At the far southwestern tip of Britain, a rugged peninsula of cliffs, moors, and old mines reaching into the Atlantic, is the homeland of the Cornish, one of the Celtic nations of Britain. Heirs of the ancient Britons, kin to the Welsh and Bretons, famed for their tin miners and their world-famous pasty, and known for reviving a language that had died, they have kept a distinct Celtic identity within England.

This is the story of who the Cornish are: where they came from, how they lived by mine and sea, what they believe, and how they preserved and revived a Celtic identity in the far west of Britain. It is a tale of tin and pilchards, of Methodist chapels and hobby-horses, and of a people whose flag of Saint Piran, revived language, and living traditions carry the heritage of Kernow into the present day.

The Cornish on Film

Contents

• Origins
• The Name
• The Language
• The Homeland
• The Old Way of Life
• Society and Community
• Religion and Belief
• Traditions
• Crafts
• Food
• Festivals
• History
• Today

Origins

The Cornish are a Celtic people of the far southwest of Britain, the inhabitants of Cornwall, a peninsula reaching into the Atlantic at the western tip of England. Like the Welsh and the Bretons, to whom they are closely related, they are heirs of the ancient Britons, the Celtic people who inhabited Britain before the coming of the Anglo-Saxons, and they preserve a distinct Celtic identity and, in revived form, a Celtic language.

In ancient times Cornwall was inhabited by Celtic Britons, and the region was famous throughout the ancient world for its tin, which drew traders from across the Mediterranean to this remote corner of Britain. The prehistoric monuments, stone villages such as Chysauster, and hill-forts of Cornwall testify to this deep Celtic past.

When the Anglo-Saxons overran much of Britain in the centuries after the fall of Rome, the Britons of the southwest held out in Cornwall and neighboring Devon, keeping their Celtic language and identity, part of the same world of the western Britons as the Welsh. For a long time Cornwall remained a distinct Brittonic land, only gradually drawn under English rule.

From these ancient British roots, in their remote peninsula of moor and coast, grew the distinct Cornish people, one of the Celtic nations of Britain, kin to the Welsh and the Bretons. Absorbed into England yet holding to a strong sense of a separate identity, and to the memory and revival of their Celtic language, the Cornish remain a distinctive people of the British southwest.

The Name

The Cornish call themselves in their own language Kernowyon, and their land Kernow, while in English they are the Cornish and their homeland Cornwall. The name comes from the Cornovii or a related British people, combined with an Old English element meaning the foreigners or Welsh, the term the Anglo-Saxons used for the Britons, so that the name reflects the meeting of Briton and Saxon.

The name Kernow is used with pride by the Cornish as the native name of their land, and the region has a strong sense of being a distinct place, not simply an English county. The Cornish increasingly assert their identity as one of the Celtic nations, alongside Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, and the Isle of Man.

The national symbol of the Cornish is the flag of Saint Piran, a white cross on a black field, said to represent the white tin in the black rock or ore, which has become the widely flown emblem of Cornwall and Cornish identity. Saint Piran, the patron saint, is associated with tin and with the Cornish nation.

In modern times the Cornish have been recognized as a national minority within the United Kingdom, a mark of their distinct identity, and the Cornish name carries a strong sense of a people apart. The Cornish speak of Kernow and their heritage with pride, conscious of belonging to a Celtic nation in the far west of Britain.

The Language

The Cornish language, Kernewek, is a Celtic language of the Brittonic branch, closely related to Welsh and, even more so, to Breton, with which it shares a common origin among the Britons of the west. It is one of the treasures and symbols of Cornish identity, though its history is unusual, for the language died out as a community tongue before being revived in modern times.

Cornish was the everyday speech of Cornwall through the Middle Ages, but over the centuries, as English spread westward, it retreated to the far west of the peninsula, and by around the eighteenth century it had ceased to be spoken as a native community language, the last traditional speakers passing away. For a time Cornish was a dead language, remembered only in records and place-names.

In the twentieth century, however, a remarkable revival began, as enthusiasts and scholars, drawing on the surviving texts and the kinship with Breton and Welsh, worked to reconstruct and revive the Cornish language. Through their efforts Cornish was brought back into use, taught, written, and spoken once more by a growing community of learners and enthusiasts.

