Don't Burn in Hayle
Summer’s arrived at last, and although I’m not usually too keen on getting sand stuck between my toes – or any other crevice for that matter – there are plenty of people who it seems are quite happy to. Mind you, when the sun’s beating down from a clear blue sky there are far worse places to be than a nice quiet beach: To lie there with a good book as the waves gently lap the shore can seem like heaven on earth, especially as there’s not likely to be a lawnmower around to shatter the peace – so today I thought I’d take you down to Hayle, but make sure you take some sun cream with you as I wouldn’t want you to burn.
Hayle comes from the Cornish word heyl meaning estuary, which is appropriate, as the town is located at the mouth of the Hayle River, a 12 mile long water course that ends its short journey in St Ives Bay. The name of this bay, as you might have guessed, gets its name from the holiday town of the same name, and if you’re travelling down to West Cornwall by train, you’ll be able to see ‘Hayle below’ as it crosses over a viaduct before it reaches St Erth, the station from which a branch line offers the easiest and most picturesque way of reaching St Ives.
Looking down on the town from the viaduct, you’ll see why most people stay on the train until they reach St Erth, but you might also be wondering where a few sun-tanned bodies, armed with beach towels, are heading off to. Unlike St Ives, Hayle isn’t one of those quaint Cornish villages that people immediately fall in love with, and that’s because it didn’t really come of age until the days of the Industrial Revolution, but before we head off down to the beach allow me to briefly explain what happened, and why Hayle is included in one of the ten districts that make up the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site.
Little mining was actually done here, and it didn’t attract much attention until it was recognised that the estuary offered a much safer location to service the industry than the treacherous coast further north. In the early 18th century, coal started to be unloaded from South Wales for the tin smelter at nearby Angarrack, and in the 1740s a new quay was constructed, which would have no doubt influenced the Cornish Copper Company’s (CCC) decision to set up a smelter at Ventonleague (now known as Copperhouse Pool).
It’s not my intention to go into any great detail here about the mining industry, but I couldn’t possibly ignore the significance of a local foundry and engineering company called Harvey & Co. Founded by a local blacksmith by the name of John Harvey in 1779, it was when his son Henry took over the business that Harvey’s really made their name. Utilising the inventive skills of people like Henry’s famous brother-in-law Richard Trevithick, the company became a world leader in the construction of Cornish Engines, a type of Beam Engine used primarily for pumping water out of mines.
Harvey’s and the CCC had a huge impact on Hayle, and if this part of Cornwall’s history interests you, then a short walk from the railway station will bring you to Foundry Square and the town’s Heritage Centre, which was originally a part of Harvey’s foundry.
To get to the beach from Foundry Square requires walking under the viaduct and following the footpath alongside Penpol Creek. This footpath used to be the branch railway line that served the quays, but on Google maps the creek is referred to as part of Copperhouse Pool which I think is a bit misleading, and that’s because fierce rivalry between CCC and Harvey’s prompted the latter to construct their own harbour by deepening Penpol Creek. If anything, it should be called Harvey’s Creek surely?
The competition between the two companies eventually led to Harvey’s acquiring CCC, but with the mining industry in terminal decline, Harvey’s, as an engineering business, folded up in 1903. Most of the original buildings were demolished in the 1940s and 50s and what’s left of this once thriving port is not what you would call inspiring. There have been many regeneration plans put forward, but when I was here last, apart from an incongruous supermarket, not much seemed to have been accomplished.
The problem with regenerating an environmentally sensitive and historic area like Hayle Harbour is that to finance a project of this nature requires a certain amount of private investment, but what the general public want and what private investors want is not necessarily the same thing. Consequently, it has taken years to try and find a solution which satisfies all parties concerned, including those who naturally want to see the area sympathetically restored.
