1902 Encyclopedia > Cornwall

Cornwall




CORNWALL, the most westerly county in England, is also that which extends farthest to the south. The extreme western point of the mainland is the Land's End, 5J 41' 31" W. long. ; the extreme southern point is the Lizard Head, in 49° 57' 30" N. lat. It is bounded on all sides by the sea, except on the east, where it joins Devonshire. The River Tamar forms the general boundary between the two counties from its source in the parish of Morwenstow. At the source of the river the boundary turns westward to the sea, cutting off from Cornwall the point of Hartland. Cornwall is in effect a long promon-tory, which gradually narrows toward the Land's End, and has one deeply projecting spur ending in the Lizard. The breadth of the county is nowhere very great; and the two seas, the English and the British channels, are visible at once from several parts of the high land of the interior. The greatest length of the county, from the Tamar to the Land's End, is 80 miles. It covers an area, including the Scilly Islands, of 869,878 acres, or 1359 square miles; contains 9 hundreds (16 divisions), 216 parishes, 28 market towns; and in 1871 had 362,343 inhabitants (169,706 males, 192,637 females). The population in 1861 numbered 369,390 persons, and in 1851 it was 355,559, showing an increase between 1851 and 1871 of 2 per cent. Cornwall is included in the western circuit. Originally forming part of the diocese of Exeter, it was in 1876 disjoined therefrom and erected into a separate bishopric—that of Truro. The assizes for the county are held at Bodmin.
Rivers.—The rivers all flow towards the south, with the exception of the Camel and the Alan, which, uniting, fall into the sea at Padstow. Every northern coombe, however, has its streamlet. The rivers of the south coast are—the Tamar, by far the most important; the Lynher, which falls into it; the Looe and the Fowey rivers, falling into creeks at those places; and the Fal, on which stands Falmouth. Except the Tamar none of these streams are of great size or length of course.
Geology.—The Carbonaceous formations of North Devon extend into the north-western angle of Cornwall, but by far the greater part of the county belongs to the Devonian or grauwacke series of rocks, consisting of slates and shales, which occupy much of South Devon, and occur again in North Devon and Somersetshire. From the Devonians four large patches of granite project at intervals. The Land's End district forms the most westerly of these granite patches, each one of which is of considerably less area than the granitic region of Dartmoor, east and north of which true granite does not occur in England except in Cumberland and Westmoreland. The highest point of the Dartmoor granite rises to 2050 feet. The highest point in Cornwall is Brown Willy, 136S feet. This is in the most easterly patch of granite, and the height of each patch diminishes westward until the granite of the Scilly Isles, which lie beyond the Land's Eud, and belong to the same system, reaches, at its highest, to no more than 140 feet. A large mass of serpentine occupies the district about the Lizard Head; and the Devonian rocks are traversed by numerous veins and outbreaks of trap and of "elvans,"— the name'locally given to porphyries, granitic and felspathic. The most curious pile of weathered granite is the Cheese-wring, near Liskeard. Boche Rocks are formed by pro-truding trap. The mineral veins, for which Cornwall has so long been famous, occur in both the Devonian rocks and the granitic.
Scenery.-—The distinctive scenery of Cornwall is to be observed on her coast line, which is much indented, and consists mostly of bold, rugged, and fantastically shaped rocks.
Soil.—The position of the county between two seas, and the character of its geological formations, affect the cultiva-tion of the soil, and the character of its climate. The soil of a great part of Cornwall is indifferent, and the interior, where the ground rises to its greatest height, is so com-pletely exposed to the sea-winds that sweep across it from east and west, that it remains almost without cultivation. The granite district west of Launceston is broken and picturesque, with rough tors or hills and boulders. This is for the most part a region of furze and heather; but after passing Bodmin, the true Cornish moorland asserts itself,—bare, desolate, and impracticable, broken and dug into hillocks, sometimes due to primaeval stream-works, sometimes to more modern search for metals. The seventy miles from Launceston to Mount's Bay have been not untruly called "the dreariest strip of earth traversed by any English high road." There is hardly more cultivation on the higher ground west of Mount's Bay, or in the "Meneage," or "rocky country," the old Cornish name of the promontory which ends in the Lizard. Long coombes and valleys, however, descend from this upper moorland towards the coast on both sides. In them the soil is frequently rich and deep; there are good arable and pasture farms, and the natural oak wood which these coombes or gullies contain has been well cared for and increased by modern plantations. Hitherto, however, the wealth of Cornwall has lain not so much in the soil, but underground, and in the seas which beat against her coast. Hence the favourite Cornish toast,—" fish, tin, and copper."
