We aim to get as many individual comments as possible underneath this post to create a strong message to those who do not understand the significance and importance of the Cornish/English border.
Please leave a comment.
Please encourage others to do the same.
Keep Cornwall Cornish I say. It is so different from the rest of the country it would be a sad day if it lost its individuality.
That The English Boundary Commission wants to change our historic boundary is insulting. It is insulting to us, our ancestors and our culture. A culture that resisted the Vikings and Romans and stretches back to prehistoric times should not fall to lazy English bureaucrats. To ask us to change a boundary that is fundamental to our identity is an outrage, the subject should never have been brought up. Hopefully the people in charge in England come to their senses. We’ve already given up our independence and our language please don’t make us give up our physical presence in the UK.
Cornwall should be left alone!! Devon should be merged with Somerset!
KEEP OUT
WE WILL STAND AS ONE
CORNWALL WILL NOT BE MOVED
Pam Neale
i am utterly opposed to any changes in cornwalls historic border. as i see it this is yet another attempt to undermine the cornish identity which has been going on for far to long and must be stopped. but this is nothing new from a colonialist english government
The English Boundary Commission’s intention of re-drawing the Cornish border between England and Cornwall to establish a political advantage is criminal act, and evidence of the dying embers of their colonial past.
It was Athelstan of Wessex who set the east bank of the River Tamer as the BORDER between Cornwall and England, just as he had set the Wye as the boundary between England and Wales, which effectively preserved Cornwall’s territory and ethnic integrity.
Further evidence of their colonial mind-set is how Cornwall is being administered as some kind of ‘English county’ yet unlike Wales in 1536, Cornwall was never legally incorporated into England.
Aethelred [978-1016] described Cornwall not as an English shire, but as a province, or client territory. At the time of the Norman Conquest, Cornwall was ruled by ‘Earl’ Cadoc: a survivor of the Cornish royal line.
Further evidence of Cornwall’s sovereignty was when 1855 a financially motivated territorial dispute broke out between the government of the Duchy of Cornwall and the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The dispute centred on which government owned Cornwall’s increasing lucrative tidal riverbed, foreshore and undersea mineral assets. The Duchy of Cornwall was obliged to re-state its independence and prove once again that Cornwall lay within the Duchy of Cornwall’s jurisdiction.
The UK government was forced to concede duchy independence. The subsequent Cornwall Submarine Mines Act 1858 acknowledged that Cornwall was co-terminus with the Duchy of Cornwall, and that Cornwall was the soil and territorial possession not of the Queen in right of the Crown of the United Kingdom, but the Duke of Cornwall in right of the Duchy of Cornwall.
The duke was effectively ‘sovereign’ because he held Cornwall against the Crown, not from the Crown. This is why today in Cornwall; bona vacantia falls to the duke as presumptive, absolute and ultimate owner of the soil and territorial possessions of Cornwall.
In the UK the Queen in right of the Crown is absolute owner and bona vacantia falls to her. Moreover, as the presumptive, absolute and ultimate owner of the whole of Cornwall, the leaseholders and freeholders of Cornwall hold their land from the government of the Duchy of Cornwall.
East of the Tamar, citizens hold their land from the Crown. A careful reading of the whole of the original Act of 1858 reveals that the Act restricts UK government jurisdiction to Cornwall’s offshore waters.
This re-drawing of the Cornish border is nothing more than a further attempts by the English Boundary Commission at forced assimilation of the Cornish,and a continuation of undermining Cornish sovereignty that is driven by ignorance and greed for power at the expense of the Cornish people.
I am familiar with both Bideford and Bude – I grew up in one town and now live in the other. To me, the prospect of an MP representing both Cornwall and Devon seems ridiculous. Just in terms of practicality, that MP would need to work with both Cornwall Council (in Truro) and Devon County Council (in Exeter) – adding considerable complications to an already heavy workload.
More pertinently, why can an exception be made for the Isle of Wight, but not Cornwall? Cornwall’s ethnic, cultural, linguistic and economic peculiarities should be respected by the Boundary Commission and its territorial integrity retained. The Boundary Commission’s proposals are an insult to 1000 years of history.
Quote of the century?:
[b]========> “People before politics. Nation before party.” <========[/b]
Nick Clegg – LibDem Conference Speech, 2011
So! Why do ‘our’ political representatives consistently let ‘us’ down?
