I.

Introduction

Cornwall, county, south-western England, bordered on the north by the Bristol Channel, on the east by Devon, on the south by the English Channel, and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The Isles of Scilly, formerly part of Cornwall, lie some 40 km (25 mi) to the south-west of Land's End, the most westerly point of England. Cornwall forms a peninsula, approximately 120 km (75 mi) long from north-east to south-west, and 72 km (45 mi) wide at the broadest point, which is close to the border with Devon. The county has an area of 3,515 sq km (1,357 sq mi).

Cornwall is a county of contrasts—bleak moors and picturesque bays with wide sandy beaches, religion and superstition, an ancient Celtic people and modern holidaymakers. Bordered on land only by Devon, it considers itself to have a unique character. Cornwall is the oldest county in England, and the male heir to the throne is traditionally given the title of Duke of Cornwall.

II.

Land and Resources

Much of Cornwall consists of comparatively high and hilly land, composed chiefly of granite. In the north and east, the bleak Bodmin Moor covers an area of more than 6,800 hectares (16,800 acres); on its northern edge is the peak of Brown Willy (420 m/1,377 ft). Farther south are the Hensbarrow Downs, the Wendron Moors, and the Goonhilly Downs. The Cornish countryside is not entirely forbidding, and steep, thickly wooded valleys descend from the moors and downs towards the sea. The north coast has a number of attractive bays, most with good sandy beaches, and many with interesting slate rock formations and cliff scenery of both grandeur and beauty. At Land's End, the seas pound the granite rocks. The Lizard, the southernmost point of the island of Great Britain, is some 40 km (25 mi) to the east of Land's End across Mount's Bay, in which St Michael's Mount stands. The south coast is less spectacular than the north, but is notable for the drowned estuary at Falmouth, which forms a large natural harbour.

Cornwall's eastern border with Devon runs along the course of the River Tamar for most of its distance. The other principal rivers of the county are the Camel and the Hayle, which have their estuaries on the north coast at Padstow and St Ives respectively; and the Fal, the Fowey, and the Looe, which flow into the English Channel at Falmouth, Fowey, and Looe. The canal that runs between Bude and Launceston is no longer in use but work is in progress to restore the architectural and industrial heritage of the canal between Bude and Virworthy Wharf.

III.

Climate

Cornwall has a generally mild climate, although the north coast can be bracing. The sheltered south coast enjoys higher temperatures than the rest of England, and for this reason is often referred to as the Cornish Riviera. However, the prevailing westerly and south-westerly winds bring comparatively heavy rainfall to the entire county, and sea mists and fog are common. Average annual rainfall over most of Cornwall is in the region of 1,000 to 1,520 mm (40 to 60 in).

IV.

Plants and Animals

Cornwall's warm climate allows a number of plants (including several varieties of palm), which are not usually expected as far north as the British Isles, to be grown on the south coast without difficulty. Many kinds of colourful heather and furze grow on the moors and the cliff tops, and are especially to be found in the Lizard nature reserve near Mullion Cove, where many varieties of seabird can also be seen. The whole coast is rich in sea birds, including razorbills, turnstones, and gulls of all varieties. However, the chough, a member of the crow family, once so common in Cornwall that it was known as the “Cornish chough”, is now rare and no longer breeds in the county. Grey seals are to be seen on the north-west coast and there is a seal sanctuary in the estuary of the River Helford. Otters are found in the north-west of the county, although not in large numbers; the Tamar Otter Park is near Launceston. Brown trout, sea trout, and salmon breed in some of the rivers. Porpoises and dolphins sometimes visit Cornish waters, and large shoals of Portuguese Man-o'-War jellyfish are occasionally blown towards the shore.

V.

