Culture of Cornwall

The culture of Cornwall ( kw, Gonisogeth Kernow) forms part of the culture of the United Kingdom, but has distinct customs, traditions and peculiarities. Cornwall has many strong local traditions. After many years of decline, Cornish culture has undergone a strong revival, and many groups exist to promote Cornwall's culture and language today.

Language

The Cornish language is a Celtic language closely related to Breton and slightly less so to Welsh and Cumbric. All of these are directly descended from the British language formerly spoken throughout most of Britain. The language went into decline following the introduction of the English ''Book of Common Prayer'' (in 1549) and by the turn of the 19th century had ceased to be used as a community language (see main article for further discussion).

During the 19th century researchers began to study the language from any remaining isolated speakers and in 1904 Henry Jenner published ''A Handbook in the Cornish Language'' which started the revival proper. Although less than 1% of Cornwall's population speak the language and 'mother tongue' speakers are in their hundreds rather than thousands, the language continues to play a significant part in the culture of Cornwall.

Some events will use Cornish, in short phrases, openings, greetings or names. There is a healthy tradition of music in the language, which can also be enjoyed by non-speakers. The vast majority of place names in Cornwall are derived from the language, and many people who live in Cornwall know a few words or phrases, e.g. 'Kernow bys vyken!' ('Cornwall forever!). Many Cornish houses, businesses, children, pets and boats are named in the language, thus it has use as an "official community language" and any Cornish speaker will often be asked to provide translations. The language is also used in official business, with the home of Cornwall Council being renamed from New County Hall to Lys Kernow and several of the region's MPs using the language in the Houses of Parliament. These include Andrew George, Dan Rogerson, Sarah Newton and Scott Mann, who have all used the language, at various times, to swear their oaths of allegiance to the Queen.

Cornish literature and folklore

The ancient Brythonic country shares much of its cultural history with neighbouring Devon and Somerset in England and Wales and Brittany further afield. Historic records of authentic Cornish mythology or history are hard to verify but the earliest Cornish language (such as the Bodmin manumissions) marks the separation of Primitive Cornish from Old Welsh often dated to the Battle of Deorham in 577.

Due to language erosion and possible suppression caused by the dominant English language and culture in the later medieval period, many works of Cornish language are thought to have been lost, particularly at the time of the dissolution of the religious houses of Glasney College and Crantock College, which were regarded as repertories of 'Welsh' (i.e., foreign) conservatism by the English. Cornish grievances against the policies of the English government led to the unsuccessful uprisings of the Cornish Rebellion of 1497 and the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549.

However, significant portions of the 'Matter of Britain' relate to the people of Cornwall and Brittany as they do to the modern 'Welsh'--this extends from Geoffrey of Monmouth to the Mabinogion and the Breton-derived tales of King Arthur which make frequent and explicit reference to the geography of the early Brythonic nation, such as his capital at ' Kelliwic in Cerniw' and the legendary sea fortress of King Mergh at Tintagel.

By the Shakespearean period, these ancient texts still maintained a currency demonstrated by ''King Lear'' based on the ancient tale of Leir of Britain which names Corineus the eponymous founder of the Cornish nation; he traditionally wrestled the giant Goemagot into the sea at Plymouth Hoe and claimed the land beyond for his people; the probable origin of the tale of Jack the Giant Killer.

The earliest Cornish literature is in the Cornish language and Cornwall produced a substantial number of passion plays during the Middle Ages. Many are still extant, and provide valuable information about the language: they were performed in round ' plen a gwary' (place for playing) open-air theatres.

There is much traditional folklore in Cornwall, often tales of giants, mermaids, piskies or the 'pobel vean' (little people). These are still surprisingly popular today, with many events hosting a 'droll teller' to tell the stories: such myths and stories have found much publishing success, particularly in children's books.

The fairy tale Jack the Giant Killer takes place in Cornwall.

Cornish dialect writing

Writing in the Cornish dialect existed from the 19th century; in the 20th century the revival of interest in the Cornish language led eventually to a few of those who had mastered the latter turning to writing in it. Poems, essays and short stories have also been published in newspapers and magazines e.g. '' The Cornish & Devon Post''. Then there are literary works in standard English including conversations between dialect speakers, often with a typically Cornish humour.

''Cornish World'', a colour magazine produced in Cornwall and covering all aspects of Cornish life, has proved popular with the descendants of Cornish emigrants as well as Cornish residents. It includes a column in the Cornish language.

Cornish writers and poets

Charles Causley was born in Launceston and is perhaps the best known of Cornish poets.

