Botallack Mine – an engraving This poem is from an anonymous elderly lady down St Just way who was clearing out her late parents’ papers so it likely dates from the 19th century and, because of the use of the present tense, maybe from the time of the disaster. We are indebted to Paul Phillips…Continue Reading “Botallack Mine Disaster 18th April 1863 – A poem by Anon”
Tony Mansell is in frivolous mood as he brings us another slice of brass band history involving our hero, Billy Annear. It’s from an article from the Cornish Telegraph of the 14th of August 1913 and is very heavily garnished with Cornish dialect. You may recall The Extraordinary Band Contest, an article involving the…Continue Reading “Billy at the Band Contest”
Nearly 165 years ago, in the small village of St Ive, Cornwall, the Anglican priest Reginald Hobhouse and his wife Caroline Trelawny gave birth to a baby girl. Her name was Emily Hobhouse. In her lifetime, she would become both famous and infamous, revered by some and loathed by others. A major new historical…Continue Reading “The Story of Emily Hobhouse”
Charlestown Port Polmear, picturesque, sitting at the head of the bay, Unchanged till Charles Rashleigh came along one day, he built a harbour, a gun battery, and the port leat, massive engineering, was no easy feat. Vessels sit at anchor, serene in the bay, berthing tomorrow to load copper and clay, copper…Continue Reading “Charlestown Port”
My name is Sue Ward, and I grew up in Melbourne Australia with what I would later learn was a Cornish surname, Tonkin. I was approaching my 40th birthday when I asked my father about our heritage. His reply was vague and trailed off into silence when I realised that ‘Definitely a little bit Scottish…Continue Reading “William Tonkin (1827-1895) my great-great grandfather”
Oh, ye who never knew the joys, try it! Remember Redruth Market, there you can have all in perfection and in no town in the kingdom is there greater abundance or quality… ~ a London gentleman, 1778 …the absurd notion which is held by the illiterate… ~ Cornish Telegraph, 21 October 1857, p2 …Continue Reading “Two Shillings and Sixpence: A Cornish Wife Sale”