Historically, culturally, and even in the geology of its granite heart, Cornwall clings to celtic origins. The very name of Cornwall may, in fact, derive from the Saxon words Cornovii and Wealas, meaning the Welsh of the West. Uncoiling as it does for the best part of 100 miles into the Atlantic Ocean, the Cornish peninsula was always strategically placed for trade, and with trade came new ideas and new religions. The early saints and other freethinkers passed through Cornwall en route from continental Europe to the shrines of Ireland. You can see traces of their passage everywhere, in the weathered crosses and holy wells, and in the names of the churches. Not all visitors in history were made so welcome. Roman legions, marauding Vikings, the slaughtering armies of Wessex, Spanish raiding parties - all tried to quell the defiant Cornish who attempted to fortify their vulnerable coastline. Cliff forts of the Iron and Bronze Age still survive, and Cornwall's wealth of prehistoric monuments, including stone circles as old as Stonehenge, is the greatest in mainland Britain. The Normans left their own impressive legacy. They built majestically, and they built to last. Most notably they built Tintagel Castle on the remains of a Dark Age palace which, according to the 12th century Geoffrey of Monmouth, was the birthplace of King Arthur. Henry VIII, mindful of his relationship with the Pope, built the twin castles of Pendennis and St. Mawes, whose guns spanned the River Fal protecting Carrick Roads, the world's second largest natural harbour (after Sydney). The Civil War enabled the Cornish to retake lost ground for a while. Strongly on the side of Royalty, they seized Plymouth, Taunton and even Bristol - feats of arms for which King Charles thanked them with a Royal decree posted in every parish church. They are there still in many locations. Many of the great houses, homes of the Cornish gentry both Royalist and Parliamentarian, are still standing - Lanhydrock and Prideaux Place, Godolphin, Pencarrow, Trelowarren and the imposing island fortress of St. Michael's Mount. Derelict mine engine houses can be seen throughout the Cornish landscape from Land's End to Gunnislake. These are witnesses to a time when the hills echoed to the din of an industry which drove the industrial revolution, and once dominated the tin and copper markets of the world. Innovators Richard Trevithick, Humphrey Davy, Goldworthy Gurney and numerous others gave the world everything from the railway engine to the safety lamp at this glorious point in Cornish history.
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