Hayle Heritage Centre, member of the Industrial Heritage Network Cornwall & Devon, is currently celebrating its reopening for the Summer Season. Everyone is welcome and entry is free!
Based on Foundry Square, Hayle Heritage Centre is housed within the Grade II* listed former offices of Harvey & Co, the nineteenth-century engineering powerhouse famous for production of the Cornish Beam Engine. Other exhibits tell the impressive industrial, maritime and social history of Hayle from the industrial revolution to the present day.
New for 2019 is an exhibition covering the early history of Hayle from the Stone Age to the 5th Century CE. For the first time visitors will be able to see the mysterious 5th century engraved burial stone, the ‘Cunaide’ stone – the oldest burial stone discovered in Cornwall to date. The stone was first unearthed on Plantation in the nineteenth-century by Henry Harvey’s workmen and was eventually placed on Historic England’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ register until conservators, staff and volunteers at the Heritage Centre came to the rescue. The huge stone is part of a wider exhibition telling the history of Hayle from Neolithic times, through the Bronze and Iron Ages to Roman and Post-Roman Britain. With archaeological finds, children’s activities and the conservation story – as well as the stone itself – the new exhibition has something for everyone.
The centre will be open from Tuesday-Friday from April-September (including ‘Summer Saturdays’ from mid July to late August). The centre hosts a range of workshops and events, including monthly talks, tours for local groups and free craft activities for children. The site is fully accessible, with a lift, baby changing facilities and wheelchair accessible toilet. Well behaved dogs are welcome.
Come and discover the hidden history of Hayle!
For details and opening hours please check the centre’s website: www.hayleheritagecentre.org.uk or give them a call on 01736 757683.
Industrial Heritage Networks 