cornish story - summer 2012

Cornish Story Magazine

Summer 2012

Cornish Story

‘Pasty Tax’ VictoryA modern Cornish Rebellion

People · Places · Language · Food · Events

Travel Issue

Mining History Down Under

The Celtic Fringe - A Chinese Perspective

A Cornish MurderTrial - Episode 2 Fish, Tin and Copper

A Cornish Recipe


Summer 2012

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Introduction

Travel features prominently in cultural representations of Cornwall’s pastand present. At one level this can be seen in the Great Migration of Cornishpeople to foreign destinations like Australia, North America and SouthAfrica. This was particularly the case as a result of the collapse of theregion’s mining economy in the late nineteenth century. Part of theresponse to deindustrialization was the emergence of tourism asholidaymakers began to visit Cornwall in increasing numbers. The Age ofthe Great Western Railway, which promoted the Duchy as an exotic butsafe destination, was then followed by independent travel with the rise ofthe automobile industry throughout the twentieth century.

Many of the articles in the current issue of Cornish Story relate to thisunderlying theme. Bill Curnow investigates the early trading links betweenCornwall and the Mediterranean in relation to the origins of the name‘Britain’: as we shall see a fascinating clue in itself to the area’s economicimportance in ancient times. Connections with Australia are also put underthe spotlight as part of our ongoing series on Cornish migration. ChrisDunkerley explores the story of the Cornish on the Pacific side of theAustralian continent, while Greg Drew discusses the work of the AustralianMining History Association. Since this year marks the centenary of thedisastrous maiden voyage of the Titanic it is appropriate to include anarticle by Xin Gong on the fascinating ways in which James Cameron’sfilm portrayal of this tragic event in 1997 has been influential in thegrowing interest in the Celts in modern China.

The early years of tourism are discussed by Kim Cooper who provides anintroduction to the wealth of historical information contained in travelguides at the Cornwall Centre/Kresenn Kernow. Bob Keys writes aboutamateur filmmaking in interwar Cornwall in relation to a silent filmrecently donated to the Cornish Audio Visual Archive by the family of thelate Cecil Baldwin. In the 1930s Baldwin and his wife Elsie travelled toCornwall for their summer holidays. His interest in film resulted in awonderful visual portrayal of places like Newquay and Zennor during thisbygone romantic era. Once again we also include the usual mix of bookreviews, news features (including a report on the Pasty Tax campaign) andrecipes from our resident chef Sanjay Kumar.


Summer 2012

A sailing vessel atCharlestownBy Anna Tonkin

Front Page Image

Editor: Anna Tonkin

Design and Layout: John Ault

Cornish Story Director: Garry Tregidga

Contributors

Elizabeth Abnett, Umar Ali, John Ault, Cedric Appleby, Kim Cooper, Bill Curnow, Margaret Davidson,Greg Drew, Chris Dunkerley, Xin Gong, Alan Kent, Bob Keys, Sanjay Kumar, Chloe Philips, RachaelRowe, Anna Tonkin, Garry Tregidga

Notes: The views of contributors do not necessarily reflect those of Cornish Story. Full terms andconditions are available on our website and on request. For advertisement and media queries,contribution details or any other queries please contact us at [email protected]

Cornish Story

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Summer 2012

John Ault: Pasty tax 6

Bob Keys: Cecil Baldwin’s films from the 1930s 8

Margaret Davidson: The Baldwins 13

Chris Dunkerley: Some Cornish Experiences in Australia 14

Bill Curnow: Origin of Britain 21

Greg Drew: Mining History Down Under 24

Chloe Philips: CRO update 27

Cedric Appleby: Murder Trial continued 28

Xin Gong: The British Celtic Fringe- a Chinese Impression 40

Beast of Bodmin Book review 44

Umar Ali: Share Support Sustain: Celebrating Islam 45

Rachael Rowe: St Ives: Air raid on St Ives 46

Elizabeth Abnett: St Ives: In a nutshell 48

Kim Cooper: Discovering Cornwall through Guidebooks 50

Sanjay Kumar: Choughed UpSanjay 52

Sanjay Kumar: Fish, tin, copper 54

Alan Kent : Where have you gone Gus Honeybun? 56


Summer 2012


Summer 2012

Pasty Tax Victory -The birth of a modernCornish RebellionBy John Ault

On March the 21st this year, the government released its annual budget. Amongst many un-popular policies one stood out, the tax that was to be imposed on hot savouries – more im-portantly, in Cornwall, on the Cornish Pasty. The aim was that imposing VAT on baked

goods such as pasties would close ‘loopholes’ in VAT laws. Not only is the pasty synonymous withCornwall it is also vital to the local economy. The industry employs 2000 people in the region aloneand is worth at least £37.5 million to the local economy. The introduction of the tax would have re-sulted in 400 job losses and cost the local economy £7.5 million a year. With recession and high

unemployment Cornwall reacted with its usual combinationof rebellion and good humour.

To begin with, a petition was set up to lobby the governmentto change their mind on this ‘half baked’ idea. During a 4week period the petition would garner over half a millionsignatures across the country, and was the largest petitionseen during this government. The petition was taken toDowning Street by a group of over a hundred people, includ-ing locals and members of the pasty industry, and presentedto David Cameron.

However, it was not just the petition that helped put pressureon the government. There was strong opposition to the taxfrom the national bakers Greggs and the National Associa-tion of Master Bakers. There was even opposition as far afield as the United States and Australia! There were alsocampaigns in the national newspapers, most notably TheSun with their ‘Who VAT all the pies’ campaign. Howeverthe pressure provided by the Cornish people was still play-ing a vital role.

“‘I do not claimto know theanswer toeverythingbut, unlikeother hon.Members, Iam stupidenough tohave a try.’

The petitionwas taken toDowning Streetby a group ofover a hundredpeople,including localsand membersof the pastyindustry, andpresented toDavid Cameron.

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Summer 2012

The feeling of resentment towards the tax even brought the people of Cornwall out onto thestreet. In Falmouth over 600 people took to the streets to protest against the ‘pasty tax’. Theydid this the day after a tabled amendment to change the way pasties were taxed was narrowly

defeated in the House of Commons. Once again the people of Cornwall were keeping up the fight,even in the face of probable defeat. All of this pressure eventually paid off. On the 28th of May thegovernment announced a major U-turn when George Osborne announced that the government wasgoing to change the proposals put forward in the budget, and pasties and certain baked goods wouldremain exempt from VAT.

The protest against the ‘PastyTax’ was well and truly a mod-ern Cornish rebellion. It in-volved local business, MP’s,and most importantly Cornishpeople. Despite being a longway from Westminster, when itcame to the ‘Pasty Tax’ the citi-zens of Cornwall made theirvoices heard!

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“Theintroductionof the taxwould haveresulted in400 job lossesand cost thelocal economy£7.5 million ayear.

“ Stephen GilbertMP at the PastyTax victory eventat Roche


Summer 2012

Discovering Cornwall: CecilBaldwin and Amateur Film-makers of the Inter-War periodBy Bob Keys

Cecil Baldwin’s home movies, shot on trips to the Westcountry in the 1930s, provide somefascinating footage of Cornwall in the inter-war period. The films have been donated to CAVA bythe Baldwin family and are a reflection of ‘one family’s story’ of holidays spent in Cornwall. The

movies bring into focus the pre-occupations of the middle class visitor and the places of interest that theyfound worthy of recording at the time. The films contain footage of resorts and places of interest, the dramaof waves, cliffs and the coast and a number of local events such as fishing trips, yacht races and localregattas. This draws our attention to two significant dimensions of film as an archive source for the historianand ethnographer. On the one, hand much amateur footage seems at first sight to record in a direct andunmediated fashion “ actuality “ played out in front of the lens, sometimes recording the minutiae of family

life at other times almost incidentally recording background,characters, landscapes and events that would otherwise be lost tomemory. This type of representation might appear an accidentalrecovery of the past, when images that seemed of little note, can before-grounded by later events. In this respect what would once havebeen loosely termed the ‘content’ of the footage can be of interestto later viewers simply seeking direct visual evidence tocorroborate other historical sources in reconstructing visually the‘archaeology’ of a disappearing landscape or community. On theother hand the film or cultural historian will be sensitive to acompletely different dimension of the footage; the significance ofthe rise of the amateur film-maker and the nature of film-making asa leisure pursuit, including the cultural and even politicalassumptions that are revealed in the recordings. The cinemaaudience by the end of the 1930s’ was already accustomed to theconventions of newsreel and in particular to the film travelogue,introducing potential tourists to areas of outstanding beauty and toquaint and unusual corners of Britain such as the Cornish Riviera.This directs us to the issue of the complex relationship between thework of the dedicated amateur film-maker and the rapid growth ofthe professional film industry. Going to the cinema’ as a massleisure activity, which in many respects reached its peak in the1930s and 1940s, also affected the visual awareness and style ofamateur film makers and the subjects they chose to shoot.


The cinemaaudience bythe end ofthe 1930s’was alreadyaccustomedto theconventionsof newsreel

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Summer 2012

The Baldwin footage; originally a series of between eight/ten reels of approximately four minutes’ du-ration each, amounts to under 40 minutes viewing in all. It covers scenes from the North and Southcoastal areas of Cornwall, including Zennor and the Lands End, as well as some parts of Devon and

Wells Cathedral. It has not been possible to identify all of the locations with absolute certainty. In manyways it is exemplary of 1930s’ home movies; of ‘things we saw and did on our holidays’. It features twocouples on holiday, although a third couple also appears briefly, and indicates their relatively affluent lifestyle, borne out by the fashionable clothes and relatively expensive cars used by the family. Shooting, editingand presenting home movies at the time was an expensive hobby; on the whole a leisure activity of thewealthy, dedicated amateur. Cecil Baldwin was an adventurous cameraman and attempted to shoot someCornish scenes from moving vehicles and from boats at sea, as well as directing a brief ‘romantic scenario’for two of the couples.

However unmediated, direct or naïve this amateur footage may appear it is still a “construction of reality”rather than a simple reflection. The footage requires certain decisions to be made by the cameraman, even ifit consists of a simple uncut linear sequence, as if the eye was looking directly through the lens. In this casethe footage corresponds in real time more or less to the duration of the event being recorded, but still impos-ing an implicit point of view on the material. In the work of the more ‘professional’ amateurs the cutting andediting of material, (often informed by guidance from amateur film magazines or through participation in afilm-making club or association) demonstrates a movement towards the construction of a more coherent vis-ual narrative, even a pre-conceived and scripted scenario, which is played out for the camera, rather than anaccidental recording of ‘reality’ Lying behind such scenarios may be a whole series of ideologies about fam-ily life, community events and rituals or indeed identification with the ‘real’ imagined landscape that the film

‘constructs’.

The Baldwin films need to be placed in a context set not justby the newsreels of the time, with which both the camera-

man and the cinema going public was familiar, but also the con-temporary work of other amateur film-makers. Among the mostinteresting of the dedicated amateurs who were active in Corn-wall in this period we find: the award winning ‘professional’work of the Barnes brothers; John and William, who producedtwo films in the 1930s representing Cornwall; ‘Gem of the Cor-nish Riviera’ in 1936, featuring mostly scenes from St Ives and‘Cornish Nets in 1938-39, featuring the fishing industry. MajorGill, a local enthusiast, who produced and directed a whole se-ries of black and white and some colour footage from the 1930sto the 1940s, focusing on a broad range of local industries andlocal customs and whose archive is held by the Royal CornwallMuseum and the South West Film and Television Archive(SWFTA). While in contrast and perhaps more typical of ama-teur film representing the family and the local community thereare the films of the Larkin family, covering some thirty years ofvillage life at Port Isaac and Port Gaverne, between 1930 and1950, shot mostly by Lionel Castle and also held by SWFTA.

“The Baldwinfilms need tobe placed ina context setnot just bythenewsreels ofthe time

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Summer 2012

The selection of amateur film described above is a fairly representative cross section of the nature and typesof film being shot by home movie makers and the more professional dedicated amateur for whom the hobbywas in some respects a ‘vocation’, or at the very least a ‘serious leisure pursuit’, in the sense of the definitiongiven by Stebbings. Where are we to situate the home movies of Cecil Baldwin in relation to this movement?

The inter-war period was a time when a small but significant number of amateur film-makers made animportant contribution to the history of film and the cinema in the USA, Great Britain and Europe inways which are only now being assessed by both social and film historians. This was an era which

saw competition between a multiplicity of film widths and gauges as cheaper light weight cameras were de-veloped for home use, particularly in the USA; but ‘light weight’ only in comparison to the professionalequipment. An era at times difficult to imagine today, before the later media revolutions of TV, video anddigital technology, which have combined with the spread of the Internet to create the ‘24-hour’ audio-visualpopular culture and the ‘blogosphere’, whose impact we experience on a daily basis. Today it is difficult tounderstand that in the inter-war period amateur film-makers were the privileged few; equipment was rela-tively bulky and expensive, processing and editing the film required certain technical skills and projectingthe finished product at home or in local halls required a reasonable projector. It is hardly surprising that thiswas a hobby mostly pursued by wealthy amateurs from the professional and upper classes, those who had thetime, resources and the dedication required to meet the demands of such a technical and artistic vocation.Despite the narrowness of its social base the legacy of the dedicated amateur requires a serious assessmentwithin its social and historical context. The work of Cecil Baldwin consists of a typical ‘archive’ made up offootage of mixed and uneven quality and not entirely coherent, where we are faced with very personal vi-sions of family or community life. The footage made up of simple stories, linear visual narratives, which

deal with themes or topics from a ‘subjective’ point ofview and a style characteristic of the amateur ‘auteur’.

How should we read such footage when it isprojected today? There is probably no simpleanswer to this, as in part it depends on the

quality of the questions that we bring to bear on the ma-terial and how informed we are already about Cornwallin the 1930s. The analysis of amateur film until quiterecently was a relatively under-developed area. One ofthe few books dedicated to the history and significanceof amateur film is by Patricia Zimmerman, ‘Reel Fami-lies: A Social History of Amateur Film’, which despiteits exclusive concern with the rise of amateur film-mak-ing in the United States, raises the key issue of the ap-proach, or rather absence of approach by mosthistorians to this topic and the contradiction at its heart,she notes that:

“Amateurism …. emerged between 1880 and 1920 asthe cultural inversion of the development of economicprofessionalism.”