Population and Administration

The population of Cornwall is 499,114 (2001). The principal towns are Bodmin (population, 1991, 12,553), the cathedral city of Truro (1994 estimate, 17,200), St Austell with Fowey (1991, 21,622), Falmouth (1991, 20,297), and Penzance (1994 estimate, 17,500). Other settlements of note include Helston (1991, 8,505), Launceston (1991, 6,466), Redruth, Camborne, and the seaside resorts of Newquay (1991, 17,390), Bude (1991, 3,681), Padstow (1991, 2,460), Boscastle, and St Ives.

Although Bodmin is still officially the county town, the city of Truro is the administrative capital of Cornwall; the seat of local government is at County Hall, Truro. The county has a county council and six district councils: Caradon, Carrick, Kerrier, North Cornwall, Penwith, and Restormel. Cornwall's administrative structure was not affected by the recommendations of the Local Government Commission set up in 1992 to review the structures of local administration in England. The police authority is the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, which has its headquarters in Exeter, Devon. A Crown Court sits in Truro.

VI.

Education and Culture

Camborne School of Mines, part of the faculty of engineering at the University of Exeter since 1993, offers courses in mining and minerals engineering, industrial geology, minerals surveying, and management. The Falmouth Centre for Maritime Studies offers higher education courses in marine-related disciplines, including environmental management, marine science, and boat design and production. The Bolitho School in Penzance was founded in 1889 and Truro School in 1880. Both are co-educational independent schools.

Before the coming of the Saxons, Cornwall was inhabited by Celts, and many Cornish families, like the Welsh and the people of Brittany, can trace their ancestry back to those Celtic forebears. These early inhabitants had their own Cornish language, which has similarities with Breton. A certain Dolly Pentreath, who died in 1777, is said to have been the last Cornish speaker. The Cornish language, which was extinct in 1800, underwent a revival programme by enthusiasts and there are now at least 1,000 speakers in the south-west of England. (See Celtic Languages.)

Cornwall became Christian following the arrival of missionaries from Ireland and Wales in the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries. Crosses abound in the county, and so do small, simple churches. It was the local custom to “canonize” the missionaries and hermits, explaining why so many places and churches in Cornwall are named after saints virtually unknown outside the county. The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, first visited Cornwall in 1743, returning on a number of occasions. Near Redruth, on the site of a disused mine, is the Gwennap Pit preaching-place, where Wesley preached to thousands at open-air meetings. Methodism became a major religious force in the county, and Cornwall still has more Methodists than any other English county; Methodist chapels are to be found in every town and village.

Religion no longer has so strong a hold as in the 18th and 19th centuries, and neither do ancient customs and beliefs. However, there are still wart-charmers among the Cornish, hares and rabbits continue to be regarded by fishermen as creatures of ill omen, and no doubt piskies (pixies) still haunt the moors.

Some ancient traditions have survived, however. At Padstow, the Hobby Horse is baited on the morning of May 1, or May Day. Inland, at Helston, the famous Furry or Floral Dance still takes place on May 8; it is thought to have originated either as a Roman festival or as a Celtic fertility rite. Mevagissey Feast Week, a celebration intended primarily for children and in honour of St Peter, takes place from June 26 to July 1. The Anglican cathedral church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1880, is in Truro.

Cornish wrestling is still practised. It has some similarities with judo: a cloth jacket is worn and is used to gain purchase for attempts to throw the opponent. In times past, heavy boots were worn and shin-kicking, now banned, was permissible.

Cornwall has numerous literary associations. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, best known under his pseudonym “Q”, was born in Bodmin in 1863. As well as being the first editor of The Oxford Book of English Verse, he wrote books in many genres, including novels which were often set in Fowey where he lived for much of his later life. Dame Daphne du Maurier, whose home was at Menabilly, not far from St Austell, wrote several famous books with Cornish settings, including Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, a tale of the smuggling and wrecking activities which once occupied many Cornish men and women. The real-life Jamaica Inn still stands at Bolventor, in the centre of Bodmin Moor. British novelist and Nobel laureate Sir William Golding was born at St Columb Minor, near Newquay.

