Dr Charlotte MacKenzie, regular Cornish Story contributor, is a prolific writer and speaker on Cornish History and here she turns her attention to the Opie family. Occasionally, paintings believed to be lost are rediscovered. Or a known painting is identified as by a particular artist. The current whereabouts of paintings by the exceptionally…Continue Reading “Was it painted by Opie?”
Dr Charlotte MacKenzie, regular Cornish Story contributor, is a prolific writer and speaker on Cornish History and here she turns her attention to that most absorbing of subjects, Cornish Legends. To what extent was Cornish folklore recorded before the collection and publication of folk tales by Victorian folklorists? Some customary practices were mentioned from the…Continue Reading “Cornish legends”
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”
As we commemorate the bicentenary of Peterloo on 16 August this year the reactions of people in Cornwall at the time merit consideration. What were the opinions of people in Cornwall on political reform? How did they respond to news of the deaths and injuries sustained by individuals congregating as a crowd to hear the…Continue Reading “Cornwall and Peterloo”
This is the second of two linked articles and focuses on the life and Cornish connections of the poet Ann Batten Cristall. You can find the previous article on Eliza Fenwick here. Ann Batten Cristall’s mother Elizabeth was the daughter of the Penzance merchant John Batten and his wife Anne whose brother Christopher Nichols was…Continue Reading “Cornish connections with 1790s radical and literary circles: Part 2”
This is the first of two linked articles focussing on the life and Cornish connections of the novelist and childrens’ book writer Eliza Fenwick. Two women writers who were part of Mary Wollstonecraft’s circle had family connections with Cornwall. The fact that Maria and Elizabeth Branwell, the mother and the close aunt of the Bronte…Continue Reading “Cornish connections with 1790s radical and literary circles: Part 1”