Progress nay have been slow, but walking down Penpol Terrace towards the beach isn’t without interest. The natural thing to do is to walk alongside the creek, which has been made more attractive by the addition of a grassy border lined with a mixture of trees, shrubs and various other plants. If you also take advantage of one of the benches that have been thoughtfully provided, your eyes may just wander across the road to a row of independent shops which at first glance might not appear to be anything out of the ordinary, but if you look again, you’ll see that they’ve all been built in the front gardens of a row of terraced houses, and the reason for this harks back to the days of Harvey & Co again who operated a ‘Company Store policy’. This meant that workers were paid in vouchers instead of cash and forced to buy their groceries and other provisions from Harvey’s outlets, such as their Emporium in Foundry Square (the building next to the Heritage Centre). This practice died out around 1870 and this would presumably have been around the same time that these shop fronts were added.
Back on the creek side of the road is a memorial to a man called Rick Rescorla. To be honest, I hadn’t heard of him before, but I’ve since realised that this extraordinary man should be much better known. I hope you agree.
Cyril Richard Rescorla was born in Hayle in 1939, and where the memorial now stands was part of his childhood playground until he left to join the army at sixteen. His early service record included fighting insurgents in Cyprus and Rhodesia where he became fiercely anti-communist – and it was while he was in Rhodesia that he met Dan Hill, an American mercenary, who was to become his lifelong friend.
After the conflict was over, Dan encouraged Rick to emigrate to America and join him in the US Army where plans were gathering pace to fight the communists in Vietnam. Taking up Dan’s offer, Rick duly enlisted, and although they were nominally in separate units, the two men became heavily involved in the first major battle between the US Army and the People’s Army of Vietnam at La Drang Valley. The Battle was relived in the acclaimed 2002 film We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson. The film was based on a book co-written by Rick’s commanding officer, Lt Col Hal Moore and had a picture of Rick on the front cover, but he refused to read it or watch the film. Like many men who have been involved in combat, Rick never wanted to talk about the war and his medals were stashed away out of sight.
Back in America, Rick and Dan remained close friends even though their futures took slightly different paths. Dan continued pursuing his unorthodox lifestyle while Rick opted for a more conventional one in which he found himself as a security guard for the investment bank, Morgan Stanley in New York.
Morgan Stanley occupied 22 floors in the South Tower of the World Trade Centre, and even though his job was an important one, Rick was never a wealthy man himself. Even so, he took his job extremely seriously and because Dan had been trained in counterterrorism, he asked him to point out where he thought any weak points in the building were. His friend immediately pinpointed to the basement as the most vulnerable area and so Rick passed the information on to security officials at the New York Port Authority who leased the building. The response, in so many words, was to tell him to go back to his 44th storey office and just concentrate on his job at Morgan Stanley. Three years later a bomb planted by Muslim extremists exploded in the basement of the South Tower, killing six people and injuring more than a thousand.
Further research by Rick and Dan forced them to come to the conclusion that another attack by Islamic terrorists was a distinct possibility, with Dan specifying that the next one could well be done using planes carrying explosives, not just on the World Trade Centre, but on other targets as well. Armed with this information, Rick suggested that the company should relocate from Manhattan across the Hudson River to New Jersey, but the lease didn’t expire for another five years and the company continued to operate from the World Trade Centre. In the meantime, Rick worked out an evacuation plan should the need arise – and it did.
If things had gone according to plan, Rick would have been in Europe on September 11th 2001, but instead he found himself making his way as usual to the office in the South Tower. At 08.15 his wife called him as she always did, but half an hour later, a plane with 76 passengers, 11 crew and 5 hijackers flew directly into the North Tower. Rick immediately phoned Dan from the office to ask him what he thought had happened and said that he was going to evacuate everyone in the South Tower – even though the Port Authority was telling him not to. Dan could hear him issuing orders through the bullhorn (megaphone): “He was calm and collected, never raising his voice”. Then Dan heard him break into song:
Men of Cornwall stop your dreaming;
Can’t you see their spearpoints gleaming?
See their warriors’ pennants streaming
To this battlefield.
Men of Cornwall stand ye steady;
It cannot be ever said ye
for the battle were not ready;
Stand and never yield!
