Our History
Calstock Parish Archive was created in 1988 as the result of a Job Creation scheme (MSC) which was set up by Calstock Town Community Council to provide work for a number of people in an area of post-industrial depression.
The resultant collection has been housed in a large walk-in cupboard in the Village Hall at Calstock Town, and for many years has been kept going by one man on an extremely limited budget.There was a growing awareness of the inadequacy of the storage materials used, and of the overall housing of the archive. At the same time there was also a clear need to catalogue and improve many areas of the Archive, and to expand the number of people able to meet and satisfy the growing demand for access to the materials without involving their degradation. The Calstock Parish Archive Trust was set up to meet these requirements.

It was agreed that, as the materials were catalogued and stored more appropriately, they would also be temporarily re-housed on shelving etc in a separate section of Calstock Village Hall, where the work has been taking place since 2000.

The Present

With the ever expanding archive, and its growing use, it is recognised that a more permanent home is needed. A new visitor centre is being built at Drakewalls, close to Gunnislake railway station and this will eventually provide a new home for the archive, along with an office for the Tamar Valley AONB and the Parish Clerk. In the meantime, we are cataloguing all the material, which is still being actively collected and storing them in appropriate boxes, folders etc.

As the years have gone by, we find we have fewer and fewer volunteers, whilst the workload remains undiminished. If you live locally, perhaps you could spare a few hours to help with this interesting and important work.

At the moment, the archive is now open from

2.30-4.30 on Tuesdays
7.30-9.30 on Wednesdays
9.30-11.30 on Thursdays

However, when we have a dedicated space of our own we will be able to expand our opening hours.

Over the years the Archive has been consulted widely and its true value has only latterly been recognised. The archive is also reaching out to the local schools in the parish and indeed to some Plymouth schools.The attached description of its current contents will give some indication of its scope and value.

If you think that you can help us in some way, please do get in touch with us

If you would like any research done for you at the archive then email

research@calstockhistory.org.uk

The charge is £7.00 per hour - two hours is usually enough to produce results.