Written by E E Matthews
On coming to live at Tywardreath in 1942 I was intrigued by the name of our road - Southpark. Certainly it has a south aspect, but where, I wondered, did the "Park" come in. There was not a sign of a park in the immediate vicinity or in the village. I learnt later that "Park" in this sense meant "Field". The name crops up again in the locality - Lamb Park and Green Park for instance.
Prior to being Southpark Road, it was a hilly lane with high banks and hedges leading to the railway station at Par. It was then appropriately called Station Hill.
Other names in the village too have changed with time. What is now Vicarage Road was called Back Lane. Actually this lane is quite old and was the route use to reach a ferry crossing an estuary. Incidentally there is now no estuary as the land has been reclaimed from the sea and on this land Par was built.
Until about 40 years ago Tehidy Road was known as New Road. The word "New" is rather ambiguously used in the village I have discovered. There is a "New Inn" and a "New Farm", both quite old!
Originally the village consisted of two main streets, namely, Back Street and Front Street! These are now North Street and Fore Street. Other street names speak for themselves - Woodland Avenue, Church Street, Well Street and Glen View. The latter used to be known as Maddocks Lane - presumably the name of the family living thereabouts.
Poldrea is not a new name for the locality, as it is the name of a lane running parallel with one end of the estate. This estate comprises about 40 Cornish Unit houses built since the end of the war.
I have mentioned the names of the majority of the streets in our village but, I wonder, what will they be in a hundred years time in the year 2051.