Archaeology work starts at the site at the top of Pydar Street this week, which Cornwall Council hopes will expose the remains of an old isolation hospital and cottages which formed Boscawen Row – one of the busiest streets in Truro before it was demolished in 1966 to make way for the Carrick development.

James Windsor, Pydar project lead for Cornwall Council, said: “Hopefully we will find some of the Boscawen Row housing as well as an old farmhouse which sat at the top of the site. We know there was a hospital there from some of the trial trenches that were dug.

“If and when we find some of the houses, we will hold events. Former residents who lived on Boscawen Row are very keen to have a look if we find anything. They may be able to stand at the threshold of their old homes. The work will take place over the next three to four months depending on what we find when we dig down.”

Boscawen Row ran all away across the demolished site, down to the River Allen. As well as the isolation hospital, the area included almshouses, gardens, allotments and wasteland.

A close-knit neighbourhood community existed around the former cattle market and a chapel, which once stood on Castle Street at the site currently occupied by Coodes solicitors.

“These were people who had a wide range of skills and there were extended family networks, very strong bonds and social interaction. It was proper community – proper Truro,” former Mayor of Truro Bert Biscoe has previously said.

“It was put to all these people that if they gave up their houses on that site and allowed themselves to be rehoused, not only would they improve their housing but they would be making a contribution to the well-being of the whole town. They acquiesced. It’s not to say that there wasn’t resistance, but by and large there was a consensus of understanding that the development of Pydar Street was about improving the conditions for the whole of Truro.”

The story of the once thriving Pydar area is told in the 20-minute documentary RISE, directed by Truro film-maker Brett Harvey in 2018. He said at the time: “It all started because I bumped into Bert Biscoe in the street… he said he had a story for a film and we began chatting about what happened to the Pydar Street community and about the community in Truro in general. My aim was to give voice to this lost community, to let them share memories and tell their own story in their own words but also to look to the future of the area, which is up for redevelopment. The film is also a tribute to Tom Salmon. His film Return To Truro made for the BBC in the late ’60s/early ’70s was a massive inspiration.”