From Camborne to Cleckheaton – with family support

Sometimes in the past relationships broke down, as we saw in the case of Jenny Moore from Calstock. Sometimes, no doubt, the laconic entries of census enumerators and registrars may hide family quarrels underlying the departure of a family member. Yet, at other times, those same records can hint at a high level of support … Continue reading From Camborne to Cleckheaton – with family support →

Wrestling, life-struggle Cornwall and Daphne du Maurier

Have patience. Just one to go. The penultimate in my series of very short summaries of academic work on Cornwall linked to somewhat longer reviews. Mike Tripp recounts the nineteenth century rise and fall of Cornish wrestling, brought down mainly by emigration, depopulation and the practice of 'faggoting', or match-fixing. Ella Westland argues that in … Continue reading Wrestling, life-struggle Cornwall and Daphne du Maurier →

Sex and marriage in Victorian Britain

Married life can sometimes be difficult, in Victorian times as nowadays. In March 1869 Jenny Moore and Edward Bergner were married at St Philip’s Church, Dalston in London. Jenny was Cornish, born in 1850 at Gunnislake, next to the River Tamar, the daughter of a general merchant. But, on his death in the 1860s, his … Continue reading Sex and marriage in Victorian Britain →

Heraldry and medieval identity, the 1549 rising and choughs

Save yourself all the bother of having to read them - here's the fifth instalment of very short summaries of some recent academic takes on Cornwall ... Nigel Saul ascribes the Carminow family's myth about their coat of arms to the family's sixteenth century decline while going on to claim the Cornish identity was by … Continue reading Heraldry and medieval identity, the 1549 rising and choughs →

The steam engine, more on Gothic Cornwall and the Cornish dialect

The fourth in my series of one sentence (sometimes two) summaries of recent academic work on Cornwall ... Mary O'Sullivan follows the money and tells us why the miners who were demonstrating in 1787 had a better grasp of economics than some mines adventurers of the time. Joan Passey is attracted by the 'Cornish Gothic' … Continue reading The steam engine, more on Gothic Cornwall and the Cornish dialect →

Gothic Cornwall, daffodil pickers and mining heritage

Impress your friends with your wide knowledge of recent academic work on Cornwall ... Tanya Krzywinska and Ruth Heholt claim that Cornwall has inspired Gothic novelists and explain the composition of 'Gothic Cornwall', simultaneously exciting and disturbing, attractive yet terrifying. Constantine Manolchev presents the narrative of a daffodil picker from Bulgaria working on a Cornish … Continue reading Gothic Cornwall, daffodil pickers and mining heritage →

Book price changes and new editions

One of the threatened price hikes I warned of back in December is about to take place. The price of The Real World of Poldark will be going up by £1, from £9.99 to £10.99 within the next two or three days. For the moment I am holding the price of The Surnames of Cornwall … Continue reading Book price changes and new editions →

Stuart loyalism, early language revivalists and islandness

Another three micro-summaries of reviews ... James Harris digs into expressions of loyalty in Restoration Cornwall and finds they were the result of a well-organised Tory propaganda campaign. In a second article James Harris compares seventeenth century attempts to revive the Cornish language with the situation in south-west Wales and identifies the lack of support … Continue reading Stuart loyalism, early language revivalists and islandness →

Cornish language, the care community and witches

In case you missed a series of (mostly) short reviews of a selection of recent academic literature that I put on this site in the latter part of 2023 here's a one-sentence summary of each to save you having to read them. To make it digestible I'll limit it to three and drip in the … Continue reading Cornish language, the care community and witches →

Christmas in west Cornwall in 1920

This was first posted on Christmas Eve, 2020. What was Christmas like around 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 at Helston it also ‘passed off very quietly’. We might … Continue reading Christmas in west Cornwall in 1920 →