Cornish Gallery

Cottages at the head of the creek, Ruan Lanihorne, Cornwall. Around 1925

Glass lantern slide from a lecture, entitled Some Historic Cornish Beauty Spots, given by Cornishman and amateur photographer, Major Arthur William Gill, in around 1925. He 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 many cases, colour. These were painted by his own hand to great effect

© From the collection of the RIC

Charlestown harbour and shipping, Cornwall. Around 1914

Charlestown harbour looking out to sea. The harbour is full of a mixture of both steam and sail shipping. SS Westdale on the east quay, (left of picture) is steel built and screw driven. She was built in South Shields in 1911 and owned in Liverpool. The schooner, Belmont, built in Whitstable in 1895 and owned in Faversham is alongside the west quay, (right of picture). Alongside the east quay is the steel built and screw driven SS Central, whose funnel and bridge structure can be seen through the masts and rigging. She was built and owned in Kiel in 1884. On the left, in front of the cottages, can be seen the covered gantry carrying tram rails and loading chutes of the underground tram way that carried China clay from the large clay dry a few hundred yards away and out of picture to load the ships. Photographer: Herbert Hughes

© From the collection of the RIC

Village street in Port Gaverne, St Endellion Cornwall. 1906

View between houses to the beach. Two ladies are in the doorway of one of the houses, looking out to sea. Bathing huts can be seen on the beach and a person in a bathing suit is in the water. Port Gaverne was once a busy port used to export slate from the nearby Delabole slate quarry. It was also a very active seining port and the port's four pilchard cellars were capable of processing around 1000 tons of fish per week. By 1900 tourism was the village's main industry and it remains popular with holidaymakers today. Photographer: T. Mitchell

© From the collection of the RIC