Excited to announce our upcoming exhibition; ‘Old Stone Crosses: photographs by Ruth Proctor Hirst 1961-1977’. 

One of the most absorbing things about photography is its ability to allow people to leave their experiences behind. For a lot of people this may be photographs of their loved ones, family holidays or moments to cherish.

However Ruth Proctor Hirst left behind a wealth of photographs presenting her interests. A published historian and archivist she was also a church crawler, stone hunter, British folklore attendee and took particular interest in old stone crosses. This interest resulted in one of her published works ‘Old Stone Crosses of West Gloucestershire’.

After being entrusted with her photographs, we have digitised the collection and curated a selection of our favourites, from the meeting of the Ovates, Druids and Bards, Padstow’s Obby ‘Orse and St Pirans celebrations to sites in historic interest up and down the south west.