Land's End History
Land's End is a name that has struck at people's imagination for thousands of years, with the Romans referring to it as 'Bolerium', the seat of storms, and the old Cornish name being 'Penn-an-Wlas', end of the land.
People have been visiting Land’s End for generations, in the early nineteenth century they would travel by waggonette and stop at the First and Last Inn before making the final stage of the journey on horseback or foot along the muddy lanes to Land’s End. The headland where the Land’s End Hotel is now situated is where the owners of the Inn had a small house where visitors could tether their horses whilst they walked around the cliffs.
The first proper buildings are believed to have been built around the middle of the nineteenth century when the small house was developed into a small hotel, this building has since been developed further to become the existing hotel. The need for a hotel was due to the fact that the owners of the Inn did not have enough rooms available for those visiting Land’s End.
In 1859 the Great Western Railway bought passenger trains into Penzance carrying a new crowd of wealthy tourists. At this point Penwith House was built just alongside the main hotel, this was opened as a Temperance hotel.
The actual Land’s End point is situated in front of the First and Last House which is believed to have opened shortly after Penwith House. A lady called Gracie Thomas ran the First and Last house and sold refreshments and basic souvenirs such as lumps of granite. This was also the first time that you could purchase a postcard with Land’s End stamped on it, a tradition that is kept today.
The Land’s End Hotel has itself had a chequered history. At the turn of the 20th century the hotel was a place of true Victorian splendour proudly run by Benjamin Trahair who was known to always wear a white suit, some people say that he still roams around the top corridor to this day. During the Second World War the hotel started to suffer; a Luftwaffe bomb severely damaged a large proportion of the original building in 1941 and killed one man who was drinking in the bar. After this American Servicemen were stationed there before being sent to the D-Day landings. During this period the hotel was treated pretty badly and it was some time before it was repaired. At one stage the building was used as a store on the first floor.
The famous Land’s End signpost has been operated independently since the 1950s. The existing operating company (Courtwoods Ltd) used to own a post situated in front of the Hotel, whilst another local photography company operated a post near to its present location. In the early 1960s Courtwoods took ownership of both and still send photographs all around the world.
By the 1970s Land’s End had suffered from a lot of neglect, a large investment was needed to return it to its natural glory. In 1980 the site was sold to a businessman who turned existing garages and sheds into gift shops and cheap amusements were added. Then in 1987 Peter de Savary purchased Land’s End. A lot has been said about the developments that have been made but the site was in desperate need of some attention, the cliff paths had become terribly eroded and the place looked baron. David Bellamy was bought in to do a report on how to conserve the site and to advise on how to regain the greenery and wildlife. Designated pathways were tarmacked in order for the remainder of the cliffs to return to their natural beauty. Obviously Mr de-Savary was a business man and looked for ways in which to increase the amount of time visitors spent at the site. He erected two new buildings one of which is the large building which houses the present exhibitions. He was very keen on the history of the area and the famous legend of King Arthur and the lost land of Lyonesse – this was to be the main theme of the ‘Last Labyrinth’ exhibition which was filmed in the Pinewood Studios. The other structure De-Savary built is the arched building at the front which houses the administration offices. Other developments were made to the hotel, which was turned into a 33 bedroom establishment, and 2 new conservatories were added at the front.
The present owners bought Land’s End in 1996 and formed a company called Heritage Attractions Limited who now own other landmark sites around the UK including; John O’Groats, The Needles Park on the Isle of Wight, Snowdon Mountain Railway, Lightwater Valley Theme Park and Miniatura Park near Newquay. They also own the First and Last Inn as the owners of Land’s End always have.
Do you have any of your own stories/experiences of Land’s End? If so we would love to hear from you, this history is a work in progress and will be added to in the near future. We are particularly interested if you have any photographs from the 1940s through to the 1960s.