Lovely picture tpp. I climbed Roche Rock quite a lot as a schoolboy and learned how to absail their too. Being a Cornish language expert you could pose the question; what has Roche Rock and Hayle Estuary got in common?
Thanks, missp, tabtab and ! You've got me there, ! Roche is from Norman (or even today's) French for 'rock', and 'Hayle' is from Cornish 'heyl' or estuary, also applied to the river. Is it something to do with the hermit that St Gunnett looked after on top of the rock? Aha! Roche was probably referred to in Cornish also as 'An Garrek' or 'the rock' and Hayle is not far from 'Angarrack', is it? Anyway, you wonder how on earth the builders took up the stones and constructed that Chapel of St Michael up there in about 1400 without the metal ladders as it's about 50 feet up pretty sheer sides!
All I know is that my namesake is buried in the churchyard not far away! He died in about 1854 in his 50s.
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