The presumed ‘equality’ of a vote is a smokescreen for what is purely a tactical and bureaucratic device of convenience, namely, nothing to do with democracy. The very nature of ‘community’ is numerically random and representative of differing socio-political interests. The UK Democratic Deficit will not be addressed by this diversionary tactic and the hypocrisy contained in the above quote is clearly exposed by these proposals for what it is.
For Cornwall, it is just another example of the processes of Cornish genocide that ‘border-blurring’, inter alia, accelerates, as it seeks to manipulate (through mnemonics) a change of identification both with ‘offialdom’ and one’s territorial relationship with a Cornish national, and geographic history and sense of place.
The Boundary Commission are obviously completely out of touch with the fact that Cornwall has been politically separate from England since 936AD when King Athelstan determined his ‘English’ boundary as the river Tamar. I understand that the current Prime Minister believes the Tamar not to be the Amazon, but it is, of course, absolutely crucial to the Cornish. Our independence, ethnicity and identity are completely bound-up with this notion. This isn’t a weird militant independence it is intrinsic to the Cornish. We have never been politically incorporated into England and this cannot happen now. We, the Cornish, will NOT accept any challenge to our boundary. Boundary Commission think again!
This is several kinds of very bad idea rolled into one. We’ve made it clear again and again that we want to remain good neighbours – after all, we haven’t imposed regime change since 1688. Certain people need to unplug their ears and just listen. The appalling Cameron is correct in just one thing, however. No, the Tamar is not the Amazon. The Amazon runs through the middle of one country, whereas the Tamar runs between two separate ones.
The battle of Devonwall needs to be won for Cornwall once and for all. We need to leave Westminster in no doubt that the only region for Cornwall is Cornwall. We are a nation and as such have the right to the correct political accommodation.
We either stand as a nation or disappear as yet another English county inhabited by bumpkins there only to serve as cheap labour for the tourist industry and rich incomers.
A campaign of PEACEFUL yet spectacular and humoristic direct action should accompany any campaign to protect Cornwall. It would gain attention and not alienate the public but more likely, in making them smile, win them over.
The Basque group DEMO ( http://demoak.free.fr/) is a good example. The site is in Basque, Spanish and French but have a look at the photos of what they do and you’ll get the picture: http://demoak.free.fr/imcom/output/index.htm
Although from the other Cornwall, I stand tall with my hosts, here in GB Cornwall, in seeking to keep the ancient border with England, intact. England, and Devon especially, are beautiful lands, but Cornwall is separate, different and beautifully different. Surely the people of Cornwall will not tolerate such politicking, by morally bankrupt politicians 300 miles away?!!
Pingback: Keep Cornwall Whole – The Fight Continues! « breselyerkeltic
It is good to see that the KCW site has picked up on the recent boundary proposals and its impact on the Cornish Border with England and that, hopefully, new life and inspiration has been awakened in combating the seeming indifference the UK Government has to protecting Cornish Rights and Aspirations.
The superficial guise of the proposals, in general, have not disappeared but it is essential that any campaign to overcome this sordid set-back to Cornwall’s future integrity does not (on this occasion) limit itself simply to playing ‘the Government’s Game’. It should be a campaign that is not only based on our rules, our laws and constitution, and our objectives, but supported by an overt declaration of our rights. In fact, we seriously have to raise “the burden of complaint”.
In this connection, one immediately thinks of a Judicial Review to examine the Government’s arbitrary discrimination against Cornwall and, in particular, the Cornish people over the recent, and distant, past. The Duke of Cornwall, for example, could be petitioned to explain why he fails to defend his Duchy against the ravages of a predatory Parliament (and Crown). There would also be the opportunity for the upper eschelons of power to explain why they all lie about the true constitutional position of Cornwall within the State, and justify its known consequence for the future integrity of the Cornish people as an identifiable national group.
The unwritten aspects of the Government’s proposals is the laying of the foundation of an alternative form of local government to subsume the inconvenient periphery of Cornwall into a larger amorphous mass that makes it easier to manipulate in accordance with the latest bureacratic whim. If it is not, the potentially stronger, Saltash/Torpoint this time around, there can be no argument the next time around, whether this is regional or city based. The latter, of course, is very much on the agenda.
