St Enoder can justly claim to be at the centre of Cornish life, situated as it is midway between north and south coasts on the one hand and Lands End and the Tamar on the other. In 1861 its occupational structure was also fairly typical of rural Cornwall. Around half of the households in the … Continue reading St Enoder: engines and hospitals
Category: social history
St Dominick: two Georges, farmer and coal miner
Over the previous century or so four Georges had occupied the British throne. In St Dominick, a parish on the banks of the River Tamar in south-east Cornwall, two Georges were born around 1850. Although born within a couple miles of each other, they had very different life histories. A lane in the parish. St … Continue reading St Dominick: two Georges, farmer and coal miner
St Dennis: occupational change and a family mystery
St Dennis in mid-Cornwall was a parish undergoing major economic change in the Victorian era. In the early 1800s it was an upland parish where the locals survived from farming its unproductive soils, supplemented by tin streaming. However, the search for china clay transformed the fortunes of the parish and the occupations of its people. … Continue reading St Dennis: occupational change and a family mystery
St Columb Minor: full circle at Newquay
Newquay, in the parish of St Columb Minor, is now one of Cornwall’s largest towns. With its surfing and music festivals, reputation for drunken partying and crowds of tourists, it’s not the most obviously ‘Cornish’ place in Cornwall. Mediterranean-style seafront developments and massive housing projects, with a lot more to come, that steadily encroach on … Continue reading St Columb Minor: full circle at Newquay
St Columb Major: somewhat off the beaten track
In earlier times St Columb in mid-Cornwall was located on one of the main east-west routes across Cornwall. But by the nineteenth century travellers were no longer avoiding a bleak journey and skirting around Bodmin Moor. In consequence, travellers on the main road no longer needed to pass through the small town of St Columb, … Continue reading St Columb Major: somewhat off the beaten track
St Clether: cattle and cottages
Farmers in the parish of St Clether, north of Bodmin Moor, must have struggled at times. Living in an upland area with some of the highest rainfall in Cornwall and dealing with the heavy, acidic clay and loam soils of the district was not the easiest task. However, because the soils of St Clether did … Continue reading St Clether: cattle and cottages
St Clement: cards and candles
Most of the inhabitants of St Clement in the mid-nineteenth century were actually living in Truro, the houses of which were expanding into the neighbouring parishes of St Clement to the east and Kenwyn to the north and west. As befits a largely urban parish, St Clement was home to a diversity of crafts and … Continue reading St Clement: cards and candles
St Cleer: to stay or not to stay, that is the question
Whether to stay overseas or return to Cornwall was a question that many Cornish emigrants grappled with. Some seem to have found it very difficult to answer. The engine of St Cleer's long-forgotten industrial boom times was South Caradon mine. Its remains stand as brooding testimony to its short 50 year existence, to the riches … Continue reading St Cleer: to stay or not to stay, that is the question
St Buryan: the drink trade
Drink was a central element of Victorian culture. The number of inns, public houses and beershops (called kiddleywinks or winks in parts of west Cornwall) was very much higher than now (although easy access to alcohol on the supermarket shelves was not an option). It was claimed in 1850 that the working class spent between … Continue reading St Buryan: the drink trade
St Breward: lead and granite
The parish of St Breward encompassed a large chunk of the western side of Bodmin Moor. While the upland area was mainly populated by sheep the human population clustered in the settlements overlooking the river flowing south from Camelford. Now called the Camel for its whole length, at St Breward it was formerly known as … Continue reading St Breward: lead and granite
Cornish studies resources 