connected to another broad gauge line, but the company could not raise the funds to do so.

The line was sold to the Great Western Railway and its "Associated Companies" (the Bristol and Exeter Railway and South Devon Railway) on 1 January 1866. The new owners quickly converted the line to mixed gauge using three rails so that both broad and "narrow" trains could operate. Broad gauge goods trains started running in November that year, with through passenger trains running to London from 1 March 1867. The last broad gauge train arrived at 8.49pm on 20 May 1892, having left London Paddington station at 10.15 that morning. The two locomotives, numbers 1256 and 3557, took the carriages away to Swindon railway works at 9.57, and all trains since have been standard gauge.

The ability of the railway to carry fresh produce to distant markets such as Bristol, London and Manchester enabled local farmers and fishermen to sell more produce and at better prices. The special "perishable" train soon became a feature of the railway, these being fast extra goods trains carrying potatoes, broccoli or fish depending on the season. In August 1861 1,787 tons of potatoes, 867 tons of broccoli, and 1,063 tons of fish were dispatched from the station. Fruit and flowers were also carried; the mild climate around Penzance and on the Scilly Isles meant that they were ready for market earlier and could command high prices.

The completion of the railway through Cornwall made it easier for tourists and invalids to enjoy the mild climate of Penzance. Bathing machines had been advertised for hire on the beach as early as 1823, and the town was already "noted for the pleasantness of its situation, the salubrity of its air, and the beauty of its natives". The town's first official guide book was published in 1860 and the Queen's Hotel opened on the sea front the following year. It was so successful that it was extended in 1871 and 1908.

At the same time as the railway was being built more improvements were being made to the harbour, with a second pier on the eastern side of the harbour, the Albert Pier, completed in 1853 to provide even better shelter for shipping, and a lighthouse built on the Old Pier in 1855. The Scilly Isles Steam Navigation Company was founded in 1858 and placed in service the first steam ship on the route, SS Little Western. In 1870 the new West Cornwall Steam Ship Company joined the route, taking over the Scilly Isles Company the following year.

Penzance, with its dry dock and engineering facilities, was chosen as the western depot for Trinity House that serviced all the lighthouses and lightships from Start Point to Trevose Head. It was opened in 1866 adjacent to the harbour and the Buoy Store became the Trinity House National Lighthouse Museum until 2005 when Trinity House closed the museum.

In 1875 a local newspaper described the railway station as a large dog's house of the nastiest and draughtiest kind but a series of works improved this part of the town during the 1880s. The original station was rebuilt with the present buildings and train shed over the platforms (1880). The lower end of Market Jew Street was widened and a new road was built to link the station with the harbour over the Ross Swing Bridge (1881), allowing the construction of proper sewers beneath. A larger dry dock replaced Matthews' original facility (1880), and a floating harbour was made (1884) with lock gates to keep in the water at low tide.

Around the headland, public baths were opened on the Promenade in 1887 and the Morrab Gardens with its sub-tropical plants was opened two years later. A bandstand was added to the gardens in 1897.

20th century
In 1901 the town had a population of 3,088. The decennial census recorded a continuing decline in population until 1921, when just 2,616 people were recorded. The population then climbed to 4,888 (1931) then 5,545 (1951) - thus more than doubling in 30 years. It was now larger than at any time in the past. (The census boundaries changed in 1981 so these figures do not directly compare with those stated for the current population)

A proposed electric tramway along the Promenade to Newlyn, which would have continued as a light railway to St Just, failed to gain authorisation in 1898. Instead motor buses were put into service on 31 October 1903. These linked Penzance with Marazion and were operated by the Great Western Railway, being introduced only 11 weeks after the railway's pioneering service between Helston and The Lizard. They were considered a success, carrying 16,091 passengers by the end of the year, so were followed the next spring by further routes to Land's End and St Just. These services developed into the First Devon and Cornwall bus network that currently serves the area and is still centred on a terminus alongside Penzance railway station.

