Downgate
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Map of Cornwall
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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Downgate books (9 available)
Downgate memories
Read and share memories of Downgate and Cornwall inspired by Frith photos
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You can also read memories of nearby places in Cornwall below.
Cornwall memories
Bluecap
I remember well the Saturday Night Dances at the Bluecap Hotel in the 50's & 60's, now pulled down. The Bull's Head was more up-market. I lived at St Dominick and remember the Cattle Market. I was going to Callington Grammer School when King George V1 and family came to open the Royal Cornwall Show at Callington we all had the day off to go to the Show. There was a Youth Club where we played table tennis etc. and learnt to dance. I have nothing but fond memories of Callington.
A memory of Callington contributed by Brian Furse
Burraton Post Office
Hi Bob. I remember your mother behind the Post Office counter. Your cat used to regularly attack our dog as we passed your front gate on the way to Burraton Park. We both went to Saltash Grammar School in the late fifties. I lived with Mrs Richards at 382 New Road a matter of a couple of hundred yards away near what used to be called the Coronation Inn and later was renamed the Rodney. Roger's shop was further down New Road from us. I believe it is now a Spar Store.
A memory of Burraton contributed by Raymond Guy
Memories.
My mother ran Burraton Post Office from 1950 to about 1990 and sold Frith postcards. The cows are being driven by Mrs Cook, a farmer's wife, whose farm was about 300 yards behind the photographer in Liskeard Road, Burraton. The farm was called 'The Elms'. The farmhouse is still there, but is now an old peoples' home called The Elms. The farmland has been built on.
A memory of Burraton contributed by Mr Bob Drew
The picture house.
How many people remember the picture shows which were held in a hut at the top of the hill. I was one of the London evacuees billeted at Minions, and some of us would walk to the pictures and back again - how far was that! We were at Upton Cross school and I can recall the class being told to bring a lunch to school one day as Mr Bartholomew, our teacher, was to take us up on the moors, I think towards Sharp Tor, to see a bomb crater. Relations of the elderly couple I lived with owned Addicroft Mill, they were George and Ethel Pike, and we loved going there. I believe the Mill was bought at one ...read more here
A memory of Rilla Mill contributed by Eileen Banks
Extracts From Downgate & Cornwall books
All is deserted except for the little girl and pram outside the post office and F Griffin’s store. The dominating building is the Bible Christian Chapel, built to serve this rural hamlet and the surrounding district near Kelly Bray and Callington.
An extract from from"Cornwall County Memories".
This scene has hardly changed for many years; the
beach at Polridmouth is still only accessible on foot.
Although we are just around the corner from St Austell
Bay, this photograph gives us a good view of the
prominent day mark erected in 1832 on the Gribbin
Head as an aid for shipping entering the bay.
An extract from from"St Austell Bay Photographic Memories".
The old pilchard-curing
cellar, or ‘palace’, beside the
shore in the foreground was
one of the largest in
Cornwall. However, by the
time of this early
photograph the harbour
seems already deserted by
the fishing fleet, perhaps in
favour of Mevagissey on the
far side of the bay.
An extract from from"St Austell Bay Photographic Memories".
A boat sails across the bay, which was known as Polkerris or Par Bay in the late-18th century.
The little village of Polkerris is situated at the end of a sheltered valley on the east shore of
St Austell Bay. There was an important pilchard fishery here, and the pier (left) was built in
about 1735 for sheltering the fishing boats rather than for trade.
An extract from from"St Austell Bay Photographic Memories".
Polkerris has hardly
changed, with virtually
no new houses in 70
years. Here we see the
village tucked away in
its valley, with the
great expanse of the
bay reaching beyond
to Black Head (centre)
and the Dodman Point
(left). The garden plots
of the houses are
prominent, sheltered
by hedges and mostly
on the south-facing
slope on the right.
An extract from from"St Austell Bay Photographic Memories".