Portal:Cornwall


Flag of Cornwall Porth Kernow a'gas dynnargh!
Welcome to the Cornwall Portal!
Saint Piran's Flag
Location of Cornwall

Cornwall (/ˈkɔːrnwəl/; Cornish: Kernow [ˈkɛrnɔʊ] or [ˈkɛrnɔ]) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, Devon to the east, and the English Channel to the south. The largest urban area is the Redruth and Camborne conurbation.

The county is predominantly rural, with an area of 1,375 square miles (3,562 km2) and an estimated population of 577,694 in 2022. The county's major settlements include the city of Truro and St Austell in the centre, Redruth and Cambourne adjacent to each other in the south, and Penzance and Falmouth on the southern coast. For local government purposes most of Cornwall is a unitary authority area, with the Isles of Scilly governed by a unique local authority. The Cornish nationalist movement disputes the constitutional status of Cornwall and seeks greater autonomy within the United Kingdom.

Cornwall is the westernmost part of the South West Peninsula, and the southernmost county within the United Kingdom. Its coastline is characterised by steep cliffs and, to the south, several rias, including those at the mouths of the rivers Fal and Fowey. It includes the southernmost point on Great Britain, Lizard Point, and forms a large part of the Cornwall National Landscape. The national landscape also includes Bodmin Moor, an upland outcrop of the Cornubian batholith granite formation. The county contains many short rivers; the longest is the Tamar, which forms the border with Devon. (Full article...)

Selected article

The Royal Albert Bridge
that carries the route of the Cornwall Railway
across the River Tamar

The Cornwall Railway was a 7 ft 14 in (2,140 mm) broad gauge railway from Plymouth in Devon to Falmouth in Cornwall, England, built in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was constantly beset with shortage of capital for the construction, and was eventually forced to sell its line to the dominant Great Western Railway.

The Cornwall Railway was famous for building the majestic Royal Albert Bridge over the River Tamar and, because of the difficult terrain it traversed, it had a large number of viaducts, built as timber trestles because of the shortage of money. They proved to be iconic structures, but were a source of heavy maintenance costs, eventually needing to be reconstructed in more durable materials.

Its main line was the key route to many of the holiday destinations of Cornwall, and in the first half of the 20th century it carried holidaymakers in summer, as well as vegetables, fish and cut flowers from Cornwall to markets in London and elsewhere in England. The section from Truro to Falmouth, originally part of its main line, never fulfilled its potential and soon became a branch line. Nonetheless the entire route (with some minor modifications) remains open, forming part of the Cornish Main Line from Plymouth to Penzance. The Truro to Falmouth branch continues: the passenger service on it is branded the Maritime Line. (Full article...)

Selected biography

Portrait of Arnold by Robert Davy

John Arnold (1736 – 11 August 1799) was an English watchmaker and inventor.

Arnold was the first to design a watch that was both practical and accurate, and also brought the term "chronometer" into use in its modern sense, meaning a precision timekeeper. His technical advances enabled the quantity production of marine chronometers for use on board ships from around 1782. The basic design of these has remained with a few modifications unchanged until the late twentieth century. His legacy includes, together with Abraham-Louis Breguet, being one of the inventors of the modern mechanical watch. One of his most important inventions, the overcoil balance spring, is still used in most mechanical wristwatches.

It was from around 1770 that Arnold developed the portable precision timekeeper, almost from the point where John Harrison ended his work in this field. But, compared to Harrison's complicated and expensive watch, Arnold's basic design was simple whilst consistently accurate and mechanically reliable. Importantly, the relatively simple and conventional design of his movement facilitated its production in quantity at a reasonable price whilst also enabling easier maintenance and adjustment.

Three elements were necessary for this achievement:

  • A detached escapement, which gave minimal interference with the vibrating balance and balance spring
  • A balance design that enabled compensation for the effect of temperature on the balance spring
  • A method for adjusting the balance spring, so that the balance oscillates in equal time periods, even through different degrees of balance arc (Full article...)

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Monkey Puzzle tree

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John Prescott
Cornwall has the strongest regional identity in the UK
John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister from 1997 - 2007

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Newlyn

Photo credit: Marktee1

Fishing boats in the harbour at Newlyn, where fishing is the main industry. Fishing in Cornwall has traditionally been one of the major elements of the economy, with pilchards being the main catch around and before the 19th century, turning to a crustacean-based catch by the mid 20th century.

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The following are images from various Cornwall-related articles on Wikipedia.

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