Twelve minutes later a second plane hit the South Tower killing 56 passengers, 9 crew, 5 hijackers and an unknown number of people inside the building. The events unfolded live on television, during which time Rick managed to phone his wife to tell her that he was ok and evacuating all the staff. He later called Dan to say that the evacuation had been completed but that he and some of his security men were making a final sweep of the building to make sure that nobody had been left behind, and then he would evacuate himself. At 09.59, the building collapsed. Almost all of Morgan Stanley’s 2,700 employees had managed to evacuate but Rick and his colleagues hadn’t. His remains have never been identified, but he still lives on in the memory of his friends and family in Hayle.
I didn’t want to include a reminder of that dreadful day, and so I’ve scanned a print I took of how the Twin Towers looked from the Hudson River in 1994. Neither did I intend spending so much time talking about Rick Rescorla, but it’s still nowhere near long enough to really do him justice. Much of my information has come from an article in the New Yorker magazine entitled The Real Heroes are Dead and I urge anyone who would like to know more about this remarkable man to read this excellent account which describes his life so much better than I could. The link is at the bottom of the page.
At the end of Penpol Terrace, the Creek is joined by Copperhouse Pool, but before walking across the bridge to North Quay, make sure that you don’t miss Philps Pasty Shop which is the mothership of this famous Cornish pasty maker. You’ll regret it if you don’t, but whether you can wait to eat it before you get to the beach I doubt very much.
On the Beach – Chris Rea
Work has already started on developing North Quay, but without further ado let’s carry on to what we came here for – the beach. To give you some idea, Hayle Beach is about a twenty minute direct walk from Foundry Square. When the tide is out, you can walk along the beach from the mouth of the Hayle River to Godrevy, and is why it is sometimes called Three Mile Beach. Although some maps will show different names for each segment, it basically consists of two beaches when the tide is in – Hayle Towans and Gwithian Towans. Towans, incidentally is the Cornish word for ‘dunes’, a mixture of sand and vegetation that occupies the area above the beach. What appears to be an area devoid of any life, is in fact home to as many as 300 lime-loving plants such as orchids, wild thyme and bird’s foot trefoil. It might not sound much of a habitat, but it’s home to a variety of butterflies, reptiles and birds such as the meadow pipit, stonechat and skylark. For most people though, they come here to lie on the vast expanse of beach where there is plenty of space, fine views and maybe a seal or two to keep them company – but you’ll need to bring your own sun cream.
At Godrevy is the lighthouse which is said to have inspired Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse. During the first thirteen years of her life, her father rented a house at St Ives for three months of the year, and although the house itself wasn’t up to much, she spent many a happy summer looking out across the bay to Godrevy. I haven’t read the book myself, but I believe it’s supposed to be set on the Isle of Skye rather than Cornwall, but it wouldn’t be the first time that an author has used the Cornish landscape as the basis for a novel.
Beyond Godrevy, the landscape changes and was the reason that Hayle was used as a port for the mining industry, but the coastline was also used for more nefarious practices, and if you’re ready to call it a day and unwind at a local hostelry, then you might want to head for the Bucket of Blood at Phillack which lies about half a mile inland. I can’t verify the truth of the tale, but it’s said that when a bucket was lowered down into the well, it came back up filled with blood – and according to legend, the blood belonged to a murdered customs officer that was found at the bottom: I suppose the perpetrators were just happy to see him rot in Hayle (sorry!). A large glass of Custom Officer’s Red anybody?
Link to the New Yorker magazine on Rick Rescorla
POSTED – JULY 2024
Originally posted 2024-07-02 16:04:58.
I agree with your other commentors who, like myself, read and enjoyed every word of this…
Here in California we actually have a town named Hell. It’s full of the most amazing volcanic ground, which looks every bit as bizarre as it ought to and upon which it is impossible to walk for even a few steps ~ first the footwear is shredded, then of course it would start on (and finish) the feet…
There’s a very popular post office there, stocked with inexpensive cards so that people can postmark them to their friends “from Hell.” 😆
Thanks and glad you enjoyed it. I checked out Google Maps to see where hell was in California, and if I’ve found the right place, it’s called Bumpass Hell which is an even more extraordinary name 😊
Bumpass! 🤣
🤪
Gosh, what an amazing post. I fancied awander over from Berlin today and I certainly got my money’s worth. The story of Rick especially. What a man. All these touches are what makes your posts so unforgettable.
