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Cornish History - Fowey Museum
Fowey is the toast of yachtsmen and ramblers, but also of
historians and archaeologists.
Iron Age Man lived here. The Romans found it already a port.
In 1380 the Spanish, and in 1457 the French, tried to raze it to the ground. Drake,
Raleigh and Frobisher all sailed from Fowey, whose harbour was surveyed by Cook before he
became Captain. Here, Charles I was shot at and Queen Victoria welcomed; here, Kenneth
Grahame and Daphne du Maurier found literary inspiration and the Treffry family planned
their pioneering role in the Industrial Revolution.
A natural place, then, for a museum. It has a sympathetic
setting in the oldest part of the Town Hall - in the room which served as a council
chamber when Fowey was a borough in its own right.
With the civic regalia on display is the mayoral chain made
for the former Lord Mayor of London, Sir Charles Hanson, in his role as Lord High Sheriff
of the City of London. It stands proud among artefacts and memorabilia of the many who
have enriched Fowey with art, craft or government, industrial skill or naval reputation.
Complementing them is the hardware of Fowey's seafaring
celebrity: the timber, sails and cordage from ships that chased the Spanish, beat the
French and carried Cornish tin and China Clay all over the world.
Together, they form a compelling backdrop for special events
- like the 1995 exhibition of famous local authors - which bring cultural pilgrims to join
the holidaymakers drawn by the magnet of Fowey's narrow, atmospheric streets and lovely
estuary setting.
FACTFILE
Directions
Follow the A390 from St Austell towards Lostwithiel. At the
first roundabout, take the Fowey exit, the A3082. The Museum is in the town centre.
Opening Times
May to September, weekdays only. 10am to 5pm.
Parking
Some parking is available outside the Museum and nearby, but
in High Season visitors are advised to leave their car in the park at the entrance to
Fowey and take the regular shuttle into the centre.
Fowey Museum Trust Trafalgar Square, FOWEY, Cornwall
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