The parish of Lanteglos by Camelford offers a rare opportunity for us to peer into the life of a family from the landowning class, the small minority who were able to live off rents, dividends and the surplus created by the majority. Bosahan in 1950. Were the Leys renting this house a century earlier? Johanna … Continue reading An upper-class life
Category: social history
Polperro: not just although mainly about the fishing
Lansallos parish contains part of the coastal village of Polperro (shared with the neighbouring parish of Talland). Now the epitome of a ‘quaint’ and picturesque Cornish village, Polperro in the 1800s was a self-contained and busy working village, its people earning their living mainly from fishing. Jonathan Couch with one of his fish Self-contained but … Continue reading Polperro: not just although mainly about the fishing
Lanreath: the Giant’s Hedge and giant leaps
The Giant's Hedge near Lanreath (Adrian Platt / CC BY-SA 2.0) William Toms grew up on his father’s 150-200 acre farm at Bocaddon in Lanreath in east Cornwall. Bocaddon was found less than a mile north of the churchtown of Lanreath. However, between the two there lay the inscrutable feature of the Giant’s Hedge. This large earthwork … Continue reading Lanreath: the Giant’s Hedge and giant leaps
Lanlivery: attempts at catering and hints of the coming century
Former tin streaming works on Redmoor, now a nature reserve (Mark Camp / Redmoor nature reserve / CC BY-SA 2.0) Lanlivery in mid-Cornwall was a parish of contrasts. Its boundaries encompassed the granite Helman Tor capped by its neolithic enclosure and the elusive Redmoor, often preceded by the adjective ‘mysterious’. But it also contained wooded valleys leading down to … Continue reading Lanlivery: attempts at catering and hints of the coming century
Lanivet: from farming to the office
Lanivet is a parish strategically placed in the heart of Cornwall just west of Bodmin. In 1861 mining, mostly for tin but sometimes for iron, occupied some of the men, as did tin streaming. But the 37 men (just over 10 per cent of the parish’s workforce) engaged in mining were well outnumbered by the … Continue reading Lanivet: from farming to the office
Lanhydrock: a closed parish
Lanhydrock, along with Boconnoc, St Michael Penkevil and a handful of others, was one of Cornwall’s select number of closed parishes. Closed parishes were more common in parts of southern England, places where a single landowner owned all of the land and dominated local society. Or at least, that’s the theory. Account of the fire … Continue reading Lanhydrock: a closed parish
Laneast: escaping a life of farm labouring
John Couch Adams Laneast is one of those small agricultural parishes to the west of Launceston. However, even small parishes could often take pride in some claim to fame. Laneast was the birthplace of John Couch Adams (1819-1892), a Cambridge professor who predicted the existence of the planet Neptune. Most residents of the parish in … Continue reading Laneast: escaping a life of farm labouring
Landulph: hired assassins and (more) Victorian coppers
Cornwall’s connections with the eastern Mediterranean via Tintagel in the fifth and sixth centuries are familiar. Less well-known is that Landulph, now a sleepy backwater beside the River Tamar, also had a somewhat unexpected association with Byzantium. In the church is an inscription recording the burial of Theodore Palaeologus in 1636. Palaeologus claimed that he … Continue reading Landulph: hired assassins and (more) Victorian coppers
Landrake: contrasting personal geographies
Landrake is a parish in south-east Cornwall straddling the main road from Saltash to Liskeard. Now part of Plymouth’s commuter belt, in the nineteenth century it was predominantly farming country. Nonetheless, the village housed the usual quota of shopkeepers and craftsmen. The life courses of two children from non-farming backgrounds provide a contrasting tale of … Continue reading Landrake: contrasting personal geographies
Landewednack: one life and three teenage deaths
The good news is that the missing Victorian Lives database cases have now been re-researched and restored and we can return to the 12 missing parishes. (For anyone who has no clue what I’m on about see here.) The bad news is that I now have to think of more ways to inject an element … Continue reading Landewednack: one life and three teenage deaths
Cornish studies resources 