Encyclopedia
Cornwall is a
county in
South West England on the peninsula that lies to the west of the
River Tamar.
The administrative centre and only
city is
Truro, while the historic capitals are Launceston and then Bodmin. Including the
Isles of Scilly, located 28 miles offshore, Cornwall covers an area of 1,376 square miles . There is a population of 513,527, with a population density of 144 people per square kilometre, or 373 per square mile. Tourism forms a significant part of the local economy. However, Cornwall is the poorest area in the United Kingdom with the lowest contribution to the national economy . Cornwall is the only area in the south of England to qualify for Objective One funding .
Cornwall is one of the six historic
Celtic nations and some people question the present
constitutional status of Cornwall, choosing to refer to it as a
Duchy which is separate from England. The
Cornish language gradually died out as a spoken language during the 19th century, but there have been some attempts to revive it in more recent times.
History
The history of Cornwall begins with the pre-Roman inhabitants, including speakers of a
Celtic language that would develop into Brythonic and
Cornish. After a period of
Roman rule, Cornwall reverted to independent Celtic chieftains. The
Roman term for the tribe which inhabited what is now Cornwall at the time of Roman rule, possibly the
Cornovii, came from the Iberian word corno, meaning the land shape, but it is assumed that it was derived from a Brythonic tribal name which gave modern
Cornish Kernow. The present
English language name of the region derives from suffixing of Old English
wealhas to the Celtic name.
The site of ancient
Belerion, Cornwall, was the principal source of
tin for the
civilisations of the ancient
Mediterranean and evidence has been found of trade with cultures as far off as
Phoenicia, located in present day
Lebanon. At one time the Cornish were one of the world's foremost experts at
mining. As Cornwall's reserves of tin began to be exhausted many Cornishmen emigrated to places such as the Americas,
Australia,
New Zealand and
South Africa where their skills were in demand. The
Cornish Rebellion of 1497 is attributed to tin miners. The tin mines in Cornwall are now worked-out at current prices, but the expertise and culture of the Cornish tin miners lives on in a number of places around the world. It is said that, wherever you may go in the world, if you see a hole in the ground, you will find a Cornishman at the bottom of it . Several Cornish mining words are in use in English language mining terminology, such as costean, gunnies, and
vug.
Since the decline of tin mining, agriculture and fishing, the area's economy has become increasingly dependent on tourism — some of Great Britain's most spectacular coastal scenery can be found here. Nevertheless, Cornwall remains the poorest part of the United Kingdom and it has been granted Objective 1 status by the
EU. A political party,
Mebyon Kernow, MK, or 'Sons of Cornwall', was formed in 1951 to attempt to assert some degree of autonomy ; while the flag of
St Piran is seen increasingly across Cornwall at protests, demonstrations and generally, the party has not achieved significant success at the ballot box, although they do have a number of district councillors. Two of the current MPs to
Westminster;
Andrew George, MP for St Ives; and
Dan Rogerson, MP for
North Cornwall; repeated their Parliamentary oaths in Cornish. Further, there is a caucus of local county councillors who are well-known locally for their persistent advocacy of Cornwall's political uniqueness.
Cornwall played an important part during the era of the Celtic Church. Celtic saints sailing from Southern
Scotland,
Wales and
Ireland to
Brittany would often disembark on Cornwall's north coast, at the likes of
Bude,
Tintagel and
Padstow , walk across
Bodmin Moor onto their way to Cornwall's south coast, and then sail to Brittany from ports such as Fowey, Falmouth and
Penzance; because of this, Cornwall is known as the 'land of saints'. The likes of
Saint Patrick of Ireland,
Saint David of Wales, historian Gildas and St Pol of Brittany were all frequent visitors to Cornwall. Of course, Cornwall's most famous visiting saint was
Saint Piran, who became venerated as Cornwall's own patron saint. Celtic saints who settled in Cornwall include St Morwenna who founded Morwenstow in the very Northern tip of Cornwall just outside
Bude ; St Petroc, a Welshman who founded
Padstow, St Ia who sailed to what is now St Ives from Ireland on an ivy leaf; St David of
Wales founded a small monastic cell on the edge of
Bodmin Moor of what is now Davidstow, while his mother St Non founded Altarnun known as the "cathedral of the moors".
