They used to say that Cornish people had a core of granite. Amenable on the surface, they could be as hard as that rock, resistant and stubborn, standing their ground when pushed too far. If Cornishness entails the possession of a heart of granite, then Mabe could be said to be the quintessentially Cornish parish. … Continue reading Mabe: the granite parish
Category: social history
Luxulyan: the death of a way of life
Streaming from an illustration of 1556 In the mid-Victorian era the parish of Luxulyan contained one of the two districts (the other being Carnmenellis in the west) where a considerable number of men were given the older occupational term ‘tinner’ rather than miner, 'tinner' being an alternative term for a tin streamer. Moreover, tinners in … Continue reading Luxulyan: the death of a way of life
A life of service: ageing servants from Ludgvan
Domestic service, as we have seen, was an occupation with a young age profile. The vast majority of such servants were young women and most spent only a few years in service before exchanging the authority of their employer for that of their husband. It was a similar story for surface workers at the mine, … Continue reading A life of service: ageing servants from Ludgvan
Ludgvan: globetrotters and stay at homes
Luidgvan, one of Cornwall’s larger parishes, situated to the east of Penzance, survived the difficult times following the late 1860s rather better than many other rural parishes. This was despite the fact that over half of the men in the parish worked as miners in the 1850s. Its population declined by a third between the … Continue reading Ludgvan: globetrotters and stay at homes
Merchants of Lostwithiel
Lostwithiel was a town planned in the 1100s by the Cardinham family who controlled Restormel Castle overlooking the River Fowey upstream of Lostwithiel. In the later 1200s the town became the de-facto administrative capital of Cornwall when the Earl of Cornwall and then the Duchy made it their headquarters, later constructing the Duchy Palace near … Continue reading Merchants of Lostwithiel
Tall stories from Little Petherick
Little Petherick, a few miles to the west of Wadebridge, wasn’t called little because it was small, barely a mile wide and running down a creek draining north into the Camel estuary. It was ‘little’ in reference to its big brother of Padstow, two miles to the north. The patron saint of both parishes was … Continue reading Tall stories from Little Petherick
Liskeard’s London connection
In the 1800s thousands of people from Cornwall’s mining communities left to make their way to coal and iron mining districts in the north of England and south Wales. But there was also a strong migration flow to London. Craftsmen and shopworkers were particularly likely to make the move to London, attracted by the greater … Continue reading Liskeard’s London connection
Liskeard: Victorian Cornwall’s boom town
In the 1830s copper ore reserves were discovered on Caradon Hill on the southern edge of Bodmin Moor near Liskeard. Soon after, in 1843, rich lead deposits were noted to the south east at Menheniot and to the south of the town. In consequence Liskeard became Cornwall’s boom town in the 1840s as several mines … Continue reading Liskeard: Victorian Cornwall’s boom town
Irish immigrants at Liskeard
Cornwall was not a major destination for people leaving Ireland in the wake of the Great Famine and the traumatic 1840s. In 1861 there were 1,475 people born in Ireland and living in Cornwall (or just 0.4 per cent of the population). Moreover, several of these were Irish-born military personnel. Most of the other Irish … Continue reading Irish immigrants at Liskeard
Linkinhorne: born out of wedlock
The third quarter of the 1800s was a time of profound social change at Linkinhorne, a parish to the east of Bodmin Moor. It was on the edge of the district that experienced a mining boom from the 1830s to the late 1860s. As a result, its population almost tripled during those years as miners … Continue reading Linkinhorne: born out of wedlock
Cornish studies resources 