National Trust Histories: Cornwall

Cornwall is the southwest tip of England. I have been interested in it every since I read "The Hound of the Baskerville" as a kid. And I've always preferred stormy rocky places to beaches.I liked this book, but you'll want to know what it is NOT. It is not a glossy picture book. It has a lot of pictures and illustrations, but they are black & white printed with the text on regular paper, not glossy paper. I counted 7 pictures of a page or larger, and 103 pictures or illustrations of less than a page in size. Since this book is only 91 pages excluding the index, you can see that it's well illustrated.This book is also not a picture book of National Trust sites. Cornwall has 22 sites owned by the NT, and 9 of them are not even mentioned in this book, much less included in a photograph. But that is understandable. As this doesn't have glossy photos, it isn't meant to show off the fine insides of a historical house, for example."Cornwall" is also not a tourist-y book. It's language is accessible, but it is more scholarly than a typical tourist book.What this is is a Cornwall history primer. And by history, I mean it starts 300,000,000 years ago, when Cornwall was part of the sea bed in the Devonian Sea. The reason it starts there is that if you want to understand the pottery and mining industries of Cornwall and the current geography, it helps to start when Cornwall was formed.The writing can be dry, but as a history lover I found it interesting. The mythical stories of smuggling and piracy may be more exciting than the real thing, but there's no doubt is was a major source of income for the coastal inhabitants: "Every increase in duty [tax] encouraged and increased the profitability of smuggling.... Corruption spread. Magistrates, who were themselves involved, turned a blind eye. Cornish juries showed complete partiality and threatened to render the law impotent. In 1824, for example, Mayor Benet of Fowey was found to have £300 worth of contraband brandy in the house AFTER he had thrown a good deal more into the harbor."This was the mayor! When a laborer might make £16 a year and the average miner's wage was around 35d per day. d = pence. 12 pence per shilling. 20 shillings per pound.Though the mining industry is much smaller than it once was, the china clay industry in Cornwall is doing well: "Since the original granite was decomposed by forces from below the surface, there has been little staining and this has allowed a clay of unrivalled whiteness to be extracted."Trivia question: What is the biggest market for china clay today?Answer: The manufacture of paper!Other topics covered include the Neolithic tombs (a "porthole" stone – or "donut"? - was probably the entrance), the Celtic Church in the Dark Ages, farming on the moors, Cornish castles, Prince Charles as the Duke of Cornwall, patterns of medieval churches and Cornish rebellions and more. Obviously, the articles are not in-depth history lessons, but there is a lot of information.Happy Reader

stunning book. I thought it was going to be a paperback .. it is hardcover and gorgeous!

Great stories. Well researched. Interesting just to read,

Had expected more history of Cornwall and its people. This is most history of buildings, mines, etc. Not really very interesting to someone not living in the county.

Great history book. Don't look for glossy photos.

shocking nice coloured cover then very poor black and white poor photo copy inside pics are SO poor. REFUND required.

I gave this book to my friend and she absolutly loved it

Great volume on Cornwall