5,7. Spreekbeurt door een scholier 2191 woorden 4 april keer beoordeeld. Why come to Cornwall?

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1 Spreekbeurt door een scholier 2191 woorden 4 april ,7 18 keer beoordeeld Vak Engels Why come to Cornwall? Cornwall is almost an island, separated from the rest of England by the River Tamar. Because of its bleak high moors and poor soil, it never attracted the attentions of either invaders or landlords. The Romans stopped at Exeter, and Iron Age man continued to live unmolested in forts on headlands. Cornish continued as a Celtic language until the 18th century. Then the last Cornish speakers died. Cornish was a separate Gaelic language, like Welsh, Irish or Breton. Nowadays there are efforts being made to revive it. There is a wealth of folklore about piskies and giants that roamed Cornwall in the past. The legendary King Arthur is said to have had his Camelot at Tintagel, and many early Christian saints founded settlements around the Cornish coast. Then there were the wreckers and smugglers in the last few hundred years (though I think that the wreckers were more likely to have been beachcombers than wreckers). There is the Cornwall of literature Jamaica Inn and the other Daphne du Maurier stories, the Poldark tales, to Betjeman' s poetry and TV detective series like Wycliffe. Mining on a commercial scale has come and gone, but the remains of Victorian mines are to be found everywhere. The coastal scenery is what hits you first. Rugged cliffs and smashing waves. The Cornish Coastal Path that runs all the way round the coast from Bude in the north to Plymouth in the south. If you follow the coastal path you will pass through all of Cornwall's past, Tintagel and Arthur, modern seaside resorts, the romantic ruins of mines round St Agnes and St Just, St Ives and its artists, Land's End, the Minack Theatre, St Michael's Mount near Penzance, fishing villages like Polperro and Mevagissy, the Lost Gardens of Heligan and Plymouth sound over which Drake looked out for the Spanish Armada. Inland, Bodmin Moor and the Tamar valley, the china clay pits near St Austell, or one of the many tourist attractions that have sprung up are there to find. The millennium project for the giant greenhouse (you could get five cathedrals inside it) has had a lottery grant, it remains to be seen whether it will get off the ground. You can explore Cornwall's real past in the castles and country houses, the National trust properties. Or visit its literary past in following the trail of one of the Cornish authors. Their are mines nearly everywhere, even in Newquay if you know what to look for. The purpose of this book is to give you an idea of what to do. If anything specialist takes your fancy you will need to get a more detailed book. Consider joining the National trust if you are here for a week or more, not only do they have lots of properties, they also have lots of car parks that you would otherwise have to pay for. The tourist Pagina 1 van 5

2 Information centres do have information and books and maps. But be warned, they are not a national organisation, they are in fact "franchised" and do have to make money. They do have, as do most book shops and national trust shops, quite a good series of little booklets on particular local topics. The weather can vary between the north coast and the south coast. So if it is too blustery here for you, consider going to the Helford River, Heligan or Polperro. Mind you I am biased, I think that it is as nice as anything to sit here and watch the world go by, but perhaps that is because I don't get much time to do that, that makes it such an attractive proposition. A Short History of Cornwall Stone Age There were not many people here in the early Stone Age, but a drift across the land bridge from Europe brought settlers to Cornwall. The first stone tools found date from about 4500BC. There is the remains of a stone age settlement at Carn Brea near Redruth. The name "Cornwall" comes from Cornovii, meaning hill dwellers, and Waelas, meaning strangers There also exists many burial chambers from this period. Most of these have been damaged by weather or by man, but you can still see good example at Trethevy Quoit near St Cleer, Liskeard, and another at Chun Cromlech near Land's End Bronze Age Around 2500BC a trade started growing in tin and copper to foreign shores. The traders brought Bronze tools and gold ornaments to exchange for the minerals. The remains of such Bronze Age villages can still be seen on Bodmin Moor and the West Penwith Uplands. Excavations have shown these peoples to be well organised, living in villages and practicing farming and metalworking. The Celts Around 1000 BC a near group of warrior like settlers arrived in Cornwall from Europe, these were the Celts. They brought with them knowledge of forging iron into weapons. These Celts are the ancestors of modern Cornwall. They lived in villages, farmed, mined for tin, copper, bronze and iron, smelted and worked the metal. The best known of their Iron Age settlements is at Chysauster, near Penzance. Here the low stone walls, the grinding stones and the fireplaces still remain. Most of their settlements were fortified against attack - hence many were on hilltops or on promontories that could be easily defended. Hence the word "Car" or "Caer" in Cornish place name from the Celtic "ker" meaning fort, and "Dinas" meaning hill. Roman times Pagina 2 van 5

