The large portaled entrance suggests it was intended for easy access - until last year it was the Newlyn Post Office but before that it was built for the Admiralty as the Coastguard's boathouse in 1900...
today, the building is now home to the Newlyn Archive which was set up to collect, record and show off the history of the port. Last Saturday saw the opening of the old boathouse building after many months of restoration work and which will now provide a base and focal point for the group's activities...
the old Post Office counter was retained and has a number of recesses that contain various relics...
The next Open Day 'On the Other Side' is on Saturday April 1 2017 at Trinity Centre, Chywoone Hill, Newlyn from 10.00-3.00. The topic 'On the Other Side' conjures a multitude of views of Old Newlyn.
Certainly, the marching policemen in the photo above, were on the other side when the fishermen of Newlyn, Mousehole, Porthleven and St Ives protested about East Coast men fishing on the Sabbath and flooding the Monday market with their fish. A heavy chain was fixed across Newlyn harbour entrance and the baulks were put down at Mousehole. At Newlyn, the men boarded the boats that had come in during the night and threw the fish overboard...
'We were pious and stern, as our forefathers were,
We honoured the Sabbath day,
But the Eastern men made harvest hen,
And landed the fish on our kay,
And what use to shut with a mackerel glut
When our boats put out to say?'
But 'The Other Side' conjures much more than the Newlyn Riots of 1896. In the exhibition, we have tried to find examples of 'the other side' from earliest times to more recent times.
We deal with the Spanish Invasion, 1595;
Mousehole people's rejection of Newlyn in the cholera epidemic of 1832;
a Newlyn Sea Captain walking the plank in 1850;
the Welcome Stranger, 1869; fishermen dabbling with contraband in 1883;
the sad case of Rolf Jonssen during WW1;
Penzance, on the other side of the Rugby field,
1927; the Newlyn Clearances, 1937;
Hulks, refugees and evacuees in WW2;
the Torrey Canyon disaster, 1967;
Haul for the Shore, 1980.
There will also be films to watch, files and folders to explore, experts to consult, and much else, so do join us.
Please make a donation to this project. Send your donation to Ron Hogg, Treasurer, Newlyn Archive, The Admiralty Boathouse, 23 The Strand, Newlyn TR18 5HL.
