James W Ladner Ruan Minor

[Talacharn]

I have had a response from the new post office, the local history group I was hoping to meet next week have disbanded. There is a Facebook page, the friends of Ruan Minor who might be able to help. That is probably why they were not mentioned when I contacted the new post office last month.

I need a map of Ruan Minor from around 1930. The rocords office in Truro is closed at present for refurbishment. As for estate agents, I do not know who they are.

[Little Nell]

I know this will not provide you with any detailed old map, but this site allows you to zoom right in on the village and to see individual plots with their current names.

https://map.cornwall.gov.uk/website/ccmap/?zoomlevel=10&xcoord=171980&ycoord=15185&wsName=ccmap&layerName=

Since there is a Glebe Terrace adjacent to the older Post Office site, now Trevaze House, that might be worth investigating.

I have looked at the Cornwall OPC site as well.  It is possible that the co-ordinator for Ruan Minor may know some local resources that you might try. 

Another possibility is Cornwall FHS in Lemon Street in Truro:
https://www.cornwallfhs.com/

Unfortunately the Cornish Studies Library and the Record Office are closed in preparation for their move to a new site.

Nell

[Talacharn]

In being a newbie I have learnt not to make assumptions, but it is something I continue to do. Looking at a 1931 photograph of the building that was the post office of 1960, in 1931 it does not look like it was trading. Other photographs of similar buildings, name important ones, so surely the post office in that series would be named.

Trevase House on Glebe Terrace was the post office in 1911. The houses around Glebe Place are all of the same year and too young for my search. As for Glebe Terrace there is a possibility noted as number 5 on the map. From Google Maps I cannot see a name and did not find one last month when I visited. I may need to knock on the door of number 5. With the mentions of Glebe in a specific area of the village, most of it, at one time, must have been owned by the church. On the council map, there is no mention of Glebe House, but one existed. I feel land and property was sold by the church. In doing so reference remains in the road names, but the properties have been renamed to remove that association with the church. There are two other contenders for Glebe Cottage, a semi-detached pair behind Trevase House called Glenhurst and Roselyn. It would fit with the census, when Glebe Cottage is followed by a property in Poltesco as they are on Poltesco Lane. But both names are likely to be original.

Today I had a reply from Truro Dioceses and they have no records of Glebe House. They only suggested the records office, but I am aware they are closed and in the process of moving. I have also sent an email to Cornwall FHS asking, but do not fancy paying £38 membership to find one property.

[hanes teulu]

Some Ruan Minor residents put the name of their cottage on their 1911 Census return - the occupant of Glebe Cottage was an example. However, the cottage names were omitted from the Enumerator's List - viewable under "Related Images" on FindMyPast.

Check for "Willey, Ruan Minor" 1911 Census, note cottage name and check the Enumerator's List.

[hanes teulu]

Kelly's Directory Devon/Cornwall 1914
http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/296369

A description of Ruan Minor 1914. It identifies the Post Office which ties in with the 1911 details. Unfortunately cottage names only appears against a few entries. The 1911 occupant of Glebe Cottage is not listed. One or two names on the 1911 Census are mentioned with the address "Churchtown" - I think! I did this check some weeks ago and don't have the the notes I made at the time (currently on holiday).   

[Talacharn]

Hi hanes teulu,
I am in Cornwall at present and both yesterday and today I called at Ruan Minor. Today I knocked on a few doors of possibles for Glebe Cottage. The first was New Thatch, but the present owner showed me a detailed history and it has always been called New Thatch. I then knocked at 5 Glebe Terrace and had a good chat with an elderly guy. Another older guy was walking past, so I was introduced. He used to be the postman and in the 1940s as a student, he could be pulled out of school if the post required delivering. He felt there was a Ladner in the village who possibly taught in the school. That is accurate. As for Glebe Cottage, yet another who can remember the name but not where it was. He said the 1960s Post Office, of which there are photographs, was there in the 1940s. The previous Post Office of 1911, continued as a shop. In the electoral registers 1922 - 1929, the Ladners are listed as living at Churchtown. He explained that the area between Treworder Farm and the church was called Churchtown. There was at least one cottage, of rustic construction, and demolished to build bungalows, along with more housing now known as Glebe Place in the 1940s. He feels that was Glebe Cottage. It would make sense, that after Glebe Cottage in the 1911 census, the recorder went to Poltesco. The census said it was also next to the Post Office, which makes more sense from what I have heard today. I feel my search has ended, it was a hope that Glebe Cottaage could be still standing, but it now seem not to be the case. The Church of England, local history society, Cornwall Archives etc. have no information. My search, attempted to unpick a few clues on a postcard, and I have found so much more than I ever imagined, thanks to help from RootsChat.

[hanes teulu]

Hi Talacharn,
I'm in Devon at the moment chasing "rellies" via Exeter Archives.
You have mentioned "Rose Cottage". A while ago I checked Ruan Minor via Streetview for that property without success (linked to my 1911 findings). Can you confirm where it is? Is it close to Trevaze House (found on Streetview with name partially blurred out) on Poltesco Lane?

 

[Talacharn]

I have not found a Rose Cottage walking around. There are 5 cottages next to Trevaze House and I knocked at number 5. There is a pair of semi-detached on Poltesco Lane, but the names today seem original. I also knocked at New Thatch, where I saw a detailed history of the house. Little Nel mentioned Rose Cottage from the 1939 Register. ‘Between Treworder and Glebe Cottage, there appear the following: Rose Cottage; The Haven (which was a bungalow); and Glebe House. Poltesco Mill appears after Glebe Cottage and this is not in the village itself.’ It seems the area known as Churchtown was between Treworder Farm and the church. Glebe Cottage could have been cob construction and rotted over time. When the church sold land for a housing estate in the 1940s Glebe Cottage, Glebe House and possibly Rose Cottage were sold, in gaining more money as building land. There seems nothing between Bay View House/Post Office and Treworder Farm. The Haven throws me, as modern maps show it at the other end of that road, opposite to what is now the Post Office and it is very old. There may have been another house of that name, defined by the Churchtown prefix. The guy I spoke to, was sure the Post Office in 1940, and probably earlier, was at Bay View House. The earlier Post Office at Trevaze House, shown on an 1911 map, had stopped by then, but for a while it traded as a shop. He said, there was more than one property referred to as Churchtown, which would account for those listed by Little Nel. In the business register, there are several, with some listed as appartments.

[hanes teulu]

Thanks for the update