“ Amateurism ….emergedbetween 1880and 1920 as thecultural inversionof thedevelopment ofeconomicprofessionalism.”

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Summer 2012

The historian of film and cinema has tended to leave amateur film material almost exclusively to thesocial historian and occasional ethnographer, who were too often looking for unsophisticated visualillustrations for the rituals of family and community life, which were their main concern. The

Baldwin footage is valuable because it comes before the later explosion of home movie making, which wasessentially a post Second World War phenomenon, due to the technical revolutions in film production, thedevelopment of projectors suitable for home use and the arrival of cameras that were even more portable andeconomically within the range of the average family budget; the beginning of a democratic revolution inpopular visual culture. Nevertheless the inter-war period was a time when the small but increasing numberof enthusiasts such as Baldwin, produced some fascinating footage from beginnings which may have startedas the expensive hobby of an elite but were filtering down already to the professional studio photographerwith an interest in the new technology of moving pictures rather than still life portraits, the predominantlymiddle class members of film and cinema clubs and the small number of working class intellectuals active inthe film work of the Co-operative movement or the trade unions. The proletarian intellectuals associated withthe trade union film units and the labour movement, with workers’ film clubs and Co-operative societiescannot be dealt with here, but was reflected already in a more directly political attitude to film culture thatcan be seen in the short-lived Workers’ Topical News (1930-31), a newsreel issued by the Federation ofWorkers’ Film Societies.

It is clear that the process of the diffusion and assimilation of popular movie making, as opposed to movieviewing, is an important phenomenon that deserves further study. In this respect there are some similaritiesto the history of still photography somewhat earlier and the development of popular photography, from thefirst hand-held still cameras of 1888 down to the arrival of the ‘Box Brownies’, which brought homephotography for all within the budget and technical ability of everyman and increasingly everywoman;recording the important events of family life, friendship groups and community celebrations. Whileprofessional film production in the twentieth century took on the dimensions of a modern industrial andcapitalist process, which despite the artistic and craft assumptions of directors, actors and cameramen,rapidly became located in the studio ‘factories’ of Hollywood and other national production centres, amateurfilm remained essentially personal, spontaneous and of course technically unsophisticated. As Stefan

Szczelkun has pointed out, while inthe early days amateur film-makingcould at least stand for:

“freedom, daring, mental agilityand pioneering invention. In otherwords it was a positive label for allthat was excluded by the corporateprofessional work structure. Asleisure increased and became morewidespread the meaningspractically reversed andamateurism came to signifypoverty of technique, lack ofsophisticated aesthetic judgementand intellectual incoherence.”

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Summer 2012

It is important to remember this changing relationship and the visual sophistication that most modernviewers today bring to ‘old’ footage. The Baldwin films were shot using Kodak film, Eastman-Kodakbeing a pioneering producer of film stock and equipment in the period. In 1932 Kodak produced its first

8mm amateur motion picture cameras, projectors and film. This was followed in 1935 by the introduction ofKodakchrome amateur colour film in 16mm format for motion pictures, 35mm for still slides and in 1936film in 8mm gauge, specifically for home movies. Later in 1936 a new 16mm Cine-Kodak magazine wasintroduced as an alternative to rolls and these often gave approximately four minutes of shooting time to thecameraman. The running time of the Baldwin footage is just under 40 minutes in total and may thereforehave been shot originally either as eight/nine reels, or as ten 4minute Kodak magazines, however there isclear evidence of some cutting and editing between sequences. The film we have is black and white, withoutsound, although very late in 1936 Kodak was to introduce a sound on film projector; the Sound KodascopeSpecial Projector. The appendix below provides a descriptive commentary for the sequence of films donatedby the Baldwin family and the shooting locations. Despite some damage they have been transferred to a sin-gle DVD for CAVA. Further research should mean that all of the locations will eventually be identified andperhaps the chronology and dates on which the original ‘shorts’ were shot. In total they are a ‘travelogue’that covers many of the principal Cornish resorts and tourist destinations, inter-cut with ‘memory” footage offamily life and the leisure activity and personal relationships between the couples on holiday. The films ap-pear to have been shot on Kodak reels (or magazines) of four minutes’ duration. There are at least eight sepa-rate ‘edited’ segments on the DVD, although clearly some sequences such as the mackerel fishing haveeither been shot on two discontinuous reels or have been edited to show as part of a ‘home movie’. There areseveral examples of damage to the film and the rather mysterious unexplained appearance (twice) of Felix;

‘the cat who kept on walking’. This was probably cut in during edit-ing at some point to join two parts of the film in the interests of moreeffective presentation.

However we may begin to unpick the film, it represents agolden age in amateur film-making and alone serves as afascinating insight into the Cornwall of this era.“‘I do not claim

to know theanswer toeverythingbut, unlikeother hon.Members, Iam stupidenough tohave a try.’

The Baldwinfilms wereshot usingKodak filmEastman-Kodak beinga pioneeringproducer offilm stock

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Summer 2012

The Baldwins by Margaret Davidson

One of the goals I set myself on my recent retirement was to digitalise my parent’s photo albums, slidesand cine films so we could have a family record which displayed our family history in pictures and

would be a record for our children and grandchildren. My father presented me one day with a batteredcardboard box containing 30+ reels of cine films. Some of these were our own family holidays but alsocontained in the box were the reels of film from my Great Auntie Elsie and Great Uncle Cecil Baldwin’swhich my father had rescued whilst clearing their home following my Great Aunts death some 30 years ago.We had never seen these films before and so one Sunday afternoon I organised a family gathering for theunveiling of these films.

My father’s cine film projector is at least 60 years old and the elastic drive band had perished but we foundan old tough elastic band that worked as a substitute and the films began to reveal themselves. We were allastonished at the quality of the films bearing in mind some were more than 80 years old and had only beenstored in this cardboard box in the attic!! We realised almost immediately that once Dad’s cine projector diedthis record would be lost to us forever. But more important than this we also realised this was a part of socialhistory which we had a responsibility to share with an archive organisation that would preserve it and use itfor education purposes. My Great Auntie and Uncle seen in the films are Elsie and Cecil Baldwin. They weremarried in the 1920’s and had a very successful dressmaking business with a shop in Bowes Park, NorthLondon. Auntie Elsie was the designer, fitter, buyer and a very hard working business woman. My UncleCecil did all the deliveries and odd jobs around the factory. They had several people working for them andtheir work was very important to them. They had a beautiful home on the Cuffley Ridgeway, which is a veryprestigious area on the borders of London and Hertfordshire. Unfortunately they never had children but spenttheir free time in their amazing garden which they both loved. The garden is seen on one of the film. Theirother passion was horse racing and Newmarket race course was their second home!!

The other couple in the film were a couple who owned the butchers shop next to where my Great Auntieand Uncle had their business in Bowes Park. Their surname was Metzger and they were from Germany.

They became very good friends with my Great Aunt and Uncle and appear in the Devon and Cornwall films.We understand that just before World War 2 they were interned we think on the Isle of Man but my father’ssister remembers meeting them at the house in Cuffley after the war but we don’t know what happened tothem after this. My father and his sister both have fond memories of their Aunt and Uncle, Elsie and Cecil.With their parents they joined them on family holidays in Cornwall. They remember leaving London at 3amon a Saturday morning and travelling through the night to get to Cornwall by the afternoon. They travelledwith sandwiches, cake and a primus stove and stopped at least twice on the roadside on the way down for

breaks. Unusually for those times both Elsie and Cecil drove the carwhich we think was a new Rover 12. Interestingly my Aunt says theymoved around the area staying only for 2 or 3 nights in a B & B andonly for 1 week but Elsie and Cecil always stayed in posh hotels andusually had a 2 week holiday! As I think the film shows Elsie was a funloving lady she is the one at the beginning of the film climbing downbetween rocks with a fur stole around her neck and with very prominentteeth. My Uncle Cecil was usually filming but when seen on the filmoften had a pipe. Unfortunately we have no clear date for the films butthe family seem to feel that they were taken in the early to mid-1930s.

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Summer 2012

SOME EARLY CORNISHEXPERIENCES IN EASTERNAUSTRALIAChris Dunkerley, a Cornish bard (Kevrenor) and secretary of theCornish Association of New South Wales, investigates the Cornishhistory of Eastern Australia

When the story of the Cornish people in Australia is told, it is often only possible to give time orattention to the classic Cornish mining story –particularly the great mining migration

destinations of southern and western Australia. The role that the Cornish miners and their deep-mining and engineering expertise played in saving the Colony of South Australia from bankruptcycannot be underplayed - with early settlements near to Adelaide at Glen Osmond and Callington,huge immigration to The Burra, the Copper Triangle (incl. Australia’s true Little Cornwall atMoonta) - plus the Broken Hill and even Western Australia’s Goldfield’s experiences that grew outof that rich vein of Cornish settlement and achievement - all well-documented No-one shouldoverlook the very significant Cornish settlement within central Victoria - with Ballarat and Bendigovying with each other and South Africa for the mantle of the largest Cornish settlements in thesouthern hemisphere; and with other key centres like Maldon and Castlemaine, all having their storyto tell. These are stories that my own ancestors contributed to, so I know them well. I recommend thatyou all explore them at another time.

There are other stories to tell today -along the Pacific side of the

Australian continent, not only those ofother mining immigrants, but offarmers, tradesmen and women,artisans, and even (dare well tell)convicts, and that is what I will beexploring with you.Those coming the 12,000+ nauticalmiles from Cornwall often facedadversity that made it hit or misswhether they would arrive let aloneprosper. They settled in various placesand with hard work, perseverance, oftena strong faith, with luck or divineprovenance they made something ofthemselves, leaving a legacy for thoseplaces, and for their families and

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Summer 2012

New South Wales – the where and how Cornish experiences in Australia started

Nearly half a century before serious European settlement in the recognised “Cornish heartland”colonies of South Australia or Victoria and their huge mining areas, Cornish people walked the

new land, starting from ‘day one’ (221 years ago) on 26 January 1788 in Sydney Cove - sailors,marines, and even a few convicts from Cornwall. Having sailed 12,700 seas miles and crossed theIndian Ocean from southern Africa, and then the Southern Ocean between Australia and Antarctica,they arrived 8 months after leaving Portsmouth, UK.

If we do not count Cornish sailors who were undoubtedly among the crews of earlier Englishexplorers, particularly Captain Cook’s Endeavour, these few who came with our first BritishGovernor, Arthur Phillip, on the First Fleet, were the start of a Cornish presence in Australia.

Among them were the well documented like Governor King, Captain Piper, Major Grose, and outsideof the administration, convict farmer James Ruse. They included devout Wesleyans or BibleChristians as well as the first rogues and vagabonds that are scattered within the Cornish names inAustralia’s history.

James Ruse, born at Lawhitton near Launceston, in Cornwall in 1759, was a rare but not unknowntype of Cornish settler, the convict. Granted land to farm, after he had almost single-handedly shownthe way from starvation for the colony through agriculture on lands well away from the sandstone andsandy coastal fringe, Ruse goes down in history as the first ‘farmer and husbandman’ despite dyingpoor in 1837 (see Janice Ruse Israel, My Mother Reared Me Tenderley: The Life of James Ruse,Possum, Eastwood NSW, 1998). In 1782 he was tried at Bodmin Assizes and sentenced to death for‘burglariously breaking and entering the dwelling house of Thomas Olive and stealing thereout 2silver watches, value 5 pounds.’ He was reprieved and sentenced to transportation for seven years.He was sent on the Scarborough, one of the First Fleet, and arrived in New South Wales in January1788.

Like the other First Fleet convicts, Ruse would have worked at first under the direction ofGovernor Arthur Phillip and his subordinates in establishing the rudiments of a new colony at

Sydney Cove. But as the supplies the First Fleet had brought with them dwindled, it became vital thatthe colony should learn to grow its ownfood. In November 1788 Phillip selectedRuse to go to Parramatta, then called RoseHill, west of Sydney Town, to try his handat farming (seehttp://www.eurekacouncil.com.au/5-Australia-History/History-Pages/1788-james_ruse.htm). Governor Phillipallocated Ruse one and a half acres ofalready cleared ground and assisted inclearing a further five acres. He was to begiven two sows and six hens and was to befed and clothed from the public store for 15months. In return, if he was successful, hewas to be granted 30 acres.

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Summer 2012

After 15 months Ruseannounced that he

and his wife Elizabeth (hemarried her in 1790)were now self-sufficientin food, and their farmformed the nucleus of asmall community offarmers who, whiletechnically still convicts,enjoyed considerablefreedom and later hadother convicts assigned towork for them. AfterRuse's sentence expiredin 1792, the title of hisland was deeded to him,the first land grant in thecolony. In 1794 Rusemoved further out, to theHawkesbury River area, and became a fairly successful farmer for some time and he and Elizabethraised three children. Later, however, he was wiped out by flooding (always the risk of farming in theHawkesbury) and had to find work as a seaman. He was heavily in debt by then and only the hardwork of his wife saved him from bankruptcy. From 1828 he was employed as an overseer by alandowner at Minto, south of Sydney. He died at Campbelltown in September 1837. Ruse's gravestone,which he carved himself, reads:

‘Sacred to the memory of James Ruse who departed this life Sep 5 in the year of Houre Lord 1837. Natef of Cornwell and arrived in this coleney by the Forst Fleet, aged 77. My mother reread me tenderley, With me she took much paines, And when I arrived in this coelney, I sowd the forst grains, And now with my heavenly father, I hope for ever to remain’.

The memory of James Ruse is perpetuated in the naming of a number of key locations in Sydney.

Several early British Governors had Cornish connections, including the notorious William Bligh(of Mutiny on the Bounty fame). Bligh had Cornish roots being born in St. Tudy before going to

sea at 7 years of age. His ill-considered approach to governing a fledgling colony ended in theinfamous ‘Rum Rebellion” which brought to an end the basic ‘penal settlement’ era of New SouthWales. In the new ‘colony-building’ era of the Scot Lachlan Macquarie coming in as Governor, oneof the driving forces of the burgeoning sheep and fine wool industry in Australia was JohnMacarthur’s wife

Elizabeth Macarthur (nee Veale), born on the Devon-Cornwall border from a Cornish Veale family.It is the competency, independence, and vision of such people of Cornish stock as James andElizabeth and people at all levels of society that anchored the fledgling colony of NSW and made itinevitable that the building of a nation would one day occur.

