Spring 2015 e-newsletter: Special

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the spring edition of our e-newsletter. The newsletter covers news from Record Office and the Cornish Studies Library and is sent out quarterly. If you know anyone who would like to subscribe, please ask them to send a blank email to [email protected] with ‘Subscribe to E-newsletter’ in the subject line. This

edition is devoted to updating you on the Kresen Kernow project to build a new archive centre for Cornwall. We hope you enjoy it!

Kind regards,

The Archives and Cornish Studies Team

NEWS

Kresen Kernow Project Application Submission

The aspiration to build a new archive centre for Cornwall has been around for a number of years. In 2012 we submitted a Round One bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund in order to secure the funding to make sure this happens. In May 2013 we were delighted to be granted a Round One pass, and since then our teams have been very busy preparing the application for Round Two. This has included running over 50 consultation events and speaking to more than 2500 people about the centre – which will be built on the former Brewery site – and its

associated activities and events.

Extensive clearance work has also begun on the site in preparation for the new building and a public walkway through the area. You can view drone footage of this work on our Facebook page. We have also had to prepare an extensive array of documentation, from a detailed 5 year Activity Plan, to a 10 year Business Plan; a Collections Management and Maintenance Plan and smaller documents such as an Exhibition Plan, Volunteer Strategy, Digital Strategy and Marketing Strategy.

We will submit these to the Heritage Lottery Fund this week and they will assess our application before paying us a visit in June. We will then find out their decision later this summer. Wish us luck!

Our dedicated webpages will be updated in the coming weeks so please check them for further details, including background to the project: www.cornwall.gov.uk/kresenkernow. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the project, and everyone to has helped and supported us over the last few years.

‘Brewing Up The Past’ community history project

Running alongside the consultation events, document preparation and site clearance work was a community history project in Redruth. ‘Brewing Up the Past’ was designed to capture memories and experiences of the site when it was a thriving brewery. The project, delivered by Cascade Theatre Company, involved a wide range of events and activities from reminiscence sessions to storytelling, knitting and street theatre. The events had a broad participant base, with everyone from school children to former Brewery employees taking part. The project culminated in a promenade performance through the town, and an exhibition and art installation at the Cornish Studies Library. Thank you to everyone who took part!

WHAT'S ON?

While we have been concentrating on the Kresen Kernow project, some of our other projects and activities have had to take a back seat. However, we are looking forward to them returning with a vengeance this summer when we launch our Archive Life Cycle series of exhibitions at the Cornish Studies Library.

The first of these, Birth, will tie in with Redruth’s Murdoch Day celebrations on Saturday June 13th and will feature material related to the births of famous Cornish people as well as associated craft activities.

Later in the summer our exhibition will focus on Marriage, and we will be looking for community contributions to this, so watch this space! In late October we will launch our Death exhibition with a very special event… There will be more details to follow in the coming months.

We will also be loaning material to Falmouth Art Gallery’s Penny Black exhibition, from April 27 – May 27 in Gallery open hours. The exhibition, which celebrates the 175th anniversary of the Penny Black stamp, will feature a range of stamps from our collections including Penny Blacks, as well as items from the Fox family business archive. Based in Falmouth, the collection includes correspondence from across the world, sent to the Foxes in their role as international consuls. We purchased the Fox archive in December 2014 and our archive assistants have been working hard to make the catalogue available online very soon (reference: FOX).

For the most up to date information about what’s going on, Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kresenkernow

ACCESSIONS

One of the main reasons we need a new archive centre is because our current buildings and outstores are virtually at capacity! That’s because, in the Archives and Cornish Studies Service collections, we hold over 1.4 million documents as well as 120 000 books, periodicals and pamphlets, 40 000 maps and over 180 000 photographs! The Historic Environment Record collections will also be coming to Kresen Kernow with us, which include over 80 000 aerial and ground photographs and 4500 archaeological survey reports. Once complete, Kresen Kernow will hold the world’s biggest collection of archive material related to Cornwall anywhere in the world. And, luckily, our strongrooms will have room for 25 years of growth (and space to build more storage later) to ensure that we can keep collecting fabulous records into the future.

Because of our current restricted storage space, we have had to postpone some large accessions in recent years, providing they are not at risk. However, we have been able to squeeze some smaller new items into our strongrooms. Recently these include two archive volumes purchased with a grant from Cornwall Heritage Trust. These are the Estate accounts of the Stackhouse family, Pendarves, , Cornwall, 1706-1770 and the Tithe account book of the Vicar of St Minver parish, Simon Llewellyn, for the period 1736-1765. The former includes estate mining accounts as well as general estate and household records. The latter is of particular importance to the study of eighteenth century St Minver as its Tithe compositions (agreements between the Vicar and parishioners for the payment of tithes) between 1736 and 1765, listing tenants and tenements, is the only contemporary source for pinpointing particular families in particular farms and settlements at that time. We are grateful for the Trust’s help in adding these two gems to our collections.