The dry dock was sold on 25 August 1904 to N. Holman and Sons Limited, the engineering business that had been trading in Penzance since 1840. New workshops were built during the 1930s and the facility continued to be used by the Scilly ferries and other merchant ships, as well as Trinity House, the Royal Navy and Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service. In 1951 a new vessel for the King Harry Ferry on the River Fal was launched, built on the keel of an old landing craft. A steam tug, the Primrose, was built in 1963.

Land was reclaimed beside the Albert Pier in the 1930s to allow the railway station to be enlarged at a cost of £134,000. The 1880 building was retained, but extra platforms and sidings were provided to handle more perishable goods, as well as the increasing numbers of tourists.

In 1905 a new bandstand was built on the Promenade opposite the Queen's Hotel, and the Pavilion Theatre opened nearby in 1911, complete with a roof garden and cafe. Travel to Penzance was easier than ever, with the Great Western Railway introducing the Cornish Riviera Express on 1 July 1904, which left London Paddington at 10:10 and arrived in Penzance just 7 hours later, two hours faster than the previous quickest service. (In 2007 it leaves Paddington at 10:05 and takes 5 hours and 5 minutes.) The railway promoted local tourism with postcards that were sold at its stations, and an annual guide book, The Cornish Riviera, in which SPB Mais described the town as "a suburb of Covent Garden, and a great fishing centre ... there is always something going on in its harbour".

1923 saw a new road link the harbour area and the Promenade, and in 1933 the St. Anthony Gardens were built, followed two years later by the Jubilee Bathing Pool opposite. Tourists could now make full use of the whole seafront between Penzance and Newlyn harbours.

Transport
Penzance is approximately 5 miles (8 kilometres) from the end of the A30 road and 286 miles (460 km) or 5 hours by car from London.

Penzance railway station is at the bottom of Market Jew Street and close to the harbour. It is the southernmost station on the UK mainland rail network. It is the western terminus of the Cornish Main Line which runs above the beach to Marazion, affording passengers good views of St. Michael's Mount and Mount's Bay. Most services are operated by First Great Western, both local services to St Erth, St Ives, Hayle, Camborne, Redruth, and Truro, and direct trains linking Penzance with Plymouth, Exeter St Davids, Bristol Temple Meads, Reading and London Paddington. The Night Riviera train offers an overnight sleeping car service to and from Reading and London. Journey time to Plymouth is typically under 2 hours; to Bristol around 4 hours, and London less than 5½ hours.

CrossCountry run a small number of services (departing in the morning, arriving in the evening) to Glasgow Central via Bristol, Birmingham New Street, Preston and Carlisle, also to Dundee via Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley. The journey time is just under 5½ hours to Birmingham, and nearly 10 hours to Glasgow.

The bus and coach station is next to the railway station from where National Express operates coach services to London Victoria (taking around 9 hours) via Heathrow Airport. Local bus services run by First Devon and Cornwall connect Penzance with most major settlements in Cornwall, including Truro, St. Ives, St Just, St Buryan, Land's End, and also Plymouth in Devon. Western Greyhound also run a small amount of rural services to various destinations on the North Cornwall coast. A ferry service is operated between Penzance Harbour and the Isles of Scilly by The Scillonian III, carrying both foot-passengers and cargo. Sailing time is approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes. A helicopter service operates from Penzance Heliport to the Isles of Scilly run by British International Helicopters. Flying time is approximately 20 minutes. A bus service run by the Skybus Airline Service connects with Land's End Airport for fixed wing flights (15 minutes) to the Isles of Scilly. The buses leave from the railway station, near the taxi rank, rather than the bus station. In December, the Heliport also offers short evening flights over Mousehole and Newlyn to view the Christmas lights. The Heliport is one of only eleven heliports in the UK.

Newquay Airport is 41 miles (66 km) away and offers flights to Gatwick, Stansted, Dublin, Cork and many other places, including an increasing number of foreign destinations. Plymouth Airport, 77 miles (124 km) away, has services to Gatwick, Bristol, Dublin and Manchester.

