Architecture – Truro Civic Society

SOMETHING’S GOT TO BE DONE WITH THE MOORFIELD CAR PARK

admin — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 17:33:55 +0000

The Moorfield multi-storey car park was built in the early 1970s. It is part of a major re-engineering of traffic management in Truro Town Centre. The architect was the late John Taylor. The re-engineering included the by-pass (inexplicably named ‘Morlaix Avenue’), inner distributor routes (City Road/Charles St/Fairmantle Street to Fairmantle St Roundabout and Union Street/St Clement Street to Trafalgar Roundabout), it transformed Truro and the prospects for those who live and work there.

In addition, the scheme provided rear servicing for much of the primary shopping area, which attracted the national chains which trade in Truro. That part of the scheme

capped the Town Leat (now The Leats), serving Pydar St, King St, St Nicholas St, River St:
the High Cross multi-storey complex servicing Boots and (the-then) Tescos,
the undercroft of Moorfield CP serving Malletts, Argos and (the-then) Somerfield supermarket:
using St Mary’s Street (linking via Old Bridge Street to the St Clement Street distributor road) to service what is now Mountain Warehouse, the Co-op, The Entertainer and others – in Boscawen Street..

This was a massive undertaking. It paved the way to Truro becoming a major shopping centre whilst also supporting a wealthy business and commercial sector, entertainment/hospitality, culture and town centre residents. It continues to underpin modern Truro very well, although it is given little credit for doing so – sadly!

Moorfield muti-storey car park is a key installation, served by the inner distributor road, supporting the town centre and the Lemon Street business district. It was controversial, partly because it was built on land used historically for events – wrestling, fairs, markets – and partly because the original concept included demolishing Walsingham Place. This prompted Sir John Betjeman to visit, give the Mayor a ‘dressing down’, and the Philip Sambell masterpiece to be prominently featured in his ‘Shell Guide to Truro’ – he described it as ‘Mercifully preserved’.

We are now hearing reports that the car park structure is nearing the end of its life. I am lucky enough to have been shown the evidence of this, and it is clear. There is no imminent risk of collapse, but loading has to be tested, calculated to be strictly limited in future. The structure may well need to be modified, or to come down.

What if it has to be demolished?

There are several points to be made:

Keep the Moorfield for car parking

The fundamental importance of this site as a car park serving business and retailing has been well and truly proven over time. Whatever happens, it must continue as a car park – even though with reduced capacity – a ground level open-air car park may well accommodate the reducing amount of vehicular parking demand as climate change demands more public transport and different ways of doing things – but, we should make no mistake – we will need a centrally located car park – employment, productivity, value and future evolution all depend upon it. Just ask the cinema, Malletts or any other business, particularly in the Victoria Square area.

CC must pay for revenue-stripping car parks

Cornwall Council (like the district councils before it) has pushed car park charges to produce a surplus which feeds the general revenue budget each year – pre-Covid this was often in excess of £10m per year. There is no capital reserve to manage car parking strucvtures like Moorfield.

Now, Moorfield will need money to either demolish, modernise or refurbish – having siphoned off tens of millions, the onus must be on Cornwall Council to ensure that timely analysis and action is taken – there can be no excuse – the parking gravy train has (so to speak!) come home to roost. Whatever has to happen, it must happen quickly – Truro cannot afford delay or a long period without the Moorfield (in some format or other).

CC must make temporary town centre provision

Whilst urging speedy action, whatever happens will take some time to sort out. In the meantime, businesses all around the Moorfield are suffering, day and night. On top of everything else this is a pressure which should not be there. Cornwall Council must make a temporary provision – it’s no good saying ‘Use the Park & Ride’ – many professionals rely on their cars to generate business, and losing time bussing up and down is going to undermine their performance. Truro needs something in place by the Autumn so that the Christmas retail and hospitality trade is not undermined, and more quickly than that if businesses in Lemon Street are to keep going. Perhaps an option lies on the Pydar Street site!

THE MOOR FIELD IS NOT FOR SALE

CC could, if confronted with demolition, opt to sell if the site could be sold. This land has been in public ownership in the town since time immemorial but, unlike The Green, there are no covenants or other constraints (except that the mineral rights are owned by others).. Any notion of selling should be discounted as a non-starter – Truro needs the Moorfield to support its trade – NOT FOR SALE! Neither is it acceptable for the Moorfield to be ‘transferred’ to Treveth!

Cornwall Council must remind itself (daily) that it is a local authority, not a private business, and that its function is to provide services – including well-located, good-condition car parking in town centres like Truro.

Losing an important Truro Building

Moorfield CP is mainly boarded up now to prevent vandalism and trespass. We should not allow ourselves to be manipulated into believing that the multi-storey is derelict. We – the town and Cornwall Council – have choices to make. Most of those choices involve doing what is constructive to encourage the economy, employment, productivity, accessibility and employment. The town must be included in the decision-making processes.

