Roseland Carol Project

Over the last year the Cornish National Music Archive, Roseland Music Society, and St. Gerrans & Porthscatho Old Cornwall Society have collected, researched, and performed music associated with the Roseland.

Our Roseland Carol Project is tremendously exciting. In Cornwall we have a special cultural tradition of singing “local” carols – carols which are loved and performed on the streets of local villages. We have collected 40+ carols with a Roseland connection, and each one has a fantastic story. Some come from the collection of Francis Woolcock (1810-1888) a dairyman who lived at Fore Street, Tregony; yet more from Mr W. C. Dunstone of Portloe, and published in the Cornish Song Book in 1929.

Historic newspapers have revealed more. An article from 1904 related how a carol named “List Our Merry Carol” was performed at the school in Philleigh. At Portscatho, in the past, carollers always ended their performance with the “Christian’s Goodnight.” On Boxing Day in Portloe the residents started carolling by the chapel, and then performed the carol “Awake! Awake!” outside of the church. There is also a Cornish language carol which has become part of a St Just and St Mawes tradition.

We have carols connected with all Roseland parishes except Ruan Lanihorne, however, a grant from Sheffield University will allow us to commission a brand-new carol for Ruan. All the carols and their stories will be collected into a new book to be published later this year.

In the autumn we will be gathering people together to learn the Roseland carols, ready for a performance at Truro Cathedral on Wednesday 4th December. During December we will sing the carols at various events around the Roseland. Our intention is to re-establish a Roseland street-carolling tradition for the future.