Cornish Serpentine: A Cornish Industry Explored

Penlee House Gallery and Museum, Penzance, is staging the first ever exhibition, coinciding with the launch of the first major book, telling the somewhat forgotten story of the Cornish Serpentine industry.   

The production of items from Serpentine, a colourful form of rock found on the Lizard peninsula, was once one of Cornwall’s chief industries.  Although it reached its peak during the mid- to late-Victorian period and the main factories no longer exist, even today there are still a handful of people making a full time living from Cornish Serpentine.    

The exhibition and book look at the geological basis of this industry, the areas where Serpentine was (and still is) found and where it was worked, including the small workshops at the Lizard and the famous factory at Poltesco.  

Although Serpentine is synonymous with the Lizard, the first major works were actually built in Penzance – the celebrated Penzance Serpentine Marble Company – who exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and supplied pieces to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert for Osborne House, their residence on the Isle of Wight.  

The exhibition traces the industry both in Penzance, including the workshops operated by the Drew and Stevens families, and on the Lizard and includes some large ornate items from the major factories together with pieces from the smaller workshops.   

The examples included have been chosen to give visitors an idea of the range and breadth of styles of objects created from Serpentine by extremely skilled craftsmen.  As early as the 1860s, however, the larger factories were producing wares designed for the burgeoning tourist market.  Although the exhibition includes impressive and unusual items, from Classical urns to inlaid tables, it also includes tourist wares from the 1960s, with Pixies jumping over toadstools, truly offering something for everybody!   

The work of today’s makers has not been forgotten and the work of the Casley family, John Hendy and Derek Pitman will all be on show, not to mention sculptors such as David Jones and Lawrence Murley.