Back in September 2021 I rashly set out to write a blog on every parish in Cornwall as I worked to complete a database containing information on the life-courses of a sample of over 4,000 Cornish children born around 1850. Finally, with more than a sigh of relief, 243 blogs and over 100,000 words later, … Continue reading Zennor: the end of the road
Withiel: stay at home farmers
One question the Victorian Lives database will help to answer is how the likelihood to emigrate varied by occupation. For instance, a quick check of the current state of the database, probably over 90 per cent complete, shows that of those men who were working in mines in 1871 and had survived to 1891 at … Continue reading Withiel: stay at home farmers
Whitstone: farm labouring and its alternatives in border country
Whitstone is the last of our north Cornish farming parishes. Like its neighbours, in this parish of small villages and hamlets three quarters of the men worked on the farms, with most of the rest employed in a variety of rural crafts, especially smithing and carpentry. Only two of the children born around 1850 and … Continue reading Whitstone: farm labouring and its alternatives in border country
West Looe: the sea, family support and snooker
West Looe sat on the less populous bank of the estuary of the Looe River. The town straggled along the river and up the steep hill leading out into the surrounding countryside. Unlike its bigger brother across the bridge, West Looe had no large community of fishermen and their families in the mid-1800s. There were … Continue reading West Looe: the sea, family support and snooker
Werrington: no money but a naming puzzle
Werrington is a border parish to the north of Launceston. Like most of the surrounding parishes, in the mid-1800s it was a predominantly farming parish, with three quarters of its resident families dependent on the farms for their livelihood. Seven children in our database were living in the parish in 1861, five in farming households, … Continue reading Werrington: no money but a naming puzzle
Wendron: two exceptional emigrants
Most mining parishes in Cornwall saw at least a quarter of the generation born in the mid-nineteenth century leave for places overseas. In that regard Wendron was no exception. In 1861 around two thirds of its adult men were employed in the mines of the parish, most of them in pursuit of tin. By the … Continue reading Wendron: two exceptional emigrants
Week St Mary: old crafts and new
The parish of Week St Mary was a typical north Cornish farming parish in the mid-1800s. Yet it had known better days. The village which shared its name with the parish was the site of a medieval castle and market. Although the medieval borough never grew into a modern town, it was the site of … Continue reading Week St Mary: old crafts and new
Warleggan: eccentrics and escapees
At first glance Warleggan looks to be a run of the mill farming parish in east Cornwall running up onto the south west edge of Bodmin Moor. It was spiced up in the mid-1800s by the presence of miners, who accounted for around one in five of the workforce. But the parish is a little … Continue reading Warleggan: eccentrics and escapees
Warbstow: on the brink of pauperism
Warbstow is a relatively remote north Cornwall parish. Quintessential farming country, its rolling hills and valleys were mainly grazed by cows in the later 1800s. The lightly populated farms and hamlets of the parish provided just three children born around 1850 for our database. All three came from labouring families. John Pethick and his wife … Continue reading Warbstow: on the brink of pauperism
Veryan: breaking the rules
Situated on the Roseland peninsula in mid-Cornwall, Veryan in the 1800s was virtually untouched by mining or emigration, unlike the subjects of my two preceding blogs. The majority of its men worked on the farms of this rural parish, although it was relatively more diverse than most farming parishes. Craftsmen accounted for roughly one in … Continue reading Veryan: breaking the rules
Cornish studies resources 