shing boats each paying 2 shillings each, and an unspecified number at
Mousehole each paying 12 shillings. There was also a payment of 8 shillings for
the rent of
logii (huts or
sheds) of foreign fishermen i.e. those outside the manor. At a second Inquest
in 1327 the number had risen to 13 at Penzance; with 16 recorded at Mousehole
and both now paying only 1 shilling each: the total rent for
logii was 8s/6d (42½p) with 17
tenants paying 6d (2½p) each. Both Inquests record 29 burgesses at Penzance and
40 at Mousehole. A burgess paid his rent with money rather than with personal
services and indicated that Penzance and Mousehole were considered to be towns.
A comparison of the settlements in West Cornwall can be made with the annual
payments, based on the number of fishing boats, made to the Duchy of Cornwall
in 1337: Porthia (St Ives) £6; Mosehole (Mousehole) £5; Marcasion (Marazion) £3;
Pensanns (Penzance) 12s (60p); Londeseynde (Land's End), (Sennen Cove) 10s
(50p); Nywelyn (Newlyn) 10s; and Portmynster (Porthminster, St Ives) 2s (10p).
In 1425, 1432 and 1440 ships in Penzance were licenced to carry pilgrims to the
shrine of St James of Compostella, in north-west Spain.
In medieval times and later, Penzance was subject to frequent raiding by
"Turkish pirates", in fact Barbary Corsairs. Throughout the period
before Penzance gained borough status in 1614 the village and surrounding areas
continued to be within the control of the Manor of Alverton and was subject to
the taxation regime of that manor.
Early modern period
Tudor period
In the summer of 1578 Penzance was visited by the plague. The burial
registers of Madron (where all
