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PERRANZABULOE
MUSEUM
- A BRIEF HISTORY
For some time it had been felt that
the rich history of Perranzabuloe was fading from memory and the roots of
the village were disappearing under the growth of a bustling tourist town.
When the Oddfellows Hall in
Ponsmere
Road
became available to rent in the spring of 1985 it seemed the ideal building
to house a museum which could preserve some of the past so that the children
of the parish and visitors could see how Perranporth and the parish had
developed over the years. A
group of enthusiastic volunteers was gathered together by Betty Pitman and,
with initial funding from grants, loans and donations, the Perranzabuloe
Museum Trust was set up.
The building was in considerable disrepair, having
been used for many years as a leisure-wear manufacturers but, with the help
of members of the Way Ahead scheme, exterior defects were put right and then
began the job of making the interior habitable.
The first stage, after the massive cutting tables had been removed
and cleaning up done, was to build workshops downstairs and this was
completed by the summer. In order to make the Museum financially viable, a
plan had been conceived whereby the ground floor would be converted into a
number of craft workshops, the rent from which would help towards the rent
for the building and upkeep. The first Craftspeople moved in in the
September and work then started on the first floor.
Work on the first floor again involved considerable
alterations, including the removal of a metal platform above the stairs. The
carpet was laid just before Christmas 1985, marking the beginning of the
Museum and the end of seven months hard work.
During 1986 the Museum was used for art and
photographic exhibitions and during that first summer a small photographic
display of Perranporth history was mounted. In September 1986 the Trust
welcomed a team from Manpower Services Commission whose job was to help
build up the Museum and in May 1987 the Museum was officially opened by Miss
Rosewarne, one of Perranporth’s older residents.
Sadly, after a promising start, the Craft Workshops
ceased to be a viable concern and an alternative use had to be found for the
ground floor. Fortunately this coincided with Cornwall County Council’s
search for larger premises for the Library and, after further renovation,
the new Library opened in 1989.
The Museum is still run by volunteers, who are
responsible for its upkeep, manning and for fund-raising. A committee deals
with the day to day running and finance of the Museum and a group of some
hundred Friends are an important source of financial help as well as
physical help in the summer months. The exhibits in the Museum,
loaned and donated, form an interesting insight into the life and
history of the parish of Perranzabuloe from its earliest beginnings, the
arrival of St. Piran, the growth of fishing, farming of mining, through to
the tourist resort it has become today.
Thousands of visitors have passed through the
Museum over the years and, just as space was getting limited and the wear
and tear of a busy Museum was beginning to show, the opportunity to buy the
Hall appeared and with a generous grant from the Heritage Lottery, help from
Perranporth Garden Charities and many others we have finally achieved our
ambition of an up-to-date Museum, Research Room and Storage and Work Rooms
which will ensure the future of Perranzabuloe Museum for years to
come.
THE ODDFELLOWS HALL,
PONSMERE
ROAD
Built
in about 1871 the Oddfellows Hall, now the permanent home for
Perranzabuloe
Museum
,
has had a very varied history. Most people in Perranporth remember it as the
Allegro Sportswear Factory and many have memories of it as the home of the
Labour Exchange but it’s original purpose was very different.
The Independent Order of Oddfellows, still much in
existence today, is a Friendly Society. The roots of the Oddfellows go way
back, as far as 587 BC if legend is to be believed, and there were certainly
Guilds set up in the 11th Century for the mutual benefit and support of
their members. These later developed into Merchant or Trade Guilds and by
the thirteenth century there was one in every city,
town and village in the country. Fellows of a particular trade formed
dedicated guilds and it is suggested that the Odd Fellows were so called
because in some towns fellows from all trades banded together to form a
guild and were thus fellows from an odd assortment of trades. Another
explanation for the unusual name is that people associating together for the
purpose of fellowship and giving aid were thought to be ‘peculiar’ or
‘odd’ and so derided as ‘Odd Fellows’.
The earliest surviving rules of an Oddfellows Lodge
date from 1730. The present-day Oddfellows started in 1810 when the
Oddfellows in
Manchester
broke away from the Original Oddfellows to form an Independent Order with
the title ‘Manchester Unity’.
The branch of the Oddfellows in Perranporth, called
the Local Tywarnhale Lodge No 5548, was established in 1867 and by the end
of that year had 20 members. By 1870 the number had increased to 52 and the
meeting place was listed as the Tywarnhale Hotel. It was the custom
throughout the country for branch meetings to be held in public houses but
with the growth of temperance movements in the late nineteenth century, and
more particularly the influence of Methodism in
Cornwall
,
there was growing pressure for the Oddfellows to hold their meetings away
from licensed premises. Low interest loans were offered to enable Lodges to
build their own meeting places and thus the Oddfellows Hall in
Ponsmere
Road
was built in 1871. By the end of 1872 there were 71 members, which increased
to 92 the following year.
In addition to Lodge meetings the Hall was also
used for various social functions including concerts, meetings, dances and
even as a Cinema. There was, for example, a concert held in 1895 in aid of
Perran Lighting Fund and the Women’s Liberal Association held its Public
Meeting there. However, not all
the activities met with the approval of locals and William Henry Tremewan, a
strict Methodist, incensed at girls going to dances, reportedly wrote on the
entrance door to the Hall ‘Front Door to Hell!’
During the Second World War a private school,
evacuated from
London
and run by Miss Hocking, was based in the Methodist Sunday School and used
rooms at the back of the Oddfellows Hall as an extra classroom. Dates for
the period in which the Labour Exchange was housed in the Hall are imprecise
but it was certainly there in 1950. One of our committee members, Harold
Philp, an apprentice builder at the time, helped to replaster the interior
front wall. Obviously a good apprenticeship, the rendering lasted until 2001
when the original damp problem reoccurred and that apprentice, nearing
retirement, repointed the wall.
Lodge meetings continued in the Hall until around
1970 when the branch transferred its remaining members to another branch and
the Hall was leased first to Allegro and then in 1985 to the Museum. The
Museum purchased the Hall in 2004 and the rest, as they say, is history!
For
more information on the Oddfellows visit www.oddfellows.co.uk.
The Museum has a display of regalia and further information.
Thanks to Paul Eyre of the
Oddfellows for information on the Tywarnhale Lodge.
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