Heritage Festival and Community Play
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The project will explore the development of St Austell and raise awareness of local history through a series of community based activities that will include filmed oral history interviews and the production of a website. Volunteers will draw together an archive of historical press reports, photos and other material which will be used to create a booklet and flyers. Participants in the project will have the opportunity to receive training in a range of relevant skills. |
 Courtesy of Discover St Austell |
At the heart of the Festival will be a community play based on events in 1847 when protesting miners and clayworkers swept through the town and were confronted by troops and the local magistrates outside the Town Hall. This building – now known only as the Market House – was once at the centre of communal and social life. As well as the council chamber (which still survives) it also contained the town lock-up and housed the horse-drawn fire engine. Apart from its Friday market the main hall was used for all sorts of meetings, political speeches and social gatherings However, little in its history has matched the drama of that day in June 1847 when the whole town seemed threatened by a popular uprising. |