And one last point! Whilst accepting that there are structural problems, mostly stemming from not having as much understanding then, as we do now, of how to construct using concrete, the Moorfield Car Park is an elegant and well-designed building, slotted-in to a more complex structure which includes the supermarket, Argos store and rear servicing for Malletts. It has served the town well for 60 years or so. Let us recognise the value and the aesthetic of Moorfield, and the contributions of that community or architects gathered together by John Crowther and John Taylor. Whilst not being too sentimental about it, we should acknowledge their architectural achievement and the role it has played in generating the sort of wealth that enables owners of property in the town centre to sustain a very high quality Conservation Area, including examples of the best of our post-War collection of buildings, and to sustain a level of trade and commerce in the town which, uniquely, as I write, still has five high street banks operating in Front Street..

Bert Biscoe

Persimmon “can’t afford it”.

admin — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 05:51:30 +0000

On the ferris wheel of campaigning issues come around – so here’s a question!

Persimmon Homes is one of the biggest and most prosperous housebuilding companies in Europe – with a pre-tax profit of £351 million last year – so why has it done nothing to repair the damage to Tolgarrick Farmhouse (at the top of Arch Hill) caused by its neglect of a building about which it gave solemn undertakings to a formal Planning Inquiry and to Cornwall Planning Authority that it would retain, conserve and refurbish?

Photographed Dec. 2021

Tolgarrick Farmhouse is a traditional Cornish farmhouse. Its presence helps us to interpret the landscape and setting of Truro. It gives us a reference point and, by looking south into the Parish of Kea, into Blanchelands (where Tristan and Isolde settled, having escaped from King Mark, until Isolde decided to fulfil her betrothal vow and marry the angrily jilted Cornish king), it celebrates the cultural relationship between market town and the farm, between the scholarly professions and the crafts of rural life, and between Truro and Kea Parishes.

In recent times the case for Tolgarrick Farmhouse has been tested in the Planning System, and it has been made clear to Persimmon that Truro, official and informal, sets great store by this symbol of identity and distinctiveness – it is not a particularly special bit of architecture – it is a typical building that we expect to find in the Cornish landscape – which is more than can be said for the off-the-shelf Persimmon estate which surrounds it.

We thought that progress was being made. Having sat through a meeting with a Persimmon representative who told City Councillors that ‘Persimmon couldn’t afford’ to refurbish the farmhouse (one member asked how much the CEO’s salary with bonuses had been that year!), we thought that the case was sorted, and we would see appropriate fixtures and fittings, structural repairs, and, before long, signs of habitation – but no!

In a triumph of cynicism and corporate arrogance the farmhouse has been simply ignored by Persimmon and left to decay.The only intervention is to impose increasingly visible and eye-catchingly ugly shuttering to try and create a public demand for it to be removed.

However, Cornish people are made of sterner stuff than that! Tolgarrick Farmhouse remains a typical aspect of our rural landscape. The developer solemnly undertook to keep it and do it up- and provide a house.. Why is Persimmon so loathe to fulfil this obligation? The company should be proud to be contributing to the character and distinctiveness of the Cornish landscape. Simply (and grudgingly) adopting Cornish language names for the various estate roads is not enough – we want both our selves and those who visit and who succeed us to be able to read our landscape in depth – that is why Tolgarrick is so important.

Dean Finch -CEO – earnings last year in excess of £2.4 million

So! What are you going to do Messrs Devlin (Chairman), Finch (CEO) and Duxley (Finance Director)? And when? You’ve had time enough, and we’ve listened to quite enough excuses. Do what you said you would do when you got the consent from the Inquiry Inspector.

Bert Biscoe

Market Inn at Risk?

admin — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 18:29:18 +0000

The Market Inn (locally known as Ma Shaw’s, after a particularly redoubtable C20th landlady) is a particularly striking quayside pub at Back Quay. It nestles against Truro City Hall and has running within its curtilage a passage which was, until the early 1960s part of Carne’s Ope, which ran from Boscawen Street, along the backs of King Street shops and residences, into a yard at the back of Ma Shaw’s, culminating at Back Quay.

Many people have become increasingly concerned over the past few years at the increasingly dilapidated state of the exterior of The Market Inn. It has continued to trade in a difficult economic period and is well-appointed in the commercial area of the ground floor. However, recently, a notice has appeared declaring ‘Closed for Refurbishment’. This has been displayed for a number of weeks now, and nothing appears to be happening. People feel that a business will close to refurbish – and this is a good time of year to do so – but will get on with the job to be re-open as soon as possible.

The lack of activity is of concern because it is a listed building which should now be considered a ‘Building at Risk’, and people are suspicious that it is now being simply let-go until it becomes unsafe and an eyesore, so that it can be removed to open up a small but, due to its location, lucrative development.

The listing citation says: –

Public house. c1900. Glazed tiles and polychrome terracotta; roof hidden behind parapet.

2 rooms deep with through-passage on the right.

