CORNWALL FACTS - 100 interesting facts about Kernow and the Cornish

Another website listing Cornish stuff, posted for your learning.

. Modern archaeology now admits that the Cornish and Welsh of today are the remnants of an ancient race native to these islands since at least the Neolithic period, between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago.

2. Cornwall was originally part of the kingdom of Dumnonia that may well predate the Roman occupation.

3. Cornwall is an older nation than England and one of the oldest Duchies in Europe.

4. In 936 the English King Athelstan fixed the boundary between England and Cornwall as the east bank of the river Tamar.

5. There is no mention in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles that Cornwall was ever conquered by the English or absorbed into Wessex.

6. No record exists of any formal annexation of Cornwall to England.

7. Cornwall’s continued independence is strongly supported by the fact that it has enjoyed a special status, as Earldom and Duchy.

8. Many treaty’s and documents up until the 18th century made reference to there being a distinction between Anglia and Cornubia and maps of the British Isles produced up until the 18th century often showed Cornwall as a distinct entity on a par with Wales.

9. The Cornish had and arguably continue to have a perceived national identity other than English.

10. Cornwall and the Cornish have had an identity distinct form the English for centuries as is evidenced by the existence of the Cornish language as a mother tongue up until the late 18th or early 19th century and the subsequent successful revival of said language in the 20th century. The language exits in our First, Familial and Place names.

11. Constitutionally the nature of Cornwall and its description of being a county of England are disputed – if correct these arguments would indicate a de jure status for Cornwall as a Duchy and a crown dependency not a county of England.

12. Cornwall was portrayed on numerous maps, including the famous Mappa Mundi, as separate from England right up until the mid 16th century and Henry VIII even listed England and Cornwall separately in the list of his realms given in his coronation address.

13. During the 1549 Anglo-Cornish war, English and foreign mercenaries killed 4,000 Cornish fighters before moving into Cornwall and in total slaughtered up to 11% of its population before the butchery was stopped – with families deprived of their menfolk and livelihoods, the true figure of deaths caused by this barbaric crime accounted for 20% of the Cornish population.

14. Cornwall was not party to the Act of Union in 1707.

15. Cornwall’s legal right to its own Parliament has existed for over 800 years – the right was confirmed and strengthened by the Charter of Pardon 1508, which added to its rights that of veto over acts, statutes, laws, etc., passed by the Westminster government – these rights were granted in perpetuity and cannot be lawfully rescinded.

16. Cornwall’s right to its own sovereign Parliament, and the powers it processes under the Charter of Pardon were confirmed as valid in British law by the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Elwyn Jones in 1977.

17. In British law – a law that has been continually ignored and breached by England – no officer or agent of the Crown (this would include both Westminster and the Anglican Church) can legally set foot upon Cornish soil without the express and joint permissions of the Duke of Cornwall and Cornwall’s Stannary Parliament.

18. Cornwall was successfully described as a Duchy in the Cornish Foreshore Case of 1856 and also that the Duke of Cornwall is the head of state, not the UK monarch.

19. In the notable 1856 Duchy of Cornwall v the Crown case it was confirmed by the Attorney General to the Duchy, Sir George Harrison, that Cornwall was, in law, a Palatine State , extra-territorial to the English Crown and whose quasi-sovereign is the Duke of Cornwall; that during the Kingdom, Earldom and Duchy, Cornwall had always been treated as distinct from England; and that its eastern boundary confirmed that set up in 931 AD, that is, the east bank of the Tamar river; all of which was accepted as the legal position by the Court.

20. Cornwall is officially a Duchy and that’s the title recommended by the Kilbrandon Report back in 1973 to be used instead of “county” – the imposition of county status imposed on Cornwall in 1889 was not lawful.

21. The Welsh are regarded by the UK Government as a national minority, however before the 1960′s there was little difference between Cornwall and Wales in constitutional terms.

22. Cornwall’s rights have been ignored for 450 years, and there is an ongoing stream of official untruths – many organisations operate in Cornwall in direct breach of the Duchy Charters – HM Inspector of Taxes, the Crown Prosecution Service, Crown Courts, English Heritage, English Nature, English Estates etc.

Continued at  https://h2g2.com/entry/A3712510