Newsletter - Issue 37
Ron Freeman Obituary
The death of our Chairman, Ron Freeman, was a grievous blow for Saltash Heritage last November. Affable and unflappable, Ron piloted the organization through the momentous period when its main aim - the provision of a museum in Saltash - at last became a reality, and he contributed a tremendous amount of hard work to the project.
Ron joined Saltash Heritage in 1991, became a Management Committee member in 1992, Vice-Chairman in 1996 and Chairman in 1997. He was our representative in Saltash Partnership, and served as its Vice-Chairman for eight years. When the South-East Cornwall Museums Forum was set up in January 2003, Ron became one of our two delegates and Chairman until August 2004.
The £100,000 project to convert 17 Lower Fore Street to our needs gave Ron many headaches. Complicated grant applications had to be prepared for submission to the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Single Regeneration Budget Challenge fund in 1998. After building work commenced in 1999, much liaison was needed with our architect (Leo Parkins) and the contractors before the premises were reopened in 2000.
In addition to his Chairman's duties, Ron assisted the Curator with the care of three-dimensional objects in the Saltash Heritage Collection. This was a task that he enjoyed (except when cleaning rusty items) despite their modernity compared with Egyptian antiquities (one of his other interests).
It was always a pleasure to work with Ron; his wise leadership will be greatly missed. We have lost a good friend. Our deepest sympathy is extended to his son Martin, daughter-in-law Karen and granddaughter Katie.
Colin Squires
President
Paleologus Family Memorials
The memorial to Theodore Paleologus in Landulph Church is well known to most of us. He was a direct descendant of the Byzantine emperors who ruled the eastern section of the Roman Empire from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries. He came to England in 1596, first to Lincolnshire, thence to Plymouth, ending up in Landulph.
He left five children, and one of our members, Geoff Walford, recently brought to us extracts from the Barbados Book, 1964, which proves where one of them ended his days. Ferdinando Paleologus had found his way to Barbados in the West Indies, and died there in 1678, as the inscription (below) shows.
If you are planning to holiday in Barbados this year, a visit to St. John's Church, where Ferdinando is buried in the churchyard, could be an interesting experience, where you can compare his resting-place on an exotic Caribbean island to that of his father in faraway Landulph.
The dignified memorial, wrought in Portland stone portrays a Greek temple with Doric columns surrounding the cross of Constantine carved in the centre. The following inscription may still be read:
Here lyeth ye body of
Ferdinando Paleologus
Descended from ye imperial lyne
Of ye last Christian
Emperors of Greece
Churchwarden of this Parish
1655-1656
Vestryman, Twentye years
Died Oct. 3 1678
David Coles
Archivist
The Year of the Volunteer
Did you know that 2005 is the year of the Volunteer?
According to a University survey, recently carried out, along with the input of the Medical profession, the following conclusions were reached:-
Becoming a Volunteer can -
- Improve your mental health.
- Reduce the craving for smoking.
- Encourage you to lose weight
- Improve your sex life.
What other reasons could you have for continuing to support Saltash Heritage?
So, if it is so wonderful, perhaps you could encourage a friend to also become a Steward and support us!
We are so privileged to have the incredible support of so many of you. It was a delight to welcome those of you who assist us with the stewarding, to our special evening - we hope you enjoyed it. And for those of you who don't know what we are talking about, become a steward volunteer, and find out.
Lizzy Sharpe-Asprey
Secretary
Family History
You will note that in this edition of our newsletter we are introducing a new feature - family history. You know that annoying absorbing hobby, when everyone comes up to you, throws a lot of dates around and tells you about their great grandfather, his father or his cousin's niece, who lived down the road.
Well if you have not discovered it yet, do try. But remember it is a disease for which there is no cure. You will find that the Local History Centre above our Museum has a wealth of information, and if our helpers do not have the answer you need, they usually know a man who can help. Even if your family do not come from the area, you will gain a great deal of knowledge, looking at old census returns, studying maps and checking old parish registers.
We would love to hear some of your family history stories or help you to identify old photos. Please use this page for all your queries or if you are seeking assistance.
