Bernard Deacon's Blog, page 14

St Martin by Looe: what could keep them down on the farm?

St Martin by Looe was the mother church of the town of East Looe. By the 1800s East Looe had long been hived off, leaving St Martin as a small rural parish in east Cornwall, where farming employed almost 90 per cent of its men. Only two of the five St Martin by Looe children … Continue reading St Martin by Looe: what could keep them down on the farm? →

St Mabyn: a maltster and a vet

Another year and St Mabyn, between Wadebridge and Camelford, is another fairly typical Cornish rural parish. Around two-thirds of its men were employed on the farms of the parish in 1861. Demand for labourers then gradually fell and in consequence the total population of the parish had declined by 12 per cent by 1900, in … Continue reading St Mabyn: a maltster and a vet →

St Levan: exceptions in the far west

The majority of men in Victorian Cornwall probably followed the same occupations as did their fathers. Moreover, the majority of those tended to stay in that occupation for the rest of their lives. However, the exact proportions may well have varied from place to place and from one occupation to the next. When complete, the … Continue reading St Levan: exceptions in the far west →

St Keyne: farm labouring, shoemaking and gender relations

St Keyne is a small, easily overlooked parish in the south east Cornish countryside. In the 1800s its economy was almost entirely dominated by its farms. Farmers, their sons and farm labourers made up fully 92 per cent of the working male population in 1861. From the bare historical record Emma Jane Hender of St … Continue reading St Keyne: farm labouring, shoemaking and gender relations →

St Kew: a meandering monk

In the late sixth century the wandering monk Samson, arriving from Wales, visited a monastery at Landocco, thought to be sited in St Kew parish to the north of the Camel estuary. The abbot at Landocco was none too pleased to receive his eminent but unexpected visitor. He told Samson he was ‘better than us, … Continue reading St Kew: a meandering monk →

St Keverne: from rebellion to respectability

In the late 1400s and early 1500s the parish of St Keverne on the Lizard peninsula was at the heart of Cornwall’s several ‘commotions’. Men and women from the parish enthusiastically rose in revolt against the taxation of Henry VII in 1497 – not once but twice. They were closely involved in the explosion of … Continue reading St Keverne: from rebellion to respectability →

St Just in Roseland: learning the ropes

Cornwall’s other St Just, on the Roseland peninsula, could not be much more of a contrast with the first. No mines disfigured the verdant landscape of St Just in Roseland, no miners stanked through its lanes on their way to early core. No sounds of industry drowned out the birdsong. Moreover, while Penwith’s St Just … Continue reading St Just in Roseland: learning the ropes →

St Just in Penwith: next stop, America

St Just can be found on the westernmost edge of the Cornish peninsula jutting into the Atlantic. In the 1800s it was sometimes said that the next parish to its west was America. This wasn’t just whimsy as St Just in the nineteenth century was anything but a remote, out of the way place. It … Continue reading St Just in Penwith: next stop, America →

St Juliot: hardy young men

In 1870 a 30-year old assistant architect working for a Weymouth-based firm was sent to Cornwall. His task was to assess the state of the ‘seriously dilapidated’ St Juliot church overlooking the picturesque Valency valley in north Cornwall prior to planning its restoration. While working on the project over the next two years the architect … Continue reading St Juliot: hardy young men →

St John: from hand sewing to machine sewing

One of Cornwall’s smaller parishes, St John is found nestled on the coast in south east Cornwall. While around half of the households in the parish in 1861 were headed by farmers or farm labourers the local economy was relatively dispersed. As in the neighbouring parish of Sheviock, there were some navvies probably working on … Continue reading St John: from hand sewing to machine sewing →