Thank you Shey. You really do know how to brighten up my day ⭐
Aww.. Well you deserve a bright day.
😎
As an Aquarian I have always been drawn to water. The topography in the Hayle environs and the photography you have posted are a feast. If I ever get to the UK and especially the southern tip, I’ll be sure to visit the towns and beaches.
On another note, the story about Rick Rescorla and his friend Dan are at once heroic and tragic. It is true that history repeats and some of us never learn from experiences or good sense. Rick’s death was a tragic ending for this brave man.
Stewart Ketcham
Thank you for your smashing comments Stewart. I’d like to know whether Rick has any memorials on your side of the pond.
As you can imagine, US residents were stricken by this terrorist act. In New England it seemed more personal, especially since we in the contiguous 48 states had not been “invaded” prior to this event. Dumbstruck was universal reaction. There were many heroes so none stands out for me. There is a memorial to him at the south tower and I did find this link to Rick: https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/recognizing-war-hero-who-led-wtc-survivors-safety-911
Stewart
Thanks for that Stewart.
You always get more than you bargained for when you take a trip to this blog, Malc, and it requires a little more time than many. A good friend, through the blogging system, lives quite near to St. Ives and often features Godrevy, Hayle and surrounds so I’m a little familiar with the landscape, but not with the stories you unearth. What a quiet hero! Remembrance of that day still sends shivers of horror, and to think that it might have been averted. Many thanks for another beautifully illustrated and told article.
I admit that quite a few of my blogs can be quite lengthy Jo but it all depends on the amount of interest there is on the subject, and not all subjects will suit everybody either. For that reason I don’t expect any of my followers to read them all, but I’m always grateful when they do, and so a big thank you for taking a look at this one. It really is greatly appreciated. 🙏
It’s a great read, Malc 🤗🩵
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You just never know what you’re going to find when you set off on foot to a beautiful destination, do you? This is wonderful. Hayle and the coastline look so inviting, I’d love to go. I wouldn’t be snoozing on the beach though, I’d be off exploring the area and the Towans! I love the story about the row of independent shops and the rivalry between Harveys and CCC, but by far the star of the show has to be the local hero Rick Rescorla. They really should be proud of him, and I couldn’t agree more that he should be much better known and talked about. I had no idea. What an extraordinary man, and what a very poignant story. Well done for spreading the word further, and by doing so in such an eloquent way, I truly feel you did do him justice. The world needs many more Ricks.
Thanks Alli. I thought I’d write about Hayle because it wouldn’t be too long or serious a post, but reading more about Rick Rescorla changed all that. One of the reasons that I get engrossed in current affairs is that because what happens today is tomorrow’s history, and 9/11 was definitely history in the making. If the powers that be had listened to Rick, then perhaps the destruction of the Twin Towers may not have happened, or the war in Afghanistan and everything else that came after. It’s another one of those ‘what if’ moments that I often think about.
Anyway, thanks again for your lovely comments and I hope all is going according to plan regarding your op. 🤗
I found that so ironic, and tragic, than RIck wasn’t listened to. How many times has that happened throughout history? And with tragic consequences. Yet those in power never learn and history repeats itself over and over again. This was one of the worst examples of not heeding advice. The thing I find decidedly eerie is that Dan warned them of an attack with explosive-laden aeroplanes. Chillingly accurate. And as you rightly say, so many tragic consequences have played out as a result of a those few powerful men ignoring sound advice. Madness.
I’m afraid we currently live in a world which works from the top down instead of from the bottom up.
We do indeed. But people at the bottom are often the wisest.