Today Cornish is a revived language, recognized and supported as part of Cornish heritage, taught to children and adults, used in signs, ceremonies, music, and cultural life, and cherished as a central symbol of Cornish identity. Its revival from extinction is one of the most striking stories of language renewal in Europe, and the Cornish tongue is once again a living mark of the people of Kernow.

The Homeland

The homeland of the Cornish is Cornwall, a long peninsula forming the far southwestern tip of Britain, almost surrounded by the sea and ending at the famous Land’s End. It is a land of rugged coasts, moors, and a mild climate warmed by the Atlantic, with a character quite distinct from the rest of England.

The coast is the glory of Cornwall, a long and dramatic shoreline of cliffs, coves, beaches, fishing harbors, and rocky headlands, battered by the Atlantic on one side and gentler on the other, dotted with picturesque villages and the landmarks such as St Michael’s Mount rising from the sea. The sea has always been central to Cornish life.

Inland lies a country of moors, above all the wild expanse of Bodmin Moor, of green valleys and small fields, and of the relics of the great tin and copper mining that once dominated the land, its ruined engine houses standing on the hills and cliffs. This landscape of moor, coast, and mining heritage gives Cornwall its distinctive appearance.

The towns of Cornwall, from the cathedral city of Truro to the old ports and market towns, carry the life and history of the Cornish, while the coast, the moors, and the mining landscape preserve the character of the land. This remote, sea-girt peninsula of cliffs, moors, and old mines is the homeland at the heart of Cornish identity.

The Old Way of Life

For most of their history the Cornish were a people of miners, fishermen, and farmers, and these three ways of life shaped the traditional culture of Cornwall. Above all, Cornwall was a great mining land, and for centuries the extraction of tin and later copper from the rich lodes of the peninsula was central to the economy and the identity of the people.

The Cornish miners were renowned for their skill, and Cornwall became a world center of hard-rock mining and mining technology, its great engine houses, powered by steam, dotting the landscape. So famous were the Cornish miners that when the mines at home declined, they emigrated across the world, and it was said that wherever a hole was dug in the ground, a Cornishman would be found at the bottom of it.

The sea was the other great element of Cornish life, and fishing was central, above all the great pilchard fishery of former times, along with other fishing from the many harbors and villages of the coast. The Cornish fishing villages, with their harbors, boats, and cottages, such as Mousehole, are among the most beloved images of Cornwall.

Inland, farming on the moors and in the valleys added to the ways of life, and the world of mine, sea, and farm shaped the Cornish character. This world of the miner, the fisherman, and the farmer, though transformed by the decline of mining and fishing, is remembered with pride and remains close to the heart of Cornish identity.

Society and Community

Traditional Cornish society was built around the family, the village or town, and the community of the mine, the harbor, and the chapel, in a world shaped by mining, fishing, and farming in a remote corner of Britain. The hard and dangerous life of the mine and the sea fostered strong bonds of community and a proud, independent character.

The Cornish were known for a strong sense of their own distinctiveness and independence, a feeling of being a people apart from the English, expressed at times in history through rebellion and always through a strong attachment to their homeland and traditions. The mining communities in particular developed a powerful sense of solidarity and identity.

Religion, above all the Methodism that took deep root in Cornwall, was a central force in society, shaping the life of the mining and fishing communities, its chapels a focus of community life, its hymns and preaching part of the culture. The chapel stood alongside the mine and the harbor as a pillar of Cornish society.

In modern times, the assertion of Cornish identity has found expression in cultural revival, in the Gorsedh Kernow or gathering of the bards modeled on the Welsh and Breton assemblies, and in movements for the recognition of Cornwall and its people. Shaped by mine, sea, chapel, and a strong sense of distinctiveness, the Cornish preserved a powerful identity, and the bonds of community and attachment to Kernow remain important today.

Religion and Belief

The Cornish share in the long Christian history of Britain, and their land has a deep Christian heritage reaching back to the age of the Celtic saints. In the early Middle Ages, Cornwall, like Wales and Brittany, was a land of Celtic Christianity, and the many Cornish saints, often shared with Wales and Brittany, gave their names to the towns and churches of the peninsula.

