Welcome to the Fowey Harbour Heritage Society Website
Fowey harbour, which includes the communities of Fowey, Bodinnick and Polruan, has been a significant international trading port since the medieval period and is still a working port today, exporting china clay. Our aim is to encourage you to explore the area and find out more about the places and people that have contributed to its heritage.
Promoting the heritage of the Fowey harbour area
The Society introduces you to the rich and varied history of Fowey harbour and what you can see today by:
- Organising talks
- Publishing an annual journal
- Presenting our annual heritage awards
- Providing heritage grants to local organisations
- Promoting guided walks
- Working with other societies on heritage projects
Programme of talks 2024/25
The programme of talks for 2024/25 is as follows;
All on Saturdays at 2pm.
14 Sept. From Travellers to Tourists, the Story of Pre-1914 Visitors to Cornwall. Louis Turner. Fowey Town Hall.
12 Oct. The Battle of Lostwithiel -1644, Parliament's Greatest Defeat. Tony Smith. Fowey Town Hall.
9 Nov. The Cornwall Memory Game. Merryn Threadgould. Fowey Town Hall.
There will be no talk in December
11 January. Daphne du Maurier's Cornwall. Lynn Goold. Polruan Village Hall.
8 Feb. Tammy Blee's Cabalistic Agency - Cornish Witchcraft and Folklore. Jason Semmens. Fowey Town Hall.
8 March. Some Stories about Cornish Church Building with Special Reference to the Fowey Area. Joanna Mattingly. Fowey Town Hall.
12 April. Crossing the River - The History of the Fowey Ferries. Chris Bradish. Whitecross Village Hall
http
214_350276531.pdf (pdf)
28/7/2024
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The Fowey Harbour Heritage Society now has its own Facebook page where you can keep up to date with news and events Fowey Harbour Heritage Society
1/5/2021
From Travellers to Tourists, the Story of Pre-1914 Visitors to Cornwall.
Fowey Town Hall
14 September 2024 at 2pm
Cost: Free for members. Non members will be charged £10.
Contact: All enquiries to Hon. Sec, Kath Pearce, on 07977 572268 or via Ticket Tailor https://buytickets.at/foweyharbourheritagesociety/1369862
Louis Turner is writing a history of the Cornish tourist industry. In this talk he will tell the story of the early travellers who passed through us. These include an intrepid lady adventurer in the 1690s, Daniel Defoe, Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria. With the coming of the railway, we started to see the arrival of families like Virginia Woolf's, coming for long summer holidays. Travellers had turned into tourists.
In this talk, Louis will discuss the places they visited, how they traveled, where they stayed, what they saw and what they thought of the Cornish. The picture is of travellers who marveled at Cornwall's rugged beauty, but were also aware of our mining prowess (trips down mines were part of an adventurous traveller's itinerary). Fishing villages were seen more as commercial sites than as today's picturesque destinations.
Louis lives in Falmouth, where he is a trustee of the Poly (Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society). Back in the 1970s, he wrote a book on the international tourist industry (Golden Hordes). After retiring back here (his wife is Cornish born) he discovered there is no proper history of this Cornish industry which is so important, technically successful, yet controversial. He has other lectures which cover the more recent story. He is happy to debate those who see the industry as a force which has destroyed Cornish culture.
