Cornwall

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For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation).
Cornwall
(with the Isles of Scilly)
File:EnglandCornwall.png
Geography
Status: Ceremonial & (smaller) Administrative County
Region: South West England
Area:
- Total
- Admin. council
- Admin. area		 Ranked 12th
3,563 km²
Ranked 9th
3,547 km²
Admin HQ: Truro
ISO 3166-2: GB-CON
ONS code: 15
NUTS 3: UKK30
Demographics
Population:
- Total (2002 est.)
- Density
- Admin. council
- Admin. pop.		 Ranked 40th
508,412
143 / km²
Ranked 24th
506,250
Ethnicity: 99.0% White
Politics
Cornwall County Council
http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/
Executive: All party
MPs: Candy Atherton, Paul Tyler, Colin Breed, Andrew George, Matthew Taylor
Districts
  1. Penwith
  2. Kerrier
  3. Carrick
  4. Restormel
  5. Caradon
  6. North Cornwall
  7. Isles of Scilly (unitary)

Cornwall (Cornish: Kernow or occasionally Curnow) is an administrative and ceremonial county of England, the part of Great Britain's south-west peninsula that is west of the River Tamar. Also associated with Cornwall are the Isles of Scilly. The region has a distinctive culture, identity and some residents speak the language. A Cornish independence movement seeks to gain the area more autonomy. Cornwall's motto is "One And All".

Transport

Cornwall borders the county of Devon at the River Tamar. Major road links between Cornwall and the rest of England are the A38 which crosses the Tamar at Plymouth via the Tamar Bridge, and the A30 which crosses the border south of Launceston. A car ferry also links Plymouth with the town of Torpoint on the opposite side of the Hamoaze. A rail bridge, the Royal Albert Bridge, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1859) provides the only other major transport link.

History

The modern English name is derived from the tribal name Cornovii and the Anglo-Saxon word wealas meaning "foreigners". Cornovii may mean "horn (i.e. peninsula) people". Wealas is also the origin of the name Wales. [1]. The Romans knew the area as Cornubia, while in Cornish it was known as Kernow or Curnow; a name which has regained some currency today.

Cornwall was the principal source of tin for the civilisations of the ancient Mediterranean, and at one time the Cornish were 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 tin mines in Cornwall are now economically 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'll 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, farming and fishing, the area's economy has become increasingly dependent on tourism — some of the world's most spectacular coastal scenery can be found here. However, behind the facade lies an economically depressed and neglected region. This has been recognised by the EU and Cornwall has been granted Objective One status. A political party, Mebyon Kernow, the MK, or 'Sons of Cornwall', has been formed in order to attempt to reassert Cornish independence, and although increasingly the flag of St. Piran is seen across Cornwall at protests and demonstrations, the party has not achieved significant success at the ballot box, although they do have some councillors.

In 1841 there were nine hundreds of Cornwall, East, Kerrier, Lesneweth, Penwith, Powder, Pydar, Stratton, Trigg and West. The shire suffix has been attached to various of these, notably Powdershire and Triggshire, and East and West appear to be divisions of Wivelshire. The names of Kerrier and Penwith have been re-used for modern local government districts.

Language

The Cornish language is closely related to Welsh and Breton, and less so to Irish and Scots Gaelic. It continued as a living Celtic language until 1777 and the death of Dolly Pentreath, the last person thought to have used only the Cornish language (although this is disputed on a number of counts). The publication of Henry Jenner's "Handbook of the Cornish Language" in 1904 caused a resurgence of interest in the Cornish language and efforts are being made to revive it. Although there has never been a census, there are some 2,000 Cornish speakers, 100-150 of whom are fluent. It has recently been officially recognised by the UK government as a minority language.

Some Cornish surnames are prefixed by Tre, Pol, or Pen, as indicated in the rhyme "by Tre, Pol and Pen ye shall know Cornishmen." These come from Cornish language words meaning, respectively, town (or farm), pool, and head.

Religion

Traditionally, the Cornish have been nonconformists, in religion. Celtic Christianity was a feature of Cornwall and many Cornish saints are commemorated in legends, churches and placenames. The Methodism of John Wesley also proved to be very popular with the working classes in Cornwall in the 18th century. Methodism still plays a large part in the religious life of Cornwall today.

