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Archiver > CORNISH > 1998-03 > 0891103097


From: "Barry P. Andrew" <>
Subject: Re: Cornwall to Britain emigrants
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 16:38:17 +0000


Sandy,

Your commentary on migration from Cornwall to elsewhere in Britain
reminded me of a paragraph in Dr. Philip Payton's "The Making of Modern
Cornwall" (p.112) let me quote;

"Many, of course, worked in the copper mines of Devon (in so many
respects to be considered an eastwards extension of the Cornish
industry) but others roamed further afield --to the silver mines of West
Somerset and the lead mines of the Mendips, to the colleries of South
Wales(where St.Just,St.Ives and Clastock men were noted at work in
1866), in the Wicklow Mountains and the south west of Ireland, and in
Scottish coal and iron mines (where 300 Cornish miners had gone in
1866). Many others went to the North of England -- to the Pennines lead
mines, to the Lake District and Furness metal mines, and even to the
Settle and Carlisle Railway where in 1871 they were employed to drive
the Bleamoor tunnel. In times of unemployment and shortage they could
also be induced to assume the role of strike breakers, as in 1873 when
900 men left Cornwall to make 'Burnley a village of Cornish miners',
with local observers noting that "Rhe departures from St.Cleer, Pensilva
, and Linkenhorne have been so numerous that there are scores of houses
tenantless....". Similiarly in October 1877 over 100 strike-breaking
miners left Cornwall for the Sunderland coal fields."

If anyone is interested in the village of Ponsanooth (Ponsnooth) there
is a wonderful account of the village in the 19 century in the biography
of Frederick Hamilton Davey, a Cornish naturalist. He was brought up in
Ponsanoothand the descriptions are vivid. The book is called Stars in
the Grass by Selina Bates and Keith Spurgin published by Dyllansow
Truran ISBN 1 850 220 9 72 priced at £14.99. Your would never know from
the title that it concentrated so much on the life of the village. I
recommend it.

Regards

Barry
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Barry P. Andrew
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