Two recently catalogued collections of Cornish Antiquities at the Society of Antiquaries of London

Dear Colleagues,

Today’s blog post comes from the Society of Antiquaries of London, and was written by Connie Booth.

I have been volunteering at SAL since October of 2022, and I have recently catalogued archival materials from two Cornish collections, that of William Copeland Borlase FSA (1848-1899), and Rev. William Iago FSA (1836-1918), who was Hon. Secretary of the Cornwall Society of Antiquaries.

In a note inside the front cover of his large 94-page volume, William C. Borlase wrote that in 1879, he was given a considerable number of drawings and extracts on Cornish antiquities, which he amassed into this collection. Most of the drawings and sketches are by John Thomas Blight FSA (1835-1911) and Henry Acheson Crozier (c. 1801-1875).

The first half of the volume contains drawings and sketches of Cornish cromlechs, longstones, stone circles, barrow chambers, stone crosses, architectural details, and plans and elevations of hill forts and other iron age settlements. Many of the subjects were drawn from different perspectives and include measurements and descriptions.

The second half of the volume contains prints of Cornish landmarks, including lighthouses, churches, priories, castles and stately homes. There are several prints, by various hands, of St. Michael’s Mount and Eddystone Lighthouse.

During the late 19th century William Iago, who lived in Bodmin, made hundreds of drawings of ecclesiastical and architectural antiquities in Cornwall, mostly of early stone crosses. Like the drawings in Borlase’s collection, Iago drew the crosses from different perspectives and often included descriptive notes and measurements. He also drew them in situ – sometimes partly buried, lying horizontal in a churchyard or perched on a stone wall.

In addition, Iago’s collection contains several detailed drawings of Bodmin Church, including the armorial bosses in the ceiling, a floorplan as well as baptismal fonts and priory seals.

Furthermore, Iago’s collection includes several pages of notes and drawings of the Bodmin Casket, also known as the Reliquary of St. Petroc, and they include the painted decorations, metalwork and measurements, as well as notes on its history and the materials used.

I found this cataloguing project fascinating, not just for what I learned about Cornish antiquities, but also about Borlase and Iago. Both were Cornish natives with a passion for their shared subject, as evidenced by the level of organisation in these volumes and the amount of detail they contain. Their efforts have left us with an important resource.

The catalogues of the Borlase and Iago collections are now both available online.

Postscript from the Archivist: because Connie enjoyed Cornwall so much she also catalogued Clem Rikard’s photograph collection of Cornish church architecture and furnishings – now available here.

J.