Crows-an-Wra ( kw, Krows an Wragh, meaning ''the witch's cross'') is a hamlet in West

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...

, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

St Buryan, Lamorna and Paul St Buryan, Lamorna and Paul is a civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish had a population of 1,681 in the 2011 census. It was formed on 1 April 2021 with the merger of St Buryan and Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given n ...

approximately four miles (6 km) northeast of

Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it i ...

History and description

The

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depi ...

consists of a cluster of 13 houses along the

A30 road The A30 is a major road in England, running WSW from London to Land's End. The road has been a principal axis in Britain from the 17th century to early 19th century, as a major coaching route. It used to provide the fastest route from Londo ...

, the oldest being the Grade II listed Haydon Cottage and other more distant dwellings including those at Boscarne and the hamlet of Rissick. Haydon Cottage was built in the 17th century; blacksmith William Haydon was born here in 1625 and died in London in 1666 in the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past th ...

.in National Archives The hamlet developed with the local mines of West Wheal Rissick, Wheal Lovell, and West Wheal Margaret, which in the mid-19th century produced high grade tin. The mines subsequently closed and a china clay works lies nearby. The name Crows-an-Wra translates from the

Cornish Cornish is the adjective and demonym associated with Cornwall, the most southwesterly part of the United Kingdom. It may refer to: * Cornish language, a Brittonic Southwestern Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Cornwa ...

as ''witches crossing'' or "white cross" and there is evidence that the site was important in

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...

times, including a pre-Conquest

Celtic cross The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. A type of ringed cross, it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses e ...

and a

holy well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christian or pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualities, through the numinous presence of its gua ...

. The hamlet once had its own

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

chapel built 1904 replacing an earlier chapel of 1832, but the 1904 chapel has since fallen into disuse and was converted into a house in 1983. The composer

Graham Fitkin Graham Fitkin (born 19 April 1963) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. His compositions fall broadly into the minimalist and postminimalist genres. Described by ''The Independent'' in 1998 as "one of the most important of our younger c ...

was born here.

References

External links

Hamlets in Cornwall {{Penwith-geo-stub