2 storeys. Nearly symmetrical 2-window street front surmounted by stilted triangular pediment with scrolled abutments and ball finials.

Ground floor has central tripartite horned sash, doorways at left and right, panelled doors, panelled tiled dado apron, moulded entablature over. First floor has 4-pane horned sashes, chamfered voussoirs, projecting key block, moulded entablature over with original name panel MARKET INN to centre of frieze flanked by blind arcades.

INTERIOR has been altered in C20 to ground floor. A complete and unaltered public house façade.

The resonances and heritage of this building are not simply architectural. The place is regarded with affection, and is felt to be an important part of the everyday (and night) life of the town.

The citation that it says: ‘Interior has been altered on C20th to ground floor’. This infers that the first floor is original, as are many retained features on the ground floor. A number of elements and details of the complex facade are showing signs of critical deterioration.

There are a number of examples of Dutch Gable style buildings of this ilk (e.g., UNEEKA) of which the façade of the Market Inn is the best.

The Civic Society is concerned about the future of The Market Inn and its contribution to the built and social heritage of Truro, and would ask that CC officers will instigate a heritage safeguarding watch over this building and to seek to ensure as best as possible that any works will be expedited with alacrity, in keeping with the designated status of the building, and that it can be restored to playing its role as both a discrete and popular hostelry and contributor to the diversity and quality of Truro’s ‘street scene’.

Time travel back to 1959

admin — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 06:36:14 +0000

Some of you might remember 1959. When there was no social media. When the word “celebrity” was unknown. When we got our news from magazines, newspapers and the radio. When Cornwall really was cut off and when banks were banks and had managers to boot. Taken from the The Architect and Building News of that year, this gives us a glimpse into the history of one of Truro’s least regarded buildings.

Our first branch in Cornwall

The visitor to Cornwall is quickly conscious after leaving Plymouth of entering another world. There is a peacefulness about this countryside which has a different quality from the peaceful-ness which is always associated with the country.

The tempo of life is slower, the people seem more contented, the rash of ribbon building has not defiled the roads, things seem largely as they were. There is little to offend the eye, life seems more gracious and the charm is enhanced by the knowledge that the sea is nowhere very far away, and Nature has provided with almost prodigal liberality numerous sandy beaches and picturesque coves. Time no longer seems so important; in fact, in some ways time has stood still, yet here more than anywhere else in England one is very conscious of the rolling on of Time. The men who are asked to leave their native heaths in order to establish branches of the Bank in places where the name of the Bank has hitherto been almost unknown are to be envied rather than pitied.

It is an enrichment of life and experience to move from the familiar to the unfamiliar and when the call comes to go to an outpost like Truro the recipient is doubly fortunate. Anyway, remote though it is, the branch has already been visited by the Chief General Manager, the Chairman of the South Western Board and the South Western District General Manager, so the feeling of isolation is not as acute as in some more accessible places.

The branch was opened early in 1959 and quickly attracted attention to itself. The architect, Mr. John Crowther, whom we had the great pleasure of meeting, scored a notable success with his design for the new building in that it was awarded a Class I award by the Civic Trust for a new building in the County of Cornwall and was prominently featured in the Architect and Building News. It is quite an additional feather in his cap that he has been given the job of designing the interior of Kendal branch which is being reconstructed. Incidentally, although the various banks are all well placed and are within sight of each other, there can be little doubt about ours having the best place, right beside the City Hall. The modern facade, of glass and Cornish stone, blends quite remarkably with the older buildings in the street.

So far as the interior is concerned, readers are getting used to the lyrical praise we bestow on our new branches and we are always conscious of the grim smiles which our remarks evoke on the countenances of our colleagues in the Manchester and North Eastern Districts especially, where the modernisation programme can only operate a bit at a time.

Nevertheless, this branch is as good as anything we have done—tasteful, welcoming, dignified and altogether a place of which both we and our customers are proud. The heating is under-floor and the lighting is recessed in the ceiling, while an unusual feature is the waiting room of elliptical design. The richness of the dark veneer of Palisander and Zebrano used on the walls is most satisfying, especially in the Manager’s room where the illumination which filters in through the excellent lay light sets the graining off to advantage. A stroke of genius here which causes a picture of the room to stay fixed in the memory, is a curtain, a veritable Jacob’s coat of many colours, which screens the glass panelling to one side of the Manager’s desk.

We are having a colour photograph taken of this room for use in a subsequent issue. The final imaginative touch in this room is the use of Danish furniture of the most modern design. On the customer’s side of the counter a further clever touch which offsets the beauty of the panelling is a wall of Cornish Pelastine granite. But however beautiful a new branch may be it is no use unless it makes its contribution to the Bank’s progress and in this respect it was interesting to inspect a map of the county on which is marked the spread of the business. Suffice it to say that it was most impressive and encouraging.

