John Passmore Edwards
Passmore Edwards Free Library, Bodmin
History
| "This building is to be erected through the munificence of Mr. J. Passmore Edwards, on a site in Fore-street, Bodmin, acquired from Lord Robartes, at the junction of the road leading to the Beacon, where stands the prominent obelisk to the memory of the late General Gilbert, of the same town. It will be a great improvement to this part of the ancient borough, and is centrally situate for the population. The plan exhibits the arrangement of the ground floor, and the upper story is to be devoted to a local museum and an excellent suite of classrooms for the use of classes in technical instruction in connection with the County- Council scheme of technical education. The walling will be in Margate Wood stone, with Bath stone dressings. The internal joinery will be in pitch pine, varnished. The roofing will be of the Cornish Grey slates, quarried at Delabole, and the base and steps of Luxulyan granite." This is how the new Bodmin Free Library was described in the "Building News" on 1 May 1896. | ||
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The
Bodmin Free Library was erected on the site of Hugo's Temperance Hotel
and Grocery. The Hotel was licensed to hire out carriages and was
formerly the Western Inn which had boasted a landlord named "Seven
Belly Williams". The site was offered to the Town by Lord Robartes
for £100. One of the Institutions opened in the Jubilee Year of Queen Victoria, the library was opened on 24 May 1897 by the Right Hon Leonard H Courtney MP. |
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| As
with other libraries of the time books for loan were catalogued and
listed on an index. Once the borrower had chosen from the list he
ordered the books at the hatch in the Borrowers Lobby on the Ground
Floor. The librarian's assistant would then collect the books from
the shelving in the Lending Department. Also on the Ground Floor was
the Newspaper and magazine room, the Librarian's room and the Boys
room. This catered for the younger boys still at school and classes
were also held there. On the First Floor was the Committee Room, Periodicals Room and the Ladies Room. There was also a Reference Library and Museum holding "artifacts of interest from within the parish and beyond". The ladies room and the periodicals room were divided by a removable partition giving a larger room. These two rooms were let to the Technical Instruction Committee for Science and Art Schools at £10 per annum. |
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© Dean Evans 2003
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September 5, 2005
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