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Newlyn Life 1870 - 1914 |
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Friday, 18 August 2006 |
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Newlyn Life 1870 - 1914 -The Village That Inspired The Artists
The Penwith Local History Group - 2003
The
book grew from a desire to set out a historical record of
the village that was the inspiration for the group of artists
who achieved national fame as the The Newlyn School. The book
presents Newlyn in the period 1870 - 1914. At that time Newlyn
was made up of three districts that were quite distinct from
each other. On the north bank of the Coombe Stream was Tolcarne
and on the south side were Street-an-No wan and Newlyn Town.
The book presents the Newlyn of the artists through the perspective
of the ordinary people. It describes the work and leisure
of the people, the role of women at work and in the home,
the part played by schooling, and the place of church and
chapels in peoples' lives. It details the weather conditions
of the time and the choice of Newlyn as the site of the Ordnance
Datum Observatory. It looks at changes in the fishing industry
from sail to steam and the importance to local people of events
such as the West Cornwall Fisheries Exhibition.
It examines significant changes in the built environment,
like the building of the new road to Penzance, the construction
of the piers and the development of the harbour. It depicts
the changes in public health brought about by new attitudes
towards the water supply, drainage and sanitation. In short,
it shows the growth of Newlyn and the transformation of three
villages almost unaltered for four hundred years in to the
town we recognise today.
The book is now available from bookshops in West Penwith.
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WW1 or treating it as a major topic. There is a book about the hospital,
first published in 1945 and brought up to date in 1974. This is 'A history
of the West Cornwall Hospital, Penzance' by Dr. E. C. Edwards (1945) with
additions from Dr W. H. St. John-Brooks. This has some general information
on the difficulties of coping with large numbers when a ship was sunk, etc.
but does not mention specific people, ships, dates and so on. The book
should be available from public libraries.
Margaret Perry