Bernard Deacon's Blog, page 9

Stuart loyalism, early language revivalists and islandness

Another three micro-summaries of reviews … James Harris digs into expressions of loyalty in Restoration Cornwall and finds they were the result of a well-organised Tory propaganda campaign. In a second article James Harris compares seventeenth century attempts to revive the Cornish language with the situation in south-west Wales and identifies the lack of support … Continue reading Stuart loyalism, early language revivalists and islandness →

Cornish language, the care community and witches

In case you missed a series of (mostly) short reviews of a selection of recent academic literature that I put on this site in the latter part of 2023 here’s a one-sentence summary of each to save you having to read them. To make it digestible I’ll limit it to three and drip in the … Continue reading Cornish language, the care community and witches →

Christmas in west Cornwall in 1920

This was first posted on Christmas Eve, 2020. What was Christmas like around a hundred years ago? Let’s look at the Cornishman newspaper in 1920 for a few clues. Overall, it was generally quiet. At Penzance it was reported as ‘celebrated somewhat quietly’ while over at Helston it also ‘passed off very quietly’. We might … Continue reading Christmas in west Cornwall in 1920 →

Calamity at Coppathorne

On a cold morning in early November 1820 in the small hamlet of Coppathorne in Poundstock parish in north Cornwall, my great-great-great grandfather Thomas Rodd might have been found getting ready to go out to his job labouring at a nearby farm. Thomas had been born to the east in the border parish of North … Continue reading Calamity at Coppathorne →

From Tripcony to Tripp

Browsing back through the older posts on this site it struck me that some of them are well worth a further airing, albeit with some corrections and revisions if necessary. So, for those who may have missed them the first time around, I’ll be re-posting some of those that catch my eye. Here’s one that … Continue reading From Tripcony to Tripp →

Good news and bad

The good news is that the perfect Christmas gift for any proud Cornish man or woman is still available. There is still time to order The Real World of Poldark or The Surnames of Cornwall before Christmas – and at the laughably low price of £9.99 plus postage. The bad news is that, having pegged … Continue reading Good news and bad →

Zennor: the end of the road

Back in September 2021 I rashly set out to write a blog on every parish in Cornwall as I worked to complete a database containing information on the life-courses of a sample of over 4,000 Cornish children born around 1850. Finally, with more than a sigh of relief, 243 blogs and over 100,000 words later, … Continue reading Zennor: the end of the road →

Withiel: stay at home farmers

One question the Victorian Lives database will help to answer is how the likelihood to emigrate varied by occupation. For instance, a quick check of the current state of the database, probably over 90 per cent complete, shows that of those men who were working in mines in 1871 and had survived to 1891 at … Continue reading Withiel: stay at home farmers →

Whitstone: farm labouring and its alternatives in border country

Whitstone is the last of our north Cornish farming parishes. Like its neighbours, in this parish of small villages and hamlets three quarters of the men worked on the farms, with most of the rest employed in a variety of rural crafts, especially smithing and carpentry. Only two of the children born around 1850 and … Continue reading Whitstone: farm labouring and its alternatives in border country →

West Looe: the sea, family support and snooker

West Looe sat on the less populous bank of the estuary of the Looe River. The town straggled along the river and up the steep hill leading out into the surrounding countryside. Unlike its bigger brother across the bridge, West Looe had no large community of fishermen and their families in the mid-1800s. There were … Continue reading West Looe: the sea, family support and snooker →