Agriculture Gallery

Loading stooks onto a horse and cart during the harvest, Cornwall. 1920s

Cornishman and amateur photographer, Major Arthur William Gill, was well known in Cornwall and elsewhere during the 1920s and 1930s for his presentations of stills and cine film to many groups including The Royal Institution of Cornwall, Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society and the London Cornish Society. The quarter plate slides which he took prolifically with his ordinary camera are, in some cases, painted by his own hand to great effect

© From the collection of the RIC

The Fourburrow Hunt, Tregothnan Lodge, Tresillian, Cornwall. Around 1911

The Fourburrow Hunt at Tregothnan Lodge. Mrs Brickman the master's daughter is sitting side saddle on the horse on the left, Lady Falmouth is standing in the centre and the Master, Mr Aubrey Wallis is standing behind. Tregothnan has been home to the Boscawen family since 1334. The house was rebuilt by Edward Boscawen (1787-1841), fourth Viscount and First Earl of Falmouth, near the site of an older mansion. Tregothnan has the largest historic garden in Cornwall. It is open to the public for one weekend every year. Photographer: Arthur William Jordan

© From the collection of the RIC

Blacksmiths shop at Godolphin Cross, Cornwall. Early 1900s

A group of men outside the blacksmith's shop at Herland Cross in Godolphin Cross. On the left is George Reynolds standing on a granite block used for fixing iron bands to waggon wheels. He spent many years abroad mining in South America, possibly Chile. Astride the horse is Harry Magor (possibly Meagor) of Carleen. He was a teamster who drove teams of up to thirty horses taking timber to boatyards and mines. He carried the large poles used at Poldhu, Mullion in Marconi's experimental wireless station (in 1901). In the donkey trap is Streamer John, a tin streamer who extracted tin from the tailings of mine-workings and supplemented his income by selling vegetables from his trap. The blacksmith is William Rowe with his dog Ben. Photographer: Unknown

© From the collection of the RIC