They Shall Land: the Spanish raid on Mount's Bay, Cornwall July 1595

by Craig Weatherhill

This day-by-day account will take you back to the extraordinary drama of 1595, played out in Penzance and around Mount's Bay, Cornwall. Craig has unearthed details not before brought together. Craig Weatherhill has brought together all the information from sources as diverse as Richard Carew's 1602 A Survey of Cornwall to the Spanish commander's report to King Philip II of Spain. A report which only came to light in the 1980s.

43 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2019

About the author

Craig Weatherhill (1950 or 1951–2020) was a Cornish antiquarian, novelist and writer on the history, archaeology, place names and mythology of Cornwall.

Reviews

[James Biddlecombe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short chronological account of the Spanish raid on Mount’s Bay in 1595 that draws on both secondary and contemporary English sources and - a recent English translation of - the Spanish commander’s own account submitted to King Philip II.

The author balances the often contradictory nature of these sources well: constantly evaluating the motivation of the individual in their rendering of events, and uses them wisely. It is a short book at 43 page but still manages to give a good introduction of the people involved in the raid, the galleys that took part, where they came from: Blavet in Brittany. It contains helpful maps and diagrams, as well as the day by day account of the raid from 16th July to 30th July.

This is an enjoyable but, by its very nature light read; not academic - in that the author does not footnote his source, but it is still full of interesting snippets of information. I did notice one error: getting the English Admiral James Lancaster’s name first name wrong (the author refers to him as John.) However, for the price and length it is a nice little book to add to your shelf that certainly increased my knowledge of the raid.

[Ken Sampson · Rating 4 out of 5]

[05 Oct 2026] This small book is the only full explanation of the Spanish invasion of West Cornwall in 1595. An important episode in Cornish history. It challenges previous, much repeated, accounts and introduces new research only discovered in the 1980s. An interesting, informative and enjoyable read.