The climate of Cornwall is peculiar. Snow seldom lies for more than a few days, and the winters are less severe than in any other part of England. The sea-winds, except in a few sheltered places, prevent timber-trees from attaining to any great size, but the air is mild, and the lower vegeta-tion, especially in the Penzance district, is almost southern in its luxuriance. This is partly due tc the influence of the Gulf Stream, which passes but a short distance west of the Scilly Islands. Geraniums, fuchsias, myrtles, hy-drangeas, and camellias grow to a considerable size, and flourish through the winter at Penzance and round Falmouth; and in the Scilly Isles a great variety of exotics may be seen flourishing in the open air, Stone fruit, and

even apples and pears, do not attain the same full flavour as in the neighbouring county, owing to the want of dry heat. The pinaster, the Pinus austriaca, Finns insignis, and other firs succeed well in the western part of the county. All native plants display a perfection of beauty hardly to be seen elsewhere, and the furze, including the double blossomed variety, and the heaths, among which Erica vagans and ciliaris are peculiar to Cornwall, cover the moorland and the cliff summits with a blaze of the richest colour. On the whole the climate is healthy, though the constant west and south-west winds, bringing with them great bodies of cloud from the Atlantic, render it damp and showery.
Acres
under corn Green crops, crops.
Agriculture has not received so much attention here as the more remunerative although more speculative pursuit of mining. Barley, wheat, and oats are the principal corn crops, and the acreage under each of these is much the same in amount; while of green crops one-half the acreage is occupied by turnips, a fifth by mangolds, and only a tenth by potatoes. Early potatoes, brocoli, and asparagus are grown extensively around Penzance, where the climate is very equable, and these products are sent off in large quantities to the Loudon market. The stock of animals is considerable, and has recently been increased to some extent. The cattle, which on some farms are used for ploughing, belong mostly to the Devon breed. The following tables, taken from the agricultural returns, show the acreage of crops and numbers of live stock in the years 1873 and 1876 respectively:—
60,244 60,281
Sheep. 408,173 437,440
1873 1876
1873 1876
150,106 143,211
Cuttle. 145,286 155,950
Percen
Grass under of area
rotation. under
cultivation.
149,785 59 138,721
Pigs. 62,82 62,20
60J
Horses. 37,466 30,613
With reference to the division of the land, according to the " Owners of Land" Return, 1873, the county was in that year divided among 13,866 separate proprietors, holding land estimated at a total value of ¿£1,235,167. There were 8717 owners of less than 1 acre, and the largest separate property amounted to 25,910 acres. Of the whole proprietors 62 per cent, held less than 1 acre of land, which is a little under the proportion of small proprietors in the neighbouring county of Devon, and still more under that of all England. The average size of the properties was 54 acres, while that of all England was 34, and the average value per acre was £1, 12s. 6Jd. as against £3 the average of the whole country. The proprietors who in 1873 held more than 10,000 acres in the county were the following:— Viscount Falmouth, 25,910; Lord Robartes (Lanhydrock), 22,234; Hon. G. M. Fortescue (Boconnoc), 17,208; G. L. Bassett (Tehidy Park), 16,969; Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, 13,288; Duchy of Cornwall, 12,516; C. H. T. Hawkins (Probus), 12,119; and Lord John Thynne, 10,244.
