Dairy Schools

The Dairy School at Blackwater in 1916 – local girl Olive James on the left. Dairy Schools were once an important part of rural life: they fulfilled a need and were gone by the 1930s. Considering that, perhaps it is not surprising that few have even heard of their existence.   The Technical Instruction Act…Continue Reading “Dairy Schools”

Notoriously Bad Was He

Little did I think as I watched the television drama Banished, that I would one day write about one of my relatives who experienced the same sentence as those featured in that series. The compelling serial, a fact-based, fictional account of life in an Australian penal colony, was based in Botany Bay whereas Charles Mansell…Continue Reading “Notoriously Bad Was He”

Marching to a Different Drum – (The Great Civil War) – An Historical Novel

First published by Trelease Publications © 2012 Tony Mansell All Rights Reserved Cover design by Daniel Benney   Foreword My interest in this period began with Mary Coate’s book Cornwall in the Great Civil War and Interregnum. It became a passion and many other books about Cornwall’s involvement now fill my shelves. The English Civil…Continue Reading “Marching to a Different Drum – (The Great Civil War) – An Historical Novel”

Charles Chegwyn – A Grass Roots Bandsman

Charles Chegwyn By Tony Mansell   Henry Chegwyn (1829-1924), Charlie’s father, was born and died in Trevella, a house in Algers (Algiers on maps), Feock, which his father had built. He was a stonemason and at least two of his children, including Charles who is the subject of this article, followed him into that trade….Continue Reading “Charles Chegwyn – A Grass Roots Bandsman”

The Specialist

A tongue-firmly-in-cheek poem based on the book The Specialist by Charles Sale.   Charles’s Lem Putt, illustrated by William Kermode   Here, Tony Mansell replaces Charles Sale’s Lem Putt with Benjamin Albert Tregaskes…a Cornish entrepreneur. Neither man existed with those names but those who created these necessaries were real and their creations were in use…Continue Reading “The Specialist”

Down Cligga

Cligga Mine   Cligga Head (Kleger in Kernewek) is just over a mile to the south-west of Perranporth, a granite mass projecting about 300 feet above sea level. Located on this promontory is Cligga Mine. In 2006, Clive Benney and Tony Mansell wrote their book, Jericho to Cligga, and some of the information included about…Continue Reading “Down Cligga”