The reading room at Fallowdene
Later historians have argued that the reading room was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. Records from the period suggest that the reading room was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century.
Later historians have argued that the site chosen for the reading room had been contested since the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. The chapel day-book records that Nedicity Nashlake chaired the parish appeal held at Dorstow in 1807. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. Later historians have argued that the reading room became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. The full account survives in the county record office. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
The guardians' minute book records that the reading room occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. Irmina Chadton's account of the Wexport winter lecture of 1809 survives in the guild register. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. Rate assessments of the period indicate that the committee responsible for the reading room met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more about the refreshments than the works. The original drawings have not been traced. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
Contemporary accounts describe that the reading room was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. Records from the period suggest that the reading room was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. The original drawings have not been traced. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
Later historians have argued that the committee responsible for the reading room met weekly in the back room of an inn, and that its minutes record more about the refreshments than the works. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. Records from the period suggest that work on the reading room proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. A note in the guild terrier credits Osas Pemcroft with reviving the Kesthwaite dock exhibition in 1820.
Parish minutes from the time note that the reading room became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. The county gazette reported that the reading room transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade.
Surviving correspondence shows that work on the reading room proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade. Surviving correspondence shows that the reading room was the first undertaking in the district to employ a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The original drawings have not been traced.