“Persistence of Difference”: the National-Cultural Identity of the Cornish as a People on the Periphery of Britain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46585/absa.2025.18.2777Keywords:
Cornish; periphery; identity; nationality; cultureAbstract
Cornish identity has been shaped by both Celtic and English influences. The county’s proximity to other Celtic peoples and its position on the periphery of Britain has fostered a “persistence of difference,” which, in turn, helped create a clear national-cultural identity, unique among other English counties. Cornish identity is also tied to forces of nature, industry, and tourism and, since the 19th century, the region and its people have experienced many changes, threats, and challenges. It has been during these times of upheaval and change that the Cornish have sought outlets to express and preserve their culture and infuse them with a distinct Cornish identity. The present paper discusses such cultural markers as language variety, politics, sport, and religion in this context and suggests that the Cornish, as a minority population group, have a national-cultural identity distinct from that of the majority English population, and that the position of the Cornish, as an ethnic group, is similar to that of minority groups in other countries (e.g. Basques, Catalans, or Rusyns).
References
“Andrew George MP.” <http://www.andrewgeorge.org.uk>.
“Andrew George – UK Parliament Biography.” <http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/commons/andrew-george/227>.
Berresford Ellis, Peter. The Celtic Revolution: a Study in Anti-Imperialism. Ceredigion: Y Lolfa, 1985.
Carew, Richard. The Survey of Cornwall (1602), edited by F.E. Halliday. London: Andrew Melrose, 1953.
Cole, Dick. “The Devonwall Bill – Some Facts and Comment.” 2011. <https://mebyonkernow.blogspot.com/2011/03/devonwall-bill-some-facts-and-comment.html>.
“Cornish Has Been Granted a Comeback.” <https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1413412/Cornish-has-been-granted-a-comeback. .
“Cornish Party Mebyon Kernow Sees the Future in Black and White,” The Guardian, January 26, 2012, <http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jan/26/cornish-party-mebyon-kernow-future>.
“Cornish Recognised as National Minority Group for the First Time.” The Guardian, April 24, 2014, <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/24/cornish-recognised-nationalminority-group-first-time>.
Cornwall Council. Demographic Evidence Base for Cornwall. Truro: Cornwall Council, 2011.
Cornwall Council. One and All. St. Ives: Cornwall Council, 1994.
Deacon, Bernard. “And Shall Trelawny Die? The Cornish Identity.” In Cornwall Since the War, edited by Philip Payton, 200–223. Redruth: Dyllansow Truran, 1993.
Deacon, Bernard. Cornwall – A Concise History. Cardiff: University of Wales, 2007.
Deacon, Bernard. “Peggy Combellack’s Conundrum: Locating the Cornish Identity.” 2006. <https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/articles/preprint/Peggy_Combellack_s_conundrum_locating_the_Cornish_identity/29688929?file=56691209>.
Deacon, Bernard. “The Cornish Paradox: Ethno Regionalism in a Hybrid Territory.” University of Exeter ORE, 2003. <https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/articles/preprint/The_Cornish_paradox_ethnoregionalism_in_a_hybrid_territory/29688932>.
Deacon, Bernard. “The Hollow Jarring of the Distant Steam Engines: Images of Cornwall Between West Barbary and Delectable Duchy.” In Cornwall: The Cultural Construction of Place, edited by Ella Westland. Newmill: Patten Press, 1997.
Deacon, Bernard. The Reformulation of Territorial Identity: Cornwall in the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Unpublished PhD thesis, Open University, 2001.
Ellis, Alexander J. On Early English Pronunciation, Part V. London: Trübner & Co., 1889. Gorn, Elliot J., and Goldstein, Warren. A Brief History of American Sports. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993.
Graham, Brian, Ashworth, Greg, and Tunbridge, John. A Geography of Heritage: Power, Culture & Economy. London: Arnold, 2000.
Kent, Alan M. The Literature of Cornwall: Continuity, Identity and Difference, 1000–2000. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 2000.
Krehbiel, Doug. Heddwch! Heddwch! Sport and Cultural Identity in Early Modern Wales. Richmond, Virginia: University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2006.
Lee, Adrian. “Cornwall: Aspects of Regionalism and Nationalism.” Unpublished paper presented to Workshop of Nationalist and Regionalist Movements in Western Europe, University of Strathclyde.
“Lord Taylor of Goss Moor – UK Parliament Biography.” .
Luker, David. “Revivalism in Theory and Practice: The Case of Cornish Methodism.” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 37 (1986): 603–619.
Magocsi, Paul Robert. “National Cultures and University Chairs – Education and National Cultures.” An Baner Kernewek (The Cornish Banner), no. 28, May 1982.
Magocsi, Paul Robert (writing as Pavel Maču). “The Rusyns of Czechoslovakia.” An Baner Kernewek – The Cornish Banner 1, no. 2 (September 1975).
McGovern, Patrick. “Globalization or Internationalization? Foreign Footballers in the English League, 1946–95.” Sociology 36, no. 1 (2002): 23–42.
“Mebyon Kernow, Cornish Nation (1973).” In Mebyon Kernow and Cornish Nationalism: The Concise History, edited by Bernard Deacon, Dick Cole, and Garry Tregidga. Cardiff: Welsh Academic Press, 2003.
Milmo, Cahal. “Cornish to Be Recognised as a National Minority Along with Scots, Welsh and Irish.” The Independent, April 24, 2014. <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cornish-people-formally-declared-a-national-minority-along-withscots-welsh-and-irish-9278725.html>.
Morris, Steven. “Cornish recognised nationalminority group for the first time.” The Guardian, April 24, 2014. <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/24/cornish-recognised-national-minority-group-first-time>.
Payton, Phillip. “Labour Failure and Liberal Tenacity: Radical Politics and Cornish Political Culture, 1880–1939.” In Cornish Studies: Two, edited by Phillip Payton. Exeter: University of Exeter, 1994.
Payton, Phillip. Cornwall: A History. Fowey: Alexander Associates, 1992.
Payton, Phillip. The Making of Modern Cornwall. Truro: Dyllansow Truran, 1992.
Perkin, Harold. “Sport and Society: Empire and Commonwealth.” In Sport, Culture and Society: International, Historical, and Sociological Perspectives, edited by James Anthony Mangan, 128–143. London: E. & F.N. Spon, 1986.
Population and Household Change in Cornwall. Cornwall Council, 2011. .
Porter, Dilwyn. “Rugby Union in a Paralysed Regional Economy: Cornwall in the 1920s and 1930s.” CESH, Barcelona, 2013.
Porter, Dilwyn. “Sport and the Cornish: Difference and Identity on the English Periphery in the Twentieth Century.” National Identities 16, no. 4 (2013): 367–379.
Sandford, Mark. “English Regionalism Through the Looking Glass: Perspectives on the English Question from the North-East and Cornwall.” National Identities 8, no. 1 (2006): 79–92.
Sayers, Dave. “Standardisation and Language Change in Cornish English.” Language and History 53, no. 2 (2010): 201–217.
Seward, Andy. “Cornish Rugby and Cultural Identity: A Socio-Historical Perspective.” The Sports Historian 18, no. 2 (1998): 78–94.
Stephens, Meic. Linguistic Minorities in Western Europe. Gomer Press, 1976.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Eva Eddy, Jonathan Eddy
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
