WILLIAM GREGOR AND AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE!!

July 14^th is an interesting date. The Lander Gallery is preparing a special exhibition to welcome members of the Old Cornwall Society from all over the region when they descend on Truro.

Among the Treasures for sale are some unique historical documents. Viv Hendra was arranging the display of a particular letter written from Truro to a merchant in London in 1681, all about buying and selling tin. Suddenly to his astonishment he noticed that the date on the letter was none other than July 14^th- the same date as the Old Cornwall Societies’ visit!

What an amazing coincidence! The letter was written 331 years ago to the very day.

The writer was William Gregor- one of the old Truro families. He had just bought the tin after its “coinage” and was arranging to get it to London straight away. You can picture him walking down from the Coinage Hall to the quay in order to arrange the shipping. This document is fascinating as it gives details of the price of the tin in July 1681, the name of the vessel going up to London and the name of its master.

Gregor must have been doing very well because he had recently bought Trewarthenick Estate at Tregony and was able to build the big house there just five years later.

We think the document is unpublished and unresearched. It is likely that nobody else has looked at it properly for over three hunded years.