Has the Government and/or Boundary Commission changed their minds about the merger proposed between Saltash/SE Cornwall and Plymouth in favour of the Bude/Bideford merger? The Boundary Commission website would suggest so as it states “We have proposed one constituency that contains electors from both Cornwall and Devon, which crosses the boundary in the north of the two counties, combining the towns of Bude and Bideford.” No reference is made to the plans which were the focus of the rally in Saltash last October. Either way it is still unacceptable to merge two very different areas with varying needs and I’m sure neither side will be particularly happy about it. Cornwall should remain whole!!
I am not born Cornish, but I live here and it is my adopted country. In north cornwall especially we already suffer from the Truro-centric attitudes of our council. This change will further reduce our influence. Devon (an admirable county I know), has completely different governance to Cornwall as well as different needs Our MP in NCornwall will find his/her loyalties and ability to influence local policy divided. We also already suffer from the BBC’s Devon focused news reporting so our voice is further diminished. I have written to our local MP but have received no response. There is still scope for consultation and protest – the door is not locked and we can still apply real pressure. Come on North Cornwall let’s keep fighting for the integrity of our borders.
Of course Cornwall is apart from England, itself and entire, a Celtic country whose ancient language is shared with Brittany and Wales. My mother’s family is part of the great Grylls diaspora and it’s been a long sadness for me that I could never claim the name as my own. But I wore the Cornish tartan when my younger son married his Welsh sweetheart – and many of our happiest holiday times have been in West Penwith, where I’ve always felt at home with the standing stones. Please write to me if you knew Bill Grylls of Saltash, or Ernest John Cory Grylls of Plymouth. Can we bridge the Tamar hand-to hand even though I still live in England? Cornwall will ALWAYS be its own country, however much the Tories seek to destroy its identity.
Cornwall is an ancient country, not juat a “county” as the English would have you believe. I support the independence of all six Celtic countries. As a small nation the Cornish are no less important than the Welsh, Scots, Bretons or Irish. Keeping Cornwall whole is to acknowledge that the Cornish are a separate people distinct from their English neighbours across the Tamar.
The way the coalition government has rushed this major change to constituency boundaries really worries me. It is critical that the House of Lords amend this bill to allow local views on the constituencies to be properly heard. Most importantly, we need to keep our Cornish M.Ps. Any Devonwall change would cause enormous political damage to Cornwall and mark an historic attack on our identity and political representation.
Michael Bunney – Gorran.
I feel that is
wrong to attach blame, indiscriminately, for the problems that Cornwall
faces due to being ‘illegally’ represented as an administrative county of
England (sic). Therefore, I invariably point to the culprit as being
collusion at the highest level being driven by an inertia of English
Imperialism by a virtual group that I impersonally identify as the English
Imperial State (EIS).
The complete disregard for our Cornish Border has always been obvious to the
frontline towns of Saltash, Torpoint, Lanson and Bude, Whether this was due
to economic planning sub-regions or the many expansionist plans (Tamarside,
Devonwall etc.) of a certain neighbouring conurbation. Neither must we
forget the Prof. Fawcett proposal of 1919 to submerge the Duchy of Cornwall
and the English county of Devonshire within a regional construct that he
determined should be call the “Devon Province” with Plymouth as the Capital!
It has enabled the piecemeal fragmentation of a Cornish infrastructure, as
commercial and public utilities (including emergency services) moved their
operational centres out of our Cornish Duchy. The proper recognition of
Cornwall’s constitutional status would have a massive effect in raising
public awareness and self-motivation. There is, I believe, no other way to
secure our Border with England for all time. It would also provide a
foundation for recovering all our emergency services within a uniquely
Cornish-based central (?) entity.
The boundary between Devon and Cornwall should not be moved in any way. Keep it as it is.
As an expat Devonian, I can think of nothing worse than merging Wessex with Cornwall. I grew up being told that the border of England followed the Tamar and Cornwall certainly had an exciting exotic feel to it!
As I grew older I thought of Cornwall and Devon as siblings – distinct yet part of the South West family. I retain this view and really support this opposition to boundary changes for convenience sake. If this is acceptable, shouldn’t the Scots also give up Berwickshire as Berwick is in England?