The branch was opened by Mr. Malcolm Parkinson, this being his first appointment. He entered the Bank in 1939 and all his previous service has been performed in the Liverpool District, at St. Luke’s, Birkdale, Liverpool City Office, Ormskirk, on H.O. Relief and finally in Liverpool District Office.

During the War he served in the R.A.F., training in the United States after an initial visit to Canada. Then came a crash and after he had recovered from his injuries he was grounded and from then on served as a radar officer in France, Belgium and Germany after the Invasion. He and Mrs. Parkinson have entered into the life of the district with keenness and enthusiasm and Mrs. Parkinson’s interest in playing her part in helping to make a success of the new branch is most heartening to see. Mr. Ian Douglas, second in command, is very well known up and down the service because of his tours of duty with one of the Mobile Branches. He appears to have enjoyed this experience so much that he has made his home in a caravan, and thinks that this bachelor’s solution to the problem of ‘digs’ is a very happy and satisfactory one. Ian, too, has closely identified himself with the life and amenities of the district, having joined a sailing club and built himself a very fine boat.

He entered the Bank in the Craven District in 1941 and has served at Keighley, Crosshills, Ilkley and at Liverpool City Office. He served during the War from 1943 to 1947 and again in 1956 as a Forces Reservist during the Suez Crisis. Mr. J. House is the junior clerk and the ladies are represented by Miss D. Allen. Both are local products, Mr. House from Truro itself and Miss Allen from St. Austell. Both have been with the branch from the opening day.

After completing our visit to the branch we were privileged to be invited to lunch at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson, about two miles outside the city. They had to wait some months to find what they wanted but it was certainly worth it. They have the best of both worlds here, a most attractive house and garden, quite secluded, with a view of fields and trees. Exactly one minute away is the main road and a bus stop and you come from one to the other so suddenly as to make you wonder whether you have been dreaming.

After lunch at which we were entertained by an attractive and personable young lady of eight, we went for a drive round Mr. Parkinson’s ‘territory’, to St. Agnes and Falmouth and to some of the glorious little coves in which the coast abounds.

The highlight of the afternoon, however, was a visit to a customer, Mr. J. A. Harman, who has created a holiday village out of a wooded hillside in a little less than ten years. Using the materials on the site, he has built, with the labour of his own hands, assisted by his brother and two other helpers, a number of stone chalets. Now he is building wooden ones.

Each is equipped with an all-electric kitchen, electric light, hot and cold water, modern flush sanitation, bunks with Dunlopillo or interior spring mattresses, and all are fully furnished. The chalets are six, four, three and two-berth. A lovely secluded bathing beach is five minutes away and the place is an ideal touring centre for those who want to vary seclusion with sightseeing. It is called Little Orchard Village and it is close to St. Agnes. The grounds are beautifully laid out and work is going on with the concreting of paths and the building of new chalets until about 45 have been completed. In a different kind of way it reminded us of Port Meirion, but as a monument to what the industry, enterprise and vision of a handful of men can achieve out of almost nothing in a few years it provided a most encouraging and satisfying answer to anyone who thinks that the qualities which made our country what it is are no longer present. With dinner at the Red Lion in the evening a very full, instructive, inspiring and happy day ended our visit to Truro.

Video Presentation – Saga of the High Cross

admin — Sat, 20 Nov 2021 13:59:08 +0000

For its November ZoomTalk, Truro Civic Society has invited Cornwall’s leading expert on Cornish Crosses to speak about his experience of repairing Truro’s High Cross after it was the victim of a bizarre road accident which left it in pieces on the ground.

Andrew Langdon is the go-to person in Cornwall (and elsewhere) when it comes to interpreting, rescuing, restoring and protecting some of the most ancient man-made objects in Britain. Together with partner, Ann Preston-Jones, and their colleague, Elizabeth Okasha, he is the author of a new book published by University of Exeter Press called ‘Ancient and High Crosses of Cornwall’. ‘The book is a selection of crosses’ Andrew explains. ‘It is not an index all crosses. For that the reader should turn to our previous publication, Early Cornish Crosses’ (publ Oxford University Press).

‘Truro’s High Cross: A Chequered History’
6.30pm
on Wednesday 24th November

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

In addition to Andrew’s talk we will also be welcoming a new sponsor of the Society, Lonsdale Lavigne, who will join the current sponsors, Trevails, Hendra’s and Wear-House in supporting the website and social media engagement of the Society.

If you are interested in joining the Society, please inquire at admin@trurocivicsociety.com.

Safeguarding the future of Truro City Centre

admin — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 15:29:09 +0000

Mike and Trish Hawes, principals of Mei Loci, an experienced team of landscape architects based in Truro with an international practice will be giving the monthly Truro Civic Society ‘ZoomTalk’ on Wednesday 20^th October at 6.30pm.

There is a difference between decline and change. It is said that high streets have been in decline for years. Factors such as:-

*the rise in online shopping,

*presence of satellite shopping centres/supermarkets,

*an erosion of identity and character

encourage such a conclusion. Is it actually true?

