The Poly
24 Church St, Falmouth : 01326 319461
The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society
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The Poly in the time of Howard Spring // 1955
When Howard Spring joined the RCPS in 1940, it was a Society of 217 members. The Church Street building was owned by the Society, but parts of it were sub-let. There was a Library and the Falmouth Museum was housed in the gallery above the Large Hall and in the Chellew Room. A caretaker was employed.
Elsewhere in Falmouth the Society ran a Meteorological Observatory. The focus of the Society as reflected in the Annual Reports of the 1940's was Cornwall wide, not only Falmouth, with lectures, visits, an essay competition, weather reporting, a library and museum.
Read about Howard Spring's involvement with The Poly here.
Explore // More
Falmouth and World War 1
Falmouth was not only a garrison town, with up to 14,000 soldiers at any one time, but also a defended port. Falmouth is the most westerly deep water port of the English Channel and Falmouth Bay was a strategic point for arrivals and departures. Early on in the War, photography and sketching became prohibited in the vicinity of the harbour and the coast for reasons of national security, so that we have very few visual records of the time.
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Maritime History
Falmouth Quay Punt sailing in Falmouth's Inner Harbour ca 1900
(from Brian Osborne's 'Images of the Past' collection #551)
Local Personalities
An Edwardian Group ca 1908 (from Brian Osborne's 'Images of the Past' collection #1407)
Explore and discover some of our town's most interesting people, characters and visitors.
Notable Buildings
Arwenack Manor from the Harbour ca 1910 (from Brian Osborne's 'Images of the Past' collection #924)
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Archive records
Index of the Ordnance Survey 1:500 scale map series of Falmouth of 1880
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The Changing Face of Falmouth
Post Office Yard with No. 49 Smithick Hill above
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