St Nectan from Wales founded a monastic centre near a waterfall just outside
Tintagel in what is now known as St Nectans Glen; he also preached quite regularly just up the coast around
Bude. Most famously, especially to the Cornish psyche,
St Piran arrived from
Ireland at what is now Perranporth with a millstone around his neck, and eventually became Cornwall's recognised patron saint.
Although Cornwall is not thought of as a "Viking Country", during the latter stages of the Anglo-Celtic wars, when Wessex was threatening "West Wales" , the Britons allied with Danish Vikings in order to hold Wessex from expanding westward. In 722 King Ine of Wessex Saxon army was comprehensibly destroyed by an alliance of Cornish Celts and Vikings somewhere around the Camel estuary. This battle, as well as the Vikings continually attacking, pillaging and burning Wessex, enabled Cornwall to stay reasonably separate from Wessex. To this day, there is a strong feeling of pride and comradeship from the Cornish towards the Vikings, who have always been seen in Cornwall as allies - just as in the other
Celtic nations such as
Wales,
Scotland and
Ireland. It is highly likely the likes of
Bude, Falmouth and
Mount's Bay had small Viking settlements .
There is a theory that once
Silver was extracted from the copper ores of Cornwall in pre-Roman times , as Silver is easily converted to its chloride by surface waters containing chlorine.
This could have happened around Halabezack as Homer stated:
- But of the Halizones Odius and Epistrophus were captains from afar, from Halube, where is the birth-place of silver. .
Another hypothesis concerning Cornwall is that
St Michaels Mount was the location of Scylla and Charybdis, one of the best known scenes of the
OdysseyPhysical geography
Coastline
Cornwall forms the tip of the south-west peninsula of Britain, and is therefore exposed to the full force of the prevailing winds that blow in from the
Atlantic Ocean. The coastline is composed mainly of resistant rocks that give rise in many places to impressive cliffs.
The north and south coasts have different characteristics. The north coast is more exposed and therefore has a wilder nature. The prosaically-named
High Cliff, between
Boscastle and
Tintagel, is the highest sheer-drop cliff in the county at 735 ft . However, there are also many extensive stretches of fine golden sand which form the beaches that are so important to the tourist industry, such as those at
St Ives, Perranporth and
Newquay. The only river estuary of any size on the north coast is that of the Camel, which provides
Padstow with a safe harbour.
The south coast is somewhat more sheltered and there are several broad estuaries formed by drowned valleys or
rias that offer safe anchorages to seafarers, such as at Falmouth and Fowey. Beaches on the south coast usually consist of coarser sand and shingle, interspersed with rocky sections of
wave-cut platform.
Interior
The interior of Cornwall consists of a roughly east-west spine of infertile and exposed upland, such as
Bodmin Moor, which contains the highest land in the county. This is surrounded by more fertile, mainly
pastoral farmland. Near the south coast, deep wooded valleys provide sheltered conditions for a flora that likes shade and a moist, mild climate.
Geology
The upland spine of Cornwall consists of a series of
granite intrusions. From east to west, and with approximately descending altitude, these are Bodmin Moor, the area north of
St Austell, the area around
Camborne, and the
Penwith or
Land's End peninsula. These intrusions are the central part of the granite outcrops of south-west England, which include
Dartmoor to the east in
Devon and the
Isles of Scilly to the west, the latter now being partially submerged.
The remainder of the centre and south of Cornwall is comprised mainly of
Devonian sandstone and
slate. The north east of the county lies on Carboniferous rocks known as the Culm Measures. In places these have been subjected to severe folding, as can been seen on the north coast near Crackington Haven and several other locations.
The
geology of the Lizard peninsula is exceptionally interesting, as it is
Britain's only example of an
ophiolite. Much of the peninsula consists of the dark green and red rock, Precambrian
serpentine, which forms spectacularly beautiful cliffs as at Kynance Cove, and when carved and polished forms attractive ornaments. This
ultramafic rock also forms a very infertile soil which covers the flat and marshy heaths of the interior of the peninsula. This is home to rare plants, such as the
Cornish Heath, which has been adopted as the county flower.
