Born in 1948, Holmes has worked on such topics as Cornish placenames, the Prophecy of Merlin of John of Cornwall, and the writings of the Penwith School.
In the version recorded by Joseph Jacobs, Blunderbore lives in Penwith, where he kidnaps three lords and ladies, planning to eat the men and make the women his wives.
Gulval has two football teams competing in the Trelawny League; two cricket teams competing in the Penwith area League; the Old Inn - a public house in Gulval Churchtown – was given to the Coldstream Guards Association in memory of Capt Michael Lempriere Bolitho and renamed “The Coldstreamer” (Capt Bolitho was killed in HMS Walney, a Royal Navy tug; her task was to crash through the boom at the entrance to Oran Harbour in Operation Torch on 8 November 1942).
He was a leading member of a group of antiquaries in west Penwith; this group also included John Boson and Thomas Boson, William Gwavas, Thomas Tonkin, William Borlase, Oliver Pender, and James Jenkins of Alverton.
St Erth was the site of a large creamery operated by United Dairies: this was responsible for processing a large quantity of milk produced in Penwith.
In 2004 Penwith District Council designated the centre of the village as a Conservation area.