Speech from a Cornish guy

As a chance to get some facts written down, lets come to the history of that place called Cornwall. The Cornwall in existance now is a new Cornwall just born. The Cornwall of old was one of neccessity. Cornwall was an important place due to its importance of copper and tin, meaning that it drew in alot of money. It was for this reason that it was most likely made into an Earldom, and later a Duchy, as reward for good services for someone close to the monarch. It is in this area where most of the pecularities of Cornwall arise from, the Stannaries, pardons, etc. After centuries of mining and streaming of the metals, Cornwall and the Cornish were like no other place in the UK. There were no trains or cars or holiday homes, there was only the harshness of life. A place remote from anywhere where life was far from easy. The seperation of metals from ore was no easy matter, technologically or physically. Metals were gained from rivers and the rivers used as tools, using the water to carry away sediment. Continuous silting of channels and the absence of workable gravels led to this method dying out. The next method is mining. Hammer against drill, the only power was man. Two men using big hammers hitting a drill held by one man to break the rock. Any rock obtained had the same treatment, being brought to surface and crushed by stamps powered by water or crushed using muscle and hammers.

Mines were usually dug into the side of an hill to avoid problems with water, below sea level flooding occurs. Any pumps were water powered. Explosives were later used for breaking the rock from the ground and for shaft digging. As technology advanced, steam was later used to power engines, the engines being used for winching, drainage, crushing or pneumatic drills, this allowed the mines to go deeper. The deepest mine was Dolcoath which reached around 3000′ around 1900 and whose underground passages streached out towards the perimeter of its town in all directions. Stream works were set up to filter the sediments from the water which was pumped from the mines. The only problem was fuel for the big engines which had to be brought from Wales. In return the metals were returned to Wales for the smelting process which required more fuel. As globalisation set in, alternative origins of the ore were found which were easier to extract, therefore cheaper. The Cornish mines therefore went bankrupt and closed except for a couple. Some machinery was sold for scrap, the remainder was scavenged for the war effort, which the numerous mining firms played a big part, making ammunition from explosives which the people were accustomed to using, to making actual guns such as the Holman Projector.

Finally the last mine shut around the 2000 date and the then main industry of Cornwall was, as it had been for a few decades then, and still is, tourism. A petty industry for such a strong people. The method of arriving in Cornwall now is different, if still underfunded, the ease in which you can come here to enjoy the countryside and coasts. But this countryside and coast, having been protected in the past by its remoteness, has long changed. Unscrupulous property developers and a greedy elite sell the ground from under your feet. Traces of the mines in which your forebearers died in long gone never to be found. Numerous bodies of miners still buried within the mines, their resting place being under some Londoners home. The Cornish no longer have the mines they relied on for wages, they now have tourism and short of nothing else. The appeals of Cornwall now are the factors which force the Cornish away to find cheaper living. It was in 1973 that the Royal Commission on the Constitution reported that it “recognised that “a very small minority” in Cornwall existed that claimed a separate national identity for the Cornish people, and who wished to have separate arrangements for their government. They however felt that “despite its individual character and strong sense of regional identity, there is no evidence that its people have a wish to see it separated for the purposes of government from the rest of England”. However they recognised that “the people of Cornwall regard their part of the United Kingdom as not just another English county” and accordingly they recommended that the designation “Duchy of Cornwall” be used on all appropriate occasions to emphasise the “special relationship and the territorial integrity of Cornwall”.

These have all but been ignored. However in 2015 after a 15 year battle and some lies told by Westminster, the Cornish were added to the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The belief that this would benefit the Cornish however was misjudged, Westminster ignored its obligations and is still ignoring the Cornish. The ignorance which Cornwall has become accustomed too and which it is managed. Without the Cornish Cornwall will be no more, it already being sold for profit and not shown the love or respect it deserves, and should get. Our blood being mingled with the soil being of no financial gain so ignored. Cornwall is now just another county, like any other county. No special treatment may be given to it as it is no longer special. Cornwall may only receive what other counties may receive.The Cornish person has no say in what happens across the street, they are to have no say in what can or cannot happen, a guy from outside of Cornwall must decide that. It seems, the Cornish must too be assigned to the history books. The Cornish never died, they were first forgotten, then erased, so that the greedy may flourish. Never let that be forgotten.