The intrusion of the granite into the surrounding
sedimentary rocks gave rise to extensive metamorphism and mineralisation, and this led to Cornwall being one of the most important mining areas in Europe until the early 20th century. It is thought that
Cassiterite was exploited in Cornwall as early as the
Bronze Age. Over the years, many other metals such as
copper,
lead,
zinc and
silver have all been mined in Cornwall. Alteration of the granite also gave rise to extensive deposits of China Clay , especially in the area to the north of
St Austell, and this remains one of the county's most important industries.
Climate
Cornwall is the southernmost part of Britain, and therefore has a relatively warm and sunny
climate. Winters are mild, and frost or snow are uncommon apart from in the central upland areas. The average annual temperature for most of the county is 10.2 to 12 degrees
Celsius , with slightly lower temperatures at higher altitude.
The county is exposed to mild, moist westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean and has relatively high rainfall, though less than more northern areas of the west coast of Britain, at 1051 to 1290 mm per year. Most of Cornwall enjoys over 1541 hours of sunshine per year.
Ecology
Cornwall has varied habitats including terrestrial and marine ecosystems. One of the lower plant forms in decline locally is the
Reindeer lichen, which species has been made a priority for protection under the national UK
Biodiversity Action Plan.
Politics
Parliamentary representation for Cornwall is dominated by the
Liberal Democrats. Cornwall currently returns five MPs to the
British House of Commons, all of whom are Liberal Democrats; the new parliamentary boundaries expected to come into force in 2007 will create a sixth parliamentary constituency in Cornwall which will be fought for the first time at the next British General Election - probably in 2009 or 2010. Local councils in Cornwall also have a large portion of Lib Dem representatives. Most local Liberal Democrat MPs and councillors strongly support moves for Cornish devolution, as do some
Welsh nationalists.
Although Cornwall is administered as a county of England, an independence movement exists that seeks more autonomy along the lines of the other home
Celtic nations. Additionally, some groups and individuals question the
constitutional status of Cornwall and its relationship to the
Duchy of Cornwall. Cornish nationalists have organised into two political parties:
Mebyon Kernow and the
Cornish Nationalist Party, and in 2005 Mebyon Kernow became the largest political group on
Camborne town council after a by-election. In addition to the political parties, the Cornish Stannary Parliament acts as a pressure group on Cornish constitutional issues and Cornwall 2000, the
Human Rights organisation works with Cornish cultural issues. Another group concerned with Cornish Rights and promoting discussion on the Cornish constitution is Tyr-Gwyr-Gweryn . This group operates a website to examine the factors which have conspired to create a Cornish Paradox and has
inter alia posted to the site the full transcript of the Duchy-versus-Crown dispute over the ownership of the Cornish foreshore that took place between 1855 and 1857. This dispute was settled by arbitration and resulted in the Cornwall Submarine Mines Act 1858
In November 2000, the Cornish Constitutional Convention was formed to campaign for a
Cornish Assembly. It is a cross-party organisation including representatives from the private, public and voluntary sectors, of all political parties and none.
Between 5 March 2000 and December 2001, the campaign for a Cornish Assembly collected the signatures of 41,650 Cornish residents endorsing the Declaration for a Cornish Assembly, in total 50,546 including people outside Cornwall. The British government however has no plans at present to devolve more power to Cornwall.
Flag
Saint Piran's Flag is regarded as the national flag of Cornwall and an emblem of the Cornish people. The banner of
Saint Piran is a white cross on a black background. Saint Piran is supposed to have adopted these two colours from seeing the white tin in the black coals and ashes during his supposed discovery of tin. In a history of 1837 Saint Piran's flag was described as the "standard of Cornwall", and another history of 1880 said that: "The white cross of St. Piran was the ancient banner of the Cornish people." The Cornish flag is an exact reverse of the former Breton national flag and is known by the same name "Gwynn ha Du" - white and black.
Commonly understood to represent the white tin metal against the black tin ore, the flag symbolically, however, is said to represent the light of truth shining through the blackness/darkness of evil.
