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Tudor, Jacobean and Georgian architecture fills this ancient Cornish town and historic port at the head of the Penryn River. An important harbour in the reign of Elizabeth I, long before Falmouth existed, it is mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086. In its heyday Penryn exported dressed granite all over the world. The Suez Canal, Gibraltar, Singapore, Buenos Aires, to name a few, all used this versatile stone in buildings, wharves and bridges. Closer to home, it was used to construct London Bridge and the South Bank. Also of note is that Penryn, and you would be hard placed to tell from the remains surviving (just a portion of a wall and an arch), was an ecclesiastical institution that, in the late Middle Ages, was one of the most important in West Cornwall. The college of secular canons was founded by Bishop Bronescombe of Exeter in 1265. Nowadays Penryn will be famed for another important institution – the hub of the Combined Universities of Cornwall, including part of the famed Falmouth College of Art.
Twinned with Audierne, France.
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