The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free
Nurdling St Minver
The nurdlers dress up and are out to celebrate New Year’s Day.
In partnership with:
Overview
This game of nurdle is played out of The Four Ways Inn at St Minver near Rock in Cornwall on New Year’s Day. The pastime of nudging or nurdling an elliptical sphere of stone chippendale around the streets with a stick or nurdler is common to both Cornwall and Dorset. The winner is determined by the one who makes the fewest nurdle moves gaining maximum distance with each nurdle throw. Ridiculous costumes are part of the game which is occasionally revived.
Nurdle has come into use for the tiny plastic pellets found in the sea and along coastlines that are used in the plastics recycling industry. In cricket the term means to gently nudge the ball into vacant areas of the pitch and in conversation it means to waffle but in the US it also denotes the lump of toothpaste in the shape of a wave used on tubes and boxes. The game of nurdle is believed to date to the 1500s and tourneys would be played competitively among rival villages. As with all good games the winner receives a cup and celebrations take place in the pub. The Fourways Inn is an eighteenth century coaching inn which once provided a stage stop for coachmen, passengers and horses before the advent of the railways.
Related
Watch for free
Tie and Dye Tie and Dye
Cinemagazine 1970 3 mins
A snazzy intro to the ancient textile-dyeing technique taking the 70s fashion world by storm.
Watch for free
Time on the Wing Time on the Wing
Sponsored film 1969 33 mins Location: Darlington
Everything you always wanted to know about North East homing pigeons (but were afraid to ask).
Watch for free
Make-do-and-mend Make-do-and-mend
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1945 1 mins
A wartime family look on in amazement as their old clothes offer useful advice on how to make their clothing coupons go further.
Watch for free
To Cane a Trout To Cane a Trout
Promotional 1974 34 mins Location: River Aln
Quiet reflection on angling and the craft of elegant cane rods from the famous Hardy Brothers of Alnwick.
Watch for free
Pipe Dreams Pipe Dreams
Amateur film 1965 3 mins Location: Wakefield
A once common object in many households becomes transformed into a quirky dancing troupe in this simple homespun animation.
Watch for free
Model Clipper Sailor Model Clipper Sailor
Current affairs 1965 2 mins Location: Plymouth
Former shipwright turns his talents to model-making.
Watch for free
China O'Brien: The Reunion China O'Brien: The Reunion
Documentary 2024 60 mins
Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton and Keith Cooke reunite three decades on from the groundbreaking martial arts classic.
Watch for free
Women in Action Panel Discussion Women in Action Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 28 mins
Action Xtreme - the UK's leading action film studio - hosts this panel discussion with four leading women in action cinema - Soo Cole, Jo Rolison, Jadey Duffield and Ioanna Karavela.
Watch for free
Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 24 mins
Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
Watch for free
Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 30 mins
Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.
Watch for free
Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell
Documentary 2024 42 mins
Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.
Watch for free
Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels
Short documentary 2024 12 mins
Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.