During the pandemic, and with the background of changing relationships between national chains and investment-driven landlords, changing habits and lifestyles, are we seeing worrying signals of decline in Truro – closing shops, slipping maintenance schedules, anti-social behaviour – or are they signs of adaptation, flexibility and adjustment? Are these factors the trigger for change?

If so, what sort of changes will best suit Truro?

Mei Loci is a small, highly respected international practice based in Truro. It specialises in designing and energising townscapes. With former partner, the late David Buurma, they did much of the conceptual work on transforming Lemon Quay. Recently, they have been working on the restoration of Penzance Promenade. To discover more about Mei Loci visit www.meiloci.co.uk.

Considering the recent increase in applications to reclaim upper floors in the town centre for residents, the increase of interest in culture and craft, the compelling force of climate change and the need for local resilience, and changes occurring in retail premises as well as the prospect of home-working, Mike and Trish Hawes have lively ideas and a strong desire to contribute their distinctive approach to the city in which they live and work.

Zoom along to hear how their thinking is going. Contribute to finding common themes, thoughts and ideas.

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

St Mary’s Churchyard is full of bones of contention – it is part of our parish; we should look after it.

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 07:15:27 +0000

A good number of years ago a Mayor of Truro, Mrs Valerie Bennett, developed an acute civic anxiety about the condition of the St Mary’s Church Yard wall which runs adjacent to Kenwyn Hill. This led to Truro City Council deciding to hand over maintenance of St Mary’s Church Yard to the-then district Council, as was its legal right. One of the highlights of the work of Truro City Council’s Parks Departments major undertaking is its maintenance of Kenwyn Church Yard. Kenwyn is highly regarded by all those groups with an interest in such places, from family historians to naturalists. Most importantly, it is cherished and much visited by those who are bereaved, or descendants of those buried there.

Truro City Council also owns and maintains the Municipal Cemetery at St Clement’s Hill. Like Kenwyn, this is an active or open grave yard, whilst St Mary’s is ‘Closed’. This means that St Mary’s opens no new graves, but will inter where joint or family arrangements apply. Many graves in ‘Closed’ church yards are still tended by relatives or descendants. Some more famous incumbents, like Sir Hussey Vivian, are visited from time to time as a matter of homage.

Cornwall is one of those places in the British Isles, like Ireland and Scotland, which has experienced high levels of migration. This now means that family historians and researchers are regular visitors to grave yards, looking for precise locations of a ncestors. Such trade as these visitors bring to Cornwall is very valuable. Cornwall Family History Society is a relatively small organization which maintains a global reach due to the services it provides. Its headquarters are in Truro.

During various campaigns to strengthen local government in Cornwall, which culminated in the successful amalgamation of district and county councils into a unitary authority – Cornwall Council – much stress was laid upon how people identify with their place. The foremost unit of identity is the parish. Despite mathematical tinkering with parish boundaries for electoral purposes, most parishes in Cornwall are pretty much the same as when they emerged in the medieval period. They tend to be defined by topography and for many people throughout recorded history, the parish has been the place in which most lived their lives. It has a strong pull. Ronald Blythe wrote:

The parish as a unit of landscape is the most associative, contentious and distinctive personal region. It is venerated as the landscape of nativity and cursed as the landscape of limitation. Parish scenery pulls us this way and that. It is in control of us. Even the twist and turns of a city parish’s streets have their special private direction for the born parishioner. In the country, where one can often see an entire parish from boundary to boundary, one can also often see one’s entire life. It is comforting – and painful. For those who have remained in the same place a parish is not an address, it is somewhere you don’t need one. But if one moves away after only a few formative years there is no severing the umbilical link that feeds one with its particular parochialism. One of the great difficulties experienced by a priest is that his flock never really understands that their parish can never be his – not in anything like the same sense in which they possess it.’

A graveyard is one of the catalysts of the Parish. It is where the generations that have made it lie, past whom the new born, the newly wed, the celebrants of harvest, the buglers of remembrance, the lovers and the lonely all tread to and from the communion rail and the pew. It is a place of contemplation, of quietude and stillness, a place full of birdsong and rustling leaves, where nature and gardener greet each other gently and arrange a haven of attention and informality. Most of all, the grave yard is a place where bereaved and grieving people come to speak quietly with the ir dead ones whilst weeding, setting flowers, recreating a semblance of domesticity to ease the long silences of death.

For a person or family with generations of ancestors in this ground, the sense of possession, of belonging, of responsibility and duty defines that person as being a parishioner, a native, of belonging beyond title, beyond mortgage or civic office – it is an instinctive part of that person’s nature, of their being. This is a state that can only be experienced when an individual is in one’s native place – everybody has such a place – very many, who for one reason or another, don’t acknowledge or know of such a place in their life, often find it, often by accident, or as a result of travel – for them it is like coming home, and the realisation of that instinctive state of ‘parishioner’, of nativity, is profound and defining.

