Cornwall

A popular tourism county with a population of around 480,000 located in the extreme South West of England. The county seat is Bodmin.

In Cornwall there are the popular towns of St. Agnes, Padstow, Perranporth, Plymouth, Porthtowan, Truro, Penzance, Newquay, Wadebridge, Falmouth, Praa Sands, Port Isaac, Jacobstow, Gunnislake, Longdowns, Helston, Polzeath, Redruth, Mevagissey, Bodmin, Lizard, Bude, Looe and Boscastle.

 

Geography

Cornwall is a long peninsula bordered by the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean and by Devon. It extreme western promontory is known as Land's End, which is the same name as the extreme west of Brittany, with which people, the Cornish share many cultural and historic ties. The region is a low-lying plateau of old igneous rocks, rising to its greatest height at Brown Willy (1,375 ft/419 m) on Bodmin Moor. The major rivers are the Tamar, which forms most of the border with Devon, the Fowey, the Fal, and the Camel.

 

Industry

Dairy farms and vegetables are raised in the river valleys and Cornwall is famous for its clotted cream. The highlands are mainly used for sheep and cattle pastures. The climate is mild and moist, with subtropical vegetation along the southern coast. Fishing is no longer a major industry but was once the major industry. Engineering, ship repairing, rock quarrying, and tourism are major industries. Tin and copper mines were exploited for centuries and were traded to the ancient Greek and Mediterranean traders. Neither mineral is now found in sufficient quantities to make mining a viable industry. Tourism is now the prime revenue source of the Cornish industry.

 

History

Cornwall has a very long and ancient past. It was one of the last independent Celtic Kingdoms of Britain and was finally conquered by the Saxon’s just prior to the Norman invasion. The Cornish language which is related to the Welsh and Breton tongues, died out as a major language in the 18th cent but enough of the language was preserved to allow it to be revived in the 20th century and there are now several thousand Cornish speakers. In the 14th century, the county was made a duchy for the monarch's eldest son and Prince Charles is the current Duke.