Old Library Hosts New Temple to the Written Word
The Writers’ Block opened their doors within the Ladder building in January 2023. Since then, they have met and worked with many people living in the local area, but are keen to engage even more residents.
Their aim is to celebrate and showcase the story projects happening in Redruth and to highlight the creativity of writers, artists and makers, whatever their level of skill or experience.
They deliver regular creative writing workshops for young people during term time, and this summer they are partnering with The Poetry Society’s Young Poets Network for two free events on July 20. Anyone aged 11–18 is welcome to join, regardless of experience.
“The connection people have with the building as the former library makes it a welcoming space for people to come into. A lot of people learnt to read in the children’s library, which is now The Writers’ Block. The Ladder’s interest in heritage, storytelling and performance aligns with our own, and we are excited to see what is next.”
Grace Davies
Kresen Kernow
Kresen Kernow (‘Cornwall Centre’) is home to the world’s largest collection of documents, books, maps and photographs related to Cornwall’s history.
“We have masses of preventable evil side-by-side with a section of society who assist to produce that evil by consuming too much and wasting more.”
Passmore Edwards
It is a state-of-the-art archive built in the shell of the former Redruth Brewery, which opened in 2019. As well as 14 miles of shelving to store over 1.5 million of Cornwall’s treasured archives, the centre has research and exhibition spaces, learning rooms, preservation and digitisation studios, and a café.
In short, it’s a world-class resource in the heart of Redruth.
Still, I wasn’t sure about it when I first went. Isn’t this just a place for dusty scholars?
I realised I was wrong when I saw Mes a’n Kemmyn (or ‘Out of the Ordinary’) in 2022.
This exhibition and series of performances brought together four plays:
The Cornish Ordinalia,
Gwrians an Bys,
Bewnans Ke, and
Bewnans Meriasek
All written in medieval Cornish and all over 600 years old.
Some of our island’s oldest texts were brought together for perhaps the first time in centuries.
These plays were brought to life again with flame, spectacle and bawdy humour, outside Kresen and in St Just. They still charmed and entertained an audience 600 years later.
These stories were just as relevant now and slotted comfortably into the Cornish theatrical lineage of outdoor theatre, from Kneehigh and Footsbarn to Wild Works, Miracle, and Rogue.
It reminded me that these archives of our shared heritage are not meant to be mere remnants of the past, but an inspiring, living connection that runs through us and on.