The ancient stone crosses that stand in Cornish churchyards and along the old ways, and the holy wells scattered across the land, are relics of this Celtic Christian past, a distinctive part of the religious heritage of Cornwall. The parish churches, many dedicated to local Celtic saints, are among the treasures of the region.

From the eighteenth century, a great change came with the spread of Methodism, which took deep and lasting root in Cornwall, above all among the mining and fishing communities. The preaching of the early Methodists found a powerful response, and the chapels of the movement became central to Cornish life, their hymns and traditions a deep part of the culture.

The Methodist heritage, alongside the older Anglican and Celtic Christian traditions, remains an important part of Cornish identity, its chapels a familiar feature of the towns and villages, its hymn-singing a beloved tradition, above all the great carol-singing of the Cornish Christmas. Faith and its traditions, from the Celtic saints to the Methodist chapels, are woven into the culture of Cornwall.

Traditions

Cornish traditions are rich in music, festival, and folk custom, and they have enjoyed a strong revival as part of the assertion of Cornish identity in modern times. Song and music lie close to the Cornish heart, above all the tradition of hymn and carol singing that came with Methodism, and the folk customs and festivals of the towns and villages.

Among the most famous of Cornish customs are the ancient May Day celebrations, above all the Obby Oss festival of Padstow, in which a hobby-horse figure is paraded through the town to music and song in a rite welcoming the spring that reaches back into the distant past. Such customs, and the reviving festivals of the Cornish calendar, are vivid expressions of the culture.

The revival of Cornish identity has brought a flourishing of festivals celebrating the language, music, and heritage of Cornwall, such as the midsummer Golowan festival of Penzance with its Mazey Day, and the Gorsedh Kernow, the gathering of the bards that honors those who have served the Cornish language and culture. These celebrations express the pride of the Cornish in their distinct identity.

Alongside these, the traditions of Cornish wrestling, of the male-voice choirs famous throughout the land, of the carols and customs of the Cornish Christmas, and of the folk music and dance of the region form a rich living heritage. These traditions, deeply rooted and vigorously revived, are cherished as vivid expressions of the Cornish people and their Celtic identity.

Crafts

The crafts of the Cornish grew from a land of mines, sea, and stone, and above all from the great tradition of mining that shaped the region. The Cornish were master miners and engineers, and the skills of hard-rock mining, of the working of tin and copper, and of the steam engineering that powered the great mines were crafts in which Cornwall led the world.

The engine houses that stand across the Cornish landscape are monuments to this craft of mining and engineering, and the Cornish beam engine, developed to pump water from the deep mines, was a triumph of the region’s skill that spread across the world. The working of tin, from the ancient streaming of the metal to the deep mines, was the signature craft of Cornwall.

The sea gave rise to its own crafts, above all boatbuilding and the making of gear for the great fishing fleets, while along the coast of the Lizard the working of the beautiful mottled stone called serpentine into ornaments and objects became a distinctive Cornish craft. Pottery, too, flourished, drawing on the fine china clay of the region.

Alongside these, the china clay of Cornwall became a great industry, and the region’s stone, metals, and clay supplied crafts and industries far beyond its borders. These traditions, above all the great craft and engineering of Cornish mining, along with serpentine-working, boatbuilding, and pottery, are remembered and celebrated as a valued part of Cornish heritage.

Food

Cornish cuisine is the hearty food of a people of miners, fishermen, and farmers, rooted in the produce of the land and the sea and famous above all for one great dish. Simple, filling, and satisfying, it reflects the working life of Cornwall and its bond with the coast and the fields.

The most famous Cornish food, known throughout the world, is the Cornish pasty, a filled pastry of meat, potato, swede, and onion enclosed in a folded crust with a thick crimped edge. Made to be carried down the mines and eaten by hand, the sturdy pasty with its crimped seam was the ideal meal for the Cornish miner, and it has become the great emblem of Cornish food.

The sea provides an abundance of fish and shellfish, and Cornwall is famous for its seafood, from the pilchards of former times to the crab, lobster, and fresh fish of today. The land yields the rich dairy for which Cornwall is renowned, above all the thick clotted cream that crowns the celebrated Cornish cream tea of scones, jam, and cream.

