Planning A Trip To CRO........ Tips Please

[cowdogsam]

After discovering more people in my ancestry located in Cornwall we have decided to have a holiday (cough!) in Cornwall this year.

We are looking at going during July / August and i'm trying to start planning for it now. On one hand this is me getting organised, on another i think i'm going to end up with far too much to do and not enough time to do it in!

I've got a maximum of 3 days at the CRO, and would like tips on how to plan this to get the most out of it.

Also how far in advance is it advisable to book?

I've read this thread:

azazella.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=howto&action=display&thread=629

And wondered if anyone could add anything further.

So far i've found a few references on the CRO online search for parish records (various areas), i've also got a few for wills which may be relevant. And a reference on a 1851 census to one person receiving Parish relief.

I note from the previous thread that most of the parish records are on film and you are not able to view the originals. Do you use the CRO reference numbers to order the films, or are they out to help yourself to?

What other information am I likely to find. - Most of my ancestors were Tin Miners, or Agricultural Labourers, with a couple of references to Yeoman.

Thank you all in advance

[cowdogsam]

I've just found this on the Access to Archives site which may be relevant to my Eddy's, but not sure.

Ct...... can you shed any light on any possible links?

[no title] X110/13 1708-1844


These documents are held at Cornwall Record Office

(24)

Contents:
Bosigan in Zennor
1708 John Borlase to David Eddy Counterpart of lease for 99 years of 1/8th & 1/26th. part of Bosigran. Determinable on three lives.
1714. John Borlase to David Eddy. Lease of Grist Mill & mill lands now in possession of Christian Eddy. For 99 years determinable on three lives.
1714. John Borlase to David Noye, lease of house & lands known as Parc Vean & Vorran Vean, with croft, formerly let to David Eddy, for 99 years. Determinable on lives of lessee, Andrew Noye & his sister.
1751. John Borlase to Philip Eddy, Reversionery lease of ¾ of Bosigran, in reversion of a lease to David Eddy dated Nov. 15th. 1708.
1751. Counterpart of above lease.
1759 Richard Walkey & William Eddy to Philip Eddy, Assignment & release of the right of redemption of house, garden & lands
1760. Walter Borlase to Andrew Eddy, counterpart of the reversionary lease of part of Bosigran, determinable on the live of lessee & Richard Eddy.
1761. Dr. Walter Borlase to William Stevens, counterpart of lease of Bosigran Mill & lands, for 99 years, determinable on lives of lessee, Richard Eddy & his son & daughter.
1771. Dr. Borlase to David Eddy, reversionary lease of Bosigran, for 99 years determinable on two lives.
1771. Counterpart of above lease.
1771. Samuel Borlase to Philip Eddy, Reversionary lease of 1/16th. part of Bosigran, for 99 years, determinable on lives of Samuel Eddy brother of lessee living in 1798, Richard Eddy aged 4 years, son of lessee, in reversion of Richard Eddy, son of Jane Eddy.
1771. Counterpart of above lease.
1773. Dr. Borlase to Stephen Eddy, lease of ¼ of Bosigran, for 99 years, in reversion of Philip Eddy, stephen Eddy & David Eddy.
1773. Counterpart of above lease.
1791. Sam Borlase to Richard Eddy, reversonary lease of part of tenement of Bosigran, with surrender of former lease, on three lives.
1798. Counterpart of reversionery lease of 1/16th. part of Bosigran granted by Sam Borlase to Richard Eddy for life of Grace Hocking.
1809. William Borlase to Richard Eddy, lease of part of Bosigran, on the life of Grace Hosking, in reversion of Caroline & John Eddy.
1809. Counterpart of above lease.
1830. Sam Borlase to Richard & Andrew Eddy, lease of tenements in Bosigran, for 14½ years.
1834. W.F. Friggins to Sam Borlase, Rack lease of a tenement in Bosigran for 60 years.
1834. Charles E Richards to to Wm. F. Friggans, assignment of premises in Bosigran.
1843. Sam Borlase to Richard Eddy, Counterpart lease of a cottage in Bosigran, for 3 lives.
1843. Sam Borlase to John & William Eddy, lease of Castle Stamps in Bosigran, for 21 years.
1844. Sam Borlase to Richard & Andrew Eddy, lease of a tenement in Bosigran, for 14 years.

[Cornish Terrier]

It is many years since I was at the CRO and things will have changed so it may well be adviseable to make contact and request an outline of options and procedures.

However some things will more than likely be the same.

Firstly it is best to book your times as far in advance as possible but you will need to know what facilities you wish to use.

If you wish to view Parish Registers then most will be on Fiche or Film so you will need to book appropriate readers.

NB - the readers may be time-limited to 30 or 60 minutes depending on demand so it would be wise to have a backup option.

For Wills and other large documents you will need to book table space and again it is possible there may be time limits depending on demand.

When I was there most early PRs were on Fiche of Film however I did get to view a lot of originals.

As far as access is concerned - (again from when I was there 15 years ago) there will be indexes to holdings available from which you select the items you wish to view, fill out a request slip, present it at the desk and then wait for the item.