This shouldn’t be a cause célèbre for Celticness – recent studies (including DNA) have shown that Devon and other English western regions are also very Celtic.
my great gandfather and his brother arrived in australia in the late part of the 19th century from cornwall, thier wonderful stories are still passed down to the next generation of the cornish bloodlines. we were always told that when questioned about our surname “PENHALIGON” that you are CORNISH! you are not welsh not scottish and definately not ENGLISH! TI; TRI; or PEN; you can spot a cornish men!! how true that saying is you be the judge!
Given that our political representaves have now apparently ‘failed’ the test placed before them, may I suggest that the KCW Campaign looks into the possibility of legally challenging this proposal via a Judicial Review. Once passed into law, irrespective of whether it may be right or wrong, it will be the barrier behind which all the EIS Establishment parasites will hide. Cornwall’s de jure position as a Royal Duchy extraterritorial to England should be considered as a constitutional guarantee to remove our Cornish territory from these proposals, which are completely repugnant to any concept of Cornish Rights.
In the interests of historical accuracy, perhaps we should acknowledge that the border has changed over time and has not always stuck to the Tamar (look at 19th century maps and the linguistic evidence in the Historical Atlas of the South West). This would stop our argument from being undermined when we talk of the importance modern cultural identity, which is what matters now.
(Am I being too academic about this? Blame Archaeology and Anthropology! Just to state my position – I don’t think mathematical neatness should take president over peoples personal beliefs and sense of belonging – It is a patently ridiculous way to govern.)
This is a preposterous idea! Doesn’t this government have more brains than to originate such devastation to centuries-old culture and pride in home? Is this the best they can do? Doesn’t say much for the new government. Although I now live in the US, my heart and loyalty remain forever in Cornwall , my birthplace and ancestral home for centuries. Will there be a march on London? I’ll come home to join in!
This is just another attempt for england to overthrough Cornwall, we never have and never will be a true part of england we never signed the treaty that merged england, scotland and wales and thats why they call us a duchy and not what we really are a COUNTRY in our own right, we have all 3 things that make us a country an anthem, a flag and a language of which the english have always wanted to get rid of. From what i know of cornwall we were the only ones not invaded by the normans,vikings and romans so we have a right to this land not england!
Kernow Bys Vyken! – Cornwall forever!
Re. boundary changing that affects Cornwall — an economic consideration
with regard to tourism and British heritage trips from abroad
Letter to Davd Cameron, PM
Sir, Though I am an American, Cornish blood courses through my veins as does British cultural heritage as a whole.
I am a direct desecent of Leticia Rashleigh and John Trewolla and the Rashleighs whose shipbuilding industry figured into both the British Civil War and the explorations of Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake.
Americans who are passionate about the U.K. and who travel there as tourists, again and again, as in my case, do so not so much to visit the U.K. of modernity but to connect to their heritages.
When I was at Oxford a few years back, as an British Literature teacher studying British literature at Exeter College in a summer session, I was there for the
historical significance and for the ambiance. I could just as easily have studied British Literature here at The University of Virginia, my alma mater stateside or another college.
I felt, though, I need to “go back to the source”.
Likewise, when sitting in St. Clement’s parish in Truro, the church home of ancestors about five generations back who were active in Charles Wesley’s ministry when he was in Cornwall, I recall thinking, “These people came here from somewhere else” and thus began the geneological search that led back to Viking ancestors and connections via marriage to Platagenet kings along with more humble English people.
What I am driving at is that, as a Conservative, you need to think about why, economically and historically speaking, it is in the interest of your nation to conserve/preserve heritage.
Vacation/tourism dollars do not come in from abroad “just for holidays”.
As aforementioned, many of us “from abroad” choose the U.K. as a destination spot because it is a part of US.
Moreover, as my daughter is about to marry a British young man, returning to Cornwall will now take on a new dimension.
I certainly, e.g., would not want to buy a home there in order to visit Devon (as much as I like Thomas Hardy as a writer).
Save Cornwall as it was and is, please.
Most cordially,
Julia Thompson
Cornwall is definitely not England !! It is a symptoma of the French and English conquerors to systematicaly try to cut off parts of the Celtic lands : we have that in Brittany with 1/5 of our territory, the departement of Loire-atlantique (Nantes country) which was severed from the rest of Brittany in 1941 by the collaborationist Vichy regime…
Keep fighting, Dalc’hit da stourm, emaomp ganeoc’h : an trec’h a zo e penn an hent !