 Engine House |
and Traditions |
 and Smuggling |
Giants, Piskies, those mischievous identical little men,
with their red caps and buckled shoes,
Mermaids, Smugglers & Pirates and perhaps the most famous of them all,
"King Arthur and the Knights of his Round Table".....
 Giants |
 |
 Castle |
Occupation of Cornwall, appears to date back as far as 'early stonge age,
although there is little evidence as yet, from
Cornwalls immense number of archaeological sites, to back this theory up.......
Around 800 BC, it is known however, that Cornwall was occupied by the Celts,
who had arrived from across the Channel and these are considered the
real ancestors of todays Cornish People......
Records taken from the Domesday Book,
shows the population of Cornwall in 1086 to be 25,000
compared to figures of 501,267 taken from the 2001 census.....
'Cornish' is a celtic language and despite being thousands of years old,
sadly died out during the 1890's, although there are attempts being made to revive it....
The Cornish flag, the flag of St Piran, was named after the
Patron Saint of Miners and is a white cross on a black background.......
 Cross |
 |
 Site in Cornwall |
Smuggling was said to have boomed from around the 14th c
until around the end of the 18th c.......
Cornwalls rugged and virtually uninhabited coastline,
made it relatively easy for the smugglers, although if caught,
the penalties were high, with the risk of deportation to colonies such as Australia,
as a minimum penalty.
Items such as sheeps wool, gin, brandy, rum, tobacco and tea
were the most common smuggled goods,
but in 1661 the illegal exporting of wool was made punishable by the death sentence....
This brought about a turn for the worse and smugglers
who up until then, had been able to bribe port officals, started to arm themselves,
and the only way they could be stopped was by the army.....
 Smugglers |
 |
 Smuggler |
The most obvious, historic relic of the Cornish landscape is the
Engine Houses of old mines....
Up until around the 19th c, the main occupation of the Cornish people
was the agricultural industry.....
but as the tin and copper mines opened up, they left the land in droves,
to seek their fortunes down the mines....
At the beginning of the 20th century as the boom declined,
they turned towards tourism as their main source of income.....
Today, that is still the trend, the last of the tin mines,
South Crofty, sadly closed on March 6th 1998 and the farmers are finding it hard,
but, Cornwalls beautiful & diverse landscape will long remain
and visitors to Cornwall will hopefully
never cease to return......
 South Coast |
South Cornish Coast |
 Mid Cornwall |
The www.specialcornishholidaycottages.co.uk website...
created, published and maintained by Stephanie Fleig
Tel: 01204 227869 / 07764760839
Copyright © Stephanie Fleig 2008