Newsletter 16, Page 2

PISKEY LED — A LIZARD TALE

by Austyn Pengilly

 

(Another article from ‘The Lizard – the Magazine of The Lizard Field Club’ first published 1978)

If Charlie Bosustow is still alive-o and has his ear to the ground, will he please take note that I am tapping out a message from 50º 5" Long. and 50º 3" Lat. and that I am now in a haunted wood just south of St Keverne. For two hours, before the little men got me, I followed your instructions carefully - “Up Long Meadow, left at Tregellast, right through Trevean, across to Travalsoe” and here I am at Trebarveth, Charlie, with the wind blowing North-North-West and now I’m going mad, stark raving - can’t tell a handsaw or a pick from a pisky — and there seems to be plenty of them around, and they’ve got old Pengilly off his track. But if you’re getting me clearly, Charlie, we’ll make another appointment. Meanwhile, if anyone has a pen in the house (The nearest I can find is Penpoll, the other side of the Helford River) I’ll hack my way back to the start of this story. Out over Trevalsoe Praze - up Main Dale, in through Chywednack (and don’t break your Nack) past the Beacon all the way to Church Cove, where I last saw Charlie Bosustow before making that fatal date to meet him at his quarry near Poltesco.

Charlie was a Serpentine worker and serpentine is a rock peculiar to the Southern-most corner of Cornwall, that is, The Lizard area. Thousands of visitors have culled over the bits of greenish reddish rock which Charlie and 35 to 40 of his neighbours have turned and polished it into such shapes as light-

-houses, clocks and barometer holders, vases, trays etc., for years - going back to his father’s time. He told him how it all began when a farmer stuck up a piece of rock for cows to rub their necks, till one day the farmer found a gleaming, glowing post of red and green spar. (He put it down to the piskeys).

Be that as it may, a Cornish company soon got going, until at last about seventy men were employed over The Lizard peninsula. They had to gouge the rock out with chisels. Dynamite ruins it and don’t ask me why that makes it difficult to shape. I’ve had enough trouble in Chywednack and Treskewes.

The men best known for their carving were the Roberts, Hills, Richards, Curnows and of course, the Bosustows - all Lizard men. Eventually the company broke up, and the family industry started, each man with his own workshop and quarry the size of a room — Charlie says you get to know where the fine rock will crop up.

The nature of every individual piece of rock determines what he fashions from it - lamp stands, vases or miniature fonts and lecterns for churches and chapels, with no two shapes alike.

And now excuse me. There’s a little green man of five inches tall sitting on my shoulder screaming at me to hold my gabbro, which I read is another sort of rock from this area, The Lizard. But I don’t think he means that.

 

The South West

Dormouse Survey

 

 

Cornwall Wildlife Trust has asked that anyone finding evidence of dormice informs the Trust at Boscawen House, Chapel Hill, Truro TR13 3BN.

They are very happy to receive photographs, nibbled nuts and corpses - and have a survey form for completion should you want one.

 

Membership

 

As you are probably aware membership runs from April 1st to March 31st.

 

To those of you who have renewed your membership, then thank you very much, those of you who have not as yet done so, then we have enclosed a form and a return envelope with this Newsletter.

 

It is our membership total that is so important because it is this which enables us to speak for the Lizard Peninsula with authority.

 

Current membership is approaching 400: this includes 20 life members.

Bequests:

An active charity such as ours, with wide ranging terms of reference, could make greater impact on positively improving the Lizard Peninsula’s special environment, for example by the elimination of eyesores such as overhead wirescape, if we had easier access to the many grants available.  While the sorts of work that we would like to undertake are certainly eligible for grant aid, the percentage contribution that we would need to make from our own resources is a major deterrent.  Realistically, we cannot raise our income by serious increases in membership subscriptions and we feel that fund-raising appeals would have limited success at a time when the public is inundated with requests.

However, when one looks at the financial statements from other charities, of which the National Trust is a major example, it is bequests from members that fund the major schemes.  May we please appeal to our Members, therefore, to consider Friends of the Lizard when making a Will?  You could be certain that any monies that we receive from this source would be utilised solely for the benefit of the Lizard Peninsula’s very special environment – for its protection, enhancement, promotion and enjoyment.

If any Members are considering making a bequest to Friends of the Lizard, you are strongly advised to consult your solicitor when making a Will or any Codicil to a Will.  A Codicil to a Will is, in effect, an alteration to the original Will and, if not professionally prepared, could have a totally unintended effect on the original Will.  Since a Codicil is also a testamentary document, it needs to be completed following the same strict procedure as the Will itself.

Suggested wording:

I GIVE the sum of . . . . . . . . POUNDS (£ . . . . .) to the Friends of the Lizard, of Content Farm, Coverack, Helston, Cornwall TR12 6TN (Charity Registration Number 1092934) for the general purposes of the said Society and I DECLARE the receipt of the Treasurer or other proper officer for the time being of the said Society shall be a good and sufficient discharge for such bequest.

 

Newsletter Page 2

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