Many people live in places which are not their native parish. Whilst they might respect a native’s instinctive duty of belonging, their sense of possession which is beyond ownership, they may not recognise limitations or constraints, and may not sympathise in matters of choice or taste. They may objectify, or disrespect, or even, occasionally, mock or ridicule. When such attitudes to native sentiment occur and manifest themselves in, for instance, maintenance regimes for graveyards, then the level of distress which can and will be experienced by native parishioners is profound and often debilitating.

When Carrick DC took over St Mary’s church yard from Truro City Council its maintenance had to sit within schedules which included much other work, and be subject to public budgets which, most of the time, are in a state to reduction, shrinkage, cutting. Security lapsed. Grass cutting became spasmodic. Hedge maintenance and plant management disappeared. We saw soliciting, an attempted exhumation, damage to monuments and stones, and, most importantly, the water supply was cut off!

Truro City Council was helpless, and Carrick just shrugged its corporate shoulders. In 2010 the Churchyard passed to Cornwall Council. Its grounds maintenance contractor – CORMAC – now works to schedules set as part of the contractural arrangements. In recent times there has been much talk about ‘wilding’, about habitat and climate change. Grave yards have become a foc us for those people who advocate restoration of native species, of natural cycles, a less manicured approach which is said to encourage wild life. Nobody really disagrees until the demand becomes more radical.

To visit a graveyard and find monuments and stones piled against walls, broken and with virile small trees growing out of the graves causes those who have a native parishioner’s possessory instincts offence and distress.

In any culture the interaction between the living and the dead is one of the defining elements of that culture. This is as much true on Truro as it is in Cornwall. The clash between ecological zealotry, often advocated without acknowledgement that St Mary’s is a graveyard, a place where graces are tended by people who do not seek confrontation in their mournful practice, and who find themselves maligned in meetings, on social media, on the telephone and in personal verbal exchanges. The sense of being dispossessed, of being overruled in one’s own place, of losing the spiritual title to their natural home, is strong, debilitating, depressing and provocative.

There is, of course, a conciliation to be achieved. It lies partly in adopting the approach of a ‘living churchyard’ – which is howe Kenwyn is maintained and managed – very successfully. A graveyard needs care and attention, and a native empathy which is rarely on offer from a large corporate service provider with financial problems.

The resonance of offence generated by grass left uncut, sycamores displacing headstones, brambles and nettles preventing grave tenders from reaching their plots is coursing through Truro. People are angry and offended. They feel that those who have volunteered during pandemic lockdowns to tidy things up at St Mary’s have been cruelly abused by well-meaning but overly zealous advocates of ‘re-wilding’.

Cornwall Council, with volumes of environmental policy hemming them in, and the Equality Act, Health and Safety, and a corporate intellectual assumption of passive humanism as a liberal norm, is caught in the middle, between passion and ethics, between possessors of nativity and possessors of title, people who see ownership as an assertion of will rather than as a responsibility of stewardship. The Council can’t cope, and its contractor is torn between its client being indecisive and accidentally disrespectful, and its instinct as experienced grounds maintenance and graveyard managers.

I think the time has come for Truro City Council to reverse the decision it took during Mrs Bennett’s Mayoralty, and to seek transfer of St Mary’s Church Yard back to itself. The Yard sits very much within the City Council’s estate, with Hendra, Dreadnought, Waterfall Gardens and Victoria Park all very close-by, with Kenwyn Churchyard just up the road, and the newly acquired and much-loved Coosebean Woods just a stone’s throw away.

It’s not just a matter of long grass or intrusive sycamores. Many of the graves are in a state of disrepair. Stones are clustered disrespectfully. There are breakages, and graves are not all accessible. There is no water supply. Not even a bench to sit on, and the gates are rusty, lacking hinges and out of order.

Graveyards should be tended by their parish. Truro is at odds with itself over the harshly rude treatment of the lockdown volunteers. People are angry and feeling as if yet another aspect of what makes life worthwhile and resonant as Trurra Boys and Maids is slipping away, partly neglected; partly hi-jacked.

Is it time that St Mary’s Churchyard was handed back to Truro City Council so that it can be well managed in a balanced and considerate manner that blends a respectful environment for the dead with a living environment for the natural world – so that it can, as a place of repose and contemplation, nurture positive and good feelings of renewal and sympathy?

The Truro List – please comment

admin — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 16:39:53 +0000

Following the successful introduction of the Truro & Kenwyn Neighbourhood Plan, and the previously successful process to develop a Truro Conservation Area Management Plan, there is now the opportunity for Truro to compile a ‘Local List’. This project is being undertaken jointly by Truro City Council and Truro Civic Society, with the very able professional engagement of Patrick Taylor, a conservation consultant and retired local government Conservation Officer. Patrick has as very strong connection with Truro and has undertaken a lengthy appraisal of buildings within the Conservation Area which are not listed but which, for any of several reasons, are deemed worthy of a degree of protection and future development guidance.

