Falmouth
[key], town, Cornwall, SW England, on a small peninsula between Falmouth
Bay and Carrick Roads estuary. Falmouth is a port, a resort, and the
headquarters of the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club; there is a maritime museum in
the harbor. China clay is exported from the port. Industries include
engineering, ship repairing, and oyster fisheries. The climate is unusually
warm; subtropical plants thrive. The harbor entrance is guarded by Pendennis
Castle on the west and St. Mawes Castle on the east (both 16th cent.). Baron
Fairfax of Cameron took the town in 1646 after a five-month siege of
Pendennis Castle in the English civil
war. The fall of the castle signaled the defeat of the royalists
in Cornwall and the end of the civil war there.
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