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Tasmania

Another early settled area of Australia was the colony of Tasmania, which was at first called VanDiemens Land. In 1798 explorers Bass & Flinders in a very small boat, which they sailed down

the east coast from Sydney Town, discovered that Van Dieman’s Land is an island. They alsodiscovered a safe anchorage in the north of the island, which was named by Governor Hunter, PortDalrymple. In the south, what was to become the capital, Hobart, was founded in 1803 by Lt JohnBowen, sent by Governor Philip Gidley King.

King was born in 1758 in Launceston, Cornwall. So it was little to wonder at when Yorktown, startedin the north in 1804, was renamed ‘Launceston’ in his honour, the river in which it stands the‘Tamar’, and the administrative sub-division ‘Cornwall’. In 1856 self-government came to theisland, which was re-named Tasmania after explorer Abel Tasman. Tasmania was to become a placefirstly for Cornish farmers to make a new life, but later miners flocked to the tin mines of the centralplateau.

The Cornish move west in NSWAfter 25 years had passed from the Colony of New South Wales being founded at Port Jackson (andwith the early settlements being locked into regular famine and then relative but limited prosperityon the Pacific coastal plain) a way was found in 1813 over the rugged Blue Mountains barrier, leadingquickly in 1817 to the establishment of the town of Bathurst on the Macquarie River.

The economic conditions in Cornwall in the 1820s produced "Agricultural Distress" as reported inthe West Briton of March 1822. In these conditions, it is little wonder that William Tom Senior, hiswife Ann, daughter Mary, sons John and James left Cornwall in 1823 for Sydney Town. Near the endof the voyage, Ann bore another son, William Tom Junior, of whom we will hear later. Hardy peoplethat they were, they walked across the Blue Mountains to the west, looking for land for which to lodgea Grant application. No covered wagons but if they were lucky a lumbering bullock-dray to walkbeside.

Cornish Settlement/ByngFor many years settlement was bannedto the west of the Macquarie River (theWestern District) but when the ban waslifted and land was released for selectionin 1829 a small group of Cornishfarmers were among the first to settle ata place in a then relatively well wateredvalley. Tom and his family were early intaking advantage of the decision. In1830, they left Tarana to the east, andchose 640 acres at the place whereLewis Ponds Creek is joined by SheepStation Creek; they called their propertySpringfield. Less than two years later,they had constructed a lath and plasterhouse with five rooms, built well up ahill overlooking Sheep Station Creek.

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Tom very soon had the nearby company ofother Cornishmen - George Hawke, JohnGlasson and his brother and others withrecognisable surnames such as Lane,Grenfell, Pearse, Thomas, Oates and Paull.Two in particular will come into our story forthe moment, George Hawke and JohnGlasson. It is no surprise to find that this areabecame known as the Cornish Settlement.

Among the settlers was George Hawke, whoborn in St Eval Parish on 2 October 1802 athis father's farm Bedruthan. After a period asa wool stapler George decided to emigrate toAustralia. He eventually left Plymouth behind

on 16 June 1828 and arrived in Sydney on 15 November. Before leaving Cornwall, George Hawkehad become acquainted with William Tom's friends in Blisland. He had letters of introduction fromthese Blisland friends to both Mr Tom and his brother-in-law William Lane. After arriving in Sydneyhis journey finally took him to the residence of William Tom at Cornish Settlement where he slept anight and then went to stay with William Lane who lived nearby.

It was agreed that George would be a domestic teacher to the two families and he held this positionfor a year; when George bought the farm Pendarves from John. He had found a friend in John

Glasson and, both being single, he went to live with him at Bookannon. Their cattle ran together andthey carried on dairying together to make butter and cheese for sale, and George grew some wheatfor sale on his own farm. He now thought he had the prospect of supporting a wife and cast his mindback to his cousin Jane. John Glasson advised him to go to Cornwall after writing to her of hisintentions. She agreed, though wisely with an imposed limit of two years. The ship went first to NewZealand but it went on the rocks, and he finally made it to Plymouth on 8 October 1834, well over ayear since he had started.

It is no wonder then that George cleared Customs quickly and hurried to Bedruthan at St Columb, tofind that Jane was at his father's house. They were married there on 3 March 1835. They departed forSydney on the Florentine on 4 April 1835, having a very pleasant trip - arriving on 4 August. Georgeobserved that there were bush fires burning and he knew this meant drought was on the land and thiscondition lasted until May 1839. For our people now with our deeply seared knowledge of Australia,we know the meaning of five years or more of drought. What a contrast for Jane from the green fieldsof Cornwall!

Before going to Cornwall, George Hawke was convinced that horticulture was going to have afuture in the ‘Western District’ from his observation of the country, its soil and the location of theirCornish Settlement. Despite losing thousands of cuttings and plants of hawthorn, and fruit trees, heeventually introduced haws, planted out as miles of ‘fencing’ - and some still thrive. He brought intwenty apple trees having one year's growth, plus a lot of apple, cherry and plum suckers. Foresightthat saw the Blue Mountains and western slopes with beautiful apple and cherry orchards and withpeaches, apricots and other fruit. A wonderful legacy!

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The story is far from complete since there was copper in the hills around these Cornish folk. InJanuary 1849 copper was discovered near Sheep Station Creek, John Glasson and Richard Lane

employed a ‘mine captain’ and the mining history began. Working on the tribute system 18 minerswere employed and Cornish Settlement’s population rose to over 200. The Cornish Settlementbecame connected to small scale copper mining and smelting in the valley and nearby at Caranggarafor 50 years - however reverting to purely pastoral lands after the 1930’s. It was surveyed as a townin 1881, renamed Byng, but the town site never prospered. Underlying all their community activitieswas their firm religious faith, based on strict Wesleyan Methodist principles, encouraged by the workof 'Pastor' William Tom as their local lay-preacher. His first services were held on a rock outcrop atthe top of a ridge overlooking the valley, known as Bethel Rock. Tom then held services of worshipin his house once it was completed, and until a small Wesleyan Chapel was constructed and openedin 1842 - the first west of Bathurst (the site can still be seen). The present day Chapel was erected in1872 and dedicated in 1873.

Ophir and the discovery of gold

And there was gold. Yes, they were involved in that find also! In the autumn of 1851, a groupcomprising the family of Mr Tom are assembled in the front room of their home in CornishSettlement, watching a visitor recently returned from, where? - the Californian goldfields - puttingtogether a strange device which he demonstrated by rocking it with a cradle-like motion. Soonafterwards, a party of four men set out from the Tom house; two are sons of William Tom (WilliamJnr and James), one is the visitor (Edward Hammond Hargraves) and the other is local John HardmanAustralia Lister. They have heavily-laden pack-horses. After a difficult time, they returneddisappointed from their week's search which was for gold, but the cradle (the strange device) had nothelped them. Hargraves, who had set them up with the knowledge of using a panning dish and thecradle, took his leave and set out for other places.

A little later, the Tom sons and Lister set out again and this time they actually found gold onlyeleven miles from their home. As Glasson records, ‘And they came to Ophir, and fetched from

thence gold’ (1 Kings, 9-28). William Tom Snr was going to Sydney and he took the 4 oz. of goldand handed it to Mr Hargraves. William Jnr and James Tom did not hear further from Mr Hargraves.They wrote again but no reply came. A paragraph appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on 15 May

1851 stating that Hargraves had found thefirst payable gold in Australia at Ophir nearOrange. The two Tom men and Lister weresaid to be Hargraves' associates. After manymore years of disappointment at the lack ofrecognition of their find, a SelectCommittee of the NSW LegislativeAssembly was appointed on 25 August1891 ‘with power to send for persons andpapers, to inquire into and report upon theclaims (if any) of William Tom, JamesTom, and J.H.A. Lister for remuneration asthe first discoverers of gold in Australia’.

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The Select Committee submitted their agreed Report to the Legislative Assembly and it was orderedto be printed on 2 September 1891. It reads as follows:

‘Your Committee having carefully considered the Report referred to them, find as follows:-

That although Mr. E.H. Hargraves is entitled to the credit of having taught the claimants, Messrs.W. and J. Tom and Lister, the use of the dish and cradle, and otherwise the proper methods ofsearching for gold, which his then recent visit to the Californian gold-fields enabled him to do,your Committee are satisfied that Messrs. Tom and Lister were undoubtedly the first discoverersof gold obtained in Australia in payable quantity’.

Legacy of the Cornish Settlement

George Hawke and his descendants are buried in Byng Church Cemetery, and indeed descendentsstill live in the beautifully restored Pendarves, and at Bookanon (1842). Many other descendents

of the valley’s early settlers are buried there and are scattered around NSW, including currentmembers of the Cornish Association of NSW. The roads are still lined with Hawthorn bushes. Thereis little left of the mining era, or of the lesser dwellings, but the Cornish still live there and farm andthe Cornish still visit to marry in the chapel, to be buried in the cemetery, or mainly to see theheritage. In 1998 the late Pat Lay in her book, One and All, The Cornish in NSW, makes the pointthat:

‘Cornish immigrants to New South Wales last century established and maintained recognisable and cohesive groups”. “There were several factors causing them to do this: their sense of Cornish identity (and their feelings of being different from English and Irish settlers), chain migration and intermarriage within the Cornish community in NSW, the shared job skills of farming, mining, and trades (and in some cases because of specific recruitment), bonding on the long voyage by sailing ship, and their involvement in certain community activities such as religion, trade unions, lodges and friendly societies, and in politics’.

The Cornish Settlement in the valley at Byng retains its Cornish ‘memory’ to this day, some 180+years later. Original families still have descendents in the valley or in nearby towns. Many familieselsewhere of Cornish descent have had Cornish Settlement-linked people marry into their line, andmemories of those earlier times have persisted. In 1975 members of the newly formed CornishAssociation of Sydney were contacted by senior members of the Byng community after Bard BertCowls was on TV.

That started a long and active association that led to restoration of the chapel through a Bi-CentennialGrant in 1986-88. An application for funds was supported by the Byng Church Trust and theCANSW. This restoration, done faithfully with advice by an expert heritage architect of Cornishdescent, Rod Climo, and with lots of local craftsmen and local hard work, brought the 1872 churchbuilding back to active use, restored to its late 19th century appearance. It was re-dedicated in 1988with nearly 300 in attendance. Since then the chapel and its cemetery have been the focus of localtourism and family history research, actively used for weddings and periodic services.

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This article is based on a talk presented at the 15th Gathering of Cornish Cousins in Grass Valley, Californiain July 2009


Summer 2012

How Cornwall Gave BritanniaHer NameBill Curnow

Have you ever felt thunderstruck? Lightningflashed when I picked up a copy of Mike

Ashley’s book A Brief History of British Kings &Queens and read a statement that struck me as quiteremarkable: “Britain was known to the Greeks asthe Tin, or Pretanic, Isles, from whence the nameBritain comes.” Is it truly possible that tin, the greatmineral treasure of our tiny peninsula calledCornwall, resulted in the very name by which we allknow Great Britain? Some serious digging wasneeded to get to the origin of Britannia’s name andthe role tin played in the ancient world.

As a Latin student of long ago, I learned thatBritannia was Rome’s name for its remote colony onthe large island west of Gaul. The Romans certainlyknew about Cornish tin from the early years of theiroccupation of the island. In his military journalJulius Caesar (100-44 BC) described Britannia as“the place where tin is found” (nascitur ibi plumbumalbum). They maintained no permanent presence in

Cornwall, but a tin ingot from the Roman period dredged up from the harbor at Falmouth is part ofthe archeological record confirming their commerce with the Celts.

Caesar’s words beg a key question: Why was the tin found at Britannia’s southwestern tipimportant enough to get the attention of a great general and leader of the Roman empire? Tin

was in fact as strategic a metal in his time as uranium is in our modern world. Copper and tin werethe essential elements required to manufacture the alloy that gave its name to a seminal era ofhuman history, the Bronze Age. Caesar lived in the subsequent Iron Age, when bronze was alreadywell established technology.

If Britain was borrowed from Britannia, what was the origin of the Latin name? The OxfordEnglish Dictionary says it came from the Greek word Brettanoi (), while many other authorities sayit was Prettanoi (). The letter P easily mutates to B, and that’s apparently how the Romans heard itwhen their Greek rivals spoke. Now we must wonder whether the Greek name Prettanoi stemsfrom somebody else’s earlier word with tin as its root meaning. Was it a name already in use whenthe Greek explorer Pytheas made his epic 4th century BC voyage westward through the Pillars ofHercules (Straits of Gibralter), then north to the island where he met Cornish tin merchants?

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As early as 1676, a Cambridge scholar named Ayllet Sammes suggested that the name Britanniacould be traced back to the Phoenician word Baratanac or Barat-anac. Other British scholars

repeated his thought during the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1823 the renowned EncyclopediaBritannica lent its support to the idea. An 1891 edition of the respected U.S. periodical ScientificAmerican restated the theory and said, “It is impossible to fix the date at which the export trade intin was commenced from the British Islands, but it is certain that it existed and was controlled bythe Phoenicians when Herodatus wrote his history, 450 B.C.” Most considered the origin to bePhoenician, but others claimed that Baratanac was derived from the Hebrew language.

This is a good point to pause and make two observations: First, it is certainly true that countrieswere often named for the resources that first attracted visitors to their shores. Good examplesinclude the Ivory Coast, the Gold Coast, and the Spice Islands. It would not be surprising if ancientvoyagers called Cornwall’s island home the Land of Tin if tin was their reason for visiting such aremote place at the edge of the ancient world.

The second observation is that the Bronze Age had a major impact in the region of Asia we callthe Near East. One need look no further than the Bible for proof that tin was well known there.

The Old Testament mentions tin at least five times, with three references in the book of Ezekielwritten in the late 6th century BC: “Tarshish was your merchant by reason of the multitude of allkinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for your wares.” (Ezekiel 27:12) Tin waswell known in the ancient lands of the Mediterranean, and Tarshish may have been a town insouthern Spain where traders dealt in tin produced elsewhere on the Iberian peninsula or even inCornwall.

