Camelford and District Old Cornwall Society
Officers
President: Ethel Broad
01726 882 798
Chair: Rod Keat
01208 851792
Vice Chair: Margaret Mabson
01840 212 549
Treasurer: Peter Broad
01726 882 798
Secretary: Grace Keat
01208 851792
Programme Secretary:
Ethel Broad 01726 882 798
Recorder: Susan Theobald
01840 211 790
Programme for 2012
Anyone is welcome to come to these meetings which are held on Mondays at The Clease Hall, Camelford at 7.30 pm or, during the summer, at other locations of interest.
Summer meetings - directions to follow.
May 14, Poundstock 7.30 pm
June 11, Padstow 7.30 pm
July 9, Jacobstow 7.30 pm
Contact Rod Keat 01208 851792 or 07511 384616 if you have problems finding us.
Programme 2012
| Date | Talk/Visit | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| January 9 | The Pentewan Railway illustrated talk | Robert Evans |
| February 13 | The Fishermen of Port Isaac illustrated talk | Geoff Provis |
| March 12 | A North Cornwall Parish - Jacobstow illustrated talk | Carole Vivian |
| April 9 | Easter Monday - to be decided | - |
| May 14 | A visit to Poundstock Gildhouse and Church | directions to follow |
| June 11 | Visit to Padstow - the Harbour | directions to follow |
| July 9 | Visit to Jabobstow Follow up to Carole Vivian's talk | directions to follow |
| September 10 | AGM, followed by A Family Business - Rodda's Creamery | Philip Rodda |
| October 8 | Old Cornish Photographs featuring People and Places | Frank Grigg |
| November 12 | The Office of Town Crier | Rob Tremain |
| December 10 | Annual Dinner venue to be decided |
Reports 2012
January
The Pentewan Railway
Robert Evans, Bard, Chair and President of Pentewan Old Cornwall Society was the speaker at the January meeting of Camelford and District OCS. Robert traced the history of the Pentewan Railway from its beginnings as a horse-drawn tramway through the Pentewan Valley in the 1820s to its closure in 1918. The four mile tramway was developed to facilitate the movement of clay from St Austell to the harbour at Pentewan, and up to a hundred horse-drawn carts made the journey every day. Upgraded to a narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 inch) railway in 1872, the increased tonnage that was transported filled the holds of fleets of sailing boats that had off-loaded cargoes of coal at Pentewan harbour.
Four different steam engines were used to pull trucks during the lifetime of the railway. At the harbour, clay was off-loaded down shoots into the holds of ships in the harbour and trains travelled on a precarious looking wooden elevated section to get to the loading shoots.
Human cargoes were also transported in the freshly cleaned clay trucks when they were used to transport hundreds of church and chapel-goers from St Austell to Pentewan for their annual 'tea treat'. Photos of twenty one extremely full trucks of young and old, complete with brass band, steaming down to Pentewan, and elaborately dressed folk sitting at tables for their tea evoked a certain nostalgia. Such was the novelty of rail travel that the number of people travelling home was very considerably higher than the outward journey as residents of Pentewan added to the already loaded trucks for a free ride back to St Austell.
Programmes for previous years: 2011 2010 2009 2008
Federation of Old Cornwall Societies website
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