NEWSLETTER
August 2008
CORNWALL
ASSOCIATION OF
LOCAL HISTORIANS
The talks and dramatisations on the theme
of ‘The Idea of Cornwall in Literature,’ at
our Annual Conference, was thoughtprovoking and much enjoyed not only by
those attending, but also by CALH
members reading the comprehensive reports
in the Spring Journal. Everyone involved is
owed a debt of gratitude, not least to our
Events Secretary, Susan Hoyle, for putting it
all together with efficiency and scrupulous
attention to detail. She has since followed it
up with three successful study days this
summer to Newquay, Nancledra, and Mt.
Edgcumbe, with one to come - ‘Knowing
Your Place’ planned for September 27th at
County Hall. This last was originally planned
to be a day in honour of Veronica Chesher,
the moving spirit behind the founding of
CALH in 1981, but she prefers that we
direct our attention to new opportunities in
local history research. Details and booking
forms for this event as well as for the AGM
on 25th October, with the theme ‘Smugglers,
Ports and Pirates,’ accompany this
newsletter.
The CALH stand in the heritage marquee at
the Royal Cornwall Show in June was
manned by a volunteer roster of members.
Thank you all. We don’t yet know how
many people joined CALH as a result, but
over the three days, our display of a large
parish map of Cornwall (courtesy of the
CRO) attracted 296 individuals, each of
whom attached an identifying dot to their
home parish.
We displayed the books left to CALH by
the late James Derriman at the Annual
Conference. Tony Wood collected, stored
and listed them all, and your Committee
then had to decide the best way to deal with
them. As CALH has no place to house
them, it was agreed that they should be
offered to our members for sale at what we
considered fair prices. A list of those
remaining unsold in February was
distributed with the Spring Journal, again
inviting members to buy with a deadline of
May 31st. The remainder, (about 40 titles)
have been consigned to Lays’ Penzance
antiquarian book auction to be held on
August 19th. Members can bid for them
there (and help CALH as well). So far the
Derriman bequest has raised about £1,100
for CALH.
Please note: any members planning to
follow Jim’s example in bequeathing a gift in
kind to CALH in their wills, are urged to
first talk it over with the CALH Chairman
and Committee!
Finally, Catherine Lorigan is standing down
this year as Treasurer after four years. We
are looking for a CALH member to stand as
Treasurer in her stead – an honorarium may
be offered. If you feel you can, please make
yourself known to a member of the
Committee (names inside the back cover of
the last Journal) by September 10th.
As this is my last letter to you as Chairman,
thank you CALH for making the job so
easy.
Your Chairman until the AGM
Pam Dodds
(01726) 71564
KNOWING YOUR PLACE
A unique CALH Study Day
Honouring our Founder Veronica Chesher
by Looking Ahead
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Computer workshop
Estate Records
Tithe Maps
Vernacular Buildings
Roads & Communications
27th September 2008
County Hall, Truro
CALH On The Web
www.calh.co.uk
Your committee has commissioned a
professional designer to provide us with a
new, fully functional website. This site will,
when fully developed, do two things. It will
provide members and enquirers with full
details of our functions, our programme,
our officers and our terms of membership.
In addition it will provide links to other
Cornish history organisations or sources and
will enable searchers to locate us through
them.
This new professionally designed website,
easily available to all, will replace the
obscure and very limited one we had before.
We believe it will bring us up-to-date with
those who use the Internet for information
and will give us far wider publicity than we
have ever had. It will bring us to the
forefront of history organisations in
Cornwall.
The cost of this work will be largely funded
from the monies accrued from the sale of
Jim Derriman’s books and will make a fine
tribute to one of our most valued and
generous members.
Tony Wood
CALH AGM & Programme
“Ports, Pirates & Smugglers”
The CALH Annual General Meeting will be
held Saturday, 25th October 2008, 10:15 am
at the Kilbirnie Hotel, Newquay.
After a brief AGM, tributes to the late
James Derriman (who bequeathed his library
to CALH last year) will be given by
Christine Edwards, retired chief archivist
of Cornwall, and Brenda Hull, CALH
committee member.
