The Constantine Museum is located alongside the Tolmen Centre, in Fore Street, seeks to interpret the long economic and social history of this large Cornish parish, which once, until boundary changes in 1986, included parts of Mawnan Smith and Gweek. Copper and tin mining and granite quarrying are celebrated as these were major sources of income and employment in the past.
In 1901 the majority of male residents in Fore Street were employed in the quarries. Quays were constructed on the north bank of the Helford to ship granite, the most successful being Port Navas, but also included a number of smaller quays including Scotts Quay .
The Museum was originally established in the Methodist Chapel’s vestry by members of the Constantine History Group led by Ronnie Rashleigh in the 1990s. Following the sale of the Chapel, the collection was transferred to the Constantine Enterprises Company, a not-for-profit community organisation. For some years, from 2005, the museum was known as the Constantine Heritage Collection, but the name was changed in 2013 to the Constantine Museum. In the past year there has been a slight name change to Constantine Museum and Archive.
This name change reflects a desire amongst the Committee members to open up the archive to members of the public using digital technologies and making access easier and available on a 24-hour basis online. This is part of a much longer plan for the museum and won’t happen immediately.
Whilst the museum and archive is an accredited museum, and this means that it has achieved a standard that is on a par with the professional museums where professional staff are employed rather volunteers giving up their spare time. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact us via email in the first instance, or put a note through our letter box.
At present the committee is committed to ensuring our databases are completely upto date and accurate. We are also members of the West Cornwall Museums group organised through Cornwall Museums Partnership and from Spring 2024, this will be organised through Southwest Museums Partnership based in Bristol.
We also work closely with Kresen Kernow (Cornish Record Office and Cornish Studies Library in Redruth and are members of CAN (Cornish Archive Network), based at Kresen Kernow, and neighbouring museums as well.
The museum has a library of books most of which reference Constantine and a growing archive. Visitors of all ages, groups and researchers always receive a warm welcome.
West Briton: 19 May 1994
