WITHY POT GALLERY
Every withy pot tells a story.....
Traditional crab/lobster pots, known as withy pots, vary in styles around the South West coast and their individual characterisitics each tell a story. They hold integral information which will help piece together and support the oral histories produced throughout the Withy Lore project.
Since 2020 I have been gathering photographs of withy pots and Storylines and I are continuing to do so throughout Withy Lore. Sadly due to the ephemeral nature of withy pots, many styles have now been lost, however studying archive photographs will allow for some of this information to be recovered.
To highlight the key similarities and differences of each pot, I am creating a collection of black and white Illustrations. These also allow opportuntiries to discover and record terminology used to describe parts of the pots, some of which have been linked to the Cornish language.
We are very grateful to the UK Government and Konsel Kernow for providing us with an Intangible Cultural Heritage Grant towards creating a digital resource of photos/illustrations in 2024, which will link to other important information, such facts, texts and oral histories, so that this can be made accessable online, to a wide audience for generations to come.
I am also grateful to have received further funding to create an illustration for local withy pot maker, Tom Chambers from Porthleven, to be shown for the first time at our touring Withy Lore exhibition at the Museum of Cornish Life in Helston from September 12th September - 1st November 2025.
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