The most famous of the county's traditional foods is the Cornish pasty. This is a circle of pastry folded into a kind of parcel around its contents before being cooked. The pasty is said to have originated as a simple, all-purpose, one-handed meal for working men, its contents consisting of meat and vegetables at one end, and a sweet dessert at the other. Nowadays, the pasty is normally filled with a mixture of diced (not minced) meat, turnips, potatoes, and onion, and can be eaten hot or cold. In a Stargazy Pie, another Cornish dish, whole pilchards are cooked with their heads protruding above the pastry lid of the pie. Cornwall is also noted, like neighbouring Devon, for clotted cream, and for the use of saffron as a flavouring for doughcakes.

VII.

Places of Interest

There is much evidence of prehistoric settlement in the county, including numerous cromlechs, monoliths, circles of standing stones, and other megalithic monuments. A short distance south-east of Zennor on the north coast of the Land's End peninsula, a group of stones known as the Zennor Quoit forms the largest Stone Age burial chamber in England. The smaller, but similar, Trethevy Quoit is located at St Cleer, north of Liskeard. The Hurlers are three Bronze Age stone circles on the eastern edge of Bodmin Moor; near them is a strange group of rocks known as the Cheesewring. Carn Euny Ancient Village, near Penzance, is the remains of an Iron Age settlement. On Carn Brae, near Camborne, there is an Iron Age hill fort and at Zennor, tiny Iron Age fields which are still in use. Chysauster Ancient Village, near Penzance, is made up of stone huts.

The story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table is closely associated with Cornwall. Tintagel Castle, south of Boscastle on the north coast, is supposedly Arthur's birthplace, while Camelford has been identified as Camelot, although this would appear to be mainly because of the apparent similarity between their names. Other places in Cornwall are claimed to be the sites of various episodes in Arthurian legend, especially Dozmary Pool, in the middle of Bodmin Moor, into which Sir Bedivere is said to have flung the sword Excalibur after Arthur's death. St Michael's Mount and the Isles of Scilly are, according to some traditions, all that is left of Arthur's drowned kingdom of Lyonesse. Cornwall is also the setting for one of the world's most famous romances. The passionate love story and tragedy of Tristram and Iseult came about when King Mark of Cornwall sent his nephew Tristram to Ireland to bring back Iseult to be Mark's bride.

The beautiful and dramatic Cornish scenery has always attracted artists, and St Ives has long been a noted centre for painters and sculptors. The town has museums devoted to the work of two of the most famous of those who worked there: the sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth and the potter Bernard Leach. A branch of the Tate Gallery has been opened in St Ives, featuring St Ives School and contemporary art. The Penwith Gallery includes in its collection paintings by Ben Nicholson. At Poldark, a short distance north of Helston, is an underground museum which recreates the traditions of tin-mining. Remains of the tin and copper industries on which Cornwall's wealth was based for so long litter the landscape of most of the county, especially in the west. Most notable are the gaunt ruins of the tall engine houses, which once sheltered the huge beam engines used to pump the mine shafts clear of water. This historically significant industrial landscape, which stretches into West Devon, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006.

