#Cornwall: An Inspirational Landscape

Piskies Cove

To see a selection of this month’s ‘Focus On’ images please click here

Cornwall’s extraordinary landscape has inspired generations of artists and writers, including Dylan Thomas, Sir John Betjemen, Daphne du Maurier, Barbara Hepworth and Stanhope Forbes, all of whom have been stimulated by the region’s coastline and countryside.

And it is easy to see why – Cornwall’s rugged shoreline, gorgeous sandy beaches, turquoise waters, meandering rivers, attractive woodland and wide open countryside all combine to form one of the UK’s finest and beautiful regions.

Many of the cliffs that form a barrier along much of the Cornish coast are between 250 and 500 million years old. Within these rocks can be found the tin and copper that have shaped much of Cornwall’s economy for thousands of years.

For the last 12,000 human beings have exploited Cornwall’s rich resources. Around 10,000BC Mesolithic hunter-gatherers settled along the coastline around Lizard and the higher ground of Bodmin. 4000 years later saw a marked increase in population and consequently many fortified settlements and monuments were built, along with important developments in agricultural techniques.

The Rumps

Agriculture, fishing and mining became the dominant industries and over time Cornwall was known as Cornovia, Cornubia, Cernyw and Kernow with the language eventually evolving into Cornish.

However, perhaps the key moment in Cornwall’s history came in 1201 when King John granted the tin miners of Cornwall a charter, which allowed them special privileges (such as not paying the normal rate of tax), known as a Stannery Parliament.

At its peak mining employed about 30% of Cornwall’s male workforce and in the early 19^th century the region was the greatest producer of copper in the world. However when tin and copper prices plunged during the early 20^th century many miners had to emigrate to find work. In 2006 Cornwall’s mining areas gained World Heritage Site status.

A number of the beautiful towns and villages strewn across Cornwall (including St Ives, Mousehole, Gorran Haven, Port Issac and Mullion Cove) were built around their harbours, underpinning the value of Cornwall’s other key industry – fishing.

The 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries were boom time, with millions of fish caught (especially pilchards) and ports flourishing at the likes of Falmouth, Fowey, Looe, Padstow, Penzance and St Ives.

Such were the amounts of fish caught that it couldn’t last and trawlers had to land mackerel, cod and hake when the pilchard industry crashed during the 20^th century. There are still many working harbours along the coast today but on much a smaller scale.

Today tourism has become Cornwall’s contemporary industry and vital to its economy. St Ives, Truro, Falmouth and Newquay remain the most popular destinations for the many millions of annual visitors drawn to the outstanding natural beauty, mild climate, distinct culture and history.

And you can add an astonishing array of flora and fauna; gannet, fulmar, cormorant, shag, kittiwake, razorbill, guillemot, puffin, Bottlenose and Common dolphin, porpoise, Manx shearwaters, chough, teal, greenshank, dunlin, bar-tailed godwit, curlew, oystercatcher, wigeon, heath spotted orchid, birdfoot trefoil, yellow primroses, pink sea thrift and purple heather are a fraction of an almost endless list of what can be seen at different times of the year.

St Ives

Advertisement

Focus On: #Galloway, The Land of the Foreign Gael

To see a selection of this month’s ‘Focus On’ images please click here

The Galloway Coastline from Criffel

The Galloway Coastline is very much part of Scotland’s windswept western seaboard and has a great deal to offer, particularly to anyone with a fervour for coastal walking.

Mountains, hills, lochs, woodland, beaches, rivers and cliffs line the spectacular coastline, which begins its journey near Gretna in the east and travels west through some of Britain’s finest scenery, crossing Dumfries-shire, Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire, before turning south through the remote landscape of The Machars and into the Rhins of Galloway, culminating at the Mull of Galloway, Scotland’s southernmost point, a journey of over 200 miles.

En route the wildlife is astounding, from the smallest lichen to the mighty Basking Shark (and everything in-between), while the outstanding scenery extends to Ayrshire, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Kintyre Peninsula and the mighty Lake District mountains.

Galloway is the 3^rd largest region in Scotland and one of the most sparsely populated areas in Europe; as of 2011 Galloway has approximately 148,000 inhabitants with a population density of 60 people per square mile. Compare that to the Scottish average of 168 people per square mile and you will understand why a real sense of space and freedom pervades when walking in Galloway. There is definitely room to breathe.

With its history, complexities of language, cultural heritage and remoteness to much of Scotland, Galloway has a distinct feel to it, one that is hard to put your finger on – spend time walking the hills or coastline and it may become clearer.

Historically the western half of the region was known as the Kingdom of Galloway and during the Dark Ages was an independent, Gaelic speaking kingdom.

The Mull of Galloway

Over the centuries Galloway was subsequently divided into three distinct counties; Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire to the west and Dumfries-shire to the east. The region’s history extends back many thousands of years with much evidence of iron-age forts, crannogs and early Christian sites, whilst a magnificent array of abbeys and castles were built from the 12^th century onwards and with such a lengthy coastline strong trade links were established with England and Europe.

The name Galloway didn’t appear until the 11^th century and was named after a people, known as the Gall Gaidheil, a race that developed in Scandinavia and in the Hebrides during the 9^th century. It was a simple migration of people that led the Gall Gaidheil into southwest Scotland around this time giving rise to the name Galloway, which means amongst the Gall Gaidheil or Land of the Foreign Gael.

Prior to this, the main languages within the region were British and Anglian and certainly this mixture, which also includes Norse, can be seen in the names of the towns, villages, rivers and hills along the coast.

The two largest towns in Galloway have their roots in Gaelic – Dumfries translates as Fortress of the Woodland and Stranraer as Place of the Fat Peninsula. The wonderful hill of Criffel, rising above the Solway Firth a few miles from Dumfries, means Raven Hill from the Norse Kraka-fjell – the raven is the sacred bird of Scandinavia.

The Solway Firth also has Norse origins and translates as Firth of the Muddy Ford whilst the River Dee in Kirkcudbright (Gaelic, Divine River) and Kirkcudbright itself (Scots/Old English, Church of St Cuthbert) further illustrates the fascinating historical and linguistic relationship language has with the Galloway Coastline.

With such a vast coastline you would expect a superb array of birdlife and Galloway really excels; curlew, cormorants, dunlin, greenshank, redshank, knot, barnacle and pink-footed geese, oystercatcher, shags and sandpiper are just a selection to be found on the beaches, estuaries and mudflats whilst the cliffs are home to the likes of fulmars, gulls, puffins and razorbills.