Economic Geology and Mines.—The granite, the slate, and the serpentine of Cornwall are of the first importance. The mines are among the chief features of the county. Granite is largely quarried in various districts, especially at Luxulian, on the Liskeard moors, and at Penryn, and has served for the material of London and Waterloo bridges, the docks of Chatham, and many great public works. The granite of Cornwall is for the most part coarse-grained; but in this respect it differs considerably in different places, and the coarse-grained rock is often traversed by veins of finer texture. From the Delabole quarries, in the Devonian series, near Tintagel, the best slate in the kingdom is extracted, and is largely exported ; 120 tons are raised on an average daily. These slates were in great repute in the 16th century and earlier. Serpentine is quarried in the Lizard district, where alone it is found, and, besides its use as a decorative stone, it is exported in small quantities to Bristol for the manufacture of carbonate of magnesia. China-clay is prepared artificially from decomposed granite, chiefly in the neighbourhood of St Austell, and is exported to an annual amount of about 80,000 tons. The chief mineral productions of Cornwall, considered as objects of trade, are tin and copper, the former being found nowhere in the United Kingdom except in Cornwall and Devon. Both these metals occur most plentifully in the Devonian series, but for the most part in the neighbourhood of granite, or of its modification, elvan. The veins of ore are arranged in groups as follows :—1. That of St Austell, chiefly stanni-ferous ; 2. St Agnes, chiefly stanniferous ; 3. Gwennap, Redruth, and Camborne, chiefly cupriferous; 4. Breage, Marazion, and Gwinear, of mixed character; 5. St Just and St Ives, mainly stanniferous. Besides tin and copj>er, anti-mony ores are found where the Devonian rocks are much traversed by traps, as at Endellyon, Port Isaac, and St Germans. Manganese is also found under similar condi-tions. Some lead occurs, and some small mines are worked, but with no great results ; and iron, in lodes, as brown hiematite, has been worked extensively near Lost-withiel and elsewhere. Metals occur in the lines of fault and fissure, which extend through the different geological formations of Devon and Cornwall. In Devon and in East Cornwall these lines run nearly N. and S., and are crossed by others running E. and W. In West Cornwall the lines are more bent, and the main fissures take a direction nearly parallel with the general range of land. Metallic fissures are locally termed lodes. Ores are not disseminated through all parts of the fissures in which they are found, but are gathered in patches known as " bunches of ore," the intervening portions containing strings and specks of metal, but in quantities too small to be profitably worked. It should be observed that in all lodes or fissures, whatever may be the nature of their produce, the parts most highly inclined are always the most productive. Tin occurs not only in lodes but in streams of stones and minute grains, carried from the head of the lode, where it ueared the surface, apparently by some great force of water, which must have rushed from N. to S., since the great streams of tin are in all instances carried toward the S. coast. Stream tin is found immediately on the hard rocky surface of the country, and is covered by numerous tertiary deposits, which indicate that much of the coast line has been depressed and again raised, since the first deposit of the tin stones. Oxide of tin also generally occurs in the "gossan," orochreous substance which forms the upper part of a good copper lode. The native ore from the mine or the stream-work is known as black tin. White tin is the metal after smelting. In the stream works tin pebbles are sometimes found of 10 or 12 lb weight, and great masses of rock richly impregnated with metal have occurred weighing more than 200 lb. But the small or grain tin, as it is called, is of better quality.
Tin occurs in both granite and slate ; copper for the most part in granite. The most important Cornish copper ore is the sulphuret, commonly known as grey ore by the miners ; but copper pyrites, or the bisulphuret of copper, occurs far more frequently in both Cornwall and Devon. The tin of Cornwall has been known and worked from a period long before the dawn of certain history. Copper, which lies deeper in the earth, and consequently cannot be " streamed " for, was almost unnoticed in the county until the end of the 15th century, and little attention was paid to it until the last years of the 17th. No mine seems to have been worked exclusively for copper before the year

1700 ; and up to that time the casual produce had been bought by Bristol merchants, to their great gain, at the rate of from £2, 10s. to £4 per ton. In 1718 a Mr Coster gave a great impulse to the trade by draining some of the deeper mines, and instructing the men in an improved method of dressing the ore. From that period the present trade in Cornish copper may be said to date its rise, the annual produce, with occasional exceptions, having until recent times progressively increased. In 1851 the mines of Devon and Cornwall together were estimated to furnish one-third of the copper raised throughout other parts of Europe and th o British Isles (De la Beche). It has been calculated that the clear profits from fourteen of the most productive mines in Cornwall (both tin and copper), daring the present century, have reached to £2,756,640, the value of the entire produce having been £13,158,203. From this gross sum the expenses of labour, materials, working costs, and " dues" or royalties have to be deducted. The number of years during which these fourteen mines have been worked varies from 5 to 66.
