Cornish History
Cornwall's history stretches back thousands of years, from the ancient monuments and hillforts of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages to the international mining boom that once made the county a world leader in tin and copper production. Engine houses, mineral tramways and abandoned workings still mark the landscape today, and much of this industrial heritage is preserved along dedicated heritage trails and by conservation groups such as the Trevithick Society.
Cornwall's story is just as much about its people as its landscape. Waves of emigration during the 19th century carried Cornish miners and their families to mining communities across the world, and their descendants continue to trace their Cornish roots through genealogy archives, parish records and family history societies. Meanwhile, the county's historic churches, castles, country houses and gardens offer a window into centuries of Cornish life, faith and architecture, from the ancient sites of South East Cornwall to grand estates open to visitors across the county.
This page brings together some of the best resources for exploring Cornish history online — from heritage trails and industrial archive locations to genealogy records and the traditional culture, including the humble Cornish pasty, that still defines Cornwall today.
Cornwall Online's Cornish History Resources
- Cornish Pasty page - History of the Cornish Pasty
- The Heritage Trail - A Guide Cornwall's Ancient Monuments, Castles, Country Houses & Gardens
- Mineral Tramways Project
- "What do they know of Cornwall who only Cornwall know"
- Emigration in the mid 19th century
- MapNotes - Industrial Archive locations in Cornwall
- English Heritage's guide to Cornwall's ancient sites
- Churches of South East Cornwall
- Cornish Genealogy pages
External Links & Further Reading for Cornish History Research
The Cornwall Family History Society aims to be a centre of excellence for Cornish social and family history research. Society members maintain an ongoing programme of transcribing and indexing original records, resulting in a database of over 4.3 million entries. Their research library in Truro, Cornwall is open to all, offering contact and information exchange for experienced researchers and those just starting out on their ancestral trail.
Ambra Books offers a bespoke service supplying antiquarian and secondhand books relating to Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire — a good source if you're interested in Cornish local history in print.
BBC - The Cornish: A Neglected Nation? by Professor Mark Stoyle explains how, for centuries, Cornwall retained the marks of a separate country — with its own language, style of dress and folklore — yet by 1700 only around 5,000 Cornish speakers remained.
Kresen Kernow - Timeline of Cornish History was compiled from books and material held at Kresen Kernow (the Cornwall Centre), home to the world's largest collection of documents, books, maps and photographs relating to Cornwall's history. Built in the shell of the former Redruth Brewery, this state-of-the-art archive centre opened in 2019.
The Trevithick Society is one of the oldest industrial preservation societies in the UK, founded in 1935 to save the Levant beam winding engine from being scrapped. The Society is based in Cornwall but has interests in Cornish industry wherever it may be.
Cornwall GenWeb, part of the WorldGenWeb Project, is a regional resource for research in Ireland and the United Kingdom, covering the Cornish-American connection, Cornish ancestors and descendants, extended family and social history research, and a wider directory of Cornish genealogy resources.
Cornwall Record Office provides a professional archive service for Cornwall. Its main purpose is to ensure that archives relating to the people, places and organisations of Cornwall are preserved for the future and made available, where possible, for public consultation.
The Courtney Library, Royal Cornwall Museum houses around 150,000 items — printed and manuscript sources, photographs, engravings and ephemera — including a core collection of printed books and periodicals covering the history of Cornwall from the prehistoric to the modern period.
Its holdings also include substantial archives of Cornish families, original and microfilmed copies of local and regional newspapers, and general reference books and periodicals on fine art, archaeology and history relating to the Royal Institution of Cornwall's collections. The reference collections are always available to consult on site.
How Libraries Are Revolutionizing Family Tree Research looks at genealogical research support offered through public, academic and special collection libraries, many of which hold their own local or community history collections.
Link Suggested by Sohana at youthstudyhub.org
From ancient monuments and mining heritage to genealogy and traditional Cornish culture, discover more of Cornwall's history throughout this site.