A ‘Local List’ is a formal instrument which can be adopted by a local authority as an addition to the Neighbourhood Plan. It is an advisory instrument designed to safeguard aspects of the built heritage which are deemed to be locally valuable. This means that structures included on a Local List may be of architectural merit (but not so much so as to be listed), or may have a story or association which is locally valued, or may simply be a defining aspect of a landscape (like a farmhouse as a locally useful landmark).

The process undertaken by Truro City Council and Truro Civic Society has reached the stage where a draft schedule of proposed buildings and structures for inclusion on a local list has been developed, with photographs and some short descriptions. This has been subject to some consultation at various local events towards the end of 2017.

The draft schedule has now been added to the Truro Civic Society website to allow the community to have a good look and to make comments. There may be buildings or structures which have been left out, others that should perhaps be removed from the draft list and for all any local information about architects, construction dates, materials or local associations would be most welcome as the better the descriptions, the more reliance can be placed on the list when dealing with planning matters.

There is the facility on this page to have a look at the draft list and to comment. All input will be carefully considered before the final draft is agreed and put before the Truro City Council Planning Committee. If it approves, the content will be sent on to Cornwall Council with a request to process it, so that the Truro Local List becomes a formal Policy Guidance Note to the Neighbourhood Plan.

This will mean that planning officers, developers and those who, for one reason or another, have an interest in an application, can use it as a guidance tool to ensure measured and appropriate development occurs which does not materially affect the quality of the Conservation Area, whilst also not constraining the need for well-modulated change and development.

Bert Biscoe Chairman, Truro Civic Society

The List is an open process and proposals are requested so if you have any suggestions do please comment below:-

PROPOSED LIST:- See below details of the properties under consideration

Click on the street in which you are interested.

Falmouth Road, Daniell Road (1), Cardew Street, Lemon Quay, William Street

Carvosa Road, Bodmin Road, Mitchell Hill, Broad Street

Agar Road, St. Austell Street, Malpas Road, James Place, Town Quay

Trehaverne Terrace, Kenwyn Road, Moresk Road, Cathedral Close, Old Bridge Street

Campfield Hill, St. Clement Street, Truro Vean Terrace, The Avenue

Dereham Terrace, Chapel Hill, City Road, Kenwyn St., Albert Place, Daniell Rd. (2)

Gloweth, Treliske, Highertown, Avondale Road, Station Rd.

Coronation Terrace, Railway Station, Richmond Hill, The Crescent

Kenwyn Road, Comprigney Hill, Kenwyn Close, Higher Trehaverne, Trehaverne Place

The Crescent,Crescent Rd.,Harrison Ter.,Adelaide Ter.,Stratton Ter., Parkvedras Ter.

Tregolls Rd, Penair Lane, Trennick Lane, Waterloo Place, St Clements Hill

Boscawen St., Duke St., St. Mary’s Street, King St. Pydar St., St Nicholas St., River St., The Leats, Castle St., St Georges Rd., Hendra, Victoria Park, Claremont Terrace

Idea for a Flourishing Foyer

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 15:07:09 +0000

In about 1982 I enquired about hiring Truro City Hall to put on a couple of rock bands. I was told that, although I only wanted it for three hours, I would have to hire it for 24 hours – there was nothing to stop me putting on a flea market! We only wanted to play a few tunes, not organise Woolworths! No deal!

It was this official rigidity which first propelled me into the campaign to Save Truro City Hall – handing out stencilled leaflets to passers-by, enduring harangues from councillors who thought that flogging it off would be the ‘best thing’. We argued that, in the world which was just round the corner, a refurbished City Hall would be a catalyst for sustaining the town –

Today the Hall for Cornwall is what it says on the can – it is our national theatre, attracting people from all over Cornwall to experience a very wide range of shows and events, sustaining galleries, restaurants, hotels and producers, inspiring artists, contributing to the economy and still – hosting the weekly flea market – if you’re in town when the brass bands hold their annual competition, the place is full of uniforms and cornets – fantastico!

During the great campaign and project to save the City Hall and to refurbish it and then run it, perhaps its most glorious component, its crowning architectural feature, has remained in the dark, barely used and contributing little – except to accommodate the flea market. The daftest part of the HfC project was to put the front door round the back and treat the front door as a Fire Exit! It is a building of two sides, two entrances, but its front door is definitely on the Front Street.

The lack of use of the Boscawen Street foyer has affected the fortunes of Truro’s Front Street, named for Ned Boscawen, with Prince’s Street and Duke Street running towards the river to remind Cornish people of their sovereign, and being entered by St Nicholas Street, reminding us of the Dominican Priory which one stood at the head of the River in what is now Victoria Square, of the trade guilds which built up the mercantile and trading culture of Truro, and of the town’s long association with the Cornish language and Cornish drama – it was the trade guilds which mounted the annual Miracle Play on wagons through the streets which was such a focal point of medieval Truro life (and which is the root of the carnival that we try to keep going today – Oh! If only it understood its roots and emulated them, perhaps it would be more memorable and enthusiastically supported).

