THE housing for an historic barometer in Falmouth which was stolen around 50 years ago is to be moved as close to its original position as possible after planning permission was granted to move it.
Falmouth Civic Society had applied to Cornwall Council to move the granite housing in preparation for a replica of the original barometer to be put in place. Cornwall Council's planning officer gave the application the go-ahead on Friday.
The original barometer designed by Vice Admiral Robert FitzRoy was installed by the RNLI on the old Custom House on Arwenack Street, now The Stable, on February 6, 1868.
The publicly funded FitzRoy Barometer was issued by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to coincide with the arrival of Falmouth’s first lifeboat ‘The City of Gloucester’
FitzRoy was a influential meteorologist who captained the HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage to the Southern Cone. He coined the phrase 'forecast' and founded what would later become the Met Office in 1854.
Around 111 years later Falmouth's barometer was stolen in the 1960s according to RNLI records, and its granite housing has remained empty ever since.
The existing granite housing at the old Custom House building
Falmouth Civic Society took up the challenge of finding a suitable antique replacement to be held in a more secure fixing within the refurbished and repositioned housing with a new access and viewing panel designed to prevent theft.
With the approval of Fullers Brewery and The Stable management, the society raised the necessary funds by public subscription to enable it to buy a 19th Century FitzRoy Barometer.
The Falmouth Civic Society Replacement FitzRoy Barometer
They estimate that the total costs of installing the barometer will come to £4,000.
They now have funding, with donations from local benefactors, the developers of the FitzRoy Apartments, together with Lord FitzRoy and Sir Robin Knox Johnstone, and are currently engaged in discussion with A&P for the fabrication of a secure cabinet to house the barometer which will be set in the existing granite housing.
The barometer housing, was moved to its current position under the portico of the The Stable (Old Custom House) in 2016 from its original position on the street to make way for a disabled access door as part of the List Building and Planning Consent.
The plan is to re-locate the housing as close as possible to its original position and to install the replacement barometer.
The housing is constructed of three components:
- Concrete Plinth:
- Granite base section inscribed at lower right, front: “Freeman, Penryn”
- Granite barometer housing section inscribed at head, front: “Royal National Lifeboat Institution
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