If you can ascertain the Catalogue Numbers of the items you wish to view you should be able to order in advance and have them waiting for you when you arrive.

In some ways things were easy for me as my plan was simply to work my way through every available PR and transcribe any references to one particular name. (In hindsight ............ :

In your case you will probably be name, Parish and time specific so will need to be a little more selective.

Dependent on finances you may be able to save yourself some time with items like Wills.

Determine what Wills you are interested in (or that you think will be relevant and helpful) and simply order copies which can be read later at your leisure.

With the handwriting in many of these old documents it can be extremely time-consuming to try and read them and you may well end up frustrated and unable to complete other research.

I think you will find that most items in the CRO online catalogue will be available to order online and that will certainly save you some time.

In fact it may even be wise to start thinking about this now as what you find in some of these documents may help determine further research you will need to do at the CRO itself.

Hope that is of some help.

CT

[Cornish Terrier]

Now to the last posting regarding the Leases which, I notice, all seem to relate to Bosigran.

Other areas where the Eddy family had interests included Bosporthennis and Treen and it was the latter recorded as his abode when David Eddy married Ann (Uren?) in 1840.

What these leases should help us with is the identities of just which members of the Eddy family were at Bosigran at a given time.

If you can find reference to documents relating to the Eddy family at Treen it might be useful but I am not sure just how far back the connection to that particular place goes.

But again I should think most of this stuff should be available for order online.

Given the amount of documents selection of the most relevant would be difficult and you need to keep in mind your time constraints.

I will keep working on the Eddy family in general and see if I can narrow the field down for you with enough time to spare before you head off to Cornwall.

I hope you are taking a good camera with you and would suggest that you try to visit places like Bosigran, Treen, Bosporthennis and other known abodes of the Eddy families.

Do the rounds of the Churchyards and generally see and experience as much of West Penwith as you can.

And don't forget to drop in for a pint at the Tinner's Arms at Zennor! ;D

CT

[cowdogsam]

I think the Tinners Arms will be on the agenda ;D, probably for my husband whilst i mouch around the graveyard

Camera and video camera will be nboard, along with netbook for use in the records ofice, and wherever we stay hopefully to find documents on the search that may become relevant due to the previous days research

Not sounding much like a holiday is it ? LOL

I managed 24 hours in Cornwall last year around the Camelford area. At that point I had only found links through another of my lines to that area. All the Eddy's came up after i got back.
In 24 hours we managed a good few churches and graveyards, all of which were open, but alas found no graves relating to my line. Or so i thought until recently. I've since found out that a headstone a few yards from the entrance to Advent church is one of mine. We also managed a good few villages...... well some of them were, others were about two houses , and got video of most of them.
Unfortunately the local libraries were closed the day i was there.

I think the plan will be records office during the day, and tours of villages etc in the evenings.

Does anyone know roughly what time the churches remain open until during the summer?

[Cornish Terrier]

I'm not sure about opening times for the Churches these days.

But I would be guessing a number of them would be reluctant to have the doors open without a responsible person being present.

I think most of the Churches I went to when I was in Cornwall were open regardless but these days they may be a little more circumspect.

In Towednack Church there was an old benchend dating back to the 1600s.

On one end was a medallion portrait of James Trewhela, Churchwarden (one of my ancestors) and on the other a similar portrait of Matthew Trenwith, Churchwarden.

A few years ago that item simply 'went missing'! :-(

I did hear a couple of years ago that it was finally located .............. IN A MUSEUM!!!

So you may need to make some enquiries.

CT

[sue]

When planning a Cornish trip, if I can't find details of unlocked hours for a particular church on the internet, I've usually managed to find contact details for the vicar/parish clerk/assistants before I travel (as opposed to family history OPCs) who in each instance have been helpful and prompt in their responses.

Towednack was last summer always open (sans bench) but with ancient font, as was Zennor; Lelant was open when I wandered by last week. (Its Kidney Sands is to me the best beach around there, but don't tell everyone!)

You might find it helpful to research web listings of Cornish graveyard memorial inscriptions before you go to have an idea of what you're likely to find, as time can just disappear meandering round graveyards in beautiful locations, lovely though such meandering is - I mostly blew a couple of hours in Lelant last week through lack of discipline, succumbing to the early blue skies of the year over here - but I enjoyed every minute!

There are various listings; Chris Uphill knows a lot about this
freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~chrisu/index.htm
Then there are Suezan James' etc. transcriptions on the WPR site
west-penwith.org.uk/
and others.

These inscription listings are different to burial listings: just because records show a person to have been buried in a certain graveyard, doesn't mean there is a visible marker/gravestone for you to see.

Online OPCs for the parishes you are interested in can be marvellous.

Enjoy - I know you will!

Sue

[cowdogsam]

Amazing about the bench CT!

You would have thought a museum would have questioned it's history


Thank you Sue. I'll have a look at those links, and i'll have to come up with a list of churches and make some enquiries.


I have to admit to spending hours wandering around churches and graveyards.
I had thought of a new approach though. Run around and photograph everything. That way you definately don't miss anything, and kick yourself 6 months later when you find different names, and know they were there LOL

If I had longer that approach might work, but in three days something tells me it's just a tad unrealisic