Another theory of the black and white colours is that the white cross represents the igeneous/metamorphic rocks of colour such as
granite and
schists , while the black background represents the weathered Devonian slate and Carboniferous sandstone of the northern part of Cornwall.
There are claims that the patron saint of Cornwall is
Saint Michael or Saint Petroc, but Saint Piran is by far the most popular of the three and his emblem is internationally recognised as the flag of Cornwall. St. Piran's Day is celebrated by the
Cornish diaspora around the world.
Demographics
Cornwall's population is 513,527, and
population density 144 people per square kilometre, ranking it 40th and 41st respectively compared to the other 47 counties of England. Cornwall has a relatively high level of population growth, however, at 11.2% in the 1980s and 5.3% in the 1990s, giving it the fifth highest population growth of the English counties. The natural change has been a small population decline, and the population increase is due to immigration into the county. According to the 1991 census, the population was 469,800.
Cornwall has a relatively high retired population, with 22.9% of pensionable age, compared to 20.3% for the United Kingdom. This may be due to a combination of Cornwall's rural and coastal geography increasing its popularity as a retirement location, and due to the emigration of younger residents to more economically diverse areas. Migration of pensioners from southern England to Cornwall, and emigration of young Cornish people, is a persistent concern.
Cornwall is one of the six modern
Celtic nations alongside
Brittany,
Ireland, the
Isle of Man,
Scotland and
Wales. Just under 7% of the population of Cornwall gave their ethnicity as
Cornish in the last census, however, in a survey by Morgan Stanley 44% of the population considered themselves Cornish.
Following the 2001 Census, Cornish campaigners made representations to the
Office for National Statistics to provide a clear 'Cornish' tick-box option prior to the next Census to allow people the right to record their nationality as Cornish.
Economy
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly at current basic prices by
Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Year | | | | |
|---|
| 1995 | 3,230 | 235 | 813 | 2,182 |
| 2000 | 4,245 | 198 | 1,021 | 3,027 |
| 2003 | 5,401 | 221 | 1,195 | 3,985 |
includes hunting and forestry
includes energy and construction
includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
Cornwall is the poorest area in the United Kingdom. The GDP is 62% of the national average. Cornwall is one of four UK areas that qualifies for poverty-related grants from the EU . Today, the Cornish economy depends heavily on its successful tourist industry, which makes up around a quarter of the Cornish economy.
Traditional areas such as
china clay extraction have gradually shed workers in recent years.
Educated young people continue to leave the county in numbers and despite Objective One funding the county's economy continues a downward spiral. Objective One funding is due to expire in 2006.
Tourism
Cornwall's unique culture, spectacular landscape and mild climate make it a popular tourist destination, despite being somewhat distant from the United Kingdom's main tourist centres. Surrounded on three sides by the
English Channel and
Celtic Sea, Cornwall has miles of beaches and cliffs. Other tourist attractions include moorland, country gardens and wooded valleys, and tourism is a significant economic sector.
Five million tourists visit the county each year, mostly drawn from within the UK. In particular,
Newquay is a popular destination for surfers. In recent years, the
Eden Project has been a major financial success, drawing one in eight of Cornwall's visitors.
Industry
Other industries are fishing, although this has been significantly damaged by EU fishing policies, and agriculture, which has also declined significantly. Mining of tin and copper was also an industry, but today no longer exists, and several defunct mines have applied for status as
UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
World Heritage Status was granted to the Cornwall and West Devon Mining area on 14 July 2006. This will allow Cornwall County Council the opportunity to expand its Mineral Tramways Project of walking trails along with re-instatement of engine houses and other places of mining interest. Completion of this network is expected some time in 2008.
Creative industries
In recent years Cornwall's creative industries have undergone significant growth, thanks in part to Objective One funding. There is now a significant creative industry in Cornwall, encompassing areas like graphic design, product design, web design, packaging design, environmental design, architecture, photography, art and crafts.
Culture
Language
The
Cornish language is closely related to
Welsh and
Breton, and less so to
Irish,
Scots Gaelic and
Manx 
