Also of interest is the seafront with its promenade and the open-air seawater Jubilee Pool (one of the oldest surviving Art Deco swimming baths in the country).

A number of bronze implements such as a palstave, a spear-head, a knife, and pins, along with much pottery and large quantities of charcoal were discovered when building a new housing estate, at Tredarvah, to the west of Alverton.

[8] The first mention of the name Pensans is in the Assize Roll of 1284,[23] and the first mention of the actual church that gave Penzance its name is in a manuscript written by William Borlase in 1750: ″The ancient chapel belonging to the town of Penzance may be seen in a fish cellar, near the key; it is small and as I remember had the image of the Virgin Mary in it.″[24] The chapel was built of greenstone and about 30 ft in length and 15 ft in breadth of which only a fragment remained in situ.

A carving in "Ludgvan granite" thought to be of St Anthony was removed in about 1830 and was used in the wall of a pig sty, which was further vandalised in 1850 when "a stranger ... taking fancy to the stony countenance and rough hands, they were broken off and carried away as relics ...".

A St Mary's Chapel is mentioned in a 1548 document which states that it was founded by Sir Henry Tyes, Knight, Lord of the Manor of Alverton, who gave a £4 stipend for a priest.

The right to hold a market each Wednesday was granted by King Edward III to Alice de Lisle, sister of Lord Tyes and widow of Warin de Lisle, on 25 April 1332; a fair, lasting seven days at the Feast of St Peter ad Vincula on 1 August; and another fair of seven days on 24 August at Mousehole for the feast of St Bartholomew – later to be held in Penzance.

The settlement was growing in importance as the weekly Wednesday market was confirmed by King Henry IV and three further fairs, each of two days, were granted on 8 April 1404.

[30] 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).

Amesquita's force seized supplies, raided and burned Penzance and surrounding villages, held a mass, and sailed away to successfully engage and put to flee a Dutch squadron of 46 ships.

Other privileges included owning land and property; imposing fines for breaking bylaws; holding a civil court with jurisdiction over cases not exceeding £50; and providing a prison.

The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall was founded in the town in 1814[49] and about 1817 was responsible for introducing a miner's safety tamping bar, which attracted the Prince Regent to become its patron.

[59] Fruit and flowers were also carried; the mild climate around Penzance and on the Scilly Isles meant that they were ready for market earlier and could command high prices.

The lighthouse (which was originally lit by an oil lamp within a fifth-order Fresnel lens) was built by Sandys & co. of Hayle and displayed a fixed red or green light, depending on the height of the tide.

[51] Penzance, with its dry dock and engineering facilities, was chosen as the western depot for Trinity House that serviced all the lighthouses and lightships from Start Point to Trevose Head.

In 1875 a local newspaper described the railway station as a large dog's house of the nastiest and draughtiest kind[59] but a series of works improved this part of the town during the 1880s.

A larger dry dock replaced Matthews' original facility (1880), and a floating harbour was made (1884) with lock gates to keep in the water at low tide.

In 1905 a new bandstand was built on the Promenade opposite the Queen's Hotel, and the Pavilion Theatre opened nearby in 1911, complete with a roof garden and café.

Newquay Airport is 41 miles (66 km) away and offers flights to Gatwick, Heathrow, Dublin, Cork and many other places, including an increasing number of European destinations.

[86] Founded by "a poor 57 year old miner" named Thomas Curtis, the mine was said to be "very rich at depth" and was connected to the shore by a wooden bridge; the ore was transported by wherry boat.

The mine suffered considerable damage in 1798 when an American ship broke anchor off nearby Newlyn and smashed into the bridge and head gear.

The older houses in the narrow centre round the market hall have been pulled down and third-rate commercial 'contemporary', of which the Pearl Assurance building is a nasty example, are turning it into Slough".

Also of interest is the seafront with its promenade and the open-air seawater Jubilee Pool (one of the oldest surviving Art Deco swimming baths in the country), built during Penzance's heyday as a fashionable seaside resort.

[94] The grade II listed pool is triangular with graceful curves and is considered the best surviving example of its type, with the exception of the Saltdean Lido in Brighton.

The most recent example was on 7 March 1962, when large parts of the western end of the promenade, the nearby Bedford Bolitho Gardens (now a play park) and the village of Wherrytown suffered severe damage.

[103] Before the 1930s Penzance was the scene of large May Day celebrations, which saw local children making and using tin 'May horns' and 'May whistles'; a small revival of these traditions took place on 4 May 2008.

Every December Penzance holds the Montol Festival a community arts event reviving many of the Cornish customs of Christmas, including traditional costumes, masks and guise dancing.

The Acorn Arts Centre, sited within a former Methodist chapel in Parade Street, provides a mixture of theatre, film, dance music and cabaret and is partially public funded.

Penzance was the home of Mounts Bay RFC, founded in 1999, originally as a team for local players who could not play for the professional Cornish Pirates.

Penzance has been home to numerous persons of note, including actress Thandiwe Newton, model Jean Shrimpton and cricketer Jack Richards.

He was President of the Royal Society; inventor of the process of electrolysis; the first person to isolate sodium; the first to discover nitrous oxide; and joint discoverer, with Michael Faraday, that diamonds are made of pure carbon.