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 and in 2000 all the documents were re-housed on shelving etc in a separate section of Calstock Village Hall, and work commenced on cataloguing.

The Present

With the ever expanding archive, and its growing use, it was recognised that a more permanent home was needed. On 18th June 2009 the archive relocated to the new visitor centre at Drakewalls, close to Gunnislake railway station. The Centre also houses the Tamar Valley AONB and the Parish Clerk.

In preparation for the move, the archive successfully applied for a grant at the end of 2008 from the Cornwall Community Foundation in order to purchase much needed furniture. The Cornwall Community Foundation is an independent community organisation that awards small grants to a significant number of charities and grassroots organisations in the county, and money donated to the foundation is guaranteed to be spent in Cornwall. In 2007 in excess of £650,000 was given to 250 organisations. The Foundation is currently building a £2 million endowment fund for the long-term investment in Cornwall’s communities.

The new opening hours are:

Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 12.00 - 5.00
Thursdays and Fridays from 9.00 - 2.00

We are at present 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.

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

Why not come along to one of the sessions and see what you can find out about the area or your family, or, if you would like us to do any research for you at the archive then email

research@calstockhistory.org.uk

The charge is £10.00 per hour - two hours is usually enough to produce results.