Ref;
How Sally Bottom Got Its NameThe following is a much abridged extract from a marvellous book by Ernest Landry entitled
‘Memories of Nancekuke’ published by the author in 1978. If you can get hold of a copy do, it makes compelling reading and mentions much of the history of the area including some very interesting ‘first hand’ tales of mines, miners and minerals.
The story of how Sally Bottom got its name is simple; it was named after one Sally Peters. She was born in a little thatched cottage a good time before the Great War, down Joppa Lane on Factory Farm which is now MOD land.
Sally’s father was a tin miner and worked at Old Wheal Towan. Her mother worked on the tin stream floors before she was married whereupon she moved into the cottage with her husband. Sally was their only child and never attended any school, but was taught by an old woman who used to charge the local people a few pence each week to tutor their children, probably in the basic three R’s. Apparently she was a very bright girl and went to work on the dressing floors at quite an early age earning just a few shillings a week which helped out at home as her mother is said to have been a little weak at the time. When her folks were a little better off, Sally took a job in domestic service in Redruth. Being a country girl she soon tired of the town and took up a position with some landed gentry in Penzance.
When she was about twenty she met and eventually married a young French sailor, who was a regular visitor to the port. After a while they moved to France to live in her husband’s home port of St,Nazaire, where he continued to go to sea accompanied by Sally, travelling as far as the Mediterranean. A while later Sally had a son, they named Jean after his father, and he grew to be a fine strong lad.
It seems that not all Jean senior’s trade was entirely legal, but he was a fine seaman and proved himself so when a shipmate was washed overboard and he jumped in to rescue him. After getting him back onboard they were hit by another wave, washed into the sea and both drowned. Sally returned to her parent’s cottage and Jean eventually joined the very boat his father had captained working his way up to first mate and then finaly to captain.
He met and married Yvonne the daughter of a French Count. Her family didn’t approve and disowned her, however, the couple were very happy and she accompanied her husband on his voyages. They produced a daughter who was brought up and schooled in France by Yvonne’s parents and one day they took her to stay with Sally at the cottage, while the couple spent some time at sea. Nothing was heard from them for some months and there were rumours that they had been arrested and thrown into a Moorish prison after a run in with the authorities and a cargo of contraband. The bitter truth was that they had run into a severe gale in the Bay of Biscay and the boat was lost with all hands. Sally was left with only her granddaughter who was growing into a big girl. One day a carriage turned up with a French gent who had come to take Yvonne back to France. It’s not known if Sally ever saw her again.
After her parents had died, Sally spent the rest of her days taking care of the local elderly people and her knowledge and use of herbs and remedies made her a valuable aid to the sick.
She died at a ripe old age and her coffin was carried from Joppa to Illogan churchyard.
P.S. Incidentally, Bottom Shaft was named for no other reason than because it was at the bottom part of the sett, as opposed to say ‘Top Shaft’
"You Chinese think of everything!"
"But I''m not Chinese!"
"Then you must have forgotten something!"