Mousehole is a picturesque fishing village on the south coast of Cornwall, still on the “Land’s End peninsula” and a few miles west of Penzance and a few miles east of Land’s End itself. It seems audacious for a Swedish person to teach my audience anything about pronunciation in the English language, but Cornish has many peculiarities and Mousehole is pronounced Mowzel. It may have got its name from a huge cave a few hundred metres from the village along the coast, which may have given rise to the name “Mouse Hole”, but that isn’t confirmed.
Mousehole is first mentioned in documents as a village in 1283. Part of the breakwater at the south side of the harbour is from 1390. In 1595 the Spanish raided the village along with other settlements in the Mounts Bay. [The bay is the area from St Michael’s Mount via Penzance and Newlyn to Mousehole and Lamorna Bay or maybe even a wider area from the Lizard Point to Porthcurno (depending upon how much is included in the definition)]. After the Spanish raid only one single house remained in the whole village.
In the past it was a very active fishing port. Measured by the amount of tax collected in the 14th century, Mousehole paid 5£ in tax whereas Newlyn, which now is an enormous fishing harbour only provided £ 1 in tax and nearby Penzance 12 s. But the harbour is too small and shallow to harbour a modern fishing fleet and tourism has replaced the fishing industry as a provider for the village.
Today, Mousehole has retained much of its old charm with lots of winding streets behind the harbour and many shops, cafés and boutiques and bustling with life in summer. But when I visited last time in early November before sunrise, it was calm and I could only find a couple of early risers out with their dogs. But, as the sun rose up and dried away the dampness of the night’s rain and humidity, people came out, and when I had my breakfast at Mousehole Deli and Kitchen, it was crowded by locals and tourists alike.