The Nobel-prizewinning novelist William Golding was born in St Columb Minor in 1911, and returned to live near Truro from 1985 until his death in 1993.

Other notable Cornish writers include Arthur Quiller-Couch, alias "Q", novelist and literary critic; Jack Clemo, deaf-blind poet; Ronald Bottrall, modernist poet; Robert Stephen Hawker, eccentric Victorian poet and priest; Geoffrey Grigson, poet and critic; Silas Hocking, prolific novelist; and D. M. Thomas, novelist and poet.

Poetry written about Cornwall

The late Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman was famously fond of Cornwall and it featured prominently in his poetry. He is buried in the churchyard at St Enodoc's Church, Trebetherick.

The poet Laurence Binyon wrote "For the Fallen" (first published in 1914) while sitting on the cliffs between Pentire Point and The Rumps and a stone plaque was erected in 2001 to commemorate the fact. The plaque bears the inscription 'For The Fallen Composed on these cliffs 1914'. The plaque also bears the fourth stanza (sometimes referred to as 'The Ode') of the poem.

The English-born poet Sylvia Kantaris returned to the UK in 1971 and settled in Helston in 1974. She was appointed as Cornwall's first Writer in the Community in 1986.

Novels set in Cornwall

Novels or parts of novels set in Cornwall include:

Daphne du Maurier lived in Bodinnick-by-Fowey, Cornwall and many of her novels had Cornish settings, including ''Rebecca'', ''Jamaica Inn'', '' Frenchman's Creek'', ''My Cousin Rachel'', and ''The House on the Strand''. She is also noted for writing ''Vanishing Cornwall''. Cornwall provided the inspiration for " The Birds", one of her terrifying series of short stories, made famous as a film by Alfred Hitchcock.

Conan Doyle's ''The Adventure of the Devil's Foot'' featuring Sherlock Holmes is set in Cornwall.

Howard Spring lived in Cornwall from 1939 and set part or all of various novels in the county.

Medieval Cornwall is also the setting of the trilogy by Monica Furlong ''Wise Child'', ''Juniper'', and ''Colman'', as well as part of Charles Kingsley's ''Hereward the Wake''.

Winston Graham's series ''Poldark'' (and the television series derived from it), Kate Tremayne's Adam Loveday series, and ''Greenwitch'', and Mary Wesley's ''The Camomile Lawn'' are all set in Cornwall. Writing under the pseudonym of Alexander Kent, Douglas Reeman sets parts of his Richard Bolitho and Adam Bolitho series in the Cornwall of the late 18th and the early 19th centuries, particularly in Falmouth.

Hammond Innes's novel ''The Killer Mine'' also has a Cornish setting.

Charles de Lint, writer of many modern and urban fairy tales, set his novel ''The Little Country'' in the village of Mousehole in Cornwall.

Chapters 24 and 25 of J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' take place in Cornwall (the Harry Potter story at Shell Cottage, which is on the beach outside the fictional village of Tinworth in Cornwall).

''Over Sea, Under Stone'' and ''Greenwitch'' from the series of fantasy novels '' The Dark Is Rising'', by Susan Cooper, are set in Cornwall. Ciji Ware* set her 1997 novel ''A Cottage by the Sea'' on the Cornish coast. Sue Limb's ''Girl, (Nearly) 16: Absolute Torture'' is partly set in St Ives on the Cornish coast.

Cornwall is featured heavily in the beginning of ''The Mists of Avalon'' by Marion Zimmer Bradley as the home of Igraine, wife of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall. The castle at Tintagel has been said to be where King Arthur was conceived (when Uther Pendragon entered the castle in the form of Gorlois).

Agatha Christie's "Poirot" short story "The Cornish Adventure" take place in Polgarwith, an (imaginary) small market town in Cornwall.

In the ''Paddington Bear'' novels by Michael Bond the title character is said to have landed at an unspecified port in Cornwall having travelled in a lifeboat aboard a cargo ship from darkest Peru. From here he travels to London on a train and eventually arrives at Paddington Station.

Drama and other literary works

Cornwall produced a substantial number of passion plays such as the Ordinalia during the Middle Ages. Many are still extant, and provide valuable information about the Cornish language. Other notable plays include ''Beunans Meriasek'' and ''Beunans Ke'', the only two surviving plays written in any of Britain's vernacular tongues that take a saint's life as their subject.
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch author of many novels and works of literary criticism lived in Fowey: his novels are mainly set in Cornwall. Prolific writer Colin Wilson, best known for his debut work '' The Outsider'' (1956) and for ''The Mind Parasites'' (1967), lived in Gorran Haven, a village on the southern Cornish coast, not far from Mevagissey

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