journalist speaks out about being raped and tortured in Israeli jail.
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Thursday, 18 December 2025
Sharing This Video Could Save Lives
journalist speaks out about being raped and tortured in Israeli jail.
Friday, 12 December 2025
Boswarthen Intransigence
by Tim Veater
So thank you Anna for your book
It touched and chimed like the Madron clock
So apt the words upon its face
“Watch and pray. Time hastes.”
And so it does. And so it will
As only words out-live us all.
Those words you skillfully employ and weave
To make a touching story live
A sacred wishing well of memories and dreams
Located in Boswarthen's psychic streams
Of a love that overflowed in hope and joy
But with a whiff of cigar smoke, sadly died.
It's taken all these years to find
The synchronisities of past and mind
Within the pages of your poetry and prose
A mystery how events and experience interweave
To create our distinctive destinies
But Boswarthen seems to fit the mould.
Fifty years ago when I discovered it
And walked alone its enchanted forlorn street
Redolent it was of departed people ghosts
Of lives once lived within its vacant walls
Abandoned set for Thomas Hardy film
Then only home to dandilions, rooks and snails.
That time warp place that so enchanted me
Has been enlivened by your poetic memory
And shared with me today
Embedded deeply in the pages of your play
Of people living out their lives
An hard and endless struggle to survive.
Yet love survives the elements, the wind and damp and cold
An absence of convenience, a leaking roof and mould
A coping with abandonment, harsh environment of old
Yet still the bonny children smile, survive.
A mother's determination surmounts all obstacles
And from it all a poet recreates, and like a Phoenix lives.
And now, in this moment, when all the years have passed,
As typing this acknowledgement, composed in haste,
A rusty Jay appears with tints of blue and white
Outside my window, inquisitive and bright
As if to reaffirm the magic of intransigence
Against all the projectiles (thank you Shakespeare*) nature throws.
(* "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them." William Shakespeare's famous "To be, or not to be" soliloquy (Hamlet: Act 3, Scene 1) (c. 1600 AD )
The above poem was inspired by the following book:
'Dandelions and Snails': A Journey from the Dark Days of the War, to the Golden Fields of Peace.' by A. C. Miles-Smith.
(Self-published Paperback – 1 May 2015 )
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dandelions-Snails-Journey-Golden-Fields/dp/0993264603
Mysterious wishing well in Cornwall that brings 'good fortune'
The Holy Well has been revered for its magical powers for centuries, long before it became known as the Wishing Well
The following article is copied from: https://cornishstory.com/2021/01/22/mapping-methodism-boswarthen-wesleyan-chapel/ It outlines the recent history of Boswarthen - in Madron, and particularly the Methodist Chapel there which appears to have lasted in that role only from 1839 to 1901. Rather surprisingly despite a new school there in 1888 and renovation of the Chapel the following year, in less than a decade it had been abandoned. As the village population was exclusively employed in either farming or mining, the closure of the nearby Ding-Dong Mine in 1877, reputedly one of the oldest in Cornwall, (See: https://www.penwithlocalhistorygroup.co.uk/on-this-day/?id=337 ) must have had a devastating impact on the village. Migration from Cornwall, either overseas or internally to different parts of the country appears to have peaked in the 1870's at over 70,000 (See: https://www.google.com/search?q=cornish+mining+exodus+statistics&sca_ ) Other estimates put the figure at "250,000 Cornish migrated abroad between 1861 and 1901 and these emigrants included farmers, merchants and tradesmen, but miners made up most of the numbers" (See: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Cornwall_Emigration_and_Immigration and https://bernarddeacon.com/demography/the-great-emigration/ I am guessing it was these economic and social trends that depopulated the isolated village and signed the death warrant of the little Chapel there. The building still stands and has been repurposed as a garage. Most of the mainly derelict and unoccupied cottages were sold in a Bolitho Estate sale in the 1980s, many now renovated and improved. The community is still accessed by unmade roads across agricultural fields, the only way in or out. 'Dove Cottage', the subject of the book, is now an attractive, renovated and improved, rural domestic property. (TTV)
Boswarthen is a hamlet between Madron and Morvah. On early maps this hamlet is variously named Buswarthen, Buswarton and Buswarthen. It is a very historic settlement with one of the farms having the date 1676 on a stone. The main industry of the area was farming and mining as it is close to Greenburrow (Ding Dong) mine and many others. However, this Boswarthen must not be confused with the Boswarthen which is in the parish of Sancreed, not far away! The Madron Boswarthen is reached by the same turning off the B3312 road that leads to Madron Baptistry and Madron Wishing Well. The 1888 map below shows Boswarthen chapel in the top left corner. This profile of Boswarthen Wesleyan Chapel has been compiled by Val Thomas with images from Maddy and Stuart Nicholls of Boswarthen Farm and Peter Scrase.