Governance
Until 1934 the Borough of Penzance referred only to the town, but has since been extended to include the nearby settlements of Newlyn, Mousehole, Gulval and Heamoor. The Civil Parish of Penzance was further extended in 2004 under District of Penwith (Electoral Changes) Order 2002 to include  Eastern Green, formerly part of the Ludgvan civil parish area.

In 1974 the Penzance Borough was abolished and replaced, first by the Penzance Charter Trustees and then from 1980 by Penzance Town Council. The principal local authority in the area is now Cornwall Council. For the purposes of election to Cornwall Council the civil parish of Penzance returns 6 members representing the Penzance East Division, Penzance Central Division, Penzance Promenade Division, Heamoor and Gulval and Newlyn and Mousehole Division.

Penzance Town Council does not have in place a system of political registration so councillors do not form groups of any kind and technically act independently, however the current political composition of the council (as of 22 August 2009) is as follows: Independent 10, Liberal Democrats 8, Mebyon Kernow 1 with one vacancy.

Penzance also elects a mayor every year in May from the members of Penzance town council. Although mayors have a political affiliation, this position is largely ceremonial.

The current mayor is Jan Ruhrmund, of the Liberal Democrats

Economy
The economy of Penzance has, like those of many Cornish communities, suffered from the decline of the traditional industries of fishing, mining and agriculture. Penzance now has a mixed economy consisting of light industrial, tourism and retail businesses. However, like the rest of Cornwall, housing remains comparatively expensive, wages low and unemployment high. House prices have risen 274% in 10 years, the fastest rise in the UK. The fishing port of Newlyn, which falls within the parish boundaries, provides some employment in the area, but has also been greatly affected by the decline in the fishing industry over the last 30 years. In the 2004 index of deprivation Penzance is listed as having 3 wards within the top 10% for employment deprivation, Penzance East (125th most deprived in England) Penzance West (200th most deprived in England), and Penzance Central (712th most deprived in England). 18-31% of households in the parish are described as "poor households". The Penzance East Ward also has one the highest unemployment rates in Cornwall, stated as 15.4%.

Mining
Following Sir Humphry Davy’s contribution to the mining industry, The Miners' Association began mining classes in Penzance. As mining in the area became more complex, the Penzance Mining and Science School was founded in 1890. The school continued to teach mining until 1910, when it was amalgamated with Camborne and Redruth Mining School forming the School of Metalliferous Mining in Camborne, which is now known as the Camborne School of Mines. This institution has now moved to the Combined Universities in Cornwall campus at Tremough, Falmouth. From 1663, Penzance was a coinage town, responsible for the collection of tin taxation on behalf of the Duchy of Cornwall; it held this status for 176 years. According to William Pryce in his 1778 book Mineralogia Cornubiensis, Penzance coined more tin than the towns of Liskeard, Lostwithiel, and Helston put together. Penzance also had its own submarine mine situated off the coast of the town next to the area known as Wherrytown. The mine, known as Wheal Wherry, was worked from 1778 to 1798 and again from 1836 to 1840. Founded by "a poor 57 year old miner" named Thomas Curtis, the mine was said to be "very rich at depth" and was connected to the shore by a wooden bridge; the ore was transported by Wherry boat. The mine suffered considerable damage in 1798 when an American ship broke anchor off nearby Newlyn and smashed into the bridge and head gear. Later attempts at mining were not as profitable. During the 19th century and until 1912, Penzance had the largest tin smelting house in Cornwall, operated by the Bolitho family. The smelting works were situated at Chyandour. As a consequence of this concentration of mining wealth, Penzance became a centre for commercial banking. The Bolitho Bank (now part of Barclays Bank) and the Penzance Bank were two of the largest, although the latter collapsed in 1896.

