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Old St Keverne
A talk by Russell Hocking
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On October 7th 2005 Mr Russell
Hocking, who probably knows more about the
history of St Keverne than any other living
person, extended the talk he gave on ”Old
St Keverne” last year. He started by
showing the difference between the village, prior
to 1900, and today, with examples of dialectical
expressions that were then current but are now
rarely heard. He went on to refer to his
“Blue Book” in which he has collected
accounts of past events.
He took the church, (which was built in about
1200), and its surroundings, as a base. The four
sides of the church directly face the main
compass points namely, north, south, east and
west. The spire has for centuries been a guide
for sailors, so that when it was destroyed by
lightning in 1770, it was imperative to rebuild
it as soon as possible. The lych-gate is the main
entrance to the church, containing a stone
platform, on which coffins were rested, and a
bench on which the carriers could sit.
He told us that the
Porthoustock lifeboat
was put in place in 1869 with a crew of 10, and the
lives of many seamen were saved as a result, from
wrecks in 1872, 1877 and 1881.
In the great blizzard of 1891 a superb swimmer
named James Clifford saved two men and a boy from
the a vessel called “Dove”, and the
same year a butcher’s boy, named Joe James,
walked from St Keverne to Falmouth (25 miles) to
report a wreck.
In 1898 the wrecking of the
“Mohegan” occurred with the loss of
over one hundred lives, but many others were
saved and cared for by the people of St Keverne
for several months. A memorial is in the
churchyard where the lost are buried. Mr Hocking
read a poem written by W.Quintrell, as a memorial
of this event, entitled “The
Mohegan”. Mr Hocking also read extracts by
other people who had been involved in acts of
rescue from shipwrecks in our locality, giving a
flavour of the dangers of life at sea, and the
bravery of the crews of lifeboats, all of whom
are volunteers.
He concluded his talk on a lighter note, by
selecting from his lists of old dialect words and
asking the audience for the meanings of them. The
outstanding winner of this competition was Mr
Horace Stone, who is obviously another expert on
the St Keverne dialect. A very instructive
evening was enjoyed by all.
To listen to the recording of
Russell's talk
click here
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Don Houghton
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