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Montol is a celebration of the Cornish traditions of Christmas and midwinter, held on 21 December each year. Follow lantern processions of the costumed "guise dancers" beginning at 4pm and 6pm, then visit the pubs in the town centre to see appearances from the guise dancers performing music, plays and traditional games. Guise dancing is a tradition already called 'ancient' in its first mention in a newspaper in 1804. At 10PM a torchlit procession moves along Chapel Street down to the seafront beacon for a folk custom known as "Chalking the Mock". Expect fabulous costumes, fire, noise and dancing in the streets.
The Montol Festival is an annual festival in Penzance, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, which has been held on 21 December each year since 2007. The festival is a revival or reinterpretation of many of the traditional Cornish midwinter customs & Christmas traditions formerly practiced in and around the Penzance area and common to much of Cornwall at one point. The festival spans several days, but the main events are held on the traditional date of the feast of St Thomas the Apostle, usually 21 December, which always coincides with the winter solstice.
The Newlyn School was an art colony based in nearby Newlyn from the 1880s to the early 20th century. They sought naturalistic scenes of fishing and harbour life, their leaders being Stanhope Forbes and Walter Langley. Penlee House is a Victorian mansion adapted to showcase their work. Though the "School" no longer exists as an art movement, Newlyn continues to inspire art - see that page for classes and its own gallery.
A fine example of a sub-tropical public garden, opened in 1889. "Morreb" is Cornish for "besides the sea".
A village was made up of stone-walled homesteads known as 'courtyard houses', found only on the Land's End peninsula and the Isles of Scilly, dating from 100 BC-300 AD.
An abbey, then fortified home on an island offshore. At low tide, you can walk across a causeway. At high tide, frequent boats will take you across for £2 each way (£1 for children).
For those interested in all things book-related, Penzance has an excellent private library consisting of more than 60,000 volumes, archives and photographic collections. Think floor-to ceiling book cases, leather chairs, and sea views. A book-lover's paradise. Day membership available at £3. The library is in the Morrab Gardens.