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| Genealogical and historical information and links for anyone researching their ancestors in England and the British Isles |
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Cornwall
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| Themes | Explorers and Adventurers | Nobel Prize Winners |
| Actors and Directors | Famous People | Places of Interest |
| Anglo-Saxons and Danes | Historic Events | Prime Ministers |
| AONB (National Landscapes) | Inventors and Scientists | Royal Consorts and Heirs |
| Artists and Architects | Monarchs | World Heritage Sites |
| Composers and Musicians | National Parks | Writers and Poets |
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| Cornwall |
Cornwall lies in south-western England on a peninsula bounded by the
Atlantic Ocean.
Towns include the county seat of Truro.
The
Isles of Scilly lie to the west of Land's End, the mainland's most
south-westerly point and Bodmin
Moor can be found in the east of the county. The Celtic
language of Cornish
was once spoken in the county. Most closely related to Welsh and Breton
(spoken in Brittany in France) the language has been extinct since
1777 when the last speaker died. In recent decades the Cornish language
has enjoyed a revival and there is thought to be several hundred speakers
today.
The
Cornish |
|
Anglo-Saxons and Danes |
Together
with its easterly neighbour Devon, Cornwall formed part of the Celtic
kingdom of Dumnonia. Having withstood
the Romans, Cornwall also remained under the Celts control during
Anglo-Saxon times, although Devon eventually became part of Wessex.  |
| National Landscapes (Formerly: AONB or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty) |
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Twelve separate areas make up the Cornwall
National Landscape which was designated in 1959. The protected areas
include landscapes as diverse as the Lizard Peninsula, Land's
End,
Bodmin
Moor, the Camel Estuary and much of the county's north and south
coastline.
Lying 45km off Land's End, the
Isles of Scilly were designated in 1975 (the smallest in England).
With only five islands inhabited and a population of less than 2,000
people, the beaches, cliffs and dunes provide sanctuary for many bird
populations as well as a stopover for migrating birds. The unusually
warm water lying between the islands also provides a rare ecosystem
for a wide variety of marine animals.
The Tamar
Valley National Landscape includes three river systems: the Tamar
and Tavy
rivers to the north of Plymouth and the Lynher
to the west of the city. All three rivers enter the sea in one of
England's last unspoilt estuaries. The east of the National Landscape
lies in the neighbouring county of Devon and was designated in 1995. |
| Artists and Architects |
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In 1877 the railway arrived in St Ives improving access to an area
already popular with artists. The heyday of the artists' colony in
the town began after the First World War when local painters like
Alfred
Wallis were joined by many more leading to the development of
the term the St Ives School. The potter Bernard Leach and later the sculptor Barbara Hepworth and her husband the painter Ben Nicholson were just three of the new arrivals that meant St Ives became one of the country's best-known artist colonies outside of London. In the 1880s a second artists' colony developed on the south coast of the Penwith peninsular at Newlyn. Two important figures of the Newlyn School were Walter Langley and Stanhope Forbes. From 1908 a small group of artists around S.J. Birch broke away from Newlyn and formed a third colony at Lamorna further west. Laura and Harold Knight and Alfred Mummings were at its centre. |
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Historic Events |
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Inventors and Scientists |
In
1771 the engineer
Richard Trevithick was born in Illogan near Redruth. In 1801 he
built the first successful steam carriage which was used in the county
and later in London. In 1804 he completed the first steam locomotive
which ran at the Pen-y-Darren ironworks in Wales the same year, the
first time passengers had been transported by steam.
Humphry Davy was born in Penzance in 1778. A chemist as
profession, he made early discoveries in the fields of both electricity
and anaesthetics which would later be taken beyond their experimental
stages by other scientists. He also received much recognition for
inventing the "Davy lamp", a safety lamp to be used by coalminers.
He died in Geneva in Switzerland in 1829.
Humphry Davy |
| Nobel Prize Winners | ||||||
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Places of Interest |
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| Prime Ministers |
Prime Ministers |
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World Heritage Sites |
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The
Cornwall
and West Devon Mining Landscape was
designated a World
Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 2006.
The landscape contains the industrial remnants of an extensive network
of mines in the county and neighbouring West Devon which once provided
50% of the world's supply of copper and tin.
The industry transformed the area's landscape in the 18th and 19th
centuries, made a significant contribution to the industrial revolution
and exported its mining methods and expertise across the world. |
| Writers and Poets |
For
William Golding see Nobel
Prize Winners
The
poet
John Betjeman died at his home at Trebetherick in 1984 and was
buried at the church at the village of Rock. He had been Poet
Laureate since 1972 and was succeeded by Ted Hughes.
John Betjeman
Poetry
Archive
John
Betjeman Society
Poets
laureate
Daphne
du Maurier died at Par in the county in 1989.
Daphne
du Maurier
Daphne
du Maurier website
The former intelligence office and novelist, John
Le Carré died at Truro in 2020. He had a house in the
county for four decades at St Buryan near Land's End.
John
le Carré |
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| And the future |
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| Societies |
| Devon & Cornwall Record Society |
| Royal
Cornwall Museum |
| Websites |
| Cornwall Online Parish Clerk |