Falmouth

Standing at the head of the Fal estuary, Trelissick is one of the largest gardens in Cornwall. It was first created in the early 19th century and has grown to include a wide range of exotic plants that thrive in the mild Cornish climate. The garden is especially famous for its large collection of azaleas and rhododendrons.

A ship awaiting repair, at Falmouth Docks. The great natural harbour at Falmouth was first exploited in the late 17th century. For more than a hundred years, until the early 19th century, the town was a station for the mail packet service, which carried mail to the Americas and the Mediterranean. Today, the docks are still an important centre for ship repairs, but otherwise the town's main industry is tourism.

Henry VIII of England built St Mawes Castle, in Cornwall, as part of his coastal defence strategy against a possible French invasion. Its three circular bastions give views across to Pendennis Castle, which was built in the same period at Falmouth, on the other side of the River Fal estuary.

Port and resort on the south coast of Cornwall, southwest England, on the estuary of the River Fal, 11 km/7 mi southwest of Truro; population (2001) 21,600. It is a major yachting centre and the marine rescue and coastguard centre for the southwest region. Principal industries include tourism, ship-repair at Pendennis shipyard, and the construction of aluminium buildings and naval architecture.

Aluminium fabrications constructed here include the NatWest Media Centre at Lord's cricket ground, London. Trade through the port is less significant now, with some fish wholesaling and a specialist traffic in exotic plants for public gardens.

Features Falmouth has a temperate climate in which sub-tropical plants flourish. The castles of Pendennis and St Mawes, on opposite sides of the estuary, were built in 1543 to guard the entrance to the natural, deepwater harbour. The town contains the headquarters of the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club and hosts a number of local regattas. From 1998 Falmouth will once again be the starting point for the biennial Cutty Sark International Tall Ships Race. Cultural facilities include the Cornwall Maritime Museum and an art gallery

History Pendennis Castle was captured during the Civil War by the Parliamentarians after a five-month siege. In 1688 Falmouth became a Mail Packet Station, handling mail destined for North America and the West Indies, and it was an important trading port in the 18th century. The Riot Act (1714) was read for the last time to mutinous crews of packet ships docked at Falmouth. The town developed as a resort after the railway opened in 1863.

Until 1938 Falmouth was the anchorage of the Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper, now preserved in dry dock at Greenwich, London.

Falmouth

Town on the north coast of Jamaica, in the Caribbean Sea, 29 km/18 mi east of Montego Bay; population (1991) 8,000. Sugar, coffee, and bananas grow in the district. In the early 19th century the town was Jamaica's major port for the export of molasses, rum, and sugar. It became less important with the decline of the sugar industry in the late 19th century. Although the town is not a major tourist attraction, moves were made in the late 1990s to capitalize on its historical importance to Jamaica's development.

Falmouth

Town in Cumberland County, southwest Maine; population (1990) 7,600. It is situated on Casco Bay, northeast of and adjoining Portland, of which it is a largely residential suburb. Settled in the 1630s on land including modern Portland, Falmouth includes the villages of West Falmouth and Falmouth Foreside, a fashionable waterfront community. Portland separated from Falmouth in 1786.

Falmouth

Town in Barnstable County, southeast Massachusetts; population (1998) 31,400. It is situated on the southwest tip of Cape Cod, on Buzzards Bay and Nantucket Sound. Formerly a whaling and shipbuilding centre, it is a summer resort with some truck farming and cranberry culture. It was settled from 1660, originally called Suckanesset, and incorporated in 1686. It changed its name to Falmouth c. 1690, after the town in Cornwall, England, from which Bartholomew Gosnold set sail for Cape Cod in 1602.

The ocean sciences centre at Woods Hole is in the town. Ferries link Falmouth to the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Otis Air Force Base and Camp Edwards are to the north.