Churchtown cobbles
But what’s left now?
On display in St. Agnes museum is a small oval photograph of Churchtown measuring approximately 9 cms. high by 7 cms. wide. It is thought to be the earliest photograph of St Agnes and was taken c. 1850 by Thomas Opie whose occupation at this time was ‘druggist’ at Churchtown. In the picture the whole of road and roadside is cobbled or pitch paved. Looking at the bottom right of the photo there appears to be a line of pitch paving about a foot wide probably used as a drain and separating the road from the pavement. It seems likely that the road surface was pitch paving, stones cut to a uniform shape, while the pavement was cobbles. Cobbles retained their original rounded shape and would have been a cheaper surface to lay with pebbles readily available from the beach.
In 1852 it was decided that the road surface through Churchtown would be changed and at a meeting of ‘The Board of Highways’ on the 8th January 1852 it was resolved that:
The pitch paving in the Churchtown be taken up and instead of pitch paving the street to be McAdamised and a neat curb of stones be laid on each side.
By the late 18th and early 19th centuries new methods of highway construction had been pioneered by British engineers: Thomas Telford and John Loudon McAdam. McAdam developed an inexpensive paving material of soil and stone aggregate (known as McAdam). His road building was simpler than Telford’s, yet more effective at protecting roadways, he found that soil alone would support the road and traffic upon it, as long as it was protected by a road crust that would protect the soil underneath from water and wear. The size of the stones was a critical element of McAdam’s roads. The lower 20 centimetres of road thickness was restricted to stones no larger than 7.5 centimetres. The upper 5 centimetre layer of stones had to be around 2 centimetres. Each stone was checked by workers and supervisors before being laid.
McAdam’s dictated that no materials that could absorb water and damage the structure through freeze-thaw should be incorporated into the road. He also stated that nothing should be laid on top of the road surface to bind them.
The road structure was elevated in the middle allowing rainwater to run off into ditches on either side of the road.
Around 1900 Emily and Annie Gripe at №6 concreted over the cobbles outside their Fancy Draper shop as did №15 the Capital and Counties Bank. This would have given much easier and safer access to the properties.
For many years Churchtown retained much of its old cobbles but recently sections have been covered with concrete or tarmac as the surface has become damaged and unsafe.
In 1989 the cobbles on the path leading to the Womens Institute Hall, having been dug up on several occasions for various reasons over a number of years, became rather uneven, unattractive and dangerous. For this reason the WI wished to improve it by concreting over the old cobbles and holes. Feeling that a concrete path would not be in keeping with the character of the conservation area, the Museum Trust wrote to the WI suggesting that fresh cobbles would be preferable to concrete. The Museum also offered to fund raise to cover the extra cost. The WI agreed and 40 sacks of pebbles were collected and laid just in time for the Victorian Fair. The amount of cobbles needed for the relatively small area had the workers marvelling at the efforts of Victorians who cobbled much of the main street in St Agnes.
Today the area in front of No’s. 7, 8 and 9 and on the other side of the road No’s. 15, 16, 17, 20 and 21 Churchtown are the only areas of the old cobbled pavements.
It is interesting to see that the area in front of №15 Bank House has, at some point, taken up the concrete and relaid cobbles.
