Church Records Gazetteer & sound recordings
The Church Records Gazetteer is the catalogue for the Church Records Archive. The Archive was collated by Frances Crow, Katie Etheridge and Simon Persighetti and is hosted by Art Centre Penryn.
Church Records Gazetteer link to PDF
Cover and index based on the Pew Rent Ledger from the Kresen Kernow Archive.
image © crow architecture
In its basic form a Gazetteer is a list of items or a catalogue, which locates objects in space. Taking a technique used in conservation architecture, one of the simplest forms is a list of rooms with photographs of the four walls, ceiling and floor.
We have taken this approach as a starting point to create the ‘Church Records’ Gazetteer, an annotated document containing physical and digital content created through the Church Records project cataloguing the tangible and intangible culture recorded.
Gazetteers are usually organised by type and scope of information presented. The Church Records Gazetteer uses Sound as its principle guide to investigate what is meant by the description - the Auditory Plan.
…that every person in the chapel could see and hear the preacher.
The Auditory Plan
By mapping the spatial relationships we see in the building and referring to archival records, the Church Records Gazetteer shows the relationship between the ‘Speaker’ who stood at the centre of the auditory plan and the ‘hearers; who sat in the pews and how this defined the overall scale and form of the building.The material found in the Church Records Archive and referenced in this Gazetteer, has been collected in conversation with the community, through visits to local archives and collections, and spending time in the chapel to discover what the building itself can reveal about the motivations of the people who built it, worshiped in it and came together in communion.
The Auditory Plan
The drawing is based on an original sketch drawing of the Penryn Methodist Church dated 1865 and held in the Kresen Kernow Archive
© Frances Crow, Crow Architecture
Record Cards
The Gazetteer also includes record cards that provide provide a visual record of the artefacts referenced in the text. These artefacts were discovered or created during the making of the Church Records project. The artefacts can be located on the Auditory Plan and at the time of creating the archive within the building itself.
Example of a record card for the Singing Seat
Sound Recordings and Audio Files
The Church Record Gazetteer also includes sound recordings and audio files that document the sound of the building both in use and as an acoustic form. As we discovered through the research in this project the sounds heard within the building has a direct influence on its form and function. Therefore the Gazetteer also includes sound recordings of speaking from the pulpit, playing the organ, communal singing and recollections from the community. We have also collated recordings of the sound of the building itself as an impulse response and a digital sample set of the organ.
Re:sounding - Recording the Hele & Co Organ
On 29 August 2024, David Collins played the organ for the Church Records project and Robin Tyndale-Biscoe recorded the pieces as a sonic record of the Hele & Co Organ played in the empty building.
Re:Sounding - an evening of music and song
Re:Sounding held on 7 September 2024 celebrated and captured one of the more ephemeral qualities of this important heritage building - its unique acoustics. The recordings was made by Robin Tyndale-Biscoe and records, singing by Mabe Ladies Choir, playing of the organ by Rico Gerber and spoken word from the pulpit.
re:Sounding - Hele & Co Organ Sample Set
Pipes of the Hele & Co Organ
Image
© Robin Tyndale-Biscoe
If you would like to have access to the sample set created by Robin Tyndale-Biscoe please contact Crow Architecture or Art Centre Penryn
Instructions for use - refer to the Gazetteer section 2.7
Re:collections - oral Histories
At the first Open Day for Art Centre Penryn on April 27th 2024 many people spoke about their connections to the Chapel either as Methodists or as local residents who have been to social or ceremonial events in the building. They filled in index cards with thoughts and memories and some respondents agreed to be recorded. Small Acts invited them back into the Church to choose a specific location or pew where they would like to be interviewed. This meant that we are able to hear their voices recorded in the particular echo, ambience and auditory atmosphere of the building they were speaking about.
Charles Wenmoth, Lisa Dann, Phillipa Holden and Rose Webber shared their recollections of life at Penryn Methodist Church. These conversations are available to listen to here and are part of the Church Records Archive.
Images © Art Centre Penryn
Re:collections - tea party
On Thursday 25th July 2024, Small Acts hosted a tea party in Penryn Methodist Church, bringing together a group of individuals who had been connected to the chapel in different ways over the years to share their memories in a convivial setting. The conversation became an opportunity for tea party guests to reminisce collectively whilst reflecting on how important the chapel has been to their lives individually.
At the tea table: Sharon Bawden, Margaret Dancer, Margaret Harrison, Jenny Major, Janet Thomas, Rose Webber.
Tea Party held at Penryn Methodist Church
Image © Art Center Penryn
An audio recording and a transcript is available of the conversation. If you are interested in accessing this for research or for personal interest then please get in touch with Art Centre Penryn or Small Acts
Re:Drawing - Impulse Response
In 2022 we worked with Penryn Museum and Falmouth and Exeter Universities Immersive Business to preserve a record of the interior by using a LIDAR scanner, from which was produced the ghostly image of the pointcloud.
One element was missing from the model -the acoustics of the space- which as many visitors to the church mentioned, where amazing. The desire to capture the acoustic with an impulse recording and the ghostly image of the point cloud were the catalyst for the Church Records project.
So in addition to creating a visual digital record through the LIDAR we have also captured the acoustics by recording its Impulse Response, a sonic equivalent of the pointcloud.
Both the pointcloud and the impulse response are digital models of the visual and acoustic space of the church and together they create a historic record of the auditory plan, with its balcony, pews, pulpit and rostrum, that provided the environment that dictated the relationship between the ‘hearers’ and the ‘speaker’.
Image © Crow Architecture - created with support from Exeter and Falmouth Universities Immersive Business Support programme
Both the LIDAR and the Impulse Response recording, send out a pulse of information - light in the LIDAR and sound in the case of the impulse response. These artefacts disperse through the space and where they hit a surface, send information back to the device that is recording them. The former, produces points of light in the form of a pointcloud and the latter a resonance from the reflections of sound that reverberate off the surfaces of the space.
If you would like to download the impulse response please contact Crow Architecture or Art Centre Penryn.
Instructions for use - refer to the Gazetteer section 4.5