Politics

Although Cornwall is politically a county of England, an independence movement exists that seeks to give the area more autonomy. Additionally some groups and individuals question the constitutional nature of Cornwall and its relation to the Duchy of Cornwall. Cornish nationalist have organised into two political parties: Mebyon Kernow and the Cornish Nationalist Party. 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. In November 2000 the Cornish Constitutional Convention was formed. It is a cross-party organisation including representatives from the private, public and voluntary sectors, of all political parties and none.

Between 5th March 2000 and December 2001, the campaign for a Cornish Assembly collected the signatures of over 50,000 people endorsing the Declaration for a Cornish Assembly. The British government however has no current plans to devolve power to Cornwall and the issue does not receive much political or media attention.

Parliamentary representation for Cornwall is dominated by the Liberal Democrats. Currently four out of the five Cornish MP's are Liberal Democrat the remaining MP is from the Labour Party. The Liberal Democrats often support moves for devolved agencies and governance to Cornwall.

Flag

File:Cornwallflag22.PNG
Saint Piran's Flag

There is some dispute about whether the patron saint of Cornwall is Saint Michael, Saint Petroc or Saint Piran. Saint Piran is the most popular of the three; his emblem (a vertical white cross on a black background) is recognised as the flag of Cornwall, and his day (March 5) is celebrated by Cornish people around the world. Saint Piran's Flag has been adopted by Cornish secessionists, but it is used much more as a non-political symbol of Cornwall - by those wishing to display a loyalty and pride in their county, for example. It even features on the packaging for Ginster's Cornish pasties to advertise their status as a Cornwall-based company.

Cornish Studies and Literary references

The Institute of Cornish Studies, established in 1970, moved to the new Combined Universities in Cornwall Campus at Tremough, Penryn in October of 2004. The institute is a branch of the University of Exeter.

On Cornish history, Philip Payton professor of Exeter University's department of Cornish studies has written Cornwall a History as well as editing the Cornish studies series.

Mark Stoyle Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Southampton asks ‘Are the Cornish English?’in his book West Britons a work on Cornish history exploring the nature of Cornishness in the early modern period.

John Angarrack of the human rights organisation Cornwall 2000 has produced two books to date. Breaking the Chains and Our Future is History are polemical reexaminations of Cornish history and identity.

Cornwall was the setting for the popular series of Poldark books by Winston Graham, and for the television series based on those books.

Daphne du Maurier lived in Cornwall and set many of her novels there, including Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel, and The House on the Strand.

Charles de Lint, writer of many modern and urban fairy tales, set his novel The Little Country in the village of Mousehole in Cornwall.

Gilbert and Sullivan based their musical The Pirates of Penzance in Cornwall.

Cornwall is featured heavily in the beginning of The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley as the home of Igraine, wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. The castle at Tintagel has been said to be the birthplace of King Arthur.

Other notable Cornish writers include Arthur Quiller-Couch alias "Q" and the deaf short story writer, Jack Clemo.

Cornwall also produced a substantial amount of passion plays during the Middle Ages. Many are still extant, and provide valuable information about the Cornish language.

Other culture

Cornwall has a rich and vibrant folk music tradition which has survived into the present. Cornwall is well known for some of its unusual folk survivals such as Cornish Hurling (a kind of medieval football, played with a silver ball), the Padstow Hobby Horse, Mummers Plays etc.

Cornish players are regular participants in inter-Celtic festivals, and Cornwall itself has several lively inter-Celtic festivals such as Perranporth's folk festival.

Cornwall also has its own unique form of wrestling.

Cornwall's other national sport is Hurling. This should not be confused with Irish Hurling. The sport now takes place in St Columb and St Ives only.

Settlements

Ruin of Cornish tin mine

This is a list of the main towns and cities in the county; for a complete list of settlements see list of places in Cornwall.

Places of interest

Key
Abbey/Priory/Cathedral
Accessible open space Accessible open space
Amusement/Theme Park
Castle
Country Park Country Park
English Heritage
Forestry Commission
Heritage railway Heritage railway
Historic house Historic House
Places of Worship Places of Worship
Museum (free)
Museum		 Museum (free/not free)
National Trust National Trust
Theatre
Zoo

The Isles of Scilly have in some periods been served by the same county administration as Cornwall, but are today a separate Unitary Authority. Some secessionists have found the phrase "English Heritage" to be controversial, and in 2003, there has been a general move to replace these signs, and the Tudor Rose with the Cornish flag, after a group started removing them.

See also

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