A selection of new books at the Cornish Studies Library this quarter include: The maritime edited by Philip Payton, Helen Doe and Alston Kennerley. University of Exeter Press, 2014. (ISBN - 0859898508) This publication explores Cornwall's rich and complex maritime history. Over five in-depth parts, it covers the importance of different periods, from early and medieval times up to the present day.

The last great Cornish engineer: William West by John Manley. Trevithick Society, 2014. (ISBN - 0957566026) This book explores the life and work of William West (1805-1879). He was part of the generation of engineers which brought the performance of the Cornish engine to its peak. Born in Camborne, he was not only a mine engineer but an adventurer, banker and contractor. He was reputed to have erected more engines in his career than any man in Cornwall.

Free spirits: Jane & Tony O'Malley by Marion Whybrow. St. Ives Printing & Publishing Company, 2014. (ISBN – 0948385698) Telling the story of husband and wife artists Jane and Tony O'Malley both in St Ives and Ireland. Comprising of interviews and reminiscences of friends, the book is a record of their shared creative life.

LEARNING UPDATE

The Learning programme has been continuing at a reduced rate in recent months. In February we launched ArTchive, our series of creative workshops inspired by our collections. It was great to see our collections used in such different and creative ways, as well as being brilliant to see the work that was produced by a range of talented amateur and professional creatives, from poets to writers and artists. We had some wonderful feedback from the days and are definitely planning to run similar workshops in future.

“I loved it, and was totally absorbed and engrossed all day…Would love to use the archives more for my own textile work…It’s a brilliant starting point for artwork….I think it is an excellent idea to use the archives with a creative event and the room is perfect for workshops…”

Last week our Learning officer went to the National Maritime Museum Cornwall for a special day for teachers from schools following the new ‘Inspire’ curriculum. We try and support schools wherever we can through our free workshops and resource provision, and are delighted that we can support at least four of the ‘Inspire’ modules with original documents from our collections. For further information, please contact our Learning Officer.

We have continued to support six students from the University of Exeter’s Public History course with their second year placement and have been delighted with the work they have produced for us, including writing posts for our Facebook page and preparing exhibitions.

We’ve had record numbers of applicants for work experience this year and look forward to welcoming four students in the coming months. They will be carrying out a range of activities across both sites (Cornwall Record Office and the Cornish Studies Library), including research and exhibition preparation.

COLLECTION HIGHLIGHT

This edition’s Collection Highlight also has a Kresen Kernow flavour. Participation Officer, Iain Rowe,

tells us more:

“This map has seen quite a bit of interest lately as it gives us an accurate and colourful visual reference to the site on which the new archive and local studies centre, Kresen Kernow, is being developed. It was drawn up at the bequest of Redruth Board of Health in the same year that John Snow concluded that cholera was spread via contaminated water and not miasma (air borne means), after monitoring and mapping deaths associated with the outbreak of the disease in Soho, London. Cholera was a frequent visitor to Redruth, and one outbreak in September 1849 saw 27 deaths from 64 recorded cases of the disease. The map records the town’s water courses and was produced by Robert Symons, a surveyor from . Symons is also well known for compiling the Geographical Dictionary, or Gazetteer of the County of Cornwall, which was later published by his son William Brenton Symons.”

FEATURED ARTICLE

As part of the ‘Brewing Up the Past’ community history project, volunteers Ian and Shirley Clarke have been researching the Redruth Brewery collection and local area. Here, they give an

insight into their preliminary research:

“Sources such as the Church Rate Book, and the Parish Rate Book and a cash book have been valuable in identifying, foundries, malthouses, and pubs. We’ve also had help from Emma Trevarthan at the Historic Environment Record [which will also be a key part of Kresen Kernow], who has identified over 150 sites of malthouses, breweries and hop gardens (it was said that hops were grown no further west than Somerset!). Armed with this information Shirley was able to detect that the malthouse at Trago (Treago) at Crantock supplied Redruth Brewery.

Another aspect we have been looking into has been the files of the public houses, inns and outlets of the Brewery. The Brewery had 16 tied houses in Redruth and with some chronological and photographic evidence from this we will go forward to create a timeline charting the history of the Brewery.

A search of the 1841 census of Redruth revealed that 19 employees of the Brewery lived no more than 300 yards from the brewery; 3 coopers, 3 maltsters, 12 brewery labourers, and a brewer. And, that in November 1809, William Murdoch was paid £9.9.0 for his recipe for making finings! Murdoch, who is better known for inventing gas lighting while living in Redruth, also invented a cheaper alternative for making isinglass finings, a key component used to clarify beer. Isinglass, which comes from the dried swim bladders of fish, was originally made from sturgeon, which was rather pricey. In 1795 Murdoch invented a cheaper substitute using cod which was presumably used at the Redruth Brewery – and perhaps even trialled there!”

Cornwall Record Office Cornish Studies Library Old County Hall The Cornwall Centre Treyew Road Alma Place Truro Redruth TR1 3AY TR15 2AT