Francis Bertram CARGEEG

Francis Bertram CARGEEG
1891
1981

Cargeeg became a keen scholar of Cornish history and language, being among those who actively tried to revive its use before WWII. Using only hand-tools and skills practised over many years in his small workshop at Trevean, Mellanear Road, Hayle (and later at the Old Forge, Lelant), he created a wide range of beautiful wares in copper, always with a strong Cornish style. The Celtic designs and intricately formed lacework found on his pieces were taken from ancient designs found on some of the very earliest Cornish monumental stonework.

He was also a watercolour artist, painting the Cornish landscape, but much of his painting is presently untraced. There are some of his copperware items at Lanhydrock House in Bodmin and the Guildhall in London as well as in many private collections.

In 1934, he became a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd GK, much to his pleasure and pride, and took the Bardic name of 'Tan Dyvarow', which translates from the Cornish as 'Undying Fire'. During WWII, he worked in the Imperial Chemical Industries plant at Hayle, having moved from Trevean with his wife Winifred (nee Hoskin) to a bungalow near Loggans Mill. His contribution and research into the work of the Gorsedd can be seen not only in its pre-War history but also in the unique copper regalia and the horn still regularly used on Bardic ceremonial occasions. He died in 1981, a few years after his wife.

[Information provided by Peter Browning to Penlee House]

media

Artist and copper worker

works and access

Access to works: Lanhydrock House, Bodmin; Guildhall, London; private collections

exhibitions

 

memberships

Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd

misc further info

 

references

Hardie (2009) Artists in Newlyn and Cornwall

http://www.penleehouse.org.uk/about-penlee.html