The Changing Face of Falmouth //

The Slum Clearance Programme

The Housing Acts of the 1930s required every local authority to clear all remaining slum housing and to submit a programme of building and demolition aimed at eliminating slums from their area. The programme was interrupted by the Second World War but continued on through the 1950s. Falmouth developed a programme that concentrated on the older areas of Smithick Hill, Gyllyng Street, and the many courts and yards that led off the main street. The Falmouth History Archive has an extensive collection of the official Clearance Orders, Clearance Maps, and photographs of the buildings prior to demolition. More

Then and Now

41 Market Street, formerly the premises of Nathaniel Fox, Ironmonger and Sewing Machine Agent, following rebuilding after being totally destroyed in the fire of 1870.

Nathaniel's second son, Arthur, wrote in his recollections: "The next great event was the FIRE. Whitsunday morning June 5th 1870. At 2.20 my mother was awakened by the light of the flames illuminating the windows of her room. The size of her room is indicated by the fact that along one wall were five tallboys in a row. Our house was a magnificent house, built by the Tregelles family. The woodwork was mainly teak from Captain Cook’s ship which was sold to be broken up for building. it was built in a massive style, heavy doors and huge door-posts. (I have a piece of one still, cut off after the fire.) Wainscoting in the rooms still of teak. The back wall of the house was built of slates and lathes, like so many Cornish houses then and until recently. The whole was, therefore extremely flammable and when our neighbour set his house on fire to get the insurance money, there was no hope of preventing our house from being burned. And indeed not only was the house burned to the ground but the ashes were so hot that nothing could be done for weeks." More