'By Tre, Pol and Pen shall ye know Cornishmen,' goes the rhyme recorded by Richard Carew in his Survey of Cornwall in 1602.

They're an integral part of many of our Cornish place names, from Penzance to Polzeath, Trewellard to Tresillian.

But do you know what they mean?

Tre means a homestead and you'll find these homesteads across Cornwall, from Trebah to Trelissick, Tremough to Tregony.

Pol means a pool. The most popular towns using this prefix include Polzeath, Polruan, Polperro and Polkerris.

Pen is the Cornish for head. Penzance, Penryn, Pentire and Penrice all feature this prefix.

Perran is another popular Cornish prefix, deriving from St Piran, the patron saint of tin miners and Cornwall. Perranporth, Perranarworthal and Perranuthonoe use this word.

Porth means a bay, port or harbour, as in Porthleven, Porthtowan, Porthmeor, Porthgwidden and Porthcurno.

Ros means moor, heath or common and can be found in the Roseland, Roskear and Roseworthy.

Feel free to add your own popular Cornish place names below. Seasalt blogger Laura Ellis has written a blog on it here .