Cornwall: A Concise History

The Histories of Europe

by Bernard Deacon

Cornwall, though administratively part of England, has long celebrated its cultural differences. The historic homeland of the Cornish people, as well as one of the six historical Celtic nations, Cornwall is one of Britain’s most popular tourist destinations—and one of its least understood. This compelling introductory volume traces the complexity produced by Cornwall’s unique history as a nation, region, and county all wrapped into one. Covering its evolution from independent British kingdom to culturally distinct medieval province to prominent industrial region, Cornwall is ideal reading material for anyone interested in British history, the Cornish community, and the changing field of Celtic studies.

Genres: History

247 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

Bernard W. Deacon is a multidisciplinary academic, based at the Institute of Cornish Studies; he has previously worked for the Open University and Exeter University’s Department of Lifelong Learning. His main research interests are:

18th and 19th century Cornish communities
The Cornish language and its revitalisation
Cornwall's population and how it has changed
How peripheral regions are governed
Who are the Cornish and how their identity is presented

Deacon is a fluent Cornish language speaker, and represents the Institute of Cornish Studies on the Cornish Language Partnership. In 2007, he was re-elected as Chairman of Cussel an Tavaz Kernuak (The Cornish language Council).

Reviews

[Ken Sampson · Rating 4 out of 5]

[2017] Beacon Deacon has an extensive in-depth knowledge on Cornwall and its history and here he has marshalled an incredible amount of research and reflection and reached slightly different conclusions to most other authors in this field. There is much new and very interesting information here and if you have an interest in the history of Cornwall you'll enjoy it - but what you get from it will be governed by your ability to deal with the style of writing. I respect the author's intellect, but one wonders if he fully considered the needs of his non-academic readers. He uses much 'academic' speak (in my opinion, sometimes unnecessarily). For instance, he repetitively uses words such as ' transhumance' appropriate for a under-graduate, but for a general reader it lacked definition and didn't help me to access the meaning. Also, Deacon, one suspects has strong political views (about monarchy for example) and sometimes one wonders if his views come close to the surface and influence his analysis of the evidence. He is highly critical of many other authors in this area and I would like to have more information about their backgrounds and contexts in order to better understand what influences brought them to such a conclusion. It was difficult at times, but discusses such an important subject for the Cornish and is a valuable book that contains much new information about early Cornish history that changes your view. A good book for those who are able to use it.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose, by now, I should have read enough "concise" histories to be wary of them. You invariably get the salient facts (or most of them) without necessarily the colour to give you a fuller appreciation of the subject. In part, that was the issue for me here. However, additionally, I felt this to have been almost as much a sociological study, with its focus on Cornish identity, as a historical one. It also read like a series of academic studies, probably because of the constraints of its concise format. Overall, it was a worthwhile book to read, just not quite the one I was hoping for.

[Lee Broderick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bernard Deacon taught me Cornish history back when he was still at ICS. During that time he was always stressing the need to navigate between overtly nationalist history and overtly local. I tended to think that was a very difficult thing to do in writing: the choice of subject necessarily pulls you toward the nationalist unless making a very determined effort to write the latter, downplaying certain themes in the process.

So, now that he's written a grand narrative, how successfully does he practice what he preaches? I think the easiest way to gauge his success is by the somewhat incredulous reactions to his text. Forum members on Cornwall24 state that "he has damaged the cause" whilst The English Historical Review echoes my concerns ("While clearly trying to follow an objective path between ‘ kernowsceptic ’ and ‘ kernowcentric ’ positions, the book clearly has as its central theme the origins and development of Cornish distinctiveness.") but asks "was Cornwall more different from Devon than Devon was from neighbouring Somerset, or Yorkshire from Lancashire?". In other words, the book tells a history that is too English (not Cornish enough) for some and too Cornish for others.

This is not the tub-thumping call to arms of john angarrack and nor is it the necessary reassessment of The Making of Modern Cornwall: Historical Experience and the Persistence of Difference. Instead this book offers a more balanced view, scholarly but easily read by the layman, that could replace A History Of Cornwall as a first look at Cornish history and how that relates to British and Atlantic history. That's not to say it's faultless; Deacon is clearly more comfortable writing about his own areas of expertise in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, for example, but grand narratives rarely are.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Self interest Alert - am vaguely cornish (at least by name!)

Well written Incredibly niche reading. I cant imagine the potential audience for this is massive. It was life assuring as an academic that other people are researching things that are even more micro-focussed than me. There were some bits that were soooo academic and unworldly they made me laugh out loud particularly the discussion about the three irreconcilable camps in the ressurection of the (dead) Cornish Language. I love the idea of these people fuming over their halves of real ale and pipe tobacco about the percieved mispronunciation of the Cornish for mouse (Logosen apparently).