Main sights
Large sections of the Penzance Parish are classified as conservation areas under the Penwith local plan and are subject to special planning laws. The current conservation area forms most of the core of the town of Penzance and the historic harbour areas of Newlyn and Mousehole. A number of Georgian and Regency buildings are present in the town. However, the majority of developments in the town centre itself are of mixed date, including several 20th century buildings - one of which, the former Pearl Assurance building (now the Tremenheere Wetherspoons pub), was subject to comment by Sir John Betjeman who wrote, in 1963: "Penzance has done much to destroy its attractive character. The older houses in the narrow centre round the market hall have been pulled down and third-rate commercial 'contemporary', of which the Pearl Assurance building is a nasty example, are turning it into Slough."

There are three large residential council estates in Penzance: Penalverne, Treneere (both built in the 1930s) and the Princess Royal estate at Alverton (built in the early 1950s). Much of the housing with this area is owned and operated by Penwith Housing Association. The sub-tropical Morrab Gardens, has a large collection of tender trees and shrubs, many of which cannot be grown outdoors anywhere else in the UK. Penzance Regency and Georgian terraces and houses are common in some parts of the town.

Penzance's former main street Chapel Street has a number of interesting features including the Egyptian House, The Union Hotel (including  a Georgian theatre which is no longer in use) and The Branwell House, where the mother and aunt of the famous Brontë sisters once lived.

Also of interest is the seafront with its promenade and the open-air seawater Jubilee Bathing Pool (one of the oldest surviving Art Deco swimming baths in the country), built at the beginning of the 20th century during Penzance's heyday as a fashionable seaside resort. The pool was designed by Captain F. Latham, the Penzance Borough Engineer and opened in 1935, the year of King George V's Silver Jubilee. Penzance promenade itself has been destroyed in parts several times by storms. The most recent example was on 7 March 1962 (Ash Wednesday), when large parts of the western end of the promenade, the nearby Beford Bolitho Gardens (now a play park) and the village of Wherrytown suffered severe damage.

Geography
Penlee Quarry which is within the boundaries of the Penzance parish is a geological SSSI.

Education
Penzance is home to two state run comprehensive schools (Mount's Bay and Humphry Davy School) and one Church of England independent school (Bolitho School). Bolitho School was founded in the early 1990s following the financial collapse of the former School of St. Clare. Post 16 education is catered for by Penwith College, founded in 1981 from the sixth form departments of the former Penzance Girls' Grammar School and the Humphry Davy Grammar School. Throughout the Penzance parish there are 8 primary schools including the newly created Pensans Primary School which was formed in 2006 from the former Penzance Junior School and the Lescudjack Infants School. There is also a special educational needs school within the parish boundary named Nancealverne.

Festivals
Every June since 1991, the Golowan Festival (which includes Mazey Day) has been held in the town. Before the 1930s Penzance was the scene of large May Day celebrations, which saw local children making and using tin 'May horns' and 'May whistles'a small revival of these traditions will take place on May 4, 2008. The Feast Day of Corpus Christi was also celebrated in Penzance. The Corpus Christi fair has been a long standing event in the town, and is currently undergoing attempts to revive it in a more traditional format.

Allantide, a Cornish version of Halloween, was also a popular activity in the town. Many of these customs were recorded by local antiquarian M. A. Courtney and have influenced historical views of traditional Cornish cultural activities.

Every December Penzance holds the Montol Festival a community arts event reviving many of the Cornish customs of Christmas including Guise dancing.

Music and theatre
Penzance is the home of the pirates in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera, The Pirates of Penzance. At the time the libretto was written, 1879, Penzance had become popular as a peaceful resort town, so the very idea of it being overrun by pirates was amusing.

Penzance is home to the Acorn Theatre sited within a former Methodist chapel. The theatre provides a mixture of theatre, film, dance music and cabaret and is partially public funded. The Savoy is an independent cinema located in the town which opened in 1912 and was originally named the Victoria Hall Music Hall, The Savoy is one of the locations of performances sponsored by the Penwith Film Society (an arts cinema society based in the Penwith area). It is reputedly the oldest continuously used cinema in Britain. Prior to World War II, Penzance was also home to a further 3 cinemas and at least 2 theatres, one of which, the Pavilion Theatre, is now home to an amusement arcade.