Julien Boast, the Director of Hall for Cornwall, has conceived a major refurbishment project – after over a decade and a half of sustained activity, the theatre is showing signs of ‘stress’ – which includes bringing the Boscawen Street foyer into active and productive use. He wants to install imaginative lighting to highlight the statuesque granite architecture, ‘invisible’ glass doors so that it can be secure and enclosed without affecting the sense of open air which is one of its characteristics, and to use it for events, exhibitions and ticket sales.

Having spent half a lifetime campaigning for, defending, celebrating and worrying about Truro City Hall I think that Julien’s ideas are exceptional and very timely. Towns like Truro are having to face the challenges of out-of-town shopping and the resultant trade loss, and finding new ways to attract people and money into them – as Harold Macmillan said: ‘Events dear boy, events!’

Opening a new era in the life of Boscawen Street with this major development will be to bring a new lease of life to the town centre – to the Front Street – the wonderful wide cobbled vista of Boscawen Street. Julien will be asking for support for this project when the funding applications are being processed and I hope that Truro will jump at the chance to express its thanks to all who worked so hard to make the Hall for Cornwall a real and lively centre – from Ben Luxon to the late John Ashby, who was City Hall manager for many years and whose love of the place was one of the factors which quietly contributed to defeating the attempts to flog it off – a brave and stalwart friend of Truro; and will support the new project because it will bring an exceptional part of the Hall’s architecture back into daily and creative use.

It is to be fervently hoped that, when it is complete, the foyer continues to host the flea market, which is a curious feature of Truro life, reaching back, a bit like the carnival, to the days of fairs and markets and the Charter of Earl Reginald – and that the new life of the foyer inspires marketeers to also develop their approach – it all makes the world go round!

…………………………………………….

A short addendum: How energising it is to see the first floor of the Coop – which used to be the Red Lion Hotel – with lights on and trade underway – it’s been dark and dingy ever since it was built – the deep white paint and intelligent lighting is a welcome contribution to the life of the Front Street – just think how things could be if the HFC foyer is bright, interesting and drawing people towards it!

TRURO UNDER THREAT FROM WRECKERS BALL

admin — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 19:29:24 +0000

The Cornish Buildings Group and Truro Civic Society have joined forces to raise concerns about historic buildings in Truro.

Paul Holden, Chairman of the Cornish Buildings Group, said ‘Both groups are concerned about the loss of historic character on Tregolls Road which in terms of buildings it is the most historic approach into the City. At the top of the hill the old workhouse has successfully been converted but further down the road a 1930s bungalow, the Brookdale Hotel, the 1960s AA building, Tregolls House, the Police Station and two pubs have been demolished, not to mention the row of 19th century cottages lost to make room for a 1960s car showroom. Furthermore the abandoned Grade II* listed St Paul’s church is in a perilous state and nearby the historic 1840sTremorvah House has now been reduced to rubble’.

Both groups are asking how Tremorvah House, a building of quality and with a strong connection with Truro’s past, can be demolished without Cornwall Council raising any concerns. Built for Philip Prothero Smith (knighted in 1880), four times mayor of Truro, Tremorvah House was built in the Italianate style in 1845. A fire in 1888 destroyed two-thirds of the original roof and attics and a bedroom in the west wing. It is unlisted and not in a conservation area and has until recently been used as offices. It was on the open market last year.

Bert Biscoe, Chairman of the Truro Civic Society, who tried to get the building listed, said

‘As Tremorvah House is neither protected in its own right or within a conservation area it will be lost because no consent is required to demolish it. As there are lots of other buildings of merit or interest that contribute to the story of the town or neighbourhood we are keen to see Cornwall Council develop a series of Local Lists for Cornish towns, which will provide at least a modicum of protection, especially at a time when clear values seem to be under intense pressure from speculation’.

Paul Holden added

‘With everything that has gone on in this important area of Truro the historic approach is effectively eroding over time and is thereby losing any historic character it retains. We call on Cornwall Council to actively protect such areas either through local lists or by extending conservation areas as and when appropriate to the risk. Our fear is that with local authority cutbacks more and more historic buildings will be lost because the resources are just not there to save them ’.

Since 1969 the aims of the Cornish Buildings Group have been to stimulate interest, appreciation and knowledge of good building in Cornwall, and to encourage the erection, protection, repair and recording of such buildings.

We encourage the protection and repair of historic buildings whether these are listed buildings or simply good examples of traditional building. We aim to encourage good architecture and to raise the general standard of building throughout the county. We hope that our generation may leave behind it buildings which will be looked back on with that same pleasure and enjoyment that we experience when we look at the architecture of past ages.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Contact Paul Holden, Chairman, on 01208 265963 or email cornishbuildingsgroup@gmail.com