Piracy and intrigue brought to life at Tremough

On Wednesday 15 April at 7.30pm, fascinating characters from Penryn's historic past - from dashing cavalier, Sir Nicholas Slanning, who was Royalist governor of Pendennis Castle to Doris Driscoll, who went to work at the age of 16 for 5 shillings a week in Penryn's general store - will be brought to life by Chairman of the Penryn Museum Society, John Kirby, through an illustrated talk at University College Falmouth's Tremough Campus.

In 2005, the Penryn Museum Society was awarded a grant of £25,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund to produce an heritage trail and guidebook relating to the lower part of Penryn, and create an oral archive for the benefit of future generations.

The Penryn Heritage Trail was a community based project led by the Museum Society, which is an associated member of the Penryn Community Development Trust. The project actively involved local historians and design professionals in identifying sites, researching the history, creating the route and map, and designing and installing interpretation boards and street markers, whilst local people's memories were recorded for the project's oral history archive, in collaboration with University College Falmouth's Media Centre staff, who shared their recording expertise to ensure that even whispered confessions were captured!

The results of this project will form the basis of John Kirby's talk as he recounts the rich and vibrant history of one of Cornwall's oldest towns.

There is archaeological evidence of at least three Iron Age settlements in the area. In 1263, it received its first Royal charter. Medieval Penryn owed its existence to its harbour, but it was the building of a huge collegiate church, Glasney College, by the Bishops of Exeter that really put Penryn on the map. In 1327, half of Penryn's population were Bretons. By 1547, the Borough of Penryn was sending two MPs to Parliament. Add to this spicy stories of piracy and intrigue, and you will hear riveting tales to rival any bestselling novel!

"This is a locally important and nationally significant project," said John Kirby. "It is imperative that we keep local heritage alive as many people don't know enough about the area they live in," he added. "This project is a great way to showcase not only how vibrant and cosmopolitan Penryn once was but how it has grown and developed into the town it is today, so make your way to Lecture 4 in the Peter Lanyon Building at the Tremough Campus on Wednesday 15 April at 7.30pm and revel in Penryn's illustrious past."

For further information about the Penryn Heritage Trail and to purchase the guide online, visit http://www.penrynheritagetrail.co.uk/. The guide is also available from the Penryn Museum, National Maritime Museum in Falmouth, Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro and many local bookshops, priced £5.99.

For further information about University College Falmouth, visit http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 211077.

University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.

This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2012, that will be unique to the South West.

The College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union, the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council.

Ends

For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792; or email: jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk

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