Cornwall is the peninsula that runs west and south of the main part of the island of Britain, into the Atlantic. Beautiful and distinctive, here are some highlights of a recent tour I took there with the trou company Road Scholar.
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| The coast of Cornwall |
First, a map showing Cornwall, circled in blue:
The result of their position in the corner of the Britain but relatively near to Ireland, Wales and France, made for a different experience in the days when water travel was far easier than travel over land, which was pretty much all of history except the last 200 years.
Prehistoric folk left lots of stonework in Cornwall, from this prehistoric tomb, the Lanyon Quoit to stone circles, caves and more. The Lanyon Quoit fell over in the 1815 and was restored in 1824, quite a feat at the time since the capstone weighs 12 tons and they lifted it with a winch pulled by horses. The restored Quoit is not the same as originally. Before it fell, it was high enough that horsemen rode through it--today it only has about 6' of clearance. Originally four stones supported the capstone, but one had broken and could not be reused. We honor the past, but, like Lanyon Quoit, do not always get it right.
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| Lanyon Quoit |
The Celtic people in Cornwall developed their own language, related to the languages of Brittany and Wales. The Cornish language officially died out in 1777 with the death of the last fluent native speaker, but small groups who used it remained and by then much had been written about it, so learning to speak it remains possible. Today it is experiencing a revival.
The Romans traded with Cornwall for tin, so, already getting what they wanted, they never invaded Cornwall. Tin has been the key to Cornish prosperity from prehistoric times. Cornish tin was traded all over the world. In the late 1900s other sources of tin outcompeted it. Until then, Cornish mining technology was the best in the world. However, Cornish tin could not compete with tin veins that were easier to extract in countries with lower wages. So the practical Cornish exported their techniques and their skilled miners, to the Americas, to South Africa, to Australia, but at home the economy crashed. All the Cornish tin mines had closed by 1998, but there is talk of one or two reopening. The economics of tin mining continuously change.
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tower of Geevor Tin Mine
Its cables lower workers down into the mine, pull ore up.
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The Geevor Mine, which closed in 1990, offers tours: it was very interesting, both the mining technology and the stories of its miners. So important was Cornish tin to England that for five hundred years Cornwall had an independent parliament and legal system set up just for the tin miners, the Stannary Parliament and the Stannary Courts (from before 1198 to 1753). Over time it expanded its jurisdiction to include people associated with tin mining, and so, most of Cornwall. In the 1750s England centralized and standardized representation and the courts, but it is a curious bit of British history that Cornwall had its own parliament and legal system.
Language, the Stannary Parliament and its history, and distance all set Cornwall apart from England.
Another source of prosperity was the China clay, fine white clay suitable for making porcelain (China), and with many other applications. That industry has slowed but several places still dig and export the clay.
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| Hillside showing clay winning |
Another theme was the military history. As part of the south of England, it was part of defenses against invasion: you name it--Celts, Romans, Viking raids, Spanish Armada, World War II--Cornwall was part of the action. Not so much a place of battles but a place of watchfulness, building towers to scan the seas for ships and beacons to send warnings along the coast.
Tourists in Cornwall of course love the scenery:
This is Cornwall's flag, flying at Land's End, the westernmost point of the mainland. When I visited, it was classically windy (see the angle of the flag) with cold rain driven in off the Atlantic.
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| Cornish flag at Land's End |
Looking out to sea from Land's End
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| View from Land's End |
Pendennis Castle sits on the hill above Falmouth. Not just picturesque, it was part of the defenses against the Spanish Armada, featured in the English Civil War, and became a major site of World War II defenses. It is the site of lots of interesting stories.
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| Pendennis Casltle |
Cornwall has lots of lovely bays and small ports (of course we visited the sites used in Doc Martin, the Poldark Saga, and other stories set in Cornwall):
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| Mevagissey Harbor, Cornwall |
Cornwall's climate is particularly mild for Britain. I saw tree ferns and huge prickly pear cacti and many other ornamentals that would not survive a freeze. They did have unusual heat waves in the summer of 2026 (to 93F) but while I was there it was close to normal, with a high in the 60's (F), frequent small rain storms and enough fine rain that I learned the word for it, mizzle. Normally the plants do not experience severe high temperatures or much drought.
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| tree fern, Cornwall |
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| prickly pear, Opuntia, Cornwall |
Beautiful coastline: view from beside the road, Falmouth
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| Falmouth |
It was both lovely and interesting; I had a wonderful time.
Note: They repeatedly told me they are British, not English. Cornwall would like to be an independent entity under the British Crown, for example like Scotland, and they pointed to their unique language, history, flag etc. Functionally they would like more home rule on issues such as schools, less being treated as just another English county. The geographic/political divisions are: England, the country; Britain = England plus Wales and Cornwall, especially historically; Great Britain = Britain plus Scotland; United Kingdom = Great Britain plus northern Ireland.
Comments and corrections welcome.
Reference
I read Philip Marsden's Rising Ground before the trip and would recommend it as a visit to Cornwall, though his goal is to explore the relationship of people to places.
I gathered posts from this blog into books for those who don't read the internet or prefer books, for example:
Kathy Keeler.
Curious Stories of Familiar Plants from Around the World available from Amazon
link and from me
Kathy Keeler
Curious Stories of Familiar Garden Plants available from Amazon
link and from me
Watch for my next book, coming soon.
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