The underground wealth of Cornwall is, however, not only diminishing in quantity and quality, but the process of raising it is becoming too expensive to be continued. No copper lodes of great importance have been discovered of late years, while the surface or stream tin is nearly exhausted. Almost all the Cornish tin is now raised from deep mines at heavy expense, and has to compete with the vast supplies which arrive from foreign countries. The Cornish miners are an intelligent and independent body of men. They are in request in whatever part of the world mining operations are conducted; and it may fairly be asserted that the solution of every intricate problem in mining geology is generally assigned to a Cornish agent, and every task requiring skill, resource, and courage in-trusted to a Cornish miner. About 28,000 persons used to be employed in the mines, but emigration to more remunerative fields abroad has recently reduced that number most materially. For many centuries a tax on the tin, after smelting, was paid to the earls and dukes of Cornwall. The smelted blocks were carried to certain towns to be coined,—that is, stamped with the duchy seal before they could be sold. By an Act of 1838 the dues payable on the coinage of tin were abolished, and a compensation was awarded to the duchy instead of them.
Stannary Courts.—By ancient charters, the tinners of Cornwall were exempt from all other jurisdiction than that of the stannary courts, except in cases affecting land, life, and limb. The earliest charter is that of Edmund earl of Cornwall, but the freedom then assured was rather confirmed than given for the first time; and it is probable that the customs of the stannary courts are of high antiquity. Twenty-four stannators were returned for the whole of Cornwall. Their meeting was termed a parlia-ment, and when they assembled they chose a speaker. In earlier times, the combined tinners of Devon and Cornwall assembled on Hingston Down, a tract of highland on the Cornish side of the Tamar. After the charter of Earl Edmund, the Cornish stannators met (apparently) at Truro ; those of Devonshire at Crockern Tor on Dartmoor. An officer was appointed by the duke of Cornwall or the Crown, who was Lord Warden of the Stannaries, and the parliaments were assembled by him from time to time, in order to revise old or to enact new laws. The last Cornish stannary parliament was held at Truro in 1752. For a long series of years little or no business was transacted in the stannary courts; but the necessity for a court of peculiar jurisdiction, embracing mines and mining transactions of every description within the county of Cornwall having become more and more apparent, a committee was appointed to report on the subject, and an Act of Parliament was afterwards (1836) passed, suppressing the law courts of the stewards of the different stannaries, and giving to the vice-warden their jurisdiction, besides confirming and enlarg-ing the ancient equity jurisdiction of that office. Several statutes have since been passed denning and amending the stannary laws. From the judgments of the vice-warden an appeal lies to the Lord Warden, and from him to the Supreme Court of Judicature. The court, thus renewed, has greatly benefited the mining interests of Cornwall.
