Market Square – the heart of the old town.
Marazion is believed to take its name from 'Marghas Bighan' meaning 'little market', one of the town's former medieval markets. The second market, 'Marghas Yow' which means 'Thursday market' was later corrupted to 'Market Jew'. These separate names indicate that Marazion and Market Jew may have been separate villages. Through the ages, the town has had 132 different place name variations, but the pronunciation and spelling has finalised with just the one town of 'Marazion'.
In 1595AD, the town had good fortune when the first charter of incorporation granted by Henry III in 1257AD was reaffirmed by Queen Elizabeth I resulting in Borough status for Marazion. Whilst the first charter is lost, the charter from 1595AD still can be found in the town archive.
The seal of the borough of Marazion is a shield with a three castles triple turreted and the legend "Semper Eadem" - “Ever the same” - and was the motto adopted after the charter of the town had been reaffirmed. Today, the motto is also shared by the newly seaworthy HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier.
The magnificent Town Hall was built in 1871 and replaced an earlier ‘Market House.’ The building is of ornate Victorian design and you will see, and hear hourly, the town clock, which celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2012. Originally installed in the old building, it still keeps perfect time and a long tradition of clock winding continues every Thursday.
To the rear of the Market House was the fire station, moving into the Town Hall in 1883 when the first volunteer fire Brigade was established. Their biggest and most expensive fire was at Tregurtha Down mine. It cost over £50 to hire 63 men and 14 horses to put out that fire. In all, some nine fires were recorded over 30 years.
The police used a cell at the back of the building to hold offenders until a police house was built just up the hill on the right by the zebra crossing. In the 1800’s there were four policemen for the town. Today, there are none. You can only imagine just how rowdy the townsfolk were in those days to need four coppers to keep law and order!
The ground floor of the Town Hall eventually became a branch of Barclays Bank - the lettering on the glass still visible. This closed in the early 1990s and the Marazion Museum opened in the old banking hall. In the late 19th century, a Town Trust was set up to preserve the town regalia and other artefacts, including documents and manuscripts. This continuity of record means that the museum now offers a fascinating exhibition about historic Marazion.
Morvah Gift Shop stands on the site of a coaching inn, and was the post office until 2014. In 1814, the Royal Dispatch started a regular ‘post coach’ service that ran between Truro and Penzance via Redruth, Camborne, and Fraddam. This was a light post coach carrying four passengers inside – 50p for your ticket and ten outside, paying 35p. Not a Kings ransom but also not cheap for the times.
Across the alley from Morvah Gift Shop is the fudge shop. This building was the original stable for the coaching inn and is where the horses were changed and kept overnight ready to continue their journey through Cornwall. On the roof is an unusual decorative animal, probably a horse to indicate its use as a stable. Notice the fish scale slate hangings on the side of the shop, these used to be common on houses in Marazion, but only a few remain now.
Walk further up the road and tucked away on the left is a granite building called Mount House. Built in the late 18th century, it is reputed to be connected by an underground tunnel to St Michael’s Mount, hence the name. Legend has it that the bodies of soldiers who died at sea were brought to the island and then transported to the house through the tunnel. They would have been able to afford a decent burial as most sailors had their ear pierced with a gold ring. When they died, the ring was removed and sold to pay for their burial! A previous owner did find what appeared to be the entrance to a tunnel, but it was deemed to be too dangerous to explore and was filled in. The same owner tells of finding a large sink in one of the rooms with elbow taps and what looked to be blood stains on the floor. This could this have been where post-mortems were carried out on the dead sailors.
The building that houses the antiques shop is called The Shambles and was once a meat market and at the rear of the building there is still a large trough with cut outs for the head and legs of animals and drainage holes for the blood to ooze away. This is where sheep and pigs were slaughtered before an abattoir opened just outside of Marazion. The meat would have been hung on large hooks which are still in the ceiling today.
