Great uncle Charles

Some of you will remember my post in April when I wondered who had carved “Sarah”into the stone low down in the hedge on Mousehole Lane, the hill between Mousehole and Paul. I was delighted when my neighbour told me that it had been done by his great uncle Charles Tregenza in 1887, Charles even signed his handiwork
Great uncle Charles was 24 in 1887 but was already destined to work with stone as he went on to become a master builder and built his own house, Tavis Vor, which is now the lodge to The Coastguard in Mousehole.
I am assuming that Sarah was his girlfriend but the romance, if that is what it was, did not last as Charles married Nellie, they had eight boys and then a daughter, Mary Viola, who died aged only 8 in 1911, I am haunted by their loss of a precious daughter in those days before antibiotics.

Charles Tregenza was a pillar of the community
and became the mayor of Penzance in 1934

I am happy to think that under all that fur and civic pomp he cared enough to carve the name of his girlfriend into granite, a sort of pre-spray paint graffiti.

Great uncle Charles, Nellie and Mary are buried in the cemetery at Paul

I visited him last week to ask his permission to include him in my blog.

I thank my neighbour for his family history and I thank great uncle Charles.

For my next mystery can someone explain this sign carved high into a wall in Penzance?