Secret Truro - Christine Parnell

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Résumé :
Truro has been an important port since the Middle Ages and its status as a stannary town allowing it to assay and stamp copper and tin from Cornish mines also brought prosperity to the town. Wealthy families settled in Truro, benefitting from mining and other industries such as iron-smelting, potteries and tanneries and the town was given city status by Queen Victoria and the foundations laid for a new cathedral. Today it is the administrative and commercial centre for Cornwall. This book explores Truro's history beneath the surface, including personalities such as Humphrey Davy, who invented the miners' safety lamp, and his contemporaries in the cultural hotbed of 18th and 19th century Truro. The Assembly Rooms which once stood in High Cross welcomed Sarah Siddons, General Tom Thumb and regular local entertainer Joseph Emidy who was once a slave. The Truro River has stories to tell, as do the cathedral, churches and chapels, and there are tales of law and order in the city, fires and other emergencies. The author takes readers down the 'opes' alleys and lanes to reveal interesting anecdotes about musical events, clubs and societies, monuments and plaques, gravestones under the pavement and the 106 public houses that once served Truro.With tales of remarkable characters, unusual events and tucked away or disappeared historical buildings and locations, Secret Truro will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of this fascinating city in Cornwall....

Biographie:
Christine Parnell has always had an interest in the history of her home town and apart from twenty years exiled in other towns in Devon and Cornwall due to her late husband's occupation she thinks there is nowhere better to live. She has been the secretary of Truro Old Cornwall Society since 1995 and previously, when at grammar school represented Truro on various local knowledge quiz television programmes several times. She can sometimes be seen leading a group of interested people on a historical walk of the town, but never on a Tuesday evening as the competition from the cathedral bells is just too much!Sheila Richardson has lived and worked within Truro most of her life and has a deep affection for her beloved town and its people. She is a local historian and has been a member of Truro Old Cornwall Society for many years and currently is the Vice President....

Sommaire:
Truro has been an important port since the Middle Ages, and its status as a stannary town, allowing it to assay and stamp copper and tin from Cornish mines, also brought prosperity to the town. Wealthy families settled in Truro, benefitting from mining and other industries such as iron-smelting, potteries and tanneries and the town was given city status by Queen Victoria and the foundations laid for a new cathedral. Today it is the administrative and commercial centre for Cornwall. This book explores Truro's history, including personalities such as Richard Lander, the explorer, and his contemporaries in the cultural hotbed of eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Truro. The Assembly Rooms which once stood in High Cross welcomed Sarah Siddons, General Tom Thumb and regular local entertainer Joseph Emidy who was once a slave. The Truro River has stories to tell, as do the cathedral, churches and chapels, and there are tales of law and order in the city, fires and other emergencies. The authors take the reader down the 'opes', alleys and lanes to reveal interesting anecdotes about musical events, clubs and societies, monuments and plaques, gravestones under the pavement and the 106 public houses that once served Truro.With tales of remarkable characters, unusual events and tucked-away or disappeared historical buildings and locations, Secret Truro will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of this fascinating city in Cornwall....