Carole Vivian will talk on the theme in the
morning and Dr. Gill Draper of the British
Association for Local history will give the
keynote talk in the afternoon: ‘Ports and
Pirates: Researching Real Lives 1300-1600.’
Details of the AGM agenda, programme,
booking form and lunch menu are enclosed
with this newsletter.
New CALH Members
Two new members have been welcomed
into CALH – Yolande Hall and William
Dodge. We’re pleased you’ve joined us.
A reminder to current members: your very
modest membership fee is due at the start of
the year. A number have not yet paid and
you will not receive the autumn journal if
you are not paid up.
Barbara Brown
Membership Secretary
burrhills@dsl.pipex.com
History of Celebration in Kernow
Births, marriages, deaths; feast, fair and
community; victory, harvest, life. Reasons to
celebrate have been many and historically
much of our religious, civic and social lives
have been marked by ceremonies and other
less formal observances.
The theme of CALH’s two-day conference
7th –8th February 2009 is Celebrations and we
invite members to suggest topics, events and
speakers, including yourselves. We would
particularly like to hear about current
research in these areas.
Susan Hoyle
Events Secretary
sprhoyle@phonecoop.coop
(01736) 810765
National Archives Indexes
The National Archives Catalogue and
Research Guide is available again on-line at
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalo
gue/researchguidesindex.asp?j=1
Ranging from “How to use Admiralty
Indexes” to “Wills before 1858: Where to
Start,” the guides cover the fullest range of
subjects and provide direction on about any
historical question you may need to answer
and where to find it at the archives.
Active Kresenn Kernow
Tithe Maps on CD at CRO
A recent addition to our collection is a book
of photographs from Redruth Methodist
Church. The photographs compiled in a
large album cover church outings, tea treats
and other social events from the early 1900s
to 1960s. The images provide a fascinating
insight into church life.
Tithe maps and the accompanying survey
books (apportionments) provide a fantastic
snapshot of land use and ownership in the
19th century.
Earlier in the year we joined with the West
Cornwall Museums and Heritage Group to
promote
volunteering
in
heritage
organisations. A volunteering week was
organised in February with open days and
exhibitions in a number of venues across
West Cornwall. The open day at the
Cornwall Centre brought us new volunteers
and we now have a small enthusiastic group
working on the sorting and identifying of
images from our photographic collection
and filing of newspaper cuttings.
St Agnes*
Altarnun*
St Austell*
St Breward* Cambourne*
St Clement
Crowan*
St Dennis*
St Enoder*
St Erth
Feock*
Illogan*
St Just in Penwith, Langeglos by Camelford*
Launceston*
Leland
St Minver*
Padstow*
Penzance Perranarworthal
Perranzabuloe*
Phillack*
Redruth*
Sithney* South Hill St Stephen in Brannel
Stoke Climsland
Truro St Mary*
We are also looking forward to working
more closely with the Victoria County
History of Cornwall and setting up a
volunteering project to collect and index
information from the Cornish Guardian
newspaper.
Our online
available
photographic database is
to
view
at
http://www.cornwallphotoimagebank.org.uk/.
It includes 2,000 images from our collection
and covers towns and villages from across
Cornwall as well as pictures of local
industries and events. It is easily searched
by keywords and images can then be printed
or photographic prints ordered and
purchased online.
Our regular email newsletter continues. If
you would like to receive news and book
reviews from the Cornwall Centre, please
sign
up
by
emailing
us
at
cornishstudies.library@cornwall.gov.uk.
Finally, Saturday 18th October sees the start
of our weeklong book sale.
Kim Cooper
Principal Library Officer
The following parishes are now available on
CDROM:
EU Customers
Parish Resident*
Non-EU Customers
£20 per CD
£15 per CD
£17 per CD
All in EU add £2.50 handling (inc VAT)
Non-EU add £3 handling charge
*£5 discount for residents of parishes which
contributed financially to this project.
Runs with all versions of Microsoft
Windows but NOT Apple Mac.
