A Brief History

On the 16th March, 1893, John Passmore Edwards purchased a plot of ground from Francis G. Enys, one of the principal land owners of St. Agnes, part of a large field which had already been partly developed with the construction of the Oddfellows Hall (now the Meadery) in 1881. On the 28th June, 1893, the land and the completed building were conveyed by deed of gift to trustees, for use "in perpetuity, for literary and scientific purposes as an Institute or reading room for the public benefit and to be known as the Miners and Mechanics Institute". The course of events and ceremonies associated with this gift are faithfully recorded in the first minute book of the new Institute by Dr. William Whitworth, who was the first honorary secretary and instrumental in securing Mr. Edwards' benefactbn.

The original Institute was established in 1841 and operated in Churchtown, apparently in the building now occupied by the hardware store and the Women's Institute. Unfortunately all records of the old Institute, apart from a few lecture programmes, have been lost. The Institute 'collapsed' in 1876 owing, said William Whitworth, to the lethargy of its members.

The new Institute was resurrected in 1882 and resumed activities at the room formerly used by the Institute. The premises were bought by several of the principal members and rented to the Institute at £4 per annum. As an opening entertainment a lecture programme was devised for the winter months, with the Oddfellows Hall as the venue. Lectures continued annually for a number of years, but evidently attendances dropped and lecture programmes as such were abandoned for occasional entertainments as opportunities presented themselves. By 1883 the Institute was registered to receive telegrams and had purchased an all wooden billiard table. It was very much a male domain.

In 1889 a letter was received from John Passmore Edwards offering to present 200 volumes to the Institute. This was the year when his public giving began with the construction of an Institute for Blackwater. The offer was gratefully accepted although only 150 books were later received by the Rev. Alfred Rudoll who covered each with brown paper and added them to the members' lending library.

Three years later negotiations for something much grander had obviously borne fruit as Dr. Whitworth was able to report to a special committee meeting that Mr. Symons, builder of Blackwater, had received a communication from John Passmore Edwards in which Mr. Edwards had expressed his desire to build and present to the town of St. Agnes a Public Reading Room and Library in memory of his late brother William. Mr. Symons was "deputed to inquire of the St Agnes people if such a building would be acceptable to them". Needless to say, it was.

A foundation for the future

Wednesday, 7th June 1893 was agreed with Mr. Edwards as the day for the laying of the foundation stone to the St. Agnes Miners and Mechanics Institute. Public meetings, committees, fund raising, the booking of Illogan Reed and Brass Band, the arrangement of 500 free teas for children and 250 for adults (9d each), street decorations and the organisation of a parade, all followed with great local fervour.

Mr. Symons was instructed to prepare a cavity in the foundation stone to receive a bottle containing copies of the local papers and the coins of the realm of that year's issue. Also to be included was an illustration of the silver casket with the script of the Freedom of Truro which Mr. Edwards would receive the day before.

All went according to plan and on the appointed day Mr. Edwards was, with great ceremony, paraded to the stone laying enclosure on the site where an engraved silver trowel was presented to him. Mr. Argall. photographer of Truro. recorded the event and a signed photograph was later presented to the Institute.