Like this request from:
Julian Langston -
"Do you remember my Uncle, Oswald Alford of 'Springfield', Fore Street, Saltash? Many of you probably will for his funeral directing and undertaking business. I wonder if any funeral estimates, accounts or receipts survive amongst your family papers on W.V. Alford or O.F. Alford headed paper. Would it be possible for any copies to be made for my personal interest. Any costs would be met"
Julian Langston can be contacted through Saltash Heritage at 17, Lower Fore Street, Saltash.
Lizzy Sharpe-Asprey
Secretary
"Essa" - Saltash Heritage Afloat
My connection with Saltash is such that Royal Albert stood no chance - the Bridge was always "Grannie's Bridge", just visible from her attic in Bellevue Road (or "Terrace" as it was in the 1950s) and the final stage of the Great Western journey from Southall to my summer holidays.
My mother was Kathleen Peters, born and brought up in Saltash, the daughter of Frederick and Edith Peters. My researches as an armchair genealogist (mainly through Cornish Online Census and FamilySearch) show the Peters family in St Germans in the early 1800s. My mother's grandfather John was on Tyneside in 1881, however, working as a medical orderly on the wooden training ship HMS Castor. He married there Elizabeth Brett from Sheerness, another dockyard town, and Fred was born in 1883. The family came back to Cornwall and in 1901 was living at 2 Bellevue Terrace (Fred returned and bought number 5 in 1923) although they soon moved into Devonport. Fred was apprenticed in the dockyard there and married Edith in 1910. My mother was born in 1911 and her sister Phyllis in 1914. For much of the First World War Fred was seconded to work as a shipwright in Ramsgate and he seems to have sent a postcard home nearly every day. We have hundreds of them - a nice project to explore in due course.
Edith was a Bright, sister of Flo[rence] who for many years until the late 1950s had the fruit and vegetable shop at 66 Fore Street. Their mother's family, Smiths, had come from St Dominick and Quethiock but had been in Fore Street since the 1840s. William Bright, a gardener from Bridestowe, had come to live with them as a lodger in about 1870 and married their daughter, Mary Jane. It is his name that appears over the shop in many old photographs of Upper Fore Street. I was delighted to find that the nodding Father Christmas, which was in the shop window every Christmas, has found its way into the Saltash Heritage collection.
My mother died in 2000 and a share of her estate has passed to our son, David, and enabled him to achieve his ambition to buy a canal narrowboat to live on. My aunt, Phyllis, is living in Broadstairs and still very active, celebrating her 90th birthday with a ride on the boat at the end of December. When David said that he would like to name the boat to acknowledge in some way his Grannie's contribution, she suggested he should call her "Essa" - and so he has. "Essa" will be moored at Hillmorton Locks near Rugby for the time being but will no doubt be seen around the Grand Union, Oxford and other canals from time to time. If you see her and David, please give them greetings from Saltash, the original Essa.
Alan Piper
Archaeology Notes
The grant application for equipment for the Saltash Heritage Archaeology Group is in the final stages of preparation and it is hoped to submit it in the near future.
For those interested in archaeology there are several sites in the locality well worth a visit, so in each issue of the newsletter I will try and point you in the direction of one of them. This time it is:-
Cadson Bury (grid ref SX 343 674)
An impressive Iron Age hill fort close to Newbridge, Callington. It has a large single rampart describing an oval 275m from north to south by 170m. The internal height of the rampart reaches 2.0m. The external height is much greater due to the sudden steepness of the hillside below. The southern half of the fort has an outer ditch which peters out to become a narrow terrace around the northern half. Two fine inturned entrances occur on the west and east sides and a staggered breach in the southern defence may also be an original feature. No dwelling sites are visible within the fort.
It can be approached by a footpath from the road running south from the A390 at Newbridge towards Crift. This monument is in the care of the National Trust.
The Iron Age lasted from 700 BC to the invasion of the Romans.
Question Time
Answer to the question in the last newsletter:
COPROLITES: Solid excreta from humans or animals preserved in arid or waterlogged conditions from which fragments of foodstuffs can be extracted to study ancient diets.
Next question: What is OBSIDIAN? Answer in the next newsletter.
Book Reference: Cornovia (C Weatherall)
David Kent
Archaeology Group
The application for a grant to help purchase the survey equipment is still being processed. We hope it will be submitted by the end of February. As soon as we can we hope to start some field walking and surveying. If you would be interested in taking part, please do let me know and your name could be placed on a register of volunteers.
Ursula Davey (01752 848809)
