Penlee Stores, Fore Street, Tregoney

Fore Street c1955
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I was born in the same bedroom as my father at Penlee Stores, a little shop (now long gone) opposite Penlee House. My grandfather started the business, he was what is termed a hawker. He travelled the Roseland peninsula selling from his horse and cart anything anyone wanted or needed. His name was Stephen James Lidgey, known as Steve Lidgey. When he died, my father Leo Lidgey took over the business, and he and my mother ran it for many years.

The Lidgey name has now gone from Tregoney but in my childhood there were many who bore the name Lidgey. The first Lidgey in Tregoney was a George, born in Redruth in 1735, who married a Tregoney girl, Jane Dyer, on 30th September 1755 at St Cuby Church. My sister still lives in Tregoney with her children, under her married name. I, after my divorce, returned to my maiden name Lidgey. I was born a Lidgey and I will die a Lidgey.