Padstow, Cornwall (N 50° 32’ 29” W 4° 56’ 15”) Card 150x150mm with recycled envelope and biodegradable cello. Detailed caption on the reverse of the card. Card is blank for your own message.
Padstow, Cornwall (N 50° 32’ 29” W 4° 56’ 15”)
Padstow’s history stretches back almost 4000 years, when travellers journeyed through the area via the Fowey/Camel valleys. The coast has always been treacherous for shipping around this coast, and Doom Bar that lies at the mouth of the Camel Estuary has claimed more than 600 ships since records began. Padstow was renowned for boat building and the resulting trade helped to make it a successful fishing village. In medieval times, Padstow was granted the “Right of Sanctuary”, meaning that fugitives could remain safe from arrest. This changed after the Reformation, when the land passed to a local family. Sir Walter Raleigh, the Warden of Cornwall in the late 1500s, also lived here, and his Courthouse was the centre for tax collection. Padstow was also the rail terminus for “The Atlantic Coast Express” from London Waterloo, but the station closed in the 1960s, now providing a scenic cycle track along the Camel Estuary. Padstow is known for the Obby Oss, where on 1st
May of each year, the town is decorated to celebrate the coming of spring. The procession of dancers, singers and musicians
is believed to have pagan origins and is one of the oldest remaining customs in England.
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