- For places outside the UK called "Cornwall", please see Cornwall (disambiguation).
Cornwall (Cornish: Kernow) is the part of
Great Britain's south-west peninsula that is west of the River Tamar. It is generally
regarded as a county of, and a part of England, although advocates of Cornish
independence regard it as a separate nation, and claim that there are
constitutional doubts as to the legitimacy of English rule in Cornwall. These doubts are not generally accepted by legal opinion
internationally or within the United Kingdom.
Cornwall is also a duchy possessed by the Heir Apparent to the British throne as Duke of Cornwall. The modern Duchy of Cornwall operates as a property company owning 2% of the land in Cornwall and a greater area
elsewhere in Britain.
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]
Cornwall borders the county of Devon at the River Tamar. Major road links between
Cornwall and the rest of Great Britain 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 built by Isambard
Kingdom Brunel (1859) provides the only other major transport link.
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. Several Cornish mining words are in use in English language mining terminology,
such as costean, gunnies, and vug.
Although the Cornish people have always had their own distinctive culture, identity and language, Cornwall is now administered
as an English county. A number of complex jurisdictional
ambiguities remain unresolved, however, and will probably remain so in perpetuity. As an example of the inherent complexity of
this ambiguity, Sir George Harrison (Attorney General to the Duchy of Cornwall) during the Crown-v-Duchy Foreshore dispute of
1858 described Cornwall as "A palatine state, extraterritorial to the English Crown".
Cornish surnames are usually prefixed by Pen, Pol or Tre; "By Tre, Pol and Pen ye shall know
Cornishmen."
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.
Traditionally, the Cornish have been nonconformists, in both religion and politics.
There is some dispute about whether the patron saint of Cornwall is Saint
Michael or Saint Piran. Saint Piran is the more popular of the two; 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.
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.
Cornwall was the setting for the popular series of Poldark books by Winston Graham, and for the television series based on those books.
Towns and villages
- Bodmin, Boscastle, Bude
- Camborne, Charlestown, Chysauster
Ancient Village
- Falmouth, Fowey
- Goonhilly
- Hayle, Helston, Holywell
- Lamorna, Liskeard, Lizard, Looe, Looe Island
- Marazion, Mevagissey, Mousehole
- Newlyn, Newquay, Newtown
- Padstow, Penzance, Polperro, Polruan
- Redruth
- Saltash, St Austell, St Germans, St Ives,
St Just, St Maws, St Mewen
- Truro, Tintagel
- Upton
- Werrington
Places of interest
The Isles of Scilly have in some periods been served by the same
county administration as Cornwall, but are today a separate Unitary
Authority.
External links
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