Note: Not all property was titheable. Towns
in particular may provide only limited details
of the people who owned or occupied land.
Order online at www.cornwall.gov.uk/cro
or contact Cornwall Record Office, Truro
TR1
3AY,
(01872)
323127
or
cro@cornwall.gov.uk. Check website for
new parishes becoming available.
Three deposits of records relating to the
Fortescue family of Boconnoc have been
catalogued and are now available online
from the CRO catalogue and A2A web
pages. The largest deposit, made in 1970,
covers the estate from the late 18th century
onwards and appears to hold a wealth of
information on people living and working
on the family’s extensive land holdings
across Cornwall through the 20th century.
Calendar of CALH Events
27 September (Sat) – CALH Study Day –
‘Knowing Your Place.’ County Hall, Truro 10:00 am.
16 October (Thurs) – CALH Committee
meeting. CRO, Truro – 5:00 pm.
25 October (Sat) – CALH AGM &
Programme – ‘Ports, Pirates & Smugglers.’
Kilbirnie Hotel, Newquay – 10:15 am.
6 November (Thurs) – CALH Committee
meeting. CRO, Truro – 5:00 pm
7-8 February 2009 (Sat-Sun) – CALH
Conference – ‘History of Celebrations in
Cornwall’ – Kilbirnie Hotel, Newquay.
Historical Association Calendar
Lectures start at 7:00 pm at the Richard
Lander School, Gloweth, Truro.
31 October (Fri) – Women and Medieval
Warfare, Prof. Anne Curry, Univ. of
Southampton & President of the Historical
Association.
28 November (Fri) – What was the Ku
Klux Klan? Dr. Kristofer Allerfeld, Univ. of
Exeter in Cornwall. Talk preceded by
branch AGM at 6:30 pm.
RIC Calendar of Events
2 August (Sat) – Whose Cornwall? Rowse
& Betjeman Compared, Prof. Philip
Payton, Inst. of Cornish Studies – 2:30 pm
Booking advisable through museum.
18 October (Sat) – Names, Places,
Identities: The Origins of Surnames in
Cornwall, Dr. Bernard Deacon, Inst. of
Cornish Studies, talk & workshop, 2:00 pm
Booking essential through the museum.
13 December (Sat) – Methodism: Myths,
Memories & Histories, Dr. Bernard
Deacon & Dr. Garry Tregidga, Inst. of
Cornish Studies, talk & workshop. 2:00 pm.
Booking essential through the museum.
enquiries@royalcornwallmuseum.org.uk
Calendar for Kresenn Kernow
Cornwall Centre (Redruth)
1-15 August (Fri-Fri) – Taking Space,
Exhibition by Cornish Artists.
18-30 August (Mon-Sat) – Paintings &
Sculptures by local artist Paul Frances.
9-22 September (Tues-Mon) – Wonderful
Words Festival, Exhibition & events
reflecting on migration and journeys,
including Cornish miners overseas.
9 September (Tues) – Writing Home,
dialect talk by David Thomas of the CRO
based on the letters home of Richard Scoble
from 19th century American. 6:00 pm.
18 September (Thurs) – Family History
Day, advice & tips from the staff on
discovering your ancestors – 10:00 am –
4:00 pm.
22
September
(Mon)
–
Family
Reminiscences, with author D.M. Thomas
plus 200 years of travellers’ tales with Mark
Thackeray. 7:00 pm.
18-25 October (Sat-Sat) – Cornish Book
Sale.
30 October (Thurs) – Family Art
Workshop – Make a Miners Hat, Halfterm event for children 5-16 years. Includes
an exhibition of 20th century mining
photographs from the Cornwall Record
Office. Tickets from Kresenn Kernow, first
child £2; siblings £1. Accompanying adults
free.
Date of Interest
31 August (Sun) – Guided Walk around
Historic Truro by Ian Rowe. Join CRO
staff & Rowe starting at the CRO with a
brief look at Truro’s ancient charter &
maps. 10:30 am. Booking essential at CRO.
(01872) 323-127
Newsletter
Editor:
rhl@lylespride.com
Robert
Lyle