Fisheries.—The fisheries of Cornwall and Devon are the most important on the south-west coasts. The pilchard is in great measure confined to Cornwall, living habitually in deep water not far west of the Scilly Isles, and visiting the coast in great shoals,—one of which is described as having extended from Mevagissey to the Land's End, a distance, including the windings of the coast, of nearly 100 miles. In summer and autumn pilchards are caught by drift nets; later in the year they are taken off the northern coast by seine nets. Forty thousand hogsheads, or 120 million fish, have been taken in the course of a single season, requiring 20,000 tons of salt to cure them. The northern shoals are by far the largest. Twelve millions have been taken in a single day; and the sight of this great army of fish passing the Land's End, and pursued by hordes of dog-fish, hake, and cod, besides vast flocks of sea-birds, is one of the most striking that can be imagined. The fishery gives employ-ment to about 10,000 persons, and a capital of nearly £300,000 is engaged in it. The headquarters of the fishery are Mount's Bay and St Ives, but boats are employed all along the coast. When brought to shore the pilchards are carried to the cellars to be cured. They are then packed in hogsheads, each containing about 2400 fish. These casks are largely exported to Naples and other Italian ports—whence the fisherman's toast, " Long life to the Bope, and death to thousands." Besides pilchards, mackerel are taken in great numbers on the southern coast. Conger eels of great size, weighing from 60 to 120 lb, are found near the shores, and among other fish taken should be mentioned mullet and John Dory. Becently a brisk trade in " sardines " has been established—young pilchards taking the place of the real Mediterranean fish.
History.—Although there can be no doubt that Cornwall and Devonshire are referred to under the general name of Cassiterides, or the " Tin Islands," it cannot be said that we have any authentic historical knowledge of either county until after the Roman conquest of Britain. It remains un-certain whether Phoenician or Carthaginian traders actually visited Cornwall, or whether they obtained their supplies of tin through Gaul. But we know that the tin of the district was largely exported from a very early period, and that the mines were still worked under the Romans. Cornwall formed part of the British kingdom of Damnonia, which long resisted the advance of the Saxons westward, and remained almost unbroken in power until the reign of Ine of Wessex (688-726). From that time the borders of the British Kingdom gradually narrowed, until, about the year 926, Athelstane drove the Britons from Exeter, and fixed the Tamar as the limit between them and the Saxons of Devon. At this period, and perhaps for some time after, the Britons of West Wales (the name given by the Saxons to the old Damnonian kingdom) retained their line of chiefs, though under some kind of subjection to the kings of Wessex. The British bishop, Conan, submitted to archbishop Wulfhelm of Canterbury after Athelstane's conquest, and was reappointed by him in 936. The Cornish see was afterwards merged in that of Crediton, and in 1050 the place of the united sees was transferred to Exeter, where it remained till 1876. But Cornwall, although the mass of the people remained Celtic, speedily received Saxon masters, and in the Domesday Survey the recorded names of the owners of land in the days of the Confessor are all Saxon. The conqueror bestowed nearly the whole county on his half brother, Robert of Mortain, and thus arose what Mr Freeman styles " that great earldom and duchy of Cornwall which was deemed too powerful to be trusted in the hands of any but men closely akin to the royal house, and the remains of which have for ages formed the apanage of the heir-apparent to the crown." Of the earls, the most important were the brother of Henry III., Richard, king of the Romans, and his son Edmund. In 1336 the earldom was raised to a duchy by Edward III. in favour of his son, the Black Prince, and of his heirs, eldest sons of the kings of England. Since that time the Prince of Wales has always been duke of Cornwall. When there is no Prince of Wales the revenues of the duchy are appro-priated by the Crown. When the duchy was first created by Edward III., the lands belonging to and dependent on it included, not only the great open moors of Cornwall, and Dartmoor forest in Devonshire, but 9 parks, 53 manors, 10 castles, 13 boroughs and towns, and 9 hundreds. Considerable changes and reductions have, however, been since made, and the income of the duchy is at present derived from lands in Somerset and Devon as well as in Cornwall itself. The history of the duchy is virtually that of Cornwall. There has been little to connect it with the general history of the country except during the Civil War, when Cornwall was for the most part royalist, and some sharp fighting took place within its bounds. Besides much skirmishing, there were two important battles, that of Braddock Down (Jan. 19, 1642-3), and that of Stratton, (May 15, 1643), both gained for the king.