3 The Romans landed in Britain in 55BC, but they had very little influence in Cornwall. The last major Roman settlement in the west was at Exeter. The Tamar, the wild moors of Dartmoor, Exmoor and Bodmin Moor, plus the lack of safe ports effectively kept the Romans at bay. And the Roman presence kept other raiders way. The Cornish Celts were left much to themselves. Middle Ages When the Romans abandoned Britain, Cornwall came under Saxon influence, and following the Norman conquest, the first real integration of Cornwall into Britain took place. The whole of Cornwall was given to William's half brother, Robert. He made his headquarters at Launceston, where he built the castle to enforce his rule. Then for the next few hundred years Cornwall was rule by a succession of relatives of the Norman and Plantagenet kings. The first Duke of Cornwall was Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III. Then there was a succession of rebellions through the middle ages. 1497, Perkin Warbeck landed near Sennan, claiming to be one of the Princes murdered in the tower, he was defeated in battle at Exeter. The Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549 against te imposition of the English Prayer book, saw many Cornishmen executed. There was the Spanish invasion at Mounts Bay in 1595.The Civil War between led to a number of battles and sieges in Cornwall. And in 1685 there was the Monmouth Rebellion with its bloody aftermath. Georgian & Victorian Age The invention of the steam engine in the 18th century and its rapid development in the 19th, led to revolutional advances in mining. Engines could pump dry mines at a great depth, they could haul up ore and on the surface could perform many of the jobs that previously had to be done by hand.. The Cornishman, Richard Trevithick, was one of the leaders in steam engine development. Mines were sunk deeper, ports had to be developed to get the ore out, and there was plenty of employment available in the mines. But by the middle of the 19th century vast deposits of tin and copper ore were found abroad, and deep, expense Cornish mines became uncompetitive. Cornish mines started a long downhill decline, and the last mines have now closed. The permanent legacy is the Cornish communities that prospered in other countries, as many Cornish miners emigrated to take their mining skills to Australia, North and South America and South Africa. In Cornwall all that remains are the ruined engine houses with their massive granite walls and high brick chiminies Modern Times Mining has finished, the fish stocks are not what the were, Cornwall has little industry, but it has its Pagina 3 van 5

4 scenery and the best climate in Britain. Miles of sandy beaches, coastal walks, open moorland and a benign climate that sees spring arriving early, and autumn lingering longer. Hence tourism is the mainstay of the Cornish economy. As Cornwall tries hard to capitalise on it's geography, it is striving to attract visitors here all year round. CALLINGTON This small market town, which once stood at the gateway to one of the richest copper mining districts in the world and an area of intense industrial activity in the second half of the last century, is much quieter today although there is an air of growth about it. Behind the town, and dominating the scene for miles around, is the mighty swell of Kit Hill a wonderful 1000ft hill crowned by an 80ft high stack built in 1858 for the winding and stamping engine of Kit Hill Consols mine. Rumour has it that every known mineral in the world may be found on, or under, Kit Hill. Prince Charles, the Duke of Cornwall, gave the hill to the county in 1985 and it is now a country park. Dupath holy well, a mile from the town, is enclosed in a fine granite building of The water in the basin was believed to cure whooping cough. CALSTOCK An important river port since Saxon times, the village of Calstock with its tall white houses clings to the steep Cornish bank of the Tamar fourteen miles upriver from Plymouth Sound. The scene is dominated by the splendid viaduct of 1908 which carries the branch line from Plymouth to Gunnislake. Calstock's zenith as a port came in the last century when it served an area of intense industrial and mining activity, of which many remains still exist, and a rural parish renowned for its cultivation of fruit and flowers. A mile downriver by footpath lies the enchanting mediaeval house and estate of Cotehele, owned by the National Trust since 1947, together with its river quay, watermill, estate workshops and glorious woodland walks. ST GERMANS The village of St Germans is on the River Tiddy, part of the beautiful estuary of the Lynher, which joins the Tamar just downriver from Saltash. The glory of the village is its magnificent Norman church, set in a hollow with two towers and a superb doorway as its west front. This might seem an incongruous setting for such a huge and ancient church, but the parish is still the largest in Cornwall and this church's predecessor was Cornwall's cathedral from AD926, when King Athelstan made Conan the first Cornish bishop, until 1043 when the see was transferred to Crediton, and thence to Exeter in Down on the river, St Germans Quay was busy in the last century with cargoes of minerals, coal, timber and limestone, and a vigorous trade in roadstone continued until the last war. Falmouth Falmouth has residents. Falmouth is lying on a point were seven rivers are coming together in the Pagina 4 van 5

5 Carrick Roads. It's a beautiful city with nice docks that's why Falmouth is so popular by tourists. Falmouth is very popular to, because it has the finest beaches of England and Falmouth has the world's third largest natural harbour. The town offers a wide variety of activities linked to the sea including sailing, swimming, fishing, diving and of course pleasure boat trips. Truro Truro is a charming city of cobbled streets and elegant Georgian Buildings Linked by a myriad of opeways and river walks. The city of Truro stands in a strategic position and one that has led to its development as Cornwall's centre of administration and its more recent growth as a touring and holiday centre. Truro has residents it's a very small city. The cathedral, with his three spires of honey coloured stone dominates the city centre in a quite remarkable way but does not detract from the charm of some of the George Streets. One of the most interesting of the buildings is the museum and art callery and explore the history of Cornwall from the Stone age to the present day. Bays and Beaches Travelling east along the coast, you can see Amazon woolly monkeys in the protected breeding colony of the Monkey Sanctuary. At the end of long, winding, wooded valleys are the beaches of Millendreath and Seaton, and beyond Downderry the road runs along the cliffs through the village of Crafthole, standing high above the tiny harbour of Portwrinkle, a former fishing hamlet. To the east lies the stunning four-mile stretch of sand and surf at Whitsand Bay, popular with beachgoers and shore fishermen. Guarding the entrance to Plymouth Sound is Rame Head, with its superb views, 400ft cliffs and 14th century chapel, where a beacon blazed at the time of the Armada. Look out for the many stone fortresses known as Palmerston Follies, a legacy of an 19th century defence initiative. Continuing around the headland you will come across the little-visited, attractive and unspoilt coastal villages of Kingsand and Cawsand, backed by high wooded cliffs. Here the future Henry Vll landed before the Battle of Bosworth; later the villages were a smugglers' haven. Pagina 5 van 5