The Poly

24 Church St, Falmouth : 01326 319461
The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society

What's On Calendar

Have a look at the calendar text here to see what's coming up.

RCPS Archive

The Society's earliest archives are the deeds for the building - large, indented parchment documents of considerable beauty and historical interest.

The Victorians were excellent record keepers, and the Society retains its most valuable single archive – fourteen leather-bound Minutes books, the earlier ones in beautiful manuscript, giving details of the monthly discussions and decisions made by the Committee from 1833 to 1949.

In addition, for nearly 100 years the RCPS issued an Annual Report, giving in great detail the activities and progress of the Society from year to year. This report sometimes ran to as many as 300 pages, containing, as well as domestic details, academic and learned papers written for the Society by its members, usually relating to Cornish interests. These were exchanged with Reports of similar organisations around the world. We still have more of our own than we know what to do with – many with their pages still uncut.

In the annual exhibitions, prizes were awarded for the best exhibits, some in cash, many in the form of bronze, silver, and in four cases, gold medals. By 1869 a total of nearly 1,000 medals had been awarded, and cash in lieu to the amount of £4,000. They nearly bankrupted the Society. One of our galleries is named the Spring Gallery after Howard Spring who was an early president of the society.

NT Live: The Motive and the Cue (15)

Richard Burton, married to Elizabeth Taylor, is to play the title role in an new Broadway production of Hamlet under...

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Kewbanda – The Cornish in the Caribbean

Kewbanda perform songs from ‘The Cornish in the Caribbean’ project. Sue Appleby, author of The Cornish in The...

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Portrait Drawing in Charcoal

Charcoal is a very forgiving medium, and is the perfect preparation for painting in oils, but without the complication...

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Contact us:

T: 01326 319461
E: info@thepoly.org

Address:

The Poly, 24 Church Street, Falmouth, TR11 3EG

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© The Poly - The Poly is the trading name of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society Limited, a company limited by guarantee and incorporated in England and Wales with company registration number 03909555 and registered charity number 1081199, with its registered office at 24 Church Street, Falmouth TR11 3EG