We have traced the name Britain as far back in time and space as Phoenicia, a land located on theeastern shore of the Mediterranean, including modern Lebanon as well as the Biblical land ofCaanan. Is it possible to push back to an even earlier origin? What was the most ancient name bywhich tin was known?

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Image: Jim Herd


Summer 2012

Modern authorities on ancient Near Eastern languages still debate the precise derivation ofBaratanac, and various words were used for tin at different times and places. The Hebrews,

close neighbors of the Phoenicians, called the metal either anak or bedil, the latter being the ratherimprecise word used in Ezekiel. Those Mediterranean people may have learned about tin fromearlier civilizations farther east, possibly from the kingdoms of Mesopotamia lying in the “cradle ofcivilization” between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers where modern Iraq is located. It was in oneof those lands, Sumer, that the Bronze Age originated in the 4th millennium BC. Sumer wasconquered by Akkadia, where tin was called annaku, and that early word echoes in the Hebrewanak. Tin was known by words akin to anak in the Arabic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian, and evenOld Hindic languages. Moreover, framing the Phoenician word as Barat-anac emphasizes thesimilarity of the last four letters to words for tin from those other ancient languages. It seems to bea match.

As the Bronze Age progressed and moved outward from Mesopotamia, the names by whichpeople called the metal began to proliferate. Various words may have arisen because the

ancient world had no single dominant tin supplier whose name might have become a “trademark”for the metal. Another possibility, suggested by Near Eastern archaeometallurgy scholar James D.Muhly, is that tin may have had an image problem, not as unique in appearance as other morecharismatic metals such as copper and gold. The word anak, perhaps originating with the verypeople who first learned how to make bronze, persisted for a time and then began to be replaced byother terms. People often knew tin by words as vague and imprecise as those used by Caesar, whocalled it “white lead” (plumbum album). The Greek word for the metal was Cassiteros () fromwhich the tin bearing mineral Cassiterite got its name. Chances are that neither Romans nor Greeksrealized “tin” might be hidden within the very names they borrowed to identify the distant islandwhere they journeyed to secure supplies of the metal.

In the Kernewek language of Cornwall, tin was called sten, a name likely borrowed from the lateLatin word stannum that also gave us the Sn symbol by which chemists know the metal, the 50th

element of the periodic table. And what about the origin of our own word tin? It is one of thosehumble nouns of Germanic origin that the Angles and Saxons brought with them when they cameto Britain, the Land of Cornish Tin.

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The author: Bill Curnow is a 3rd generation Cornish-American whose ancestors emigrated to theanthracite coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania not long after the American Civil War. He hasbeen an active Cornish genealogist for most of his adult life, with increasing emphasis sinceretirement from a globe hopping career in the chemical industry. He is an amateur historian writingon topics ranging widely from the history of an 18th century iron furnace at Cornwall, Pennsylvaniato his present article on the ancient link between Cornish tin and the name Britain. A past officer ofthe Cornish American Heritage Society, he has been a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedh since 2003.His Bardic name is Towednack in honor of the parish on the outskirts of St. Ives where his branchof the Curnow clan put down roots more than four centuries ago.

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Summer 2012

Mining History Down Underby Greg DrewThe first metal mine in Australia, Wheal Gawler at Glen Osmond, commenced operations in the foothills

of the Mount Lofty Ranges on the outskirts of Adelaide 1841. However it was the mining of copper oresat Kapunda (1844) and Burra (1845), which aroused widespread interest in metal mining in South Australiaand caused the first major decentralisation from Adelaide. Cornish miners and their families poured intoSouth Australia to take part in the great copper boom. They brought with them their mining expertise to helpextract the rich ore that gave South Australia the title of The Copper Kingdom by virtue of mines of worldsignificance.

South Australia’s importance as a copper producer was maintained with further discoveries at Wallaroo(1859) and Moonta (1861). These mines were on large, rich deposits and were worked continuously for morethan 60 years. During the 1860s and 1870s, many smaller mines producing copper, gold, lead and silver wereestablished throughout the Mount Lofty and Flinders Ranges.

Today the importance of Australia's mining heritage and the contribution made by mining to the country’seconomic development is well recognised. From the outset, mining has provided employment, shaped

the landscape, given rise to many towns, built much of our transport network smelters and ports, and contrib-uted to our culture, education, religion and humour.

The Australian Mining History Association was formed in 1995 tofoster the exchange of information about our mining past and nowhas more than 230 members. The Association studies and celebratesvarious aspects of Australia's mining past whether this is associatedwith mining archaeology, heritage and preservation, and transport orthe social and economic aspects of mining. The Association holdsan annual meeting in sites of historical mining interest, publishes ascholarly journal, quarterly newsletter and website, and provides aforum for discussion of the history of mining in Australia.

The 17th Annual Conference of the AMHA was held in the Ger-man township of Hahndorf, South Australia from 14-17, Sep-

tember 2011 and attracted a record attendance of almost 100 peopleincluding visitors from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Japan,Alaska and the USA.

Surrounding Hahndorf, which is located just 30 minutes from thecentre of Adelaide in the beautiful Adelaide Hills, is the site of someof Australia’s earliest mining activity. This includes historic gold,copper and silver-lead mines, and mining townships. In additionthere are historic brickworks, two operating metal mines and one ofAustralia’s largest mine rehabilitation projects.


These mineswere onlarge, richdepositsand wereworkedcontinuously for morethan 60years

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The Adelaide Hills are part of the Mount Lofty Ranges which stretch from the southernmost point of theFleurieu Peninsula northwards for over 300km and are centred on the largest town in the area, Mount

Barker, which has a population of around 29,000 and is one of Australia's fastest growing towns. It wasamongst the first areas of South Australia to be settled by Europeans and a number of towns in the Hills werestarted as German settlements. The centrepiece of the Adelaide Hills is, however, Hahndorf - the oldest sur-viving German settlement in Australia.

The conference theme was Australia’s Earliest Mining Era which refers to the first era of metal mining inAustralia which took place in the Mount Lofty Ranges in the period 1841-1851. This was the decade prior tothe discovery of gold in the eastern States when virtually all of the metalliferous mines in Australia were lo-cated in South Australia and whose population grew, as a result, from 15,000 in 1841 to 64,000 in 1851.

These developments came at a crucial time in the history of South Australia; in the early 1840s the newlycreated colony was on the verge of bankruptcy and was saved from collapse by the mining boom. These

mineral deposits, the first exploited less than five years after first settlement of the Colony, had a profoundeffect on settlement. They brought about a major influx of capital and immigrants into the Colony afterthe depression of the early 1840s and provided employment for a large number of people. Landwas surveyed for mineral tenements, mining townships and agricultural purposes. Basic roadnetworks were established during this period to cart ore to Port Adelaide for shipment to Walesand also deliver heavy machinery to the mines.

Thirty papers were presented during the conference and in-cluded two keynote speakers of international standing: Pro-fessor Geoffrey Blainey, one of Australia's most eminent

historians who spoke on the growth of Australian copper miningand Professor Philip Payton, an expert on Cornish migration whodiscussed the impact of the Cornish in the Mount Lofty Ranges. Nu-merous sites of historic mining interest throughout the AdelaideHills were visited during the conference, allowing delegates a first-hand experience of the mining heritage of the area. Short tours werespread through the four days of sessions and included:

Callington Township and Bremer MineThe Bremer Mine was the largest mine in the Kanmantoo district upto 1900, producing over 30,000t of copper ore from 1849-1875. Thetownship of Callington was laid out adjacent to the mine in 1850and a number of buildings of the mining era survive, including the1881 Police Station and cells

Jupiter Creek DiggingsGold was discovered near Echunga, 16km from Adelaide, in 1852,but could not halt a general exodus to the Victorian Goldfields. In1868, a small rush took place at Jupiter Creek and mining wascarried out periodically until the 1960s. A self-guided walking trailwas established in 1984.


The AdelaideHills are partof the MountLofty Rangeswhich stretchfrom thesouthernmostpoint of theFleurieuPeninsula

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Summer 2012

Littlehampton Brickworks

The brickworks were established in 1892 to produce high quality firebricks for use in smelting works andfoundries from white clay mined from an adjacent quarry. Today it produces specialty bricks and pavers andtwo of the original kilns survive.

Brukunga Mine

The mine was worked for pyrite from 1955 to 1972 which was used in the production of sulphuric acid andsuperphosphate fertiliser. A lime neutralisation plant was commissioned in 1980 to treat acid water seepingfrom the open cut and tailings dump.

Three full day excursions were conducted to:

Willunga Township and Slate Quarries

Slate was discovered in the hills near Willunga in 1840 and led to the development of a thriving industry. Itwas quarried by Cornish miners and carted to Port Willunga, where it was shipped for use in the buildingindustry. The industry declined after the 1890s but many historic buildings within Willunga featuring the useof slate still stand. The tour included the Slate Museum and Trail and a visit to the historic Bangor Quarry.

Mylor to Hallett Cove

The discovery of silver near Mylor in 1868 sparked a small rush which led to the commencement of theAlmanda Mine. A self-guided trail explores the mine ruins and workings. The Worthing Mine at HallettCove was worked briefly in the early 1850s and its Cornish enginehouse is the oldest remaining in Australia.

Nearby in the steep valley are several historic stonequarries.

Kanmantoo-Strathalbyn Mining District

Copper was discovered by two Cornish miners nearKanmantoo in 1845 and two groups jointly purchased theMt Barker Special Mineral Survey of 20,000 acres.Mining commenced at Kanmantoo in 1846 and by1850numerous mines had been established in the area mostnamed after famous Cornish mines. The most importantmines were Kanmantoo, Paringa and Bremer. TheKanmantoo Mine was reworked from 1970-1976 and anew mining operation commenced in 2011. Silver-lead orewas discovered south of the Kanmantoo area in the late1850s resulting in numerous prospects and small mines themost significant of which were Wheal Ellen and theAclare Mine. The Angas Mine commenced operations ona newly discovered zinc deposit in 2008.

Further information on the AMHA is available on theAssociation’s website at http://www.mininghistory.asn.au/The website also has feature pages on Australia’smininghistory and heritage.

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Summer 2012

Learning Officer Chloe Phillipsshares an update on the work ofthe Cornwall Record Office

It’s been another busy fewmonths at Cornwall Record

Office, especially as we’ve beentrialling new opening hours.

The Enys project, which began in2010, is drawing to a close,although there’s still a school’sresource based around theCornish language (working withMAGA, the Cornish LanguagePartnership) and an exhibitionabout the family at Penrynmuseum to come.

Once again, the CRO had a sprinkling of stardust. I took part in filming for the US version of ‘Who DoYou Think You Are?’ at the Morrab Library in Penzance. After much mystery, the star subject turned

out to be Emmy and Golden Globe award winning actress, Edie Falco, star of The Sopranos and NurseJackie. I was filmed for over two hours revealing parts of her Cornish ancestry to her, although I’m sworn tosecrecy! The series should air in Britain later this year.

I also led four family learning outreachworkshops, in Bude, Launceston, Redruthand Helston, complete with Captain JackSparrow! Based on a document in ourcollection revealing Avery the pirate’shidden treasure, children were invited totrain as pirates by practising their walks,making up a name, designing a treasure mapand pirate flag – and demonstrating theirskills to Captain Jack himself.

You may have heard that we are hoping –with partner organisations – to have a

new building in the foreseeable future. Staytuned for updates on where this might be!

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Summer 2012

‘Till death do us part,...’The Second part of the 19th Century MurderCase of James Holman

By Cedric Appleby

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….The prisoner was feeling isolated away from the surroundings of his own home. Although hewas under suspicion for a most brutal murder of his wife the atmosphere seemed to be friendly evensympathetic but he wanted visits from friends. The innkeeper offered to bring anyone he wished tosee within a ten mile radius…

… Holman did request to see Richard Seymour Bryant, mine agent, who in 1856 was resident inPraze and, no doubt, was there in 1853. He also wanted to see Mr. Thomas Symons who wasprobably the grocer and ironmonger listed in Kelly's Directory as of Praze in 1856. The two menarrived just after eight o'clock that Monday morning. Constable Phillip Orchard had left about twohours before leaving Constable Webster in charge of the prisoner.Seymour Bryant and Thomas Symons came to thedoor of the room and Holman asked them to comein. The Constable left the room, either at the requestof the visitors or Holman himself, and stood guardoutside the closed door. In the trial the Constableclaimed not to have heard anything that was said.Thomas Symons spoke first; “James, we understandthat you have something to relate to us respectingthe death of your wife Philippa.”

Holman replied that he had and it was on hismind “that I will tell you the whole truth.”

Captain Bryant, who was the Foreman of theCoroner's Jury soon to hear the case, cautioned theprisoner:

“Previous to your doing so, it is necessary that weshould tell you that anything you say will be takenas evidence either against or for you as the case maybe.” He pointed out that they did not wish to hearanything.

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““Previous to yourdoing so, it isnecessary that weshould tell youthat anything yousay will be takenas evidence eitheragainst or for youas the case maybe.”


Summer 2012

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Holman then made a statement and the two men went out to reduce that statement to writing. Theyreturned to the room and the statement was read out to the prisoner and he agreed to it sentence bysentence. This statement was later read to the court by the judge at the trial.

I went to Gwinear in the morning, and returned about nine in the evening. On going into myhouse,I asked “Where are you, Philippa?”and she made answer and said, “what is that to you.”

She then rose up, and I saw what state she was in, that she was drunk, as I had often seen herbefore. She threw the fire-hook at me, but it did not strike me. I then gave her a push and she fell inon the brandis and made the wound in her forehead. I then went out to see whether the bullocks hadany meat or not. On my returning I found her in the chimney, as stated by Roberts. I found a tea-cup on the table partly filled, I believe with brandy, which I threw out before the door. I found thehatchet, and on seeing blood about the handle, I thought if that were found I should be accused ofmurder, and I threw the hatchet into the pump about seven o'clock the following morning. I had notsaid anything about Philippa's getting drunk, to any person but Mr. Trewhella; that was about amonth since. I did not murder her. This is the truth, and all I can say about the matter.

The Royal Cornwall Gazette headlined the account of the resumed inquest on the 2nd. January1854(a Tuesday) as THE SUPPOSED MURDER AT CROWAN.

The surgeons, Mr. Gurney and Mr. Hutchinson, on examination of the body, concluded that thedeceased had come by her death through violence, fractures apparent on the left temple, adepression on the brain caused by severe and repeated blows by a blunt instrument such as the pullend of a hatchet. They would not have known of the discovery of the hatchet before they made theirexamination of the body.

The inquest jury would have consisted of men ofsome standing in the community as there was a

property qualification. Richard Seymour Bryant, MineAgent was foreman of this jury and as shown abovewas approached by Holman and would have knownwhat was in the statement that Holman had made at theCornish Mount. Constable Philip Orchard was also amember and he, of course, had been very muchinvolved. Edward Williams, farmer and overseer ofCrowan, attended the inquest though may not havebeen a member of the jury. Henry Semmens theinnkeeper of the Cornish Mount at which the inquestwas probably held and where Holman had been kept incustody was also a member of the jury. Holman, beingin custody in the house, does not seem to have attendedthe inquest. His statement may well have been madeavailable but there was no mention of it. With thediscovery of the murder weapon, which was establishedas belonging to Holman, and the surgeon's report withno evidence of anyone other than Holman beinginvolved in his wife's death, a verdict of willful murderwas returned by seventeen of the eighteen jurors.

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Holman,being incustody inthe house,does notseem to haveattended theinquest.


Summer 2012

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One jury member inclined towards a verdict of manslaughter on the grounds that they hadquarreled, and that he had killed her in a passion. James Holman was committed to stand trial

at the next assizes. He would have had to appear before the magistrates to enter a Not Guilty pleabut no record of his appearance comes to hand.

Holman would have been moved to the prison at Bodmin to await trial at the Assizes in the spring.There was one process remaining which was that the Grand Jury would have to agree that a true billfor willful murder could be presented against Holman. The Grand Jury did the work of the presentday Director of Public Prosecutions. If the Grand Jury felt that a prosecution would succeed on theevidence, Holman would go for trial.

The Grand Jury consisted of leading residents of wealth and position in the County and thenames of those who stood on it when it met in Bodmin at the Lent Assizes, March 1854, was

like a roll call of the landed gentry of Cornwall. These were sworn in just before the criminal caseswere heard.

The Foreman was Sir W.L.S. Trelawney Bart.

The other members were;

Sir William Berkeley Call Bart. Nicholas Kendall Jr. Esq.Sir Coleman Rashleigh Bart. Thomas Hext Esq.Sir Joseph Sawle Graves Sawle Bart. R. Coode Jr. Esq.

John Tremayne Esq. James H. Messenger Esq. Sir Henry Onslow Bart. Day P. Le Grice Esq. John King Lethbridge Esq. William Peel Esq.

C.H.T. Hawkins Esq. W. Moorshead Esq. J.S. Enys Esq. Thomas Graves Sawle Esq. J. Davies Gilbert Esq. F.J. Hext. R. G. Polwhele Esq. John Gwatkin Esq. William Braddon Esq.

The following magistrates answered to their names.Lord Vivian, Richard Foster, W. Hext Esq.,H.M. St.Aubyn Esq., T. G. Graham Esq., J.F. Trist Esq., andthe Revd. R. Buller.

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The followingmagistratesanswered to theirnames.Lord Vivian, RichardFoster, W. HextEsq.,H.M. St. AubynEsq., T. G. GrahamEsq., J.F. Trist Esq.,and the Revd. R.Buller.


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The charge was delivered to the Grand Jury by Mr.Justice Erle who outlined the cases against the

defendants appearing at the assizes. In regard to thecase of James Holman, Mr. Erle pointed out that theyshould have no doubt that the crime was murder andthat they should judge whether the accused could bereasonably judged guilty of that crime. It was a case ofcircumstantial evidence but they should note hisconduct when the corpse was found and the way inwhich he gave notice of her death and “the language heused on that occasion.” They should pay particularattention to statements made by him “which led tofurther inquiry” and his statement about the hatchetwhich might have caused her death and the account ofthe death which he gave which, according to witnesseswere untrue. If there is no reasonable doubt they wereto “find a bill.”

The Grand Jury did conclude that the case should betried and the case was heard on SaturdayMarch 25th at Bodmin.

James Holman, aged 31, was indicted for the willful murder of his wife Philippa Holman to whichhe pleaded NOT GUILTY. The case was heard before Mr.Baron Martin.

The jury were named in the press as William Dingle(Foreman), Charles Bennetts, Joseph Body,William

Martin, Josiah Wright, John Dingley Stephens, NicholasWenmouth, Richard Sarjent, William May, Henry Ivey,Abel Hicks and John Edy. In the case of Matthew Weeksfor murder in 1844 on Bodmin Moor, the jury came fromWest Cornwall, as far away from the Bodmin area aspossible, so it could have been concluded that the jury inthis case came from East Cornwall. The counsel for theprosecution were Mr. Stock and Mr. Coleridge of theattorneys Messrs. Grylls and Hill. Holman was representedby Mr. Collier and Mr. Kingdon of Messrs. Commins andSon, attorneys.

The witnesses were ordered to leave until called for.A largenumber of people both crowded the court and gatheredoutside but arrangements were made so that those who hadbusiness at the court were able to pass in and out.

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James Holman,aged 31, wasindicted for thewillful murder ofhis wife PhilippaHolman to whichhe pleaded NOTGUILTY.


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The defendant seemed to be fully aware of the chargeagainst him and its dreadful seriousness, very downcastat the beginning but seemed to recover as time went onand listened attentively to the witnesses and madesuggestions to his counsel who sat at a table underneaththe dock.

The local press stated that Holman looked older thanthe age of 31 and his height was about five feet

nine inches. Although he was a strongly built man witha dark ruddy complexion and “resolute aspect” therewas nothing in his countenance which would indicate aharsh or cruel disposition.

Opening the case for the prosecution Mr. Stockimpressed upon the jury the seriousness of the crime.He told them that this offence which they were to trywas a most fearful one and in his view the most fearfulone that a man should murder his wife. They were togive their utmost and careful attention to everythingthey heard, and “with that patience which theimportance of this case demands.”

He pointed out that, in fact, two lives were destroyedbecause the victim was in the seventh month of herpregnancy. From the speech it emerged that Holman

had married Philippa in 1847 and she was the eighteen year old daughter of a respectable farmer.The marriage was opposed by her family which felt that she was marrying beneath her station. Twochildren were mentioned and these were known to be, Margetta who was at the time of the trial sixyears old and Thomas four years old. Margetta was born in Sithney to which the family had gonesoon after the marriage. Later they moved to How [Hoe] Downs in Gwinear where they were livingin 1851 when James Holman travelled to South Wales as their circumstances were very poor.Thomas must have been born at How Downs the previous year. Holman returned from Wales inabout March 1853 and then moved into the small farm at Carne. Mr. Stock described it as “a veryretired spot.”

Holman was described as a very reserved man about whom little was known in the locality ofCarne.

Philippa Holman was described as being seen more often and was industrious and virtuous. Shedid a great deal of the work as they did not keep a servant. The only time they did get outside

help was at harvest time. In fact, she was last seen alive at five in the afternoon on the day of themurder, at work outside, and appeared to be in perfect health and spirits.

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They were togive their utmostand carefulattention toeverything theyheard, and “withthat patiencewhich theimportance ofthis casedemands.”


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Mr. Stock described how the body was discovered and thedescriptions given by neighbours and what was said by

the prisoner. He placed emphasis on what the defendant saidabout his wife previous to her death. He had denied that shewas pregnant though he must have known that she was. Hehad spoken to others that she was failing in health. Counselwas showing that Holman was a liar. What followed seems tohave been an attempt to establish a motive. Holman had, onthe 1st December, a conversation with Philippa's sisterElizabeth Parkins during which “he told her that Philippa wasfailing and would die soon and he made repeated proposals toher to become his second wife.”

The prosecution was very anxious to show how unreliable anystatements made by him at the time when the body of his wifewas discovered. Neighbours had noticed that there was bloodon his clothes but he had explained this by saying that, whenhe discovered his wife's body, he had lifted her up and thiswas how the blood had stained his clothes. Then, why did hereplace the body in the same position in the fireplace?Holman tried to account for blood stained clothes in the house by saying that these were ones onwhich the body had been laid. Yet any clothes that had been visible to the neighbours when theycalled had been washed and these blood stained clothes had been hidden by Holman before theneighbours came to the house.

Holman's behaviour was such as to evoke suspicion as when the victim's brother was deniedaccess to the body by him. This was not only a lack ofconsideration for a close relative of his wife but mustalso have come from a fear that, if her brother saw theinjuries, then he would be convinced that Holman hadmurdered her. The ways in which Holman describedhis wife were inconsistent. To her mother he hadspoken greatly in her praise and said that he could nothave had a better woman, to another he said she wasgiven to drunkenness.

Mr. Stock spoke of the most important evidence whichestablished Holman's guilt, and that was the discoveryof the murder weapon, which was the hatchet in hiswell and this was proved to have belonged to Holman.The ways in which Holman accounted for the death ofhis wife showed inconsistencies. This would come outin evidence and much of it has already been dealt withabove and this would be an important part of theprosecution case.

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Holman'sbehaviour wassuch as to evokesuspicion aswhen thevictim's brotherwas deniedaccess to thebody by him.


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Initially it would seem that Holman rushing out of thehouse to his neighbours and claiming that his wife wasmurdered would give the impression that she had beenmurdered by another person sometime before Holmanarrived home. On the day after the murder he claimedthat she had died in a fit. The final version, given whenhe was in custody at the Cornish Mount on the Sundayfollowing the murder and following the nightmare, wasthat there was a quarrel; she was drunk and threw a firehook at him which missed. He gave her a push and shefell on the brandis. He went out to feed cattle and whenhe came back found her dead.

This was a confession as far as he claimed for thefirst time that he had a hand in his wife's death but

the injuries which she suffered were not, according tothe surgeons, consistent with his account of whathappened. The view of the prosecution was that therewas no evidence that she was ever intoxicated and nosmell of alcohol on her mouth when examined. Therewas no evidence that anyone else had a reason tomurder her and nothing was stolen.

Finally, Mr. Stock submitted that “even if there was no proof of previous intention, where life hadbeen destroyed by violent and repeated blows of a hatchet, it amounted to the crime of murder,unless it was shown by evidence that these blows were excited by great violence and provocationon the other side.” The prosecution then called witnesses, the first being Mr. John Redington whowas a land-surveyor living in Breage who produced a plan of the premises at Carne. This includedHolman's house, the house of William Roberts and the well where the hatchet was found. It seemsthat he did not include a plan of the interior of Carne Farm except that he gave details of thechimney where the body lay. The distance between Holman's house and that of William Robertswas given as 55 yards and that of John Williams as 169 yards.

Neighbours gave evidence and much of what they said in court has already been described. Johnand Christopher Roberts gave an account of how they encountered Holman running from his

house.

Their father, William Roberts and Mary Roberts recounted the events when they went intoHolman's house. William Roberts had known the Holman's for 12 to 14 months. Philippa wasprobably seen more. William had only been in Holman's house twice during the past year but theyhad seen Philippa frequently and confirmed that she was in good health right up to the day she died.They had never seen her intoxicated and that she appeared to be pregnant. Elizabeth Williams, thewife of John Williams, confirmed this and she had seen the deceased on Christmas Day and she wasin good health. Thomas Cory of Poldrouse found it difficult to have a chat with James Holman ashe could with other neighbours but had been in their house some times and had seen his wife andhad never seen any disagreement between them and “they lived comfortably together, as far as Iknow.”

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He went out tofeed cattle andwhen he cameback found herdead.


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Holman's well tended to dry up in the spring so both Holman and his wife came a number oftimes to his well for water. Cory's water was better than Holman's. Philippa was a “nice quiet

woman as ever there was in the neighbourhood. Counsel asked him whether he ever saw her drunk.“Drunk- No!,” was his emphatic reply. The next witnesses were from Philippa's family and, again,much of their evidence has already been dealt with. They did show a dislike for James Holman andthis could be expected. John Parkins, the younger, Philippa Holman's brother, explained that, afterfour years of marriage, James Holman got into difficulties when they were in the parish of Sithneywith their two children. He left his wife and children and went to Wales and spent 2 ½ years there.The money which he did send home went to his own sister to be given to his wife. He never let her“have command of that money.” John Parkin believed that when Holman came home for a shortvisit he came “for money instead of with money.”He was in Wales for more than six months beforeany money came for his wife and on his visit he actually took a sovereign from the money whichhis wife had made from some pigs which she had fattened. At one stage she came to her father,crying because she had nothing to eat. On the other hand, John Parkins, her father, gave evidencethat Holman came home twice if not three times. His journeys from Wales were probably bysteamer to Hayle and John Parkins junior saw him there on one of his visits.John Parkins Senr. gave evidence that he had met his son in law at Helston Market in lateNovember 1853 and, at that and other meetings, Holman maintained that his wife was ill and unableto do her work. Holman denied that she was pregnant and that was the reason why she was not ableto work. John Parkins Senr. said that she used to do her work well and “I dare say would again.”

It was then arranged that Holman would come againthe following week and bring Philippa with him.

When he did come to the Parkin's house on the1st December he came by himself to buy pigsand there were further enquiries about his wife'shealth which was, according to Holman, asalways very bad. John Parkins Senr. must havewondered how he had managed without hiswife's help but Holman explained that he had aboy to help him. John Parkins Senr. wasinformed that Philippa's health had declinedmuch more since harvest. Margaret Parkins,Philippa's mother, repeated much of whatHolman had alleged about Philippa's health. Itwas on this occasion that James Holman andElizabeth Parkins, their 17 year old daughterwere alone for a time. When Margaret Parkinsgave evidence she said that Elizabeth came backalone and told her “something.”She did not saywhat this was but it may have been connectedwith the evidence later given to the court byElizabeth herself.


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She said, “Creeners often times live longest. She may live as long as you or I.” [A creener isdialect for one who is constantly complaining about illness]. Elizabeth did agree to wait the twelvemonths as she said, “in order to get rid of him.” Holman said, “You might die before me.”Elizabeth had spoken of the tower of Gunwalloe Church which was not very far away and Holmansuggested that they should get married there. He then asked whether she had been to sea and whenshe said “no” he said that after they were married he would take her for a spree in a steamer toWales. Presumably this was the honeymoon. Under cross-examination Elizabeth stated that she hadno desire to marry her sister's husband. “He was always bringing in every minute or two that she[Philippa Holman] would not live long.” The judge said that he did not take the conversationseriously. No doubt, all this would have implanted in the minds of the jury a reason why Holmanwould have wanted his wife dead.