Art galleries
Penzance is home to the new Newlyn Art Gallery establishment "The Exchange" which opened in 2007. Penzance is also the home of Penlee House, an art gallery and museum notable for its collection of paintings by members of the Newlyn School. Within Penzance town centre there are a growing number of commercial art galleries.

Religion
Like other Cornish towns Methodism is the predominant Christian denomination. Prior to the 1980s Penzance had six Methodist churches, but this number has now been reduced to three, one of these being Newlyn Trinity Methodist Church. Penzance is also home to a Salvation Army citadel, a Roman Catholic church, two Church of England parish churches (formerly three), a Christadelphian meeting hall, two Evangelical independent churches, the Penwith pagan moot, an independent Baptist church and a Buddhist meditation group.

St Mary's Church was built in 1832-35, St Paul's (now closed) in 1843 and St John's in 1881. Penzance was formerly in the parish of Madron St Mary's parish was established in 1871 and St Paul's in 1869. Two medieval chapels are known to have existed before the Reformation.

Sport
Penzance is the home of Cornwall's most successful rugby team, the Cornish Pirates (Penzance and Newlyn RFC). The Championship side relocated to Truro in 2005 in a bid to reach the Premiership and was renamed as the Cornish Pirates. In 2006 the side relocated again this time to the home ground of Camborne Rugby Club, before returning to Penzance in 2010. Penzance was also home to Mount's Bay RFC a rugby club founded in 1999. This club folded in 2009 due to financial problems.

Penzance A.F.C. play in the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League Premier Division and are currently due to be managed by Gary Marks and Wayne Quinn, formally of Hayle Football Club, for the upcoming 2010/11 season. The Reserve team play in the Jolly's Cornwall Combination League and were managed by Mike Devine for the 2009/10 season, the manager for the 2010/11 is yet to be announced. Penzance was one of the original clubs of the Cornwall County Football Association, the others being Porthcurno, Truro, Probus School, Torpoint, Liskeard, Dunheved College and Millbrook.

Former England and Surrey cricketer Jack Richards (born Clifton James Richards) was born in Penzance. Although he only played 8 test matches, Richards was the wicket keeper during England's Ashes win in 1986.

The Mini Transat 6.50 (now the Transit 6.50) transatlantic yacht race started from Penzance (hosted by Penzance Sailing Club) from its conception in 1977 to the fourth edition of the race in 1983.

Media
The local newspaper is The Cornishman, published weekly. Both ITV television (Westcountry Television) and BBC Radio Cornwall have small news studios in the town. The ILR station for Cornwall, Pirate FM, can be received in Penzance on 102.8 MHz FM The excellent free newspaper 'The Limpet' is distributed by 'Save The Holy Headland', dedicated to preserving the historic environment of Penzance.

Notable residents past and present
Penzance has been home to numerous persons of note over the years including actress Thandie Newton, model Jean Shrimpton and cricketer Jack Richards (For a full list see List of notable residents of Penzance). Arguably Penzance's most famous son, though, was Sir Humphry Davy.

Sir Humphry Davy
Penzance was the birthplace of the famous chemist Sir Humphry Davy. Davy was President of the Royal Society and invented the process of electrolysis, was the first person to isolate sodium, was the first person to discover laughing gas, as well as proving (with Michael Faraday) that diamonds are made of pure carbon. Today he is possibly best known as the inventor of the Miner's Safety Lamp, or Davy Lamp. There is a statue of Davy at the top of Market Jew Street, near the house in which he was born. One of Penzance's secondary schools is also named after the scientist, and runs as a music and maths community college. . Robert Dunkin, a Penzance sadler and maker of scientific instruments taught Davy the basis of practical science.

Twinning
Penzance is twinned with the following towns: Concarneau in Brittany, France, Bendigo in Australia, and Nevada City, California in the USA. From 1967 to 1974 and again since 1 April 2009, Penzance has been twinned with Cuxhaven in Germany. Between 1974 and 2009 this twinning arrangement was passed to the now defunct Penwith District Council.