History of Penzance

Further Civic improvements included the construction in 1759 of a reservoir which supplied water to public pumps in the streets.

Penzance has a long-standing association with the local parish of Madron. Madron Church was in fact the centre of most religious activity in the town until 1871, when St Mary's Church (until this period a chapel of ease) was granted parish status by church authorities though it had been registered since the new church was built in 1832.

1755 tsunami

On 1 November 1755 the Lisbon earthquake caused a tsunami to strike the Cornish coast, over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) away from the epicentre. At around 2.00pm in the afternoon, the sea rose eight feet in Penzance, came in at great speed, and ebbed at the same rate. Little damage was recorded.

19th century

1801–1848

At the start of the 19th century (1801), the town had a population of 2,248. The census, which is taken every ten years, recorded a peak population in 1861 of 3,843, but it then declined, as in most of Cornwall, through the remainder of the century, being just 3,088 in 1901.

By the time Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, Penzance had established itself as an important regional centre. The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall was founded in the town in 1814 and about 1817 was responsible for introducing a miner's safety tamping bar, which attracted the Prince Regent to become its patron.

The first lifeboat in Cornwall was bought by the people of Penzance in 1803 but it was sold in 1812 due