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CALSTOCK PARISH HISTORY
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The Mining Era Calstock Parish really evolved with the mining boom of the 19th century. As in other parts of Cornwall, the advent of steam power enabled older, shallow mines to be deepened, as the new engines were able to extract water on a scale never practised before. About 40 mines were at work in the surrounding area, and the best way out for the ore was by river. A fleet of schooners and sailing barges, some locally built in Calstock’s two boatyards, and locally manned, conveyed the ores from the mines down the Tamar. More often than not, the same boats returned with limestone and coke to be burnt in the 20 or so lime kilns then active. The lime from these was used to sweeten the acid soil, where market gardeners, or growers, used the favourable climate and southerly aspect of the steep slopes to ripen their crops well before other areas of the country.
Other industries sprang up to support all this activity, and there were rope works, carpenters’, and blacksmiths’ shops, churches and pubs by the dozen, and thriving shopping centres in Gunnislake and Calstock Town, so that people came from as far as Plymouth to make use of them. Between 1800 and 1850, the local population increased approximately seven-fold, and although the number of houses increased, they couldn't keep pace with this dramatic population explosion. Housing conditions degenerated rapidly and this led to a cholera outbreak in 1849. It was said that the beds of Calstock were never cold, as shifts of miners occupied them one after the other. It is this period which gave the present day Calstock its basic shape that we see today. At one stage so much tin was being produced that Calstock was declared a Coinage Town, and to this day, the older inhabitants will proudly declare that the village is properly known as Calstock Town, even though Coinage was abandoned five years later. Ironically, just as the building of the viaduct was completed, the mining era came to an end. However, market gardening continued to prosper until the advent of the common market and the Roscoff ferry, when Calstock lost all its advantages to the continent. The pubs, churches and shops have slowly closed down, but the people of Calstock remain, living in decidedly quieter times than their fathers and grandfathers. Much of this is recorded in the Parish Archive, and in numerous publications. One notable book being 'The Industrial Archaeology of the Tamar Valley' by Frank Booker. Although now out of print, it is kept by some libraries and a copy is also available for research at the Parish Archive. |