St Agnes historian Clive Benney brings us a macabre, who-dunnit tale from 1920 in the sleepy village of Skinners Bottom. A hundred years ago a couple were brutally murdered in the garden of their home. Two theories were put forward but what was the jury’s verdict? The garden where the bodies were found (Photo:…Continue Reading “Skinners Bottom Murders”
Alan Murton of Goonhavern was born and raised in Truro and here he recounts his memories of how life in the city was affected by the Second World War. When did you first realise that the years you have lived through are “History” to others? The shock hit me in my forties when I…Continue Reading “Truro in the Second World War”
This is a very personal story of one particular day, but it should be helpful, I hope, to people carrying out all sorts of research in Cornwall. It started with my grandmother’s family. I did not know much about them and so I carried out some online research. Their name was Grey and they lived…Continue Reading “Kerdhes Adro Arwennack”
Bob Keys shares local history and memories of West Indian and Black American troops being stationed in south-east Cornwall during the First and Second World War. A number of local memories concerning Black American troops stationed at Tregantle Fort before D-Day still circulate around Rame, particularly in relation to their musical talents and accomplishments, their…Continue Reading “Black History Month”
Madeleine Midgley writes about her forthcoming publication exploring the visit to Penzance in 1925 by J.A. Rogers, the prominent African-American writer, that is being launched in October this year by Cornish Story as part of Black History month at the Institute of Cornish Studies. Joel Augustus Rogers, more widely known as J.A. Rogers (1880-1966) was a…Continue Reading “J.A. Rogers in Penzance”
Two new biographies of the Brontës’ mother Maria and aunt Elizabeth Branwell create divergent impressions of their childhood home and family in Penzance. Neither woman had previously been the subject of an individual biography despite their formative role in the lives of the Brontë sisters. With journalistic flair Sharon Wright sets out Maria Branwell’s literary,…Continue Reading “Penzance and the Brontës”