Situated between the rivers Allen and Kenwyn, Truro is an ancient town but a young city. From becoming Cornwall’s first chartered town in 1130 to the laying of the foundation stone for the county’s only cathedral in 1880, it has gone from a medieval market town to a thriving port and, as a stannary town, grew rich on the proceeds of Cornwall’s mines. Fine Georgian buildings changed the look of Truro from a provincial market town to a smaller version of Bath. Its medieval street plan contains many narrow passageways or ‘opes’, and many of its interesting buildings still remain despite much modern development as befits Cornwall’s legal, administrative and commercial centre.

When its shipping trade was eventually stolen by Falmouth, the river silted up and now only small boats can reach the Town Quay at high tide. By the twentieth century two developments changed the look of Truro forever. The arrival of the railway brought the massive sixteen-arch viaduct, which stretches across the panorama of the city from east to west. In front of it rise the three spires of the country’s first Anglican cathedral to be built since St Paul’s.

In A-Z of Truro, author John Husband embarks on an engaging alphabetical journey through the city’s history. He visits the places, buildings and streets that are significant and intriguing, and discovers the stories behind them. Along the way the author also introduces the reader to some of Truro’s famous sons and daughters. From the explorer Richard Lander and his brother John (the first Europeans to follow the course of the River Niger) to the origins of the amusingly named Squeeze Guts Alley, and Walsingham Place to the Festival of Lights, this is a wonderfully illustrated insight into the history of Cornwall’s county town.