Antiquities.—No part of England is so rich as Cornwall in antiquities of the primaeval period. These chiefly abound in the district between Penzance and the Land's End, but they occur in all the wilder parts of the county. They may be classed as follows. (1.) Cromleclis. These in the west of Cornwall are called "quoits," with a reference to their broad and fiat covering stones. The largest and most im-portant are those known as Lanyon, Caerwynen, Mulfra, Chun, and Zennor quoits, all in the Land's End district. Of these Chun is the only one which has not been thrown down. Zennor is said to be the largest in the British Isles, while Lanyon, when perfect, was of sufficient height for a man on horseback to ride under. Of those in the eastern part of Cornwall, Trethevy near Liskeard and Bawton in the parish of St Breock are the finest, and have remained intact. (2.) Rude uninscribed monoliths are common to all parts of Cornwall. Those at Boleit, in the parish of Buryan, are the most important. (3.) Circles, none of which are of great dimensions. The principal are the Hurlers, near Liskeard; the Boskednan, Boscawen-un, and Tregeseal circles ; and that called the Dawns-tin, or Merry Maidens. All of these, except the Hurlers, are in the Land's End district. The other circles that may be mentioned are the " Trippet Stones,'' in the parish of Blisland, and one at Duloe. (4.) Long alignments or avenues of stones, resembling those on Dartmoor, but not so perfect, are to be found on the moors near Roughtor and Brown Willy. A very remarkable monument of this kind exists in the neighbourhood of St Columb, called the "Nine Maidens." It consists of nine rude pillars placed in a line, while near them is a single stone known as the " Old Man." (5.) Hut dicellings. Of these there are at least two kinds, those in the eastern part of the county resembling the beehive structures and enclosures of Dart-moor, and those in the west, comprising "hut-clusters," having a central court, and a surrounding wall often of considerable height and thickness. The beehive masonry is also found in connection with these latter, as are also (6.) Caves, or subterraneous structures, resembling those of
Scotland and Ireland. (7.) Cliff castles are a characteristic feature of the Cornish coast, the chief being the " Little Dinas" near Falmouth, Trevelgue near St Columb, and Treryn, Men, Kenedjack, Bosigran, and others in the west. These are all fortified against the land side. (8.) Hill castles, or camps, are very numerous. Castel-an-Dinas, near St Columb, is the best example of the earth-work camp, and Chun Castle near Penzance, of the stone.
Of early and mediaeval antiquities the most noticeable are crosses, scattered all over the county, and of various dates, from the 6th to the 16th century, many resembling the early crosses of Wales; inscribed sepulchral stones of the 7th and 8th centuries, of which the "men scryffa" in Madron is a good example; and oratories of the early Irish type. St Pirans is the most important of these.
The Cornish churches, for the most part, belong to the Perpendicular style of architecture, and are generally low in the body, but with high and plain granite towers. The rich tower of Probus, however, is an exception, as well as the church of St Mary Magdalene at Launceston, the exterior of which is covered with sculpture. Within, the chief feature is the absence of a chancel arch. The castles of Launceston, Trematon, and Bestormel seem to be of the time of Henry III., but the mounds which occur in the first two are no doubt much earlier,—piossibly marking British strongholds. Tintagel has but a few shapeless walls. Of later castles there is Pendennis (built temp. Henry VIII.); St Michael's Mount, although castellated at an early period, has nothing more ancient than the 15 th century.
Language.—The old Cornish language survives in a few words still in use in the fishing and mining communities, as well as in the names of persons and places, but the last persons who spoke it died toward the end of the 18th century, It belonged to the Cymric division of Celtic, in which Welsh and Armorican are also included. The most important relics of the language known to exist are three dramas or miracle plays, edited and translated by Edwin Norris, Oxford, 1859. A sketch of Cornish grammar is added, and a Cornish vocabulary from a MS. of the 13th century (Cotton MSS. Vespasian A. 14, p. la). The only dictionary of the language is Williams's Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum, 1865. See Max Midler's Chips, vol. iii. ; also CELTIC LITERATURE, vol. v. pp. 298, 323.
