Newlyn is a fishing town on Mount's Bay, next door to Penzance, and by tonnage its harbour is described as the largest fishing port in England. In Kernewek it is Lulynn, the fleet pool. The sea has written most of the town's history, and it has not always been kind about it.
The sea's record
The Spanish raid of 1595 burned Newlyn along with Penzance, Mousehole and Paul. The Mayflower took on water at the old quay in 1620. In 1755 the Lisbon earthquake sent a tsunami across the bay, and the sea rose ten feet in ten minutes at Newlyn. In 1915 a tidal observatory was established here, and the heights on every British map are measured from its records: Ordnance Datum Newlyn.
Painters and copper
Artists arrived in the 1880s and formed the Newlyn School, painting the harbour and the work that went on in it. Newlyn Copper was made from about 1890 to 1920, and the riots of 1896 followed protests over Sunday fish landings by fishermen from the north. The town has argued about fish for a long time.
Sources
Last checked: 2026-10-11