490 



CORNWALL 



fectly sheltered deep-water harbour of considerable 

 importance in the middle ages. The chief river is 

 the Tamar, which practically divides Cornwall from 

 Devon, rising within 3 miles of the north coast at 

 Wooley Barrows. It is tidal, and navigable for 

 19 miles (total length 59) from its embouchure in 

 Plymouth Sound. Its principal Cornish tributary 

 is the Notter, which enters it through the estuary 

 of the Lyrihir, and is navigable for 5 miles. Th,e 

 lower part of the estuary of the Tamar is called the 

 Hamoaze. The Fowey is 30 miles long, and navi- 

 gable for 6. The Fal is 20 miles long from its 

 source to Falmouth Harbour, into which several 

 smaller streams empty themselves through tidal 

 creeks. The Camel (also called the Alan) is 29 

 miles long, 10 miles being tidal. There is a tradi- 

 tion that a large tract of land between the Land's 

 End and the Scilly Isles was submerged by the sea. 

 This is the fabled Lyonesse. 



Cornwall is mainly composed of clay-slate, pro- 

 vincially called killas, which is broken along the 

 higher ground by the protrusion of bosses of granite, 

 in five larger and many smaller masses, probably 

 connected beneath the surface. Associated with 

 the granite are schorl arid allied rocks, and there 

 are many dikes of quartz- and felspar-porphyry, 

 locally termed elvans. The slates are interspersed 

 with igneous rocks, interbedded and intrusive, and 

 there has been much alteration. The Lizard dis- 

 trict presents the most complex series in the king- 

 dom. Serpentine and gabbro are the most distinc- 

 tive rocks here ; but there are schists and gneisses 

 and porphyries in singular variety. The stratified 

 rocks of the east of the county are recognised as 

 Devonian ; in the central region Silurian are largely 

 represented ; the western may be still older ; and 

 the Lizard are believed to be partly Archaean. 

 Mining has been carried on in Cornwall from 

 prehistoric times, and the county has been regarded 

 as the Cassiterides (q.v. ) of the Phoenicians and 

 Greeks. The most profitable mines are near the 

 junctions of the granite and killas, and the most 

 important mining area at the present day is 

 around Cambprne and Redruth ; the deepest and 

 richest mine is Dolcoath, wrought to a depth of 

 about half a mile. The county yields tin, copper, 

 lead, iron, zinc, silver, cobalt, antimony, man- 

 ganese, bismuth, tungsten, and arsenic in com- 

 mercial quantities ; and a greater variety of 

 minerals (some unique) than any other part cf 

 the United Kingdom. Gold has been found in 

 alluvial tin works or ' streams,' the largest nugget 

 over two ounces. Of late years mining has been 

 very much reduced, and almost all the mines now 

 existing are tin, of which Cornwall yields nearly 

 all that is raised in the kingdom. The output of 

 copper is at present small. Next to tin, the most 

 important mineral product is china clay (kaolin), 

 the decomposed felspar of granite which has under- 

 gone the natural process of kaolinisation. The 

 chief centre of this industry is the district north of 

 St Austell. Here also is found a peculiar kind of 

 granite called china-stone (petuntze). 



