Rescorla is a small village in mid-

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, near

St Austell St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958. History St Austell wa ...

, in the heart of the Clay Country, Cornwall’s china clay

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

district. It belongs to the parish of

Treverbyn Treverbyn is a civil parish and village in mid-Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The church of St Peter is modern as the medieval chapel was closed at the time of the Reformation. The parish was formed from part of St Austell parish in 1847. ...

and is part of a close-knit network of villages that also includes Penwithick, Bugle, Rosevear, Bowling Green,

Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX S ...

and

Luxulyan Luxulyan (; kw, Logsulyan), also spelt Luxullian or Luxulian, is a village and civil parish in mid Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village lies four miles (6.5 km) northeast of St Austell and six miles (10 km) south of Bodmin. ...

. It is about from the

Eden Project The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS E ...

and about from

Methodist Chapel

The existing Primitive

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Chapel dates from around 1873 and was central to village life for generations. It was closed in April 2001 after it fell into disuse. The Friends of Rescorla have purchased the building and are now planning its future as the “Rescorla Centre”. In 2012 the building was reroofed and has had some refurbishments done inside. It is now awaiting further repairs.

Rescorla Festival

The Rescorla Festival is an annual heritage festival first held in June 2008 showcasing the traditions and customs of the Clay Country. The festival brings together the celebration of folk traditions with study and research into local history and culture through literature and oral history. The cornerstone of the Festival is the revival of a traditional dance known as the Snail Creep.

Snail Creep

Historically, Rescorla along with other Cornish villages including Molinnis, Roche, Withiel and St Wenn, continued a custom called “Snail Creep”. This is a dance unique to this part of Cornwall and involves a long procession of couples following a band, led by two people holding up branches – the eye-stalks of the snail. The dancers form a large circle and then spiral into the middle and back out again. There are references to it in 19th Century antiquarian journals and its origins can be traced back to medieval dance. The Molinnis Fife and Drum Band provided the accompaniment for Rescorla’s Snail Creep celebrations when they were last performed over sixty years ago. The obvious reason for calling it the “Snail Creep” is that the dance coils in on itself like the markings on a snail shell: whether there is any deeper significance to this is unclear.

Friends of Rescorla

The Friends of Rescorla is a charity formed to establish the village's former Methodist Chapel as a rural centre for cultural and educational activities. With the support of the Cornish Audio Visual Archive (CAVA) and the

Institute of Cornish Studies The Institute of Cornish Studies (, ICS) is a research institute in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, affiliated with the University of Exeter. Formerly at Pool, near Redruth, then in Truro, it is now on the Penryn Campus near Penryn, Co ...

, they envisage the use of this historic building as the hub of the Rescorla Festival and an exhibition, archive, resource and activity centre. The centre will serve as a base for projects on the Clay Country and rural folklore.

References

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