Penzance

Penzance Cornish: Pennsans
Town
A panorama of Penzance
Penzance Location within Cornwall
Population	21,200 (2011)
OS grid reference	SW475306
Civil parish	Penzance
Unitary authority	Cornwall
Ceremonial county	Cornwall
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	PENZANCE
Postcode district	TR18
Dialling code	01736
Police	Devon and Cornwall
Fire	Cornwall
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	St Ives
Website	www.penzancetowncouncil.co.uk
List of places UK England Cornwall 50°07′08″N 5°32′13″W / 50.119°N 5.537°W / 50.119; -5.537

Penzance (/pɛnˈzæns/ pen-ZANSS; Cornish: Pennsans)^[1] is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall^[2] and is about 64 miles (103 km) west-southwest of Plymouth and 255 miles (410 km) west-southwest of London. Situated in the shelter of Mount's Bay, the town faces south-east onto the English Channel, is bordered to the west by the fishing port of Newlyn, to the north by the civil parish of Madron and to the east by the civil parish of Ludgvan. The civil parish includes the town of Newlyn and the villages of Mousehole, Paul, Gulval, and Heamoor. Granted various royal charters from 1512 onwards and incorporated on 9 May 1614,^[3] it has a population of 21,200 (2011 census).^[4]

Penzance's former^{[further explanation needed]} main street Chapel Street has a number of interesting features, including the Egyptian House, The Admiral Benbow public house (home to a real life 1800s smuggling gang and allegedly the inspiration for Treasure Island's "Admiral Benbow Inn"),^[5] the Union Hotel (including a Georgian theatre which is no longer in use), and Branwell House, where the mother and aunt of the famous Brontë sisters once lived. Regency and Georgian terraces and houses are common in some parts of the town. The nearby sub-tropical Morrab Gardens has a large collection of tender trees and shrubs, many of which cannot be grown outdoors anywhere else in the UK. Also of interest is the seafront with its promenade and the open-air seawater Jubilee Pool (one of the oldest surviving Art Deco swimming baths in the country).

Penzance is the base of the pirates in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. At the time the libretto was written, 1879, Penzance had become popular as a peaceful resort town, so the idea of it being overrun by pirates was amusing to contemporaries.