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A History Of Cornwall
This classic history of Cornwall provides a comprehensive review of Britain’s most south-westerly county. With absorbing detail, Halliday relates the story of the Bronze Age stone circles and Iron Age citadels; the coming of the Saints; the dissolution of the monasteries and the Tudor rebellions; the Armada and the war with Spain; the preaching of John Wesley; the making of the railway; and into this fascinating pattern of the centuries he weaves the two threads of the sea and Cornish tin. In this clear and vibrant account, Halliday skilfully illustrates what makes this historic county so exceptional.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
406 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 14, 2015
I have been wanting to find out more about Cornwall’s history for a while now, being largely ignorant of the Celtic origins – cultures, legends, language – from which the region derives such a spirit of independence. An upcoming holiday in St Ives seemed like the perfect excuse to read up a bit.
Given that there are many who argue in favour of Cornwall being an entirely separate nation (I’ve been told off by Cornish societies in the past for referring to it as a mere county of England) I find it surprising that arguably only two credible and complete histories of it have been compiled – this one, by F E Halliday (written in the 1950s), and another more recent by Professor of Cornish studies at Exeter University, Philip Payton.
For reasons I can’t quite recall, I chose Halliday’s effort which, while thorough, is in desperate need of updating. For example, there are Latin passages that Halliday leaves untranslated – presumably everyone in the 1950s could read Latin without assistance – as well as several occasions where medieval wages are converted into ‘modern’ money…i.e. pounds, shillings and pence. Of course, Halliday’s history loses no credibility as a result of his dated style, but it is certainly a distraction.
Halliday’s forte seems to be ancient history. The first chapters of his work – focussed on development of Stone Age chambers & quoits, Bronze age stone circles and Iron Age hillforts – are by far the most enthralling, even to me, though I generally favour more recent history.
But by the time the reader is enveloped in the sequence of Middle Ages/Tudors/Stuarts, Falliday’s monotonous recounting of endless ups and downs in industry, trade, taxation, wars, peasant revolts, inflation and unemployment makes these centuries – usually fascinating – utterly dry and repetitive. The tedium only continues – Halliday admits as much himself – when, from the 18th century onwards, change and development in Cornwall was contiguous with the development of the tin mining industry. That is, until tourism began to reign supreme.
Halliday’s circuitous and repetitive prose is certainly a fault with this book, I’m not going to deny that. However, I find it hard to begrudge Halliday the fact that he himself seems to lack enthusiasm for any period following the downfall the Celtic way of life. He is clearly won over by the spirit of mystery and mythology surrounding the early settlers unique to Cornwall, which is precisely what I was most interested in finding out about.
It is a shame that there isn’t more written that does justice to Cornish history, and that what is written is, on the whole, less than gripping. However, I’m glad I read this. The boring bits are boring precisely when Cornwall’s independence gets lost in wider English politics, which I imagine reflects the region’s zeitgeist.
Given that there are many who argue in favour of Cornwall being an entirely separate nation (I’ve been told off by Cornish societies in the past for referring to it as a mere county of England) I find it surprising that arguably only two credible and complete histories of it have been compiled – this one, by F E Halliday (written in the 1950s), and another more recent by Professor of Cornish studies at Exeter University, Philip Payton.
For reasons I can’t quite recall, I chose Halliday’s effort which, while thorough, is in desperate need of updating. For example, there are Latin passages that Halliday leaves untranslated – presumably everyone in the 1950s could read Latin without assistance – as well as several occasions where medieval wages are converted into ‘modern’ money…i.e. pounds, shillings and pence. Of course, Halliday’s history loses no credibility as a result of his dated style, but it is certainly a distraction.
Halliday’s forte seems to be ancient history. The first chapters of his work – focussed on development of Stone Age chambers & quoits, Bronze age stone circles and Iron Age hillforts – are by far the most enthralling, even to me, though I generally favour more recent history.
But by the time the reader is enveloped in the sequence of Middle Ages/Tudors/Stuarts, Falliday’s monotonous recounting of endless ups and downs in industry, trade, taxation, wars, peasant revolts, inflation and unemployment makes these centuries – usually fascinating – utterly dry and repetitive. The tedium only continues – Halliday admits as much himself – when, from the 18th century onwards, change and development in Cornwall was contiguous with the development of the tin mining industry. That is, until tourism began to reign supreme.
