577    After the Battle of Deorham down near Bristol the West Welsh (Cornish) were separated from the Welsh by the advance of the Saxons

936   Athelstan's settlement established the Tamar as the border between Cornwall and England. The Cornish were evicted from Exeter.

1337  Duchy of Cornwall Created

1497/1549  Cornish uprising

1508  Charter of Pardon extended legislative powers of the Cornish Stannary Parliament

1642-46  War of the five peoples (English, Scots,Welsh,Cornish) in Britain

1740's  Expansion of deep copper mining in Cornwall heralded the Industrial Revolution

1743  John Wesley arrived in Cornwall and established Methodism, which became the dominant religous denomination.

1866  Collapse of the price of copper began the process of de-industrialisation and added to the process of mass emigration of the Cornish overseas.

1904  Jenner's Handbook of the Cornish Language initiated the Cornish renewal.

1960's  Counter urbanisation resulted in major population migration to Cornwall.

Introduction

Where is Cornwall and who are the Cornish

1.1  Cornwall is situated on the north-western edge of Europe and the south-western edge of the United Kingdom. It is bordered on three sides – the north, west and south – by the sea. The 520 km of coastline ensure that Cornwall and its people have, historically, looked outwards to Europe and overseas. On its eastern side the River Tamar forms the boundary for all but 18 km. Cornwall is just over 356,000 hectares in area and its resident population at the 1991 Census was 468,425. Its current population is estimated to be over 490,000.

1.2  Cornwall is a relatively deprived European region. Its gross domestic product per head is less than 75% of the European average, a situation that helped it win European Union Objective 1 structural funding in July 1999. In 1998 earnings in Cornwall were 32% below the British average, winter unemployment levels 30% above the average and summer unemployment 6% above (Cornwall County Council, 1999, 14 and 22). As a result of these and other factors the UK Government’s Social Exclusion Unit report that two of the 90 most deprived districts in the UK are found in Cornwall DETR, 1998 Index of Local Deprivation (communication from David Fieldsend).

1.3  The two main groups of people who inhabit this region are of Cornish and of English descent. The former are the indigenous group; the latter are predominantly recent migrants. Very rapid population growth since 1960 has resulted in a situation where somewhere between 40 and 50% of the population is Cornish, in stark contrast to the 1950s when between 70 and 80% of the population had been born in Cornwall.