The two constables next gave evidence and details of the searches of the house in which the murderwas committed have already been given as well as the discovery of the hatchet in the well. Bothconstables spoke about the events at the Cornish Mount when Holman had a disturbing dream andthen how a confession was made, written down and agreed by the prisoner. The statement whichhas already been quoted in full above was read by the judge. As his counsel was later to say, thiswas the only contribution made by Holman to the court. At most, he was only confessing tomanslaughter and there was no mention of the use of the hatchet. The report of the surgeons wasgiven next.

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As they weredoing so sheheld his handand asked heragain whethershe could waittwelvemonths.

Apparently when Holman arrived they shook hands.She spoke to him about Philippa and he said thatshe had been very poorly, and had been for sometime. He told her mother that Philippa would not livelong. After dinner Elizabeth went out into the fieldand Holman followed her. He put his arm round herand said “you shall be my next wife.” Elizabethraised the obvious difficulty which was that Holmanalready had a wife. Holman's reply was that Philippawould not last long as she was failing fast. If shecould wait twelve months for him then the waywould be clear. His brother in law ThomasTrewhella who was getting old could not beexpected to live much longer.

He had married Holman's sister, Elizabeth, buthad no children. No doubt, in Holman's mind

was a legacy which would enable them to live inmore comfortable circumstances. Holman expresseda wish to see Loe Bar as he was a stranger and hadnever seen it. Elizabeth agreed to walk down withhim.

As they were doing so she held his hand and askedher again whether she could wait twelve months.


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One of the surgeons, Mr. Gurney, died on the 2nd. March 1854 and a written statement wasproduced for the court by him and verified by Frederick Hill who conducted the prosecution,

signature witnessed by Edward Williams, farmer and overseer of Crowan and the Coroner'ssignature was also verified. The same statement had been given at the inquest and was read by theClerk of Arraigns. Mr. Gurney stated; I am a surgeon resident at Camborne; I made a post mortemexamination on Tuesday 29th December last, for the purpose of giving evidence on this enquiry. Iwas assisted in the examination by Mr. Thomas Hutchinson, a surgeon also residing at Camborne.I found that both hands were extensively burnt at the back in patches, and the backs of the fingerslikewise. A bruise on the left wrist over the lower extremity of the ulna, and also a considerablebruise on the back of the left hand; which bruises from their appearance leave no doubt in my mindthat they were caused before death.

An extensive burn on the right upper arm; both knees burnt; as also the right hip; two bruises onthe left cheek; a transverse wound over the right eye- brow; a wound between the eye-browslongitudinal, about an inch and a half in length the nose abraded of skin to a point, as if from aslanting blow; the bone of the nose broken in pieces; a circular wound on the right side of thefrontal bone close to the hair, about the size of a shilling; an incised wound over the centre of thefrontal bone; on the left temple an extensive wound of the scalp which was stripped off the skullabout the size of a five shilling piece, about an inch and a half wide and two inches long, as if the

blow which caused it was struck downwards. Onraising the perieranium (which was divided) andlaying open the skull; the brain was seen protrudingbetween the fractured bones over the left arbiter plateof the frontal bone, which with its superciliary ridge,was loose.

T he left half of the frontal bone smashed intoseveral pieces; one large piece about the size of a

crown- as also the anterior interior angle of thetemporal bone; and several pieces of both bonesdriven inwards and the brain protruding between thefissures. The dura mater, or covering of the brain, waslacerated and the skull was considerably depressed.The blows must have been severe and repeated, andcaused by a blunt instrument. The temporal muscle amass of bruised flesh and congulated blood, as alsothe surrounding cellular tissue. I don't consider itpossible that the injuries sustained by the deceasedcould have been produced by off her legs on theground, but I attribute them wholly to the fracturedskull and depression and consider it was likely to havebeen caused by poll end of a hatchet, and by repeatedblows.

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The left halfof the frontalbonesmashed intoseveralpieces; onelarge pieceabout thesize of acrown


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Thomas Hutchinson, his late colleague, added that that the body bore every appearance of apregnant woman in her seventh month “but we did not open the body.” He confirmed

everything that Mr. Gurney said having read his report. He pointed out that his conclusion that theinjuries were made by the blunt end of hatchet were reached before the instrument was found andagreed that these injuries were made by repeated blows and not a fall.

All this created a very difficult task for the defence who did not call witnesses and Holman himselfwas excluded by law from entering the witness box. Evidence, which included reports ofconversations and the words of Holman himself, Mr. Collier stated, were almost impossible to siftor contradict. This was the bulk of the evidence and the rest was circumstantial and juries have beenmisled by such evidence. The jury should remember, even though their feelings were excited by theevidence, that this was a man on trial for his life and they should pay great attention to his case. Thevictim did die at the hand of the prisoner but this did not mean that he was guilty of murder butrather manslaughter.

'There was no evidence of any premeditated plan on the part of the prisoner, no motives shownof revenge, of gain, of jealousy or any of those strong motives without which murder is never

committed.' The picture that he could give was that the marriage was a comfortable one and therewas real affection between the two. When he was in Wales he sent money regularly and came homefrom time to time. His wife had made no complaint to anyone else about ill treatment.

The idle stories that appeared in the prosecutionevidence, which he detailed, showed that in scrapingthese together they had shown that they did not have astrong case. The only complaint that he had madeagainst his wife was that she indulged in intoxicatingliquor and he had only said this in his statement to theforeman of the inquest jury and to Trewhella. Trewhellacould have given evidence confirming this and, thoughhe had been seen in Bodmin, he was not a witness. Washe excluded because he could have confirmed Holman'sstatement about his wife's drinking habits? If Holmanhad wanted to get rid of his wife he could have done itslowly, using poison and this would not have beendetected. When Holman came home, according to hisevidence, his wife, having been drinking, used someintemperate language and then threw a fire hook at him.In a moment of frenzy he struck at her and this was anaction which he regrets. His actions were not of amurderer. He went out saying his wife was murderedand called in witnesses.

A murderer would have made away with the body. Mr.Collier said that Holman's conduct was not that of aninnocent man. He knew that appearances were againsthim for his rash and unpremeditated act and had not thecourage to tell the whole truth. That his wife was deadwhen he came in could not have been true.

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His actionswere not of amurderer. Hewent out sayinghis wife wasmurdered andcalled inwitnesses.


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Later he did make a confession but concealed certainthings because he lacked moral courage but this

did not make him a murderer. The greater part of thatconfession was true which was made out of aconviction that the truth ought to have been spoken. Hehad only been guilty of manslaughter and that all hisconduct was consistent with that view. If theyconvicted him of manslaughter he would be subjectedto transportation for life but if of murder, the man whostood before them would shortly cease to be a livingand breathing being, would be called into the presenceof his Maker. He trusted that they would carefullyconsider the case, and come to the conclusion whichjustice as well as mercy invite.

Character witnesses were called. A first cousin of theprisoner, Tobias Ingram, had known him since he wasborn and had never known him to quarrel or fight.James Thomas, a farmer living ten miles away, hadsimilarly found him peaceable with a good characterfrom his youth up. Mr. Baron Martin now summed up.The jury, he said, had to consider whether this wasmurder or manslaughter. Murder is the killing of aperson with malice aforethought and a homicide mightbe reduced to manslaughter. He then read to them adefinition of manslaughter,

If death ensues from a sudden transport of passion or heat of blood, upon a reasonableprovocation,and without malice, it is imputable to human infirmity, and the offence will bemanslaughter; but it must be remembered that a person sheltering himself under this plea mustmake out circumstances of alleviation to the satisfaction of the jury unless they arise out of evidenceagainst him as the law deems all homicide malicious, unless the contrary is proved.

He told them that they had to decide whether there was reasonable provocation, if there was theymust convict him of manslaughter.

The judge read out the material parts of the evidence and commented on them and directed the juryto dismiss from their minds the evidence of many conversations with the prisoner and confine theirattention to what took place on the 26th December 1853 and the week following that time. Theymust judge a man's motives by his conduct. He pointed out that no witnesses had seen PhilippaHolman intoxicated or quarrelsome.

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A first cousin ofthe prisoner,Tobias Ingram,had known himsince he wasborn and hadnever knownhim to quarrelor fight.

Part Three of Cornwall’s Holman Case inthe next edition of Cornish Story


Summer 2012

The British Celtic Fringe - aChinese ImpressionBy Xin Gong

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A brief look atancient Chinesehistory wouldreveal thatsuccessive warshave beenfought over thelast twothousand years

The Celtic civilization, in which Cornwall has always been an integral part of, is one of the mostsplendid civilizations in the West. It once existed when, on the other side of the world, the Chinesecivilization prospered in East Asia. Both civilizations have made formidable contributions to thedevelopment of human societies. However, due to the irreconcilable distance between the two partsof the world they have developed largely in isolation, which naturally engenders curiosities betweentheir peoples. This short article intends to promote dialogue between the people of these twocivilizations, by offering a brief introduction to the Chinese views of the British Celtic Fringe,which covers roughly 200 years of modern history since the two civilizations made their enigmaticencounter with each other.

The Celts – Chinese impressions

Overall, most Chinese people did not have much ofan impression of the Celts until very recently. For

almost two hundred years since Lord McCartneyknocked on the doors of the Chinese Empire, the UnitedKingdom of Great Britain and (Northern) Ireland hasbeen categorically represented as the country of‘Anglia’ tenanted by Anglo-Saxons. Even these days asubstantial number of Chinese people, many of themhave tasted the flavor of quality Scotch, are oblivious ofthe fact that England, alongside Scotland, Wales andNorthern Ireland constitute the United Kingdom.However, this is perhaps because they are not used tothe idea of a collection of countries exist alongside oneanother under one sovereign.

A brief look at ancient Chinese history would reveal thatsuccessive wars have been fought over the last twothousand years to keep the country of China unitedunder one sovereign, be it a feudal monarch or anationalist dictator (in the name of the people, ofcourse). The paradigm of ‘one country, one sovereign’is what all countries of the world shall adopt, as thesepeople assume.

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“many roads inHong Kongare namedafter Scottishmilitarycommanders;

The Chinese authority, who has made significant military effort to ensure that Tibet is part of China,considers the loose formation of multitude of countries under one sovereign as dangerous. TheChinese leaders are engaged in building a consensus that the prosperity of the country depends uponher territorial integrity. That in turn explains why the Chinese leader found it rather uncomfortablewhen the First Minister of Scotland proclaimed his first ‘state visit’ to China last December.Consequently, the Chinese people found it hard to situate the British Celtic Fringe in the social andcultural landscapes of the world, especially when the glory of England eclipsed the presence ofcountries like Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.

The British Celtic Fringe remains visible to those Chinese anthropologists and historians who arecurious about the British society as a whole. To them they are not used to associate the Celticculture with the social developments of places such as Scotland, Wales and Cornwall. Of course thehealth of a culture matters, it is of paramount importance to the continuation of any national orregional identity. Elements of a culture, such as food, are what keep a country different from otherones. Arguably, the Cornish culture is substantiated by Cornish people making pasties thatdistinguish the Cornish identity from others (interesting though, the Chinese Muslim also make atype of pasty compromising minced potatoes, but only limited to several Western regions of China).Although admittedly the Celtic culture was already in sharp decline during the colonial era, thepeoples of the Celtic Fringe did manage to bring traces of their culture to the distant territory ofChina especially after the Chinese dynasty opened trade with the West in the 1840s. Forces ofBritish colonialism were relentless.

Led by the Scottish regiments, the vanguards of British colonialism, the Scottish merchants, theWelsh missionaries and the Cornish sailors all left their footprints across the mainland of China.

However, in those days it was impossible for ordinary Chinese to distinguish them from the agentsof other European colonial masters. Racially they are all known as the Westerners. DespiteEuropean colonial domination lasting less than a millennium, the legacies of Celtic culture left bythose colonial agents are still visible in China these days ifone looks carefully enough. For example, many roads inHong Kong are named after Scottish military commanders; afew churches in north China, founded by the Welshmissionaries are still open to congregations in communistChina. It is speculated that the remains of Cornish ships maystill be found at the bottom of the South China Sea, however,it will take some effort for the Chinese to recognize thesymbolic values of these Celtic cultural legacies aroundthem.

The retreat of British colonial agents around the 1940sbrought a halt, not an end, to the spread of Celtic influence inChina. When the communists ruled China at the height of theEast-West confrontations during the Cold War, people of theWestern countries were indiscriminately branded as thedecadent capitalists. Their historical legacies in China weredestroyed during the Cultural Revolution. However, thesame vanguards that denounced the corrupt Western culturedid not foresee the irony only 20 years after the revolution:one of the most iconic representations of the Westerncinematic culture, which involves certain Celtic elements,was about to appear at the classrooms of their party institutes. 41


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The revolution came fast, and went even faster. Straight after the Cultural Revolution the newgeneration of Chinese leaders embraced the Western world once again in the 1970s, in a radical

change of ideologies that literally starts the demise of the communist bloc. The Celtic culture onceagain found its way into the ‘forbidden kingdom’ of China, mainly through regular culturalexchanges and visits between the country and members of the commonwealth world, notablyAustralia. In the 1980s at a major folklore event the Chinese national media introduced ordinaryChinese people to the Celtic dance, a fashionable performing art that has been pursued by manypassionate young Chinese. However, it was not until the arrival of the movie ‘Titanic’ whichoverwhelmingly captured Chinese imagination of the Celtic culture.