The fisheries of Cornwall are extensive and 

 important, and in favourable seasons large quan- 

 tities of pilchards are caught by seining, cured, 

 and exported to the Mediterranean, where they 

 form a common Lenten food. Herring and mackerel 

 fisheries are also extensive, and enormous quan- 

 tities are sent by rail to London and various 

 inland markets. The climate is generally mild, but 

 damp. In the extreme west of the county snow 

 seldom lies, and the winter temperature is such 

 that plants live and flourish in the open air that 

 require protection almost anywhere else in Eng- 

 land. At Trevarrick, near St Austell, and Lamor- 

 ran and Penjerrick, near Falmouth, many foreign 

 trees and shrubs have been successfully acclima- 



tised. Camellias grow and flower in the open air 

 as luxuriantly as the common laurel in sheltered 

 localities. The gardens at Trescoe, Scilly, are 

 quite tropical in character, from the variety and 

 beauty of their tropical contents. This favourable 

 climate has been turned to good account in the 

 Scilly Isles and the Perizance district, by the 

 development of market-gardening for the supply of 

 early vegetables to the leading markets, particu- 

 larly broccoli and potatoes, of which double crops 

 are raised annually. With the exception of the 

 peach, nectarine, and apricot, nearly all fruit-trees 

 thrive and mature ; and the banks of the Tamar are 

 specially favourable to the growth of cherries and 

 strawberries, for rail supply. As a general agricul- 

 tural county (its moorlands excepted), Cornwall 

 stands high : the soil is rich ; crops are abundant, 

 and in some localities very early. 



There are very few manufactures ; and most of 

 the inhabitants, since the falling off in mining, are 

 employed in agriculture. The population in 1881 

 was 329,484; in 1891,322,589. Cornwall contains 

 one parliamentary borough Falmouth and Penryn, 

 and six county divisions. It returned 40 members 

 prior to 1832, 14 till 1867, 12 till 1885, and now 7 in 

 all. The bishopric of Cornwall, merged in that of 

 Exeter since Saxon times, was restored in 1876, and 

 the see fixed at Truro. 



Cornwall remained in the hands of its Celtic in- 

 habitants, and under the rule of the British Church, 

 with more or less completeness, until it was finally 

 subjugated by Athelstan in 936. The ancient 

 Cornish language belonged to the Cymric or 

 Brythonic group of the Celtic tongues (see CELTS), 

 and was akin to Welsh and Breton. It was gener- 

 ally spoken until the reign of Elizabeth, and it was 

 not until 1678 that it finally ceased to be used in 

 public worship. It lingered in the extreme west 

 of the county until the early part of the 18th cen- 

 tury ; Dolly Pentreath (? 1676-1778) of Mousehole 

 is popularly regarded as the last who spoke 

 it ; while words and phrases have been handed 

 down to the present day. The literature comprises 

 a vocabulary dating probably from the 13th cen- 

 tury, and some sacred dramas not earlier than the 

 14th. See Norris's Ancient Cornish Drama ( 1859) ; 

 Whitley Stokes's editions of The Life of St Meriasek 

 ( 1872), of The Mystery of the Creation ( 1864), and of 

 the Glossary of Cormac (1864); the glossary of 

 words still in use in Cornwall, published by the 

 English Text Society in 1880 ; a paper by Lach- 

 Szyrrna in the Journal of the Royal Institution of 

 Cornwall for 1883 ; and Jago's English- Cornish 

 Dictionary (1887). 



Cornwall abounds in rude stone and allied monu- 

 ments circles, remains of huts, menhirs, cromlechs, 

 artificial caves or fogous, cairns and barrows, in- 

 scribed stones, and early crosses. The medieval 

 antiquities are less important, the most noteworthy 

 being the remains of the castles of the ancient 

 earldom, created into a duchy in 1337 for the Black 

 Prince. The eldest son of the reigning sovereign 

 is Duke of Cornwall ; and the revenues derived 

 from the duchy by the Prince of Wales average 

 61,000 a year. In the management of the affairs 

 of the duchy the Prince is assisted by a council, 

 the chief officer of which is the warden of the 

 Stannaries, by whose vice-warden the Court of the 

 Stannaries, which has the local regulation of mining 

 affairs, is held. See Tregellas's Cornwall (4th ed. 

 1884), and other works cited there. 



Cornwall, a port of entry of Ontario, at the 

 mouth of the Cornwall Canal , and separated by the 

 St Lawrence from New York state. It is on the 

 v Grand Trunk Railway, 67 miles SW. of Mon- 

 treal, and has, among other factories, one of the 

 principal woollen-mills in the Dominion. Pop. 

 (1881)4468; (1891) 6805. 



