Craig Weatherhill | |
---|---|
Born | 1950 or 1951 United Kingdom |
Died | 18 or 19 July 2020 (aged 69) Cornwall |
Nationality | Cornish |
Craig Weatherhill (1950 or 1951[a] – 18 or 19 July[b] 2020) was a Cornish antiquarian, novelist and writer on the history, archaeology, place names and mythology of Cornwall.
Weatherhill attended school in Falmouth, where his parents ran a sports shop. He played football for a number of local clubs, including Mawnan,[1] and played as goalkeeper for the county football team.[2]
Between 1972 and 1974, Weatherhill served with the RAF, training as a cartographer. He was discharged after a serious back injury.[3] He worked as a planning officer, architectural designer and historic conservation expert in local government and private practice.[4] Under the tutelage of historian P.A.S. Pool he conducted archaeological surveys of West Cornwall.[5] Weatherhill was also a Conservation Officer at Penwith District Council.[6] He contributed to the BBC's Radyo Kernow, in particular to the series The Tinners' Way and Beachcombers.[7]
In 1981 Weatherhill was made a Bard of Gorsedh Kernow for services to Cornish archaeology, taking the bardic name Delynyer Hendhyscans (Draughtsman of Archaeology).[1][4]
He was a member of Cornish language organisations Cussel an Tavas Kernuak and Agan Tavas, as well as of campaign group Kernow Matters To You. In 2020, Gorsedh Kernow conferred its Awen award on Weatherhill for outstanding contribution to Penwith and broader Cornish culture.[8]
Weatherhill also took part in numerous archaeological surveys and excavations, including the excavation of Bosiliack Barrow in 1985, among other ancient monuments across West Cornwall. During the 1980s, Weatherhill was responsible for rediscovering three lost ancient holy wells in the space of just a few weeks, those wells being Venton Bebibell, Venton Zennor and Bosporthennis Holy Well, all within the Penwith Moors. Weatherhill's rediscovery of Venton Bebibell lead to the reviving of the tradition of "dolly dunking" by the Cornish Ancient Sites Protection Network (CASPN) in 2004. More recently, restoration work has been carried out on Bosporthennis Well.
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