Cornish Guernseys & Knitfrocks by Mary Wright

Author:Mary Wright [Mary Wright]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780957646131
Publisher: Polperro Heritage Press
Published: 2014-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Richard Searle of Polperro in his knit-frock. The fine pattern detail still stands out, more than 100 years after the photograph was taken.

In the official census of 1851, twenty-eight women and girls from Polperro were listed as ‘knitters’.

The village is unique in its record of knitting history. Not only was it a source of contract knitters for more than a century, but it was the temporary home of a remarkable exponent of the art of photography from the early years of its development. Lewis Harding left a distinguished photographic record from the 1850s which illustrates a wide variety of designs and skill in the craft of knitting. In the Rowett Institute hangs a panel of photographs of eighty-two Polperro fishermen of the 1860s. Each is named and wears a knit-frock. About fifteen men wear the ‘seeds and bars’ pattern and others wear ‘ribs’. A few wear more intricate patterns.

Elsewhere in the village, old family photographs have been retrieved and studied. They all reflect the skilled knitting techniques of Polperro women over more than a hundred years.

* ‘Bal maidens’ were employed as surface workers at Cornish mines to do the heavy work of ‘spalling’ or breaking large rocks with long-handled hammers, prior to the dressing of tin with copper ores.

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