The Cornish seaside resorts are extremely popular, and holidaymakers flock to the beaches, to the picturesque bays such as Crackington Haven, Mullion Cove, and Bedruthan, and to fishing villages like Mousehole, Polperro, and Mevagissey. Some resorts have particular interests: Newquay is the surfing capital of Great Britain, and St Ives is a centre for artists. The National Trust owns much of the coastline of Cornwall, and its other properties include St Michael's Mount, originally a Benedictine chapel founded by Edward the Confessor, at Marazion, near Penzance, and Tintagel Old Post Office, a 14th-century stone house built to the plan of a medieval manor house. Cornwall has a number of castles, such as Launceston, Pendennis (near Falmouth), St Mawes, and Tintagel. Not far from Porthcurno, where the first trans-Atlantic cable was brought ashore, is the remarkable open-air, summer-season Minack Theatre, perched on the cliff edge. The Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station is not Cornwall's only historic site in the development of communications, for it was from Poldhu, near Mullion, that Guglielmo Marconi transmitted the first trans-Atlantic radio signal in 1901. It is possible to walk the entire coastline of Cornwall on the South West Coast Path. The Countryside Agency has designated many parts of Cornwall as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including the Camel and Fowey estuaries, Bodmin Moor, most of the Land's End peninsula, and the coast between St Michael's Mount and St Austell, and large stretches of the north-west coast. The Camel Trail has become very popular with walkers and cyclists, particularly between Wadebridge and Padstow. An environmental tourist attraction, the Eden Project, opened near St Austell in 2001. The site, which includes a botanical garden and an education centre, attracts more than one million visitors each year and also serves as a venue for open-air concerts. The National Maritime Museum Cornwall opened in Falmouth in December 2002.

VIII.

Economy

A substantial part of the county is used for agricultural purposes, the valleys providing pasture for cattle, while rough grazing is to be found on the moors. Market gardening is much in evidence in the coastal areas, and spring flowers are widely cultivated and sold. Falmouth, Penzance, and Fowey are all busy ports. There is a strange white “moonscape” because of mounds produced by the mining of china clay that exists near St Austell. The electronics trade also thrives, and the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station, through which television viewers in Britain were enabled to see the first pictures relayed from space, plays an important part in the communications industry.

Tourism is of major importance, as is fishing, in certain areas. The Cornish fleet continues to harvest pilchards (mature sardines, which are found almost exclusively off the Cornish coast) and mackerel, as well as other fish although it has been hard hit by conservation restrictions imposed by the European Union, limiting fishing days. Crabs, lobsters, crawfish, and prawns are also caught.

Serpentine, a marble-like rock, is quarried at the Lizard. It is usually of a rich mottled shade of green, and sometimes veined. It is used for ornaments and columns, and in the past has even been used for houses, as can be seen at the village of Cadgwith near to the Lizard. Slate is quarried at Delabole, near Camelford, in the largest slate quarry in England, which has been productive for more than four centuries. England’s first wind farm is located at Delabole and began operating in 1991; the county now has a total of seven farms.

IX.

History

Despite its remoteness, Cornwall was occupied by the Romans, and Roman remains can be found in many parts of the county, notably near Bodmin. After the departure of the Romans, control of Cornwall reverted to the native Celts, who strongly resisted the subsequent advance of the Saxons, but were finally defeated in 836 ad, when Cornwall was the last part of England to submit. After the Norman invasion, most of Cornwall became an earldom that was owned by sons or other relatives of the kings of England. In 1337 Edward, the Black Prince was created Duke of Cornwall by his father Edward III, and this title, and the revenues from the duchy, are still held by the sovereign's eldest son. During the Civil War, Cornwall was staunchly Royalist, but was eventually forced to concede defeat.

It is rumoured that long before the birth of Christ the Phoenicians had visited Cornwall in search of tin. Certainly, tin was mined for over 3,000 years in Cornwall, and was important enough to the economy for ancient charters to place the miners, for their protection, under special jurisdiction in the stannary (tin-mining) courts. Copper was also extracted, and for a time Cornwall produced more copper than anywhere else in the world. At the height of the tin- and copper-mining industries, in the mid-19th century, no fewer than 50,000 Cornish miners were employed. The shallow tin workings were exhausted in the mid-20th century, and it soon proved uneconomic to mine the deeper seams in the face of foreign competition and falling world tin prices. The last tin mine to close was South Crofty, in 1998, but with the prospect of new extraction techniques and a proposed bid for World Heritage Site status for Cornwall’s tin-mining region as a whole (which was granted by UNESCO in 2006), the mine reopened again in September 2001. Copper is no longer mined.