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
Category: Uncategorized
Port Isaac: of medical men and myths
Doc Martin: working hard to reproduce stereotypes of Cornwall and sell second homes Ask people what they know about the village of Port Isaac on Cornwall’s north coast in Endellion parish and they’re likely to respond with ‘Doc Martin’. This apparently endless series about a lugubrious doctor in a ‘sleepy’ Cornish fishing village is a … Continue reading Port Isaac: of medical men and myths
Short-term family migration
Although it’s proved difficult to find a high proportion of the 11 year olds living in Camborne in 1861 and trace their life-courses through to 1891 most can be traced over the shorter period from 1851 to 1871. This enables us to test a feature that demographers have commonly asserted was present in nineteenth century … Continue reading Short-term family migration
Contrasting Budock biographies
Edward Tresidder had been born in rural Budock. His father Robert was a farm labourer who died in the 1850s, leaving his wife Grace to cope with the five children. In 1881 Grace was making a living from selling groceries in the village but her two eldest sons, including 11 year old Edward, had to … Continue reading Contrasting Budock biographies
An old man in a hurry to depart
In 1886 the British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone was described as an ’old man in a hurry’ as he toiled without success to get his Irish Home Rule Bill through Parliament. Gladstone duly lost power but only finally retired in 1894, after another spell as Prime Minister and at the ripe age of 85. … Continue reading An old man in a hurry to depart
The Great Revival of 1814
The first major revivals took place at St Just in Penwith in 1782 and St Austell in 1785, indicating that Methodism in those places had already reached the numbers necessary to support the phenomenon. The two ‘great’ revivals of 1799 and 1814 burned across the land in mid and west Cornwall as village after village … Continue reading The Great Revival of 1814
The politics of surnames. Or the surnames of politicians.
With local elections in the offing, it seems an appropriate time to ask whether there is any relationship between surnames and politics, or at least with those men and women standing for election to Cornwall Council next month. In 1889, when Cornwall County Council was set up, over two thirds, or 71% of the newly … Continue reading The politics of surnames. Or the surnames of politicians.
‘Transforming mission’ or transforming Cornwall? The Church of England and Cornwall
A recent academic article raises the case of the Church of England’s ‘resource church model’. This mission scheme has been rolled out in many parishes across England and Cornwall, but not without some internal criticism and debate. One criticism is that it tends to ignore people’s sense of place. In an article reviewed in more … Continue reading ‘Transforming mission’ or transforming Cornwall? The Church of England and Cornwall
New year greetings
I'm using this last blog of 2020 to thank all those who have visited this site this year and contributed so many interesting comments - apologies if I haven't responded to every request for information on a particular surname. You may be interested to learn which blogs were the most read in 2020. Here they … Continue reading New year greetings
Christmas in west Cornwall in 1920
What was Christmas like a hundred years ago? Let’s look at the Cornishman newspaper in 1920 for a few clues. Overall, it was generally quiet. At Penzance it was reported as ‘celebrated somewhat quietly’ while over and at Helston it also ‘passed off very quietly’. We might have expected that people would have been celebrating … Continue reading Christmas in west Cornwall in 1920