Halliday’s circuitous and repetitive prose is certainly a fault with this book, I’m not going to deny that. However, I find it hard to begrudge Halliday the fact that he himself seems to lack enthusiasm for any period following the downfall the Celtic way of life. He is clearly won over by the spirit of mystery and mythology surrounding the early settlers unique to Cornwall, which is precisely what I was most interested in finding out about.
It is a shame that there isn’t more written that does justice to Cornish history, and that what is written is, on the whole, less than gripping. However, I’m glad I read this. The boring bits are boring precisely when Cornwall’s independence gets lost in wider English politics, which I imagine reflects the region’s zeitgeist.
February 12, 2023
Useless as real history, and also written in an exceedingly boring way, so I couldn't recommend it even as pop history. Also outdated even when it was first published (my edition gives copyright 1959, on this website, it says 1974, to be honest, it reads like a 19th century book given all the outdated history tropes used.)
No citations, just a bibliography at the end.
Speculation in nearly every paragraph, 'probably' this and 'apparently' that. Some limited speculation can be ok, if the evidence is always kept in sight, but he seems to want to write his own story instead of report on what the evidence shows us. He spent an awfully long time imaging what if King Arthur was real, showing how he prefers romantic storytelling to history.
Often goes into extreme detail about something uninteresting, e.g. the shape of an ancient fort or the waves of an ancient torc, rather than painting the overall history of the county.
Written in literary style, so it's needlessly long-winded. Makes it boring, hard to stay focused on.
Outdated now - not sure serious scholarship ever thought Hadrian's wall was a fortification, but we know now it was actually a customs post. Regular mentions of 'civilisation', one place being 'more or less civilised', these terms don't make sense when you look at them for any length of time, and have no place in a serious history book. These are just two examples that I can remember now.
Connected to the last point, he even uses some stone-age racialism from the 30s and before with mentions of 'long-headed' or 'round-headed' invaders, etc.
No citations, just a bibliography at the end.
Speculation in nearly every paragraph, 'probably' this and 'apparently' that. Some limited speculation can be ok, if the evidence is always kept in sight, but he seems to want to write his own story instead of report on what the evidence shows us. He spent an awfully long time imaging what if King Arthur was real, showing how he prefers romantic storytelling to history.
Often goes into extreme detail about something uninteresting, e.g. the shape of an ancient fort or the waves of an ancient torc, rather than painting the overall history of the county.
Written in literary style, so it's needlessly long-winded. Makes it boring, hard to stay focused on.
Outdated now - not sure serious scholarship ever thought Hadrian's wall was a fortification, but we know now it was actually a customs post. Regular mentions of 'civilisation', one place being 'more or less civilised', these terms don't make sense when you look at them for any length of time, and have no place in a serious history book. These are just two examples that I can remember now.
Connected to the last point, he even uses some stone-age racialism from the 30s and before with mentions of 'long-headed' or 'round-headed' invaders, etc.
August 3, 2024
This was a broad sweeping but seemingly concise history of Cornwall. I "needed" to get some background and context for a novel I'm reading about the English Civil War, Du Maurier's The King's General. I specifically wanted to locate more information on Sir Richard Grenville, who led the King's forces in Cornwall, among other places. I must confess that I did not read the entire book, but began with the dissolutions of the monasteries and the Tudors and finished with the defeat if the Spanish Armada (both outside this time period of the English Civil War). I did get some good information about the English Civil War, Charles I, Charles II (then the Duke of Cornwall), Oliver Cromwell, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, etc. Only one line about Richard Grenville. However, I do feel that I am more versed about Cornwall, their Royalist support, and their subsequent loss(es) to the Cromwell's armies. Read about 70/420 pages
March 16, 2018
Not the easiest book to read. Some of the thoughts are disconnected; in other places names and ideas are introduced by shorthand without ever being spelled out. Overall, however, it is informative and appears to be fairly comprehensive.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews