St Breward History Group

COMING UP …

Our next meeting will be on

Wednesday 30th September 2026
(No meeting in August)

FEATURING A TALK:

The Camera Never Lies (Part 2) – Argall Photographers by Frank Argall

6.30 for 7.00pm
St Breward Village Hall
(next to The Old Inn)

Refreshments & Raffle

Members £3.
Non-members £4 – All welcome

Why not join us?

We meet monthly in St Breward Village Hall for friendly, informal talks on a wide range of historical topics — with tea and cakes! Membership costs just £5 per year and gives you a £1 discount on entry to each meeting you attend. New members and visitors are always welcome.

Click for 2026 full programme

St Breward is a village and parish on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. It has a rich industrial history of mining, granite quarrying and china clay extraction, and a strong farming tradition. St Breward History Group was founded in 2010 to research, preserve and share the history of the parish and it’s families for current and future generations. Our members record stories of local life — people, places, work, and community. We’re building an archive of photos, documents, and recorded memories that reflect life in St Breward and beyond.

Leslie Albert Norman Watkins – fallen but not forgotten

Leslie Watkins – 1st Airborne Divisional Signals – Royal Corps of Signals – Rhine Crossing – Op Varsity.

Morley Tremaine

Born in 1916, Morley was a life-long resident of St Breward. He is pictured here, aged 12 years, outside the Bible Christian chapel at Row (now called Providence House). During WWII Morley was a member of the St Breward Auxiliary Unit, a (then) secret unit of well-armed...

Fred & George Nottle, 1927

Courtesy of Mrs Grace Masters, this photograph is part of a collection taken in 1927-28 by her husband Alec, while delivering milk in the village Brothers Fred & George (Dreamy) Nottle outside (we think) their home at Penpont. We have been told that Fred died after the D...

Trevor Ternouth’s School Days in St Breward

First published in the Community news February 2025 edition One From the Archives – My School Days (1946-1956) It must have been a daunting experience for this youngster aged four years 11 months to walk from 10 Penvorda Cottages to the village school at Hill, St. Breward. Of...

Where was that cottage?

St Breward History Group was approached via its website by the husband of a lady in poor health – they had been reminiscing about a holiday they had had in a cottage named Venn back in 1985. They thought it was in St Breward and sent a photo of the cottage taken at that time....

Miss Ivy Nottle, 1927

Ivy was born to George and Mary in 1910 at Chapel Farm, St Breward. At the age of 26, she married Cyril J Rowe and in 1937 gave birth to a daughter, Eileen. Eileen, who was the St Breward school cook for many years, married John Collings in 1957 and they lived in the Old Smithy...

Beattie Well Tank at Helland Crossing

This 1950s photo from Robert Darlaston shows a Beattie Well Tank Locomotive, no 30587, at Helland crossing in the late 1950s. The Beattie Well Tank is a class of British steam locomotive built between 1863 and 1875 for use on passenger services in the suburbs of London, but...

Wedding

This month we have a scan of an original photo, courtesy of the estate of Dennis Champion. A family wedding at St Breward parish church. Unfortunately the history group are unable to recognise the faces. Judging by the clothing, the date is probably mid 1950s. It will be most...

The De Lank Youth Club

First published in the March 2025 issue of the Community News Magazine One From the Archives – The De Lank Youth Club This month Trevor Ternouth shares his memories of the De Lank Youth Club. There used to be several youth clubs at different times that ran in St. Breward, ones...

School Nativity

A gathering of fresh-faced shepherds assemble with the three wise men to pay homage to the baby Jesus - 1980s style! There was obviously no room at the Old Inn, so proud parents Mary and Joseph had to settle for St Breward School. As usual the history group are relying on...

Roy Kerslake, 1952

Captain of St Breward AFC, Roy is pictured at Priory Park with the Runners-Up trophy of the Cornwall Junior Cup Roy lived at Homelands Cottage, Higher Lank, with his parents Wilfred and Lilly, brother Ralph and the family dog, Spot! The History Group would be grateful to know...

Ready For Mischief?

Sitting on a grassy bank outside De Lank Farm are Ron Allen, Fred Parr and Ivor May. Ivor was the son of Winnie and Frank May who owned Hantergantick Quarry. Local milkman Alec Masters managed to keep the boys still long enough to take this photograph in about 1928. Contact us...

What a Luxury!

Filling up with a few gallons of 4-Star at Row shop rather than having to drive to Camelford or Bodmin. Courtesy of Alison Masters, this photo dates from the mid to late 1960s. In 1969 a gallon of fuel for the pictured Austin car was 35p (7p per litre), while a year’s road tax...

St. Breward School Team – 1987

For those of you who might know the young men that appear in this picture . . . a reminder that the photograph was taken 37 years ago! Back L-R: Michael Barnett, Kevin Cracknell, Philip Hoskin, Ian Turner and Jamie Cox. Front L-R: Neil Simpson, Dean Hill, Daniel Dunkin,...

Interview with Bill Hawken (of Hawkhill)

Recorded in 1985 by Frank Henshaw When I was a boy, as well as here at Rowe, we had a shop in Blisland. It's a building right on the edge of the Green, across from the pub; the only building really that's on the edge of the Green. We had it for a number of years and then we...

The St. Breward ‘Bheys’

Original History by Trevor Ternouth 1986 Ralph and Roy Kerslake with Trevor Ternouth, their second cousin, started meeting for lunchtime meals around 1986. Ralph, who lived in Torquay, had to come to Liskeard for his monthly Masonic Lodge meetings. Roy lived at Cardinham and...

St Breward Boys Football Team, 1982

These smiling faces will be easily recognisable by many who live in the area - it just seems hard to believe that this picture from 1982 is now over 30 years old! The St Breward U-12s football team at Brake Parc Back: Martin Kay, Steven Kay, Graham Jory, Gary Baker, Shaun...

The Parish Magazine for BLISLAND with TEMPLE and ST. BREWARD

The first edition of our parish magazine was published in April 1980. We now have available scanned versions of all the 1980 editions which you can read online here.

St Breward Carnival 1928

Courtesy of St Breward Women's Institute, this photo was incorporated in St Breward WI's 1993 entry in the Baker Cup competition when a tableau was put together for the Carnival. The theme for the competition was 'A History of the Year in Which Your WI Was Formed' - which, for...

The Pepsi Grizzly Bear

This famous sculpture by David Wynne OBE (1926 – 2014) was placed in the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at the Pepsi Cola world HQ in Purchase, New York. Born in the New Forest village of Lyndhurst, Wynne (on the left) served in the Royal Navy during WWII before taking up...

Row, St Breward, circa 1911

With all the interest that the new housing development at Row has created, we thought it would be interesting to look back a century to remind readers of how it used to be. From the left are Myrtle, Harley and Laburnum cottages with the Band Room and the houses known as The...

St Breward Area Community Bus

One From The Archives - St. Breward Community Bus Following a recent ‘call to arms’ for help for our Community Bus, we feel that it is important to share its history. Did you know that St. Breward was the first village in the UK to own a community bus in 1983 due to the valiant...

Retirement Presentation, 1973

Oswald Martin, headmaster of St Breward Primary School, and his wife Mary are presented with a retirement bouquet by the school staff and governors. L-R: Hilda Wills (canteen), Unknown, Joyce McNally (caretaker), Jean Batten (teacher), Peggy Crosley (teacher), Miss Dustow?...

30 Years Ago!

Members of the St Breward snooker club took part in a 24 Hour Snooker Marathon on 21-22 June 1991. Funds were donated to The Air Ambulance and The Cavitron Fund at Derriford Hospital. L-R: Arthur Cobbett, Mike Sutton, Martin (Chiefy) Yeo, Noel Smith, Robert Hill, John...

Bronze Age Burial Urn at Stannon

In July 1977, Arthur Welch, the captain of Stannon Clayworks, was examining aerial photographs of the area when he spotted the outline of a cairn. A team led by Group Capt. Peter Trudgian of Cornwall Archaeological Society and Henrietta Miles from Exeter University agreed to...

‘Tin-Tack’ – Leslie Williams

The unknown man in our December article has been identified as Leslie Williams. It appears that Leslie was known as 'Tin-Tack' and lived in a cottage near Chapel Terrace, in St. Breward. If anyone has any information on Leslie or other photographs, please do contact Brian Hill...

You Know Who You Are!

Three intrepid young men, sporting fearsome looking weapons, defending the honour of the parish about 15 years ago at Tor Down Quarry. Let us know if you recognise the faces, or will the subjects themselves own up? Please contact us: enquiries@stbrewardhistory.co.uk

Wenford Bridge Goods Depot, 1958

A very rare view of the now defunct goods depot at Wenford, dated Tuesday 9 September 1958. It’s obvious (from its badge) that the lorry in the foreground is a British Rail owned Scammell goods vehicle, but we have been unable to identify the car. A clue might be the ‘split’...

Smith Group?

A photo from many years ago which was loaned and displayed at an exhibition to celebrate the Millennium in 2000 Retirement? - Work's Dinner? - Family Party? The only clue we have to the identity of any of the group is the word 'Smith' written on the back If you can help, please...

The Armstrong Family

The Armstrong family is descended from the Border Reivers who lived mostly lawless lives on the border between England and Scotland between the 13th and 17th centuries. Our Armstrongs originated in Kirkcudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland and then some time between 1869...

Photos scanned

Years of parish magazines

Minutes of video

Average attendance at meetings

Minutes of Audio

Names to faces?

Can you help us name some of the people in the hundreds of photographs we hold? Click the button and scroll through the many blog entries where we ask for names and further information. Maybe your ancestors are there?

View photographs needing identification

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

What happened in St Breward 1983?

CLICK HERE to read the year’s Parish Magazines

AA sign displayed on the cottage opposite the church (named as ‘The Old Dairy’) Nearly 30,000 of these signs were erected between 1906 and approximately 1932. Only around 65 are left in situ today.

Exploring and preserving
the history of St Breward

St Breward History Group

St Breward History Group

St Breward History Group

St Breward History Group

St Breward History Group

St Breward History Group

St Breward History Group

COMING UP …

Wednesday 30th September 2026(No meeting in August)

The Camera Never Lies (Part 2) – Argall Photographers by Frank Argall

Why not join us?