Joan Rendell MBE (1921 – 4 May 2010) was an English historian, writer (mainly on Cornish subjects), and phillumenist.

Life

Rendell was born in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, in 1921. She was the daughter of Gervase Rendell, born 1879 in

Eastry Eastry is a village and civil parish in the Dover district, in Kent, England, around southwest of Sandwich. It was voted "Kent Village of the Year 2005". The parish includes the hamlets of Heronden and Selson. In 2011 the parish had a populatio ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. For most of her life her home was at

Werrington, Cornwall Werrington () is a civil parish and former manor now in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Prior to boundary changes it straddled the Tamar and lay within the county of Devon. The portion on the west side was transferred to Cornwall by the abolition o ...

. She was the author of more than 30 books, mainly on Cornish subjects. In September 1980 she was made a Bard of

Gorsedh Kernow Gorsedh Kernow (Cornish Gorsedd) is a non-political Cornish organisation, based in Cornwall, United Kingdom, which exists to maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall. It is based on the Welsh-based Gorsedd, which was founded by Iolo Mo ...

, taking the name ''Scryfer Weryn'' (Writer of Werrington). She was also an avid collector of

matchbox A matchbox is a container or case for matches, made of paperboard, cardboard, thin wood, or metal, generally in the form of a box with a separate drawer sliding inside the cover. Matchboxes generally measure 5 x 3.5 x 1.5 cm, and commonly have ...

covers and had an estimated collection of 300,000. Another interest was

corn dolly Corn dollies or corn mothers are a form of straw work made as part of harvest customs of Europe before mechanisation. Scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries theorized that before Christianisation, in traditional pagan European culture it was be ...

making, on which she also wrote a book. Rendell died in a fire at her bungalow in Yeolmbridge, near

Launceston, Cornwall Launceston ( , ; rarely spelled Lanson as a local abbreviation; ) is a town, ancient borough, and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is west of the middle stage of the River Tamar, which constitutes almost the entire borde ...

, on 4 May 2010.

Awards

Rendell was awarded the MBE in 1958, for raising £100,000 in

National Savings National Savings and Investments (NS&I), formerly called the Post Office Savings Bank and National Savings, is a state-owned savings bank in the United Kingdom. It is both a non-ministerial government department and an executive agency of HM T ...

stamps. She went on to be national chairman of the National Savings Bank. In 1977 she was awarded the

Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal () is a commemorative medal created in 1977 to mark the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession in 1952. The medal is physically identical in all realms where it was awarded, save for Canada ...

.Notes in ''Superstition and Folklore'', by Michael Williams; St Teath: Bossiney Books, 1982

Publications (selected)

* ''Cornwall Strange but True'' * ''Collecting Matchbox Labels'' * ''The Story of the

Bude Canal The Bude Canal was a canal built to serve the hilly hinterland in the Cornwall and Devon border territory in the United Kingdom, chiefly to bring lime-bearing sand for agricultural fertiliser. The Bude Canal system was one of the most unusual ...

''. Callington: Stannary Press, 1978 * ''Along the Bude Canal''. Bodmin: Bossiney Books, 1979 * ''Around Bude and Stratton'' * ''Cornwall's Historic Buildings'' * ''The Book of Werrington: a pictorial celebration'' * ''Lundy Island''. St Teath: Bossiney Books * ''North Cornwall in the Old Days'' * ''Hawker Country''. St Teath: Bossiney Books * ''Around Launceston'' * ''Country Crafts'' * ''Saltash'' * ''Cornish Churches''. St Teath: Bossiney Books, 1982 *''Gateway to Cornwall''. St Teath: Bossiney Books

References

External links

Cornish author dies
Westcountry TV report on her death {{DEFAULTSORT:Rendell, Joan 1921 births 2010 deaths Writers from Cornwall English historians Bards of Gorsedh Kernow English book and manuscript collectors Historians of Cornwall Members of the Order of the British Empire English women non-fiction writers British women historians Writers from Plymouth, Devon