Cornish baking is also famous, from the saffron cake and buns colored and flavored with saffron, an old Cornish tradition, to the heavy cake and other treats. Rooted in the mine, the sea, and the dairy farms, and famous above all for the pasty and the cream tea, Cornish cuisine is a hearty and beloved expression of the culture of Cornwall.

Festivals

The festivals of the Cornish blend old folk customs, the Christian calendar, and the modern revival of Cornish identity, and they are cherished as vivid expressions of the culture and spirit of Cornwall. Ancient seasonal customs, saints’ days, and cultural celebrations fill the Cornish calendar.

Among the most famous and ancient are the May Day celebrations, above all the Obby Oss festival of Padstow, in which the hobby-horse is paraded through the beflagged town to welcome the spring, and the Flora or Furry Dance of Helston, a stately dance through the streets in early summer, both reaching back into the distant past. These customs are among the best-loved of Cornwall.

Saint Piran’s Day, the feast of the patron saint of Cornwall in early March, has become a great celebration of Cornish identity, marked with processions, the flying of the black and white flag, and festivities across Cornwall and among the Cornish abroad. The midsummer Golowan festival of Penzance, with its Mazey Day, is another lively celebration.

The Gorsedh Kernow, the gathering of the Cornish bards, honors those who have served the language and culture, while festivals of music, food, and heritage, and the great tradition of Cornish carol singing at Christmas, mark the year. These festivals, blending the ancient and the revived, are joyful expressions of the pride of the Cornish in their Celtic identity.

History

The history of the Cornish is that of a Celtic people of the British southwest, heirs of the ancient Britons who held out in Cornwall when the Anglo-Saxons overran much of Britain. For centuries after the fall of Rome, Cornwall remained a distinct Brittonic land, part of the world of the western Britons, before being gradually drawn under the rule of the English kings.

Cornwall was famous from ancient times for its tin, which drew traders and gave the region a special place in the economy of Britain, and through the medieval and later centuries the tin and copper mining of Cornwall grew into a great industry. The Cornish long kept a strong sense of their distinctiveness, and at times this erupted into rebellion against the English crown, as in the risings of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were the great age of Cornish mining, when Cornwall led the world in hard-rock mining and engineering, and its miners and engines were famous everywhere. But the decline of the mines from the later nineteenth century brought hardship and a great emigration, as Cornish miners spread across the world, carrying their skills to the mining lands of every continent.

The Cornish language, meanwhile, had died out as a community tongue by around the eighteenth century, only to be revived in the twentieth. In modern times a strong revival of Cornish identity has arisen, with the recovery of the language, the celebration of Cornish culture and festivals, movements for the recognition of Cornwall, and, in recent years, the recognition of the Cornish as a national minority, affirming their place as a distinct people.

Today

Today the Cornish are the people of Cornwall, in the far southwest of England, numbering some hundreds of thousands, and recognized as a national minority within the United Kingdom, a mark of their distinct Celtic identity. Truro is the cathedral city and administrative center, while the towns, villages, coast, and moors carry the life and heritage of the Cornish.

Modern Cornwall, its great mining and fishing industries much diminished, is a region whose economy relies heavily on tourism, drawn by its magnificent coast, its beaches, its mining heritage, now recognized as a world heritage site, and its distinctive culture. The Cornish work to build their prosperity while cherishing and asserting their identity.

Cornish identity has enjoyed a strong revival in recent decades, with the remarkable revival of the Cornish language, the flourishing of festivals such as Saint Piran’s Day, the celebration of Cornish music, sport, and tradition, and the growing recognition of the Cornish as a distinct people. Pride in the flag of Saint Piran and in the Celtic heritage of Kernow runs deep.

Through the long centuries since the Britons held out in the west, the Cornish have preserved a distinct identity as one of the Celtic nations of Britain, holding to their sense of themselves, reviving their language, and cherishing their heritage of mine, sea, and moor. A proud Celtic people of the far southwest, attached to Kernow and their traditions, the Cornish remain one of the distinctive peoples of Europe.

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• The Gagauz
• The Kashubians
• The Manx
• The Ladins
• The Greenlanders
• The Asturians
• The Aragonese

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