Religion played an inescapable part in the lives of the Cornish of the Victorian period. By modern standards attendance at church or, more usually, chapel was incredibly high, although contemporaries were appalled that only around a half of adults attended church in 1851 when there was a religious census. A wealth of social events were … Continue reading Hallelujah! Helston praises the Lord
Author: bwdeacon
Helston: Salome and the dance of the five birthplaces
In Victorian times Cornwall’s market towns continued to attract people from the countryside even as some of their residents emigrated or left for bigger towns within the UK. We have seen how Falmouth’s migration hinterland spread across Cornwall west of Truro, particularly for women. But how did Helston, 13 miles to the west, compare? Just … Continue reading Helston: Salome and the dance of the five birthplaces
Helland and the pull of Devon
The name Helland is, despite its appearance, thoroughly Cornish, from hen lan, meaning old or ancient holy site. The parish, tucked between Bodmin to the south and Bodmin Moor to the east, was one of Cornwall’s smallest in terms of population. In 1861 there were no miners at all there and four out of five … Continue reading Helland and the pull of Devon
Overcrowding at Gwithian
In the mid-1800s Gwithian, on the eastern shore of St Ives Bay, was a quiet backwater, before dynamite works made it rather noisier for a short time from the 1880s. The expanse of bleak towans bordering the sea was home to wildlife not people, while seals basked undisturbed in the coves near Godrevy Point. It … Continue reading Overcrowding at Gwithian
Gwinear: the American connection
Although there were no major mines within its borders Gwinear was another Cornish rural parish whose people depended heavily on the health of local mining. Seven out of every ten adult men in 1861 worked in and on the mines, as did half of the women with paid employment. As in other rural industrial parishes, … Continue reading Gwinear: the American connection
Gwennap: long-distance relationships
The previous blog raises the question of how many of the children of Cornwall’s mining districts in 1861 lived in households with no male head, their fathers either away working or dead at a young age. Of the 107 Gwennap children in the database who were living with parents or other relatives, over a third, … Continue reading Gwennap: long-distance relationships
Gwennap: family size and fleeting fathers
In 1861 Edwin Triniman was living in Wheal Jewell Row near St Day in Gwennap with his parents and five siblings. His father, aged 51, was a miner as were two older brothers, while an older sister was employed at a rope works. Edwin wasn’t at the mine, but he was working as a farm … Continue reading Gwennap: family size and fleeting fathers
Gwennap: from riches to ruins
Mary Ann Kneebone was the daughter of John Kneebone, a mine engineman in 1861, and his wife Mary. They lived in the small hamlet of Trevarth in Gwennap, at that time one of Cornwall’s most populous parishes, home to over 10,500 people. Ten years earlier, John had been tin mining in Crowan a few miles … Continue reading Gwennap: from riches to ruins
Gunwalloe: a church by the sea
In Gunwalloe on the Lizard the parish church is unusually close to the beach. The proximity of the sea hints at an overseas origin for the church’s patron, St Winwaloe. And so it was. Winwaloe was supposed to have been born in Brittany, where he founded the important abbey of Landevennec opposite Brest. The church … Continue reading Gunwalloe: a church by the sea
Gulval: growing and going
Gulval parish stretches from the fertile low-lying coastal plain east of Penzance and up onto the moors of west Penwith, a veritable archaeological treasure house. With the arrival of railway connections to the huge market of London and the south east of England by the 1860s, the potential of this district and its mild climate … Continue reading Gulval: growing and going
Cornish studies resources 