TREVALGA, a historic rural hamlet near Boscastle with a strong and diverse community, is under threat from Marlborough College.

The hamlet, which has been privately owned for nearly the last 1,000 years, was placed into a trust by last owner, Gerald Curgenven. When he died in 1959 he wished that his beloved hamlet be preserved for future generations. A solicitor told residents that Mr Curgenven's ingeniously designed will was written in such a way as to make it very unlikely that any of Trevalga would be sold. An Old Marlburian, Mr Curgenven left the rents and profit from Trevalga to the college.

Following an enquiry from HMRC in 2009, Marlborough College were advised that the trust was invalid and that they owned Trevalga outright. Marlborough College's barrister issued a letter to the previous trustee giving him four days notice to quit and hand over all paper work to their agents. The title deeds for Trevalga were transferred in June this year and on June 21 Marlborough announced to residents that they would be selling the village.

This came as a huge shock to the people of Trevalga who had always been told that the village could not be sold. They were even more devastated to learn that all the properties would be listed individually, as this is totally contradictory to the wishes of Gerald Curgenven. Due to the popularity of property in North Cornwall it is highly unlikely that residents will be able to buy their homes as they will have to compete for them on the open market. Having believed that they would be here for life, and their children after them, many have invested in their homes, the high prices of which will be in part due to this investment.

Some residents have lived in Trevalga for generations and many have been raised believing in the trust. They have found it difficult to accept that Mr Curgenven's trusted and distinguished advisor could make such an obvious error and that this error could go unnoticed for 51 years.

They are pursuing a legal assessment to ascertain whether Marlborough College have received correct information from their legal advisors.

The Trevalga Parish Meeting took place on Monday, August 23 with Dan Rogerson, MP for North Cornwall, in attendance. He pledged his support to Trevalga, became the 2,555th signature on the petition and accepted a 'Battle for Trevalga' t-shirt — despite saying he was unsure that it would fit! Trevalga residents agreed they understand that Mr Rogerson cannot make any guarantees of success but were grateful for his commitment to the community.

He will be making enquiries on behalf of Trevalga and has even offered to present the petition to parliament. Already Mr Rogerson has written to Peter Bryan, Marlborough College's Director of Corporate Resources, to ask that the college council safeguard the Trevalga community. It is understood he has yet to have received a reply.

Mr Rogerson did have a brief talk with Mr Bryan in which the deputy master stated that Marlborough had been advised that they have to sell the hamlet. The Charity Commission have issued a public statement, stating that the college do not have to sell Trevalga.

Marlborough College's agents have stated that the reason for the splitting of the estate is to comply with the 'best value' demands placed by the Charities Act 1993 on any charity selling land or property. The act states it is the best value which can be reasonably obtained for the charity. The people of Trevalga and their supporters think it reasonable that Marlborough College take steps to safeguard the community which was so loved by their benefactor and with which they have such a long history. The old Marlborough College Bursar used to regularly visit Trevalga and was even at the 1992 retirement of Percival T Cory, steward's assistant to Trevalga for 60 years.

The hamlet is being supported by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) organisation who have published an alert on their Cornwall site, the report of which quotes Arthur Mee and John Betjeman writing about Trevalga, and have messaged their members with this.