If the Celtic dance was only a vigorous expression of passion amongst young Chinese, the movie‘Titanic’ was a channel through which the Celtic culture found its way into the hearts and minds ofordinary Chinese people across all age boundaries. Filmed entirely by Hollywood crews, the‘Titanic’ was foremost the first Western movie that dominated the Chinese cinemas since the1970s, a milestone on China’s path to global cultural integration; Watched by Chinese of all ages,the ‘Titanic’ exhibited the wonders of the Celtic culture without excess, especially at the sceneswhere the main characters were enjoying the Celtic dance and music at the lower deck. Of coursethe music theme throughout the movie was Celtic too, involving the play of bag-pipes. Since therelease of the ‘Titanic,’ the popularity of the Celtic music and performing arts soared overnight.Tens of millions of Chinese people began to distinguish the Celtic culture from other Europeancultures and came to appreciate the beauty of the Celtic tunes in such ‘mysterious’ style –emotional, charming and relaxing. Enya was one of the first artists that benefited from such trend:

her albums received unprecedented attention frommany middle-aged Chinese women. The massivepopularity of the Celtic culture was once felt at almostall corners of Chinese society, especially when Enya’stunes were being played at shopping centres, airportsand even military barracks as background music. Suchpopularity was far from being short-lived, especiallywhen Chinese people made their effort to experiencethe Celtic culture first-hand ten years since the‘Titanic’ movie landed in China: According to theUlster Tourist Board, a record number of Chinesetourists visited the Harland and Wolff ship yard atBelfast, where the Titanic was built.

Undeniably the fascination with the Celtic cultureamongst Chinese people, especially wealthy

Chinese people, engenders greater recognition of themerits of the culture, such as the sport of golf, andsubsequent economic benefits, especially in the touristindustry. According to a recent market report, Chinanow has the greatest number of middle-classconsumers in the world. This report has been well-digested by the Scottish Tourist Board, an organizationthat has already targeted wealthy Chinese for its‘VisitScotland’ campaigns at designated cultural eventshosted by the British Council in China.

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According tothe UlsterTourist Board, arecord numberof Chinesetourists visitedthe Harland andWolff ship yardat Belfast

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A recent survey shows that 60% of wealthy Chineseconsider Scotland the best place for golf and almost allof them intend to play golf there in the immediatefuture. These people are no longer satisfied withlistening to the bag-pipe recordings; they now plan tocome to the British Celtic Fringe to play golf whilelistening to the bag-pipe live!

Overall, China’s remarkable economic growth hascontributed to the increasing recognition of the

cultures of the British Celtic Fringe amongst Chinesepeople, whose impressions of the region haveundergone substantial transformation. However, theseimpressions are largely limited to arts andentertainment, to sport, to anything else associated withthe movie ‘Titanic.’ Their desire to embrace the Celticculture remains motivated by their aims of personalenjoyment. The Celtic culture is hardly a serious subjectat Chinese institutions, yet the exact location of theBritish Celtic Fringe remains a myth to many Chinesepeople…

However, the communist cadets at the party institutesmay have a very different impression of the BritishCeltic Fringe since the release of the movie ‘Titanic’. Itmust be emphasized that the story of the Titanic was a

tragic one. The movie, despite its entertainment values, was a high-tech demonstration of the terribleextent of the tragedy, with little exaggeration. At the time of the disaster, when it was clear that theship was to be abandoned, the wealthy passengers, understood as the decadent capitalists, werequickly loaded onto the life boats, leaving thousands of proletariats trapped in the lower classes’cabins. Subsequently the movie ‘Titanic’ was considered an ideal material by the party institute toillustrate the brutal nature of class relations envisioned by Karl Marx.

Now it is understood that a large number of the Titanic victims were passengers with Celticbackgrounds, including Irish and Cornish. Many of these people, disadvantaged in Britain, were

on their way to fulfill their American dreams but could only afford a bed onboard the ship. When thedisaster struck, these people were left to the mercy of freezing Atlantic water. This was the momentwhen race, ethnicity and class together decided upon one’s destiny. “Why must the dancing Irishmandie, whilst the Anglo-Saxon capitalists found it uncomfortable to fill the life boat?!” an outragedparty cadet shouts as the scenes of death and sorrow emerge on the screen. As the movie ends theparty cadets reached an absolute consensus that the Celts were proletariats, exploited and eventuallydeprived the chance to survive under the system of capitalism. Their sympathy towards those Celticvictims was subsequently transformed into a rare case of class and racial solidarity amongst theChinese communists and the Celtic proletariats, despite the fact they lived millions of miles apart invery different eras, demonstrating a novel impression of the Celts amongst the Chinese across spaceand time.

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China’sremarkableeconomicgrowth hascontributed tothe increasingrecognition ofthe cultures ofthe BritishCeltic Fringe

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Summer 2012

The Beast of Bodmin MoorBest Goon BrènStory by Alan M. Kent, Illustrations by Gabrielle Cailes, Cornish Translation by Neil Kennedy

Published by Evertype ISBN 978-1-904808-77-0

Prolific Cornish author Alan Kent welcomes you to share the secret tale of the Beast of Bodmin in hisrecent contribution to the world of Cornish literature. The Beast of Bodmin Moor/ Best Goon Brèn is a

bilingual Cornish/English book aimed primarily at children and reinforced by a 7 page supportive glossarytranslated by accomplished modern Cornish linguist and author Neil Kennedy.

Combining elements from many Celtic myths and legends, Kent tells the tale of how the infamous Cornish‘beast’ (actually an escapee puma), enjoys the wonders of Kernow. As chief protector of Bodmin Moor,‘Cornwall’s last great wilderness’, friendly and courageous Tegen becomes dangerously drawn into ‘the OldCeltic Otherworld’ where she faces Tregeagle, the dreaded wolf-spirit who ‘haunted Bodmin Moor forcenturies.’ After gaining King Arthur’s sword Excalibur, Tregeagle plans to regain power and ruin themoor. However, Germoe, a fellow puma and eventual mate to Tegan, bravely forces Tregeagle to return tothe Celtic underworld.

Included in the book is an illustrated map of places covered by adventurous Tegan. Along with a ‘can youspot these things in the book?’ activity testing the child’s observational skills, it encourages its young

readers to re-engage with the narrative. As a learning tool the book certainly succeeds and Kent makes subtleyet necessary calls for the sustainability of the land through ambassador Tegan who protects the rugged andunspoilt moorland from litter and damage.

The narrative is further strengthened by itsillustrations, as if we weren’t quite romanticized byKent’s vivid descriptions of the Duchy. Literarytheorist Edward Hodnett defines the bestillustrators as having ‘the ability to understand theauthor’s intention and what legitimately can bevisualized beyond the words he has used.’Gabrielle Cailes’ depictions seem to do just that.Particularly essential within a children’spublication, the images do justice to Kent’s magicaland mythical, colourful Kernow.

Although marketed as a childrens book, adultsare sure to enjoy the reinvention of a

legendery tale, and as a toolkit for the learner ofmodern Cornish. All things considered, Best GoonBrèn serves well as an engaging tale. Apart frombeing a useful educational and linguistic tool, it is aunique gift for anyone with a love of Cornwall anda proud addition to the library of modern Cornishliterature.

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Summer 2012

Share, Support, SustainBy Umar Ali

The Celebration of Islamic Culture event which was held at Tremough Campus turned out to beextremely successful. We had a great turnout from both the university and the local community

and people of all ages enjoyed the performance, the food and the various stalls and displays. It wasgreat to see unity between the people of Falmouth and Penryn and the student population and I hopethis event spawns many more to come.

This event was the first of its kind. In the history of Islam, or of Qawwali, or Cornwall, no Qawwalhas ever performed here; this changed on Saturday 3rd March 2012. Hamid Ali Naqeebi isconsidered the leading professional Qawwal in the United Kingdom and his talent and skill, whichbecomes evident to any observer of his performances, are testimony to his rapidly growingreputation. Hamid Ali Naqeebi has also had the great honour of performing for the esteemed DrMuhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, Shaykh-ul-Islam – a world renowned Islamic scholar. Furthermore,Hamid’s reputation has grown abroad, after a series of fantastic performances across Pakistan.

The Qawwal Group was also accompanied by His Excellency, Haji Mohammad Iqbal Naqeebi,whose name is well known across South East Asia and many other places around the world. HajiMohammad was themanager of the Great UstadNusrat Fateh Ali Khan,attributed to having broughtthe art of Qawwali across toEurope, for a period of 35years, and is now passing histeachings onto Hamid.

Organised by the FXUInternational Society (agroup for Falmouth andExeter students atTremough) as part of aweeklong celebration ofdiversity.

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Photo: Georgina Mallett


Summer 2012

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a very difficulttask for thedefence whodid not callwitnesses andHolman himselfwas excluded bylaw fromentering thewitness box.

AIR RAID ON ST IVESRachael Rowe unearths the poignant tale of aWW2 air raid on St Ives.Seventy years ago during World War Two Cornish beaches were lined with barbed wire and oftenhad gun emplacements. On Friday 28th August 1942 the small holiday town of St Ives saw a daringraid by the Luftwaffe terrorise locals and visitors alike. The town was bombed, the beach machinegunned and casualties sustained. This eyewitness account relives the moment that brought war tothe shores of Cornwall and a remarkable act of bravery by two evacuee children.

Porthminster Beach was crowded on the afternoon of last Friday in August 1942 as people enjoyedthe sunshine and tried to forget the war for a few hours. Kitty Rowe, then eight years old wasplaying in the sea with two new evacuee friends from London. “Lots of evacuees came to Troonfrom Hackney in London and we had to share our village school with them. Some of them foundliving in Cornwall very different. I remember we took two of our new friends to the beach at St Ivesfor a treat and we were all paddling in the water and splashing each other. In wartime the beacheswere lined with barbed wire to prevent invasions and you could only go on certain parts.”

Aircraft on the Horizon

The peace and joy of an idyllic summer afternoonwas soon to be broken. In the distance some people

on the beach noticed two planes coming over the hill,flying towards St Ives and circling the houses. At firstthe crowds thought they were British but then theplanes banked revealing the sinister markings of theLuftwaffe. Kitty continues, “Some of the people startedto wave at them because they thought they were Britishpilots but suddenly there was panic as the planes flewover the water and we all realised from the markingsthey were Germans. Some men at the back of the beachshouted at everyone to take cover.

The planes were so low I could see one of the pilot’sfaces. Then we heard gun fire and the planes machinegunned the beach with bullets. Suddenly the evacueesgrabbed me and pulled me under the water and theyheld me under. They had the presence of mind to dothat, being from London. I suppose they were moreused to air raids than us.”

For what seemed like an eternity the planes pepperedPorthminster Beach with gunfire, terrifying young andold like before disappearing over the town in search ofother targets such as the gas works.

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Summer 2012

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We all wentback onto thebeach and therewere a lot offrightened andshocked people.Manysunbathers hadflungthemselves flaton the sand asthere wasnowhere to go.

Bombs were dropped on the town and one lady, a MrsJames, died instantly as one exploded close to her.Eleven people were injured in the beach and townattacks. A lot of debris lay all over the town and inpeople’s gardens and the Cornishman reported thatsome of the older residents including a ninety year oldMrs Carbines refused to be removed from theirbombed houses in defiance at the Germans. Several StIves people were rendered homeless from the air raid.Kitty recalled getting out of the water, not quitebelieving what had happened. “We all went back ontothe beach and there were a lot of frightened andshocked people .Many sunbathers had flungthemselves flat on the sand as there was nowhere togo. We saw two old ladies trying to hide behind adeckchair and we did laugh at them thinking how onearth they thought the canvas would protect themagainst bullets.”

Further RaidsThe pilots were not finished yet and spied a busleaving town crowded with people. The Cornishmanreported that this also found itself under fire and thepassengers took cover as the bus was also machinegunned. A Canadian officer threw many of the localsto the ground to protect them against the danger and alocal vicar and his wife, who were in front of the bus,also found their car peppered with flak in a somewhatmischievous hail of bullets before the pilots flew offback to their base.

The newspaper reports at the time did not mention St Ives by name for fear of giving vitalinformation to the enemy, as secrecy was paramount. The raid was simply reported as

occurring in a coastal town in the South West of England. It is also known from post-war researchthat Ribbentrop was very fond of St Ives, visiting the resort in 1937 however his acquiredpostcard collection went on to illustrate a German Invasion handbook which was produced in1941. It has never really been understood what drove the two pilots to attack a peaceful beach fullof civilians on that August afternoon or why more people weren’t killed.

Several bombs were dropped on Cornwall during World War Two as pilots found themselves withspare ordnance following raids on other cities and dropped them on the route back to OccupiedEurope. For Kitty Rowe the experience as an eight year old was terrifying and unforgettable,“Being pulled under saved me, but I have never been in the sea since that day. I will never forgetthat pilot’s face.”

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Summer 2012

In a nutshell: St IvesElizabeth Abnett takes a contemporary look atone of Cornwall’s most culturally-crammedseaside towns, St Ives.

St Ives (Porth Ia in Cornish) is one of Cornwall’s greatest treasures and most famous holidayretreats. Its golden beaches, beautiful harbour and crystal waters offer both visitors and

locals a summer haven so exotic that you’ll feel like you’ve holidayed abroad.

Originally a fishing village and remote part of the South West, St Ives has, over the years,transformed into a hugely admired town. It is believed that the village had been a workingfishing harbour since the Middle Ages. It remained an almost undiscovered jewel until the late1800s when First Great Western embarked on a new branch line. St Ives became moreaccessible by train, and hence, its popularity grew tremendously.

The railway best appreciates the coastal journey as, on approach, you can view enchantingscenery of Lelant, Carbis Bay and Porthminster, the embracing beaches. As soon as you enterthe heart of the town you notice The Warren, a disarray of cottages cradled by the harbour.Their buttery rooftops are perhaps one of St Ives most distinctive traits, giving the town a warmglow even in the depths of winter. The yellow plant called Lichen grows on these rooftops,giving the town its unique look. Lichen feeds mostly on sunlight and, due to its vulnerability toair pollution, it is increasingly visible in clean, coastal areas such as St Ives.

Dating back at least to the Middle Ages, St Ives has flourished as a fishing port. The successof the town depended heavily on its fishing industry, until the decline in trade in the 20th

century. The picturesque seaside town then began establishing itself as a popular holidaydestination, therefore its prominent commercial appeal lead to the growth of tourism.

Walking through the labyrinth of cobbled streets, known as “Downalong”, in peak season isatmospheric to say the least. Amongst the galleries and surf shops, the streets are paved withtrinket and souvenir shops, ice cream parlours, bakeries selling the “Best Cornish Pasties”, cosyrestaurants and traditional chippies overlooking the harbour-front. St Ives gained so muchappeal as a holiday destination that the town was named the seaside town of the year by theGuardian in 2007 and then went on to win the British Travel Awards “Best UK Seaside Town”in 2010 and 2011.