1585: John Buswarthen was buried on 15th February.
1839: Boswarthen Chapel was opened by “that dignified preacher, the Rev. John Hall, who was a most beautiful expounder of sacred truths. That somewhat lessened the congregations at Madron. Still they were good.” This is from the “Cornishman” newspaper dated October 10th 1901 – Reminiscences of an old Madron boy.
1841: The census shows 10 houses with 72 people living in the hamlet. James Dale, wife and 2 children. Friggens, farmer +8. Andrews, 40, tin miner +10. (one being a lodger of 19) Pascoe, tin dresser +5. Mann, agricultural labourer +4. Matthews, farmer +11. Edwards, farmer +5. Grenfell, carpenter farmer +8. Matthews +2 and Nicholls +6, farmer with 7 in his house. Some of the houses appear to have more than one family living in them.
1842: The excerpt below which is taken from West Penwith resources contradicts the date of the founding of the chapel as stated in the article except above! It does, however, give the number of seats as 96.
1851: The steward was Jno. Jenkins.
1861: There are 16 homes in the wider area with 84 people living in them.
1867 Wednesday February 20th: On Monday evening the Wesleyan Chapel at Boswarthen was crammed to overflowing, it having been announced the previous evening that a tee-total meeting was to be held and that several friends of the cause from Penzance would be present to address the meeting. Twelve people joined the abstinence pledge at the close.
1873: The chapel had 73 seats.
1875: ‘…. a large number of persons were present, and a good collection was made at the close of the service in aid of Boswarthen Chapel. Mr Kneebone is to preach at the same place on Sunday afternoon next’. This article was in the Cornish Telegraph on Wednesday May 5th 1875.
1881: The census shows only farmers and their families living in the area, so mining must be ending.
1883: The Kelly’s Directory states that ‘There are 5 chapels for Wesleyans, situated at Church Town, Trenere Road, Tregavara, Boswarthen and Bosullow.
1888: On Dec 20th The Cornish Telegraph reported that The Wesleyan Sunday School Union, at the Penzance circuit annual meeting …. “the union now comprises eleven schools, an increase of one during the year, a new school having been established at Boswarthen…”.
1889: From the following article it appears the chapel was renovated and reopened at this date.
1892: A revival mission was held at Boswarthen when Miss Julia Ashford preached to a crowded audience in the Wesleyan Chapel. The collections, which were in advance of former years, were in aid of the Boswarthen trust funds.
1893: ‘Old Customs Survive’ from the newspaper: “On Sunday, being the first Sunday in May, the usual service was held at St Madron’s wishing well. The Wesleyans had one at Boswarthen; and at a quarter to three Mr Sholl, of Penzance, expounded from Genesis… A large number were present… “
1901: ‘In Spite of Dr Borlase’, Chapter 10 has a section discussing the building of the new Wesleyan Chapel in Madron. It mentions selling the ruins of Boswarthen Chapel to fund the building of the new chapel. £15 was raised from the sale.
Late 1970s: These photographs of the ruins of the Chapel were taken by Mr Peter Scrase. At that time the building was derelict. Most of Boswarthen is now listed as Grade 2, but I am unsure if the ruined chapel was included in this listing. There was an original path leading up, beside the ruins, going from Boswarthen to the road leading to Morvah. The double door end faced this path which has now become impassable. Inside the ruins was an old Lister engine which was still in working order.
The Chapel has now been converted to become a garage for the house next to it. Images courtesy of Maddy Nicholls of Boswarthen Farm.
Texts used:
Madron’s story – Dundrow.
In Spite of Dr Borlase
Find My Past.
National maps of Scotland
In contrast, the post=war American dream. Reality or illusion?
Flight To California 1952
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oopktYbHwLQ
My tribute to Cary Grant:
https://veaterecosan.blogspot.com/search?q=Cary+Grant
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