Unfortunately, as I’ve said before, those that reach the top are more often than not, those who don’t deserve to be there, and as far as politics are concerned, I believe, even though it might not seem possible, that we’ve just swapped one set of undemocratic technocrats for another less competent bunch. I do think that things will change though – or at least I’m hoping so. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to get that off my chest 😵💫
I couldn’t agree more, Malc. They’re all as bad as each other these days. I have to admit I hate the way politics has gone.
I think the low turnout shows we’re not alone, but suffrage was hard fought and I’ll always vote, or spoil the ballot paper if I have to.
Oh yes, me too. Sometimes that’s the only reason I have voted, to honour the people who fought for the right for us to vote. I’m sure we’re most definitely not alone in our view of modern politics though. So many people have lost faith in politicians and the political system altogether, I see it all the time. They talk about the NHS being broken, which it is, but it’s the entire political system that’s broken, and until that’s fixed I can’t see much of anything being fixed.
You’re absolutely right Alli. If there was a box on the ballot form for ‘None of the Above’, I’m convinced that None of the Above would win😵💫. The results were interesting in other ways though, and I think there could be some changes ahead, although not for a while.
That does look like a rather stunning beach, well worth the walk! And the story of Rick Rescorla is one I hadn’t heard and definitely deserves to be told. I’m glad he’s been remembered in his home town.
Thanks for commenting Sarah. I think they’ve also created a new walkway in his honour there as well now.
Thanks for the Cornish insight. A magical spot. Mel
Thanks Mel. Hayle Beach is big by Cornish standards, but not Australian 😊
A few unexpected turns in your post from a lovely Cornish beach to New York. Nothing quite like a deserted beach to clear the mind or read. I still remember that moment Les’s Dad rung us to share the news about 9/11. I honestly thought he had lost the plot, obviously I was wrong. Yes, don’t forget the sunblock.
Thanks Suzanne. I’m guessing that you’ve been to Cornwall on your travels – I only wish that I could have got to see your wonderful coastline too. Everybody remembers where they were on 9/11 I reckon. 🙏
An interesting post about an area I don’t know Malc – I’m always up for a trip to the seaside and this didn’t disappoint. Lovely photos as usual, I particularly like the one of Gwythian beach and Penpol Creek. You may not have intended to write so much about Rick Rescorla but I’m glad you did – what a remarkable and heroic man he was. It looks like the magazine article is quite a long read so I’ll come back to it when I have time to give it my full attention – right now I have a little Mouse to feed 😉😊
Thank you Eunice. Hayle may not have the immediate appeal St Ives has, but that doesn’t mean it should be ignored and I do hope that they get the redevelopment right. It really is worth finding time to read the New Yorker article if you can, but Mouse has to come first I realise that 😀
As always, Malc, your sense of humor started earlier, here with the title of your excellent post! Most of us don’t have such a vast knowledge of Cornwall as you and the erudite history lesson was much appreciated! Your tribute to an extraordinary man, Rick Rescorla, shows your well-known sense of decency and justice and is a perfect way to make his name known and remembered. To say that your photographic talent is overwhelming in its attention to detail and perspective is never enough as without the images seen through your lenses we would be less inspired to travel to see the beautiful places you pictured, especially the sea! Thank you, Malc, for the post that made my day!
Joanna
Your commentts are much more than I deserve Joanna, but as you know I always value them greatly. You’re a true inspiration to keep my motivation going, and if I make your day, then I can assure you that you more than make mine. Thank you so much, and I’m glad that I helped put a smile on your face today 😊
Thank you, Malc, and you are more than welcome!
Joanna, still smiling!
Great!🤪
Beautiful post my friend, phenomenal pics! Loved the one of the World Trade Centre in NY!
Thank you Francesc. Your words are really appreciated 🙏
Always a pleasure Malc.
What a beautiful post.
I visited St Ives a long time ago and your article brought back so many great memories
PS Looking at the photo of the South Tower of the World Trade Center really struck me
Thank you Luisa and you know that it always gives me great pleasure to find that a post brings back some memories for you. 🤗
As always, you’re most welcome, my dear friend 😘🙏😘
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Fun history, Malc. I’m ready for a trip to the seashore.
I’m glad that you enjoyed it Pat 😜