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Summer 2012

Out of peak season, however, the complete calm and stillness of the town juxtaposes its famoushustle and bustle ambiance. Walking through the quaint streets in February can prove

disappointing to the avid shopper, when a portion of the town’s shops are closed until March,awaiting warmer weather and increasing customers.

For some, off-peak months are perfect for appreciating the bay in its entire splendor. Whilstperched quietly on the harbour edge, the rhythmic rippling of the water from distant nodding boatsand almost abandoned beaches (except from the occasional dog walker) accentuate its effortlessbeauty.

St Ives is particularly renowned for its impressive artistic culture, represented in the St Ives TateGallery as well as throughout the town’s independent galleries and various sculptures found aroundthe bay. The Tate Gallery offers world-class art and is an important monument, which opened in1993 as part of the Tate Gallery in London. Even prior to the opening of the Tate Gallery, St Ivesaccommodated many world famous artists and sculptors including Barbara Hepworth, BernardLeach and Turner. Its inspiring scenery has even compelled Rolf Harris to paint its wondrouslandscape in 2007 where he mused over the extraordinary sun light that is projected over the darkblue sea.

While its visions mesmerize in large quantities, the legend surrounding St Ives also offer awonderful sense of mysticality and tradition. The legend tells the story of Saint Ia, a virgin

saint who floated from Ireland to St Ives on a leaf sent from God. When she reached St Ives it isbelieved that she created an oratory where the present parish, dedicated to Saint Ia, stands today.

St Ives is chock-full of rich history, culture and stunning scenery. Not far from the town hub is theIsland, a bulge of land that was originally used as a fort. Formerly called Pendinas, the Island offersamazing sea views and dolphins are often sighted swimming in the calm waters.

Treasured beaches surrounding the town consume stretches of coast with golden sand andglistening waters. Porth Kidney beach, a personal favourite, is nestled within the neighbouringvillage of Lelant. At the height of summer Porth Kidney is popular but not over crowded. If yougrow tired from sunbathing amongst the suntraps or swimming in the clear waters, walking thesurrounding sand dunes is a great way to soak up the coastal views. In the winter months, the beachbecomes more subdued, with only stray dog walkers for company. The stillness of Porth Kidney isrelaxing and peaceful, enabling you to fully take in the beauty of the bay.

In all its glory, St Ives is one of the most valued towns in Cornwall. It manages to keep its uniquehistory alive whilst representing modern day cultures throughout the bay together with the St Ives

Tate Gallery. Its envious beaches, spectacular views and quaint characteristics draw in visitors fromfar and wide every year, making it a place to be proud of, passionate about and treasured forever.

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Summer 2012

Discovering Cornwall throughGuidebooks.By Kim Cooper, Principal Library officer ofThe Cornwall CentreCornwall has long held a fascination for visitors, but how did travellers find their way? We all take for

granted guidebooks to direct us, but when were they first introduced? Christine North explains in herarticle 'West Barbary' (published in 'From Pilgrimage to Package Tour' edited by J. Palmer and J. Mattingly,1990) that 'seventeenth and eighteenth century diaries and pocket books contained information on coachroutes, distances between towns and essential equipment for the journey.'By the 1820s guidebooks were notonly offering information on travelling and where to stay, but were also extolling the beauties of thecountryside and describing excursions. One of the earliest was Stockdale's Excursions published in 1824.

From Tregothnan, after passing Malpus Passage, the distance to Truro is two miles, and a very pleasanrtride. Approaching Truro from this direction, the town has a grand and imposing aspect; the effect of thescene is greatly improved by the numerous trading vessels lying at anchor, particularly at low water, whilstthe sun is setting....The alterations and improvements made of late years at Truro have certainly given thetown a very neat and handsome appearance; the streets being well paved ,watered, and lighted with gas, aremore comfortable than any other town in the county.Excursions in the County of Cornwall by F. W. Stockdale, 1824.

In the 1850s Murray's Handbooks were describing places of interest, routes for day's outs and information ontravel, antiquities, geology and natural history.

On crossing the embankmanet the traveller will notice the pretty village of Lelant on the opposite shore. Thefuchsia, hydrangea and myrtle flourish in its cottage gardens the year round. Near the sea the parish iscovered with sand, which is continually being blown up the cliffs from the beach.A Handbook for Travellers in Cornwall and Devon, 1851 (published by John Murray).

By the late nineteenth and early twentieth century guides were being regularly updated and reproduced byvarious authors and publishers - W.H. Tregellas, Ward Lock, Ward and Baddeley, and Black. Another

early twentieth century guide is Harper's Cornish Coast:

Dolcoath Mine is situated on a hill near Camborne railway station, and its works cover a large acreage. Itis not a place in which to spend a quiet day for the stamps crushig the ore make a deafening noise, and inevery way the scene is a busy one, Dolcoath employing about 800 persons above ground, in addition to the600 at work below, in the levels and galleries that reach a total depth of 3,000 feet. Among those employed"at grass" – i.e. above ground – are a number of women and girls, whose work consisits in raking andsorting the broken ore, and tending the revolving mills, that further crush it and grind it up in running water.

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Summer 2012

The Cornish Coast(north) by C.G. Harper,1910 (published byChapman and Hall).

The promotion by theGreat Western Railwayof Cornwall as 'England'sRiviera' resulted in manyguidebooks andpromotional materialwhere Cornwall wasdeclared to be at leastequal to the Azores,Madeira or Monte Carlo.

There is an incontestablefact for you, and givesthe main reason forvisiting Cornwall at anytime of year beforeanywhere else. It isbecause its climate, theall-important factor in a holiday, is the most equable in the world that we claim the right to describe theDuchy as the Cornish Riviera. Everyone has dreamt of a land where the sun always shines but never provesharmful, where it is always warm but never enervating, where we may bathe in the winter and take activeexercise in the summer. We had to have a name for this Elysium, so we called it the Cornish Riviera.

Penzance is proving a formidable rival to Madeira, the Scillies to the Azores, and Mullion to Monte Carlo.Quite apart, then, from any of the myriad attractions, it is worth visiting Cornwall just on account of herclimate. If you are jaded or run down it makes you fit, if you are well it keeps you so. Her climate isequable, not torrid.

The Cornish Riviera by S.P.B. Mais, 1929 (published by Great Western Railway Company).

There were of course guides to towns and resorts, some produced by bigger publishing companies, others bythe more enterprising local councils and printers. Penzance, Falmouth, Bodmin, Fowey and Land's End areall featured in individual guidebooks as early as the 1870s.”

A collection of guidebooks from Stockdale's Excursions to present day guides are held at the Cornish StudiesLibrary and they provide a fascinating view of towns and villages across Cornwall.

For more information on the guidebooks available at the Cornish Studies Library, please see our onlinecatalogue at www.cornwall.gov.uk/cornwallcentre or visit us at The Cornwall Centre, Alma Place, Redruth.Opening times are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10am to 5pm and Saturday 10am to 1pm.(Telephone – 01209 216760 or Email – [email protected].)

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Summer 2012

Choughed up!Mini rambles of Arty the Cornish ChoughBy Sanjay Kumar

It is not very common in the crooked history ofanything really, for something to reappear,

regroup, unless you are a ruthless bunch of us lotwho call this sacred land of Cornwall our Home.

Opportunity only knocks once! That’s right.Although just as the majestic waves of the mightyAtlantic never take anything away, we choughshave had a taste of lands far far away beforereturning here for good.

Even the lovingly departed R.H.Pascoe; (Hoodieto his mates) the squint-eyed pirate from theCaribbean, whose daily dose of CornishMahogany (some parts of gin, mixed with a weedram of treacle) and boiled liver of white lobsteron toast has been fabled to be an incessantobsessional tradition, until the war of the worldswas officially declared upon us; could ever telloneself the secret of how us the Chough lot, gotour glossy Cornish black plumage and a ratherpouting feminine set of lips.

Being of a younger modern generation of thechough lot, I like hangin’ around with gulls

and gannets of the neighborhood, befriendingthem allows me to enjoy a unique taste of pasty crumbs and foot longs, although I still prefermum’s daily dose of pilchard supper and an occasional bite of juvenile cod liver, unwillinglydiscarded by “starsky” the broody fisherman’s gaffer boy.

Not a lot of our glorious past, interests me really! I want to grow up one day, travel the world, meetsome other birds of feather called “crows” in south East Asia, flock together and learn differentnesting cultures. Nan says, I am a fifth generation Cornish Chough (apparently a rare breed).It wasapparently a rather hard choice for Pa Arthur Senior, to part company from the lush green Welshlands and trace his way back to where his heart always belonged. She says, here in Cornwall, wecould sing a love song and not bother about the dialect, put a few urgent matters to bed and flag itas “Dreckly” on our avian outlook calendar, and the Cornish weather perfectly fits our plumagewith limited doses of deferred sunshine.

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Summer 2012

Apart from the wind mills and the occasionalseasonal traffic of budget holidaymakers,

Cornwall is still alright for us locals. We the Choughshave always been proud to be sitting on governmentemblems and insignias and often work symbioticallywith organic farmers in picking the weeds out of thesoil. A few futile efforts by lesser informed citizenshave seen a few of us being domesticated and legendhas it that a feather stuffed bust of Mrs. Laura Choughof Bodmin moor, still stares blankly out of a glintedglass cage of the National History museum inLondon.

In the days of long winter idleness, we stay huddledagainst each other in our cliff-top shelter home, andthink! Wonder what it would be to be a bird likeAaron the glint-eyed seagull. It may be cool to behim, but you know what, it is cooler to be me! ProudChough and Cornish born and bred, I am living thedream.

“Kee-aw,Kee-aw”

Gotta go, mate. Its curbside recycling Thursday, thegulls have ripped open an unkempt rubbish bag full offresh, edible food; and we need to make the most outof it.

I hate food waste, do you?

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In the daysof longwinteridleness, westayhuddledagainst eachother in ourcliff-topshelterhome, andthink!

Turn Over for Sanjay Kumar’s latest recipe

Fish Tin and Copper

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Summer 2012

Pysk,Sten Ha Kober (Fish, Tinand Copper)By Sanjay Kumar

In the glory days of tin mining, earnings were low and the bal Maidens (the industrious womenfolk of Cornwall) had a tough job on their hands to feed the hungry lot. Barley and nettles were

in abundance and were often paired to rustle up a quick broth with a chunk of tinner’s bread. A fewstray pilchards salvaged from the fisherman’s cart would be well sourced and prepared, and withthe frugal earning they would make in terms of tribute (a fair share!) could buy a piece of choicegreen pork for the hoggan.

It took years of innovation, and trials and tribulations to get the pasty right. Braised Skirt/Blade ofbeef, locally grown turnips, potatoes and onions were tenacious ingredients to serve a croustpurpose. “Fish, Tin and Copper” was an old adage that drove the cart of Cornish livelihood, and

squash and corn was readilyavailable to rustle up anoccasional treat with flavours ofthe earth. The key to Cornishhome cooking is in its honesty.Very often cooking is simply acombination of availableseasonal basic ingredients andfuss-free presentation.There issomething rather mouth-wateringabout the word “Moussaka.”Fond memories of Saudi Arabiankitchens bring back subtlepictures to my Little Cook’smind. Mountains of mincedlamb, deftly tucked amongstlasagne of thin slivers oforegano-laced aubergine (locallycalled Batimjan) made a dish fitfor the kings. Here in Cornwall, Ioften like to marry the oiliness ofbountiful pilchards, with theearthiness of aubergine and top itall up with a rich cloud ofCornish cream. Ready inminutes, moussaka is a great wayof introducing essential oils andfish proteins to your family’sdiet. This is healthy comfortfood, out of a tin!

Serves a Family of 4 adventurous

eaters.

Preparation time 10 minutes,

cooking time 15 minutes.

Ingredients8 freshly landed Cornish pilchards

(mature sardines) scaled and filleted

1 large aubergine sliced thinly

4 tablespoons Cornish clotted cream

1 egg beaten

2 table spoons mild Cornish cheddar

grated

1 tea spoon fresh oregano leaves

3 table spoons olive oil

1 lemon quartered

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Summer 2012

Preheat the Oven to 180 degrees.

Cure the aubergine slices with Olive oil, andkeep aside.

Lightly fry the pilchards in a non-stick pan,skin side down, and place in a shallow

baking dish. Place and fry the slices ofaubergine in the same pan, for the flavours ofsardine oil to soak into them. Layer the friedaubergine slices on top of the sardines, andsprinkle some freshly torn oregano leaves onthem. Whisk the Clotted cream, mustard andegg along with the grated cheese and pourgenerously over the fish mixture. Bake thepilchard moussaka for 15 minutes (or until thecheese mixture starts bubbling as a nice brownlayer). Serve the moussaka hot with a seasonalleaf salad and lemon wedge.

Yeghes Da! (Cheers to all thingsCornish)

SanjayKumar’s

Recipes are aregular

contribution toCornish Story -Would you liketo see more?

55


Summer 2012Where have you gone Gus Honeybun?

Where have you gone Gus Honeybun?We need you now.

We need you Gusin these dark days of IEDs,high petrol pricesand the loneliness of Facebook.

We need you Augustus Jin these tense times of iPads,the war on terrorand Saturday night Blue-Ray.

You were there for me once,when that July, I turned six,and you gave me six bunny hops.To think – my name on the TV,

I was made up.It made my world complete,in a time before You Tube,web cams and texting.

I watched transfixedat your slot, puppet rabbit,with your winks, head-standsand way you could ‘turn out the lights’.

We need you Gus,with your wide-eyed innocenceto tell us it will be alright,to give us birthdays all over again.

We need you to just be the previewto jelly and ice-cream,pass the parceland all those hopeful wishes.

Where have you gone Gus Honeybun?We need you now more than ever.

It seems you have gone,like all the other magicthat defined we peninsula kids,we naïve rabbit-loving viewers.

You have gone the way of the piskies,gone the way of mermaids,gone the way of knockies,and gone the way of me.

I’m here writing to you Gus - Love from Uncle Al and the dog –Just the way Ian Stirlingread out the card on air.

Wherever you are Gus,I want an ear waggleand please,press the magic button.

By Alan Kent

cornish story - summer 2012

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