Author: St Agnes Museum

On 8 December 2016 Liz and Tom Thompson set off for an Antiques Sale at David Lay’s , Penzance, with a formidable “War Chest” in the hope of buying a very old and extremely rare photo album containing at least 34 wonderful early images of St Agnes (there may be more, as we have not yet identified all the places) amongst similar photos of other Cornish sites, and some from outside the County. The album dates from the pre-postcard era.

Among the photos are many of boats in and around the harbour, a team of horses hauling a boat, Bawden Rocks, Nobel’s Explosive’s traction engine at Trevaunance Cove, the newly-built Mount Hawke Church, and a view of Peterville. Some are faded but many are in good condition. The album itself is large and leatherbound.

To the Committee’s great relief, the interest was less than anticipated and we were able to buy this important addition to the Museum collection for the hammer price of £250, just a little above the Auctioneer’s lower estimate.

The Museum’s Winter Coffee Morning was a great success, raising £430, and being a very busy, happy occasion. There were the usual stalls to browse, as well as a particularly well supported raffle with a 1st prize of a Dinner for Two at the Driftwood Spars Restaurant.

Membership Secretary, Mary Wilson, took £405 in subscriptions, so a total of £835 was raised for Museum funds.

The Museum welcomed 4988 visitors, tantalisingly short of 5000, from 19 different countries during this season. Visitors came from all over Cornwall and the United Kingdom, as well as from around the World. There were 53 visitors from Australia, some researching their Cornish heritage, 36 from Germany and 34 from America. Among other countries with a significant number of visitors were Canada (17), Holland (18) and Spain (25). Small numbers came from Russia, Sweden, Argentina and Denmark. The highest number of visitors recorded on a single day was 87 on 17 August.

Many appreciative comments, particularly of the welcome given by volunteer stewards, were recorded in the Visitors’ Book:

• Very impressed
• Very nice, and lovely prepared displays
• Shows history of this beautiful town, in Cornwall

Following the Cornwall Museums Group AGM and visit to Perranzabuloe Museum, delegates from four museums, Padstow, Bude, Liskeard and St Ives came on to St Agnes Museum for a look around, including behind the scenes.

They were welcomed by Chairman, Roger Radcliffe, and Outreach Officer, Liz Thompson. They thought St Agnes Museum was spacious, with plenty of room for our growing reserve collection, and were interested in our shop and the grants we had obtained.

It was a pleasure to see them and we look forward to visiting their museums in turn.

International Society for First World War Studies

Maison Française d’Oxford, 10-11 November 2016

The Museum recently granted permission for a photo of Harold Llewellyn Twite’s wristwatch to be used as the 2016 conference logo by the International Society for First World War Studies. The Society contacted the Museum after the widely publicised tragic story of mining engineer Harold Llewellyn Twite and his men attracted their interest. Once every two years (or thereabouts), the Society holds an academic conference to share new research from “postgrads and postdocs” and to enable every type of First World War scholar to share their perspectives.

Still a focal point in our Great War display at the Museum, the story of H L Twite and the service of Cornish mining engineers and miners in tunnelling operations makes an important link between mining in St Agnes and the Great War. Cornish mines suffered a significant reduction in labour during the war; the most important in St Agnes at the time (Wheal Kitty) saw over 50% of its workforce sign-up, this being partly responsible for a suspension of mining operations in 1918.

View the photo and the Oxford conference details

The Museum is credited as follow:

Logo image: Watch belonging to Harold Llewellyn Twite (1879-1915), which stopped at the moment of his death. “Twite, a St Agnes-born mining engineer, was posted to France in September 1915 and led a team of Cornish miners tunnelling under the German trenches to detonate explosives. On 1 December 1915, Twite and four of his fellow Cornishmen were blown up by a German mine. His watch stopped at that moment.” Credit: St Agnes Museum, used with permission.

Roger Radcliffe