Parliamentary Representation.—The duchy returns 13 members to Parliament, 4 for the county (2 from the east division and 2 from the west division) and 9 from the following boroughs:—Truro (pop. 11,049), 2; Penryu and Falmouth (pop. 16,819), 2; St Ives (pop. 9992), 1 ; Liskeard (pop. 6576), 1 ; Bodmin, the assize town (pop. 6758), 1 , Helston (pop. 8760), 1; Launceston (pop. 5468), 1. The municipal borough of Benryn has 3679 inhabitants, Falmouth 5294, St Ives 6965, Liskeard 4700, Bodmin 4672, Helston 3797, Launceston 2935. Penzance, which is unrepresented, has 10,414.
Gentlemen's Seats.—The principal houses to be noticed in Cornwall are—Mount Edgecumbe (earl of Mount Edge-cumbe), originally Tudor of Queen Mary's time, but much altered; the grounds and gardens are, however, more important than the house; Cotele, on the Tamar (dowager countess of Mount Edgecumbe),—a most striking place, the house Tudor, temp. Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, and little changed; it contains the ancient furniture ; Antony, the seat of the Carews; Pentillie (A. Cory ton, Esq.); Port Eliot (earl of St Germans); Trelawne (Sir John Trelawny); Menabilly (Jonathan Bashleigh, Esq.); Boconnoc (Hon. G. M. Fortescue), where are the finest woods in the county; Lanhydrock (Lord Robartes), built between 1636-1651, and containing a very picturesque gallery, with richly moulded roof; Glynn (Lord Vivian); Pencarrow (dowager lady Moiesworth); Heligan (Jolrn Tremayne, Esq.); Carclew (Col. Tremayne), where the gardens are fine and interesting; Tregothnan (Viscount Falmouth); Clowance (Rev. A. H. M. St Aubyn); and St Michael's Mount (Sir John St Aubyn), from its site one of the most remarkable places in Great Britain.
Bibliography.—Besides the works which have already been
mentioned, the following are important :—Bibliotheca Cornubiensis,
a catalogue of the writings, both MS. and printed, of Cornishmen,
and of works relating to the county of Cornwall, by G. C. Boase
and W. P. Courtney, London, 1874 ; A Glossary of Cornish Names,
by the Eev. J. Bannister, Truro, 1871 ; Report on the Geology of
Cornwall, Devon, and West Somerset, by H. T. de la Beche, Lon-
don, 1839 (this report contains the most complete general view
of the geology of Cornwall; valuable papers on the subject are
scattered through the Transactions of the Geol. Soc, and the
Journals and Reports of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, estab-
lished in 1818); A Handbook to the Mineralogy of Cornwall and
Devon, by J. H. Collins, Truro, 1871 ; Cornish Fauna, by J. Couch,
Truro, n. d.; Annual Reports of the Royal Polytechnic Society of
Cornwall, established 1833. Of county histories the earliest is
Carew's Survey of Cornwall, first published in 1602. The collec-
tions of Hals and Tonkin were partly printed by Davies Gilbert in
1838, with additions of his own, under the title of The Parochial
Hist, of Cornwall. Lysons' Cornwall, 1814, remains the most use-
ful and most accurate history of the county. The Parochial and
Family History of the Deanery of Trigg Minor, by Sir John Maclean,
London, 1873, &c. (published in parts) is exhaustive for that divi-
sion. The folk lore of Cornwall is well illustrated in Popular
Romances and Drolls of the West of England,, by K. Hunt, London,
1865 ; and in Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall,
by W. Bottrell, Penzance, 1870-3. Murray's Handbook for Corn-
wall and Devon, 8th ed., 1872, is also a work well worth consulta-
tion. On the antiquities of the county the following authorities
are important:—Dr W. Borlase's Antiquities of Cornwall, 1754 and
1769 ; W. C. Borlase's Ncenia Cornubice, 1872, and a paper by the
same author in the Archceol. Journ., vol. xxx., on "Vestiges of
Early Institutions in Cornwall; " Blight's Ancient Crosses of Corn-
wall, 1858 ; Haddan and Stubbs' Councils, vol. i.; Blight's Churches
of West Cornwall, 1865. (R.J. K.)









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