1.
Bodmin Moor
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Bodmin Moor is a granite moorland in northeastern Cornwall, England. It is 208 square kilometres in size, and dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history and it includes Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall, and Rough Tor, a slightly lower peak. Many of Cornwalls rivers have their sources here and it has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic era, when primitive farmers started clearing trees and farming the land. They left their megalithic monuments, hut circles and cairns, and the Bronze Age culture that followed left further cairns, by medieval and modern times, nearly all the forest was gone and livestock rearing predominated. The name Bodmin Moor is relatively recent, an Ordnance Survey invention of 1813, the upland area was formerly known as Fowey Moor after the River Fowey, which rises within it. Bodmin Moor is one of five granite plutons in Cornwall that make up part of the Cornubian batholith, dramatic granite tors rise from the rolling moorland, the best known are Brown Willy, the highest point in Cornwall at 417 m, and Rough Tor at 400 m. To the south-east Kilmar Tor and Caradon Hill are the most prominent hills, considerable areas of the moor are poorly drained and form marshes. The rest of the moor is mostly rough pasture or overgrown with heather and other low vegetation, the moor contains about 500 holdings with around 10,000 beef cows,55,000 breeding ewes and 1,000 horses and ponies. Most of the moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Bodmin Moor, North, almost a third of Cornwall has AONB designation, with the same status and protection as a National Park. The moor has also recognised as a separate natural region. Bodmin Moor is the source of several of Cornwalls rivers, they are mentioned here anti-clockwise from the south, the River Fowey rises at a height of 290 m and flows through Lostwithiel and into the Fowey estuary. The River Tiddy rises near Pensilva and flows southeast to its confluence with the River Lynher, the River Inny rises near Davidstow and flows southeast to its confluence with the River Tamar. The River Camel rises on Hendraburnick Down and flows for approximately 40 km before joining the sea at Padstow, the River Warleggan rises near Temple and flows south to join the Fowey. On the southern slopes of the moor lies Dozmary Pool and it is Cornwalls only natural inland lake and is glacial in origin. In the 20th century three reservoirs have been constructed on the moor, these are Colliford Lake, Siblyback Lake, various species of waterfowl are resident around these waters. The parishes on the moor are as follows,10,000 years ago, in the Mesolithic period, there are several documented cases of flint scatters being discovered by archaeologists, indicating that these hunter gatherers practised flint knapping in the region. During the Neolithic era, from about 4,500 to 2,300 BC, people began clearing trees and it was also in this era that the production of various megalithic monuments began, predominantly long cairns and stone circles. It was also likely that the naturally forming tors were also viewed in a manner to the manmade ceremonial sites
2.
Stone circle
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A stone circle is a monument of standing stones arranged in a circle. Such monuments have been constructed in parts of the world throughout history for many different reasons. Outside of Europe, stone circles have also erected, such as the 6300~6900 BCE Atlit Yam in Israel and 3000~4000 BCE Gilgal Refaim nearby. Another prehistoric stone circle tradition occurred in southern Scandinavia during the Iron Age, the size and number of the stones varies from example to example, and the circle shape can be an ellipse. All experts agree that stone circles are of date. Radiocarbon dating has produced a range of dates at different sites. This is at least partly due to an inadequacy of materials suitable for radiocarbon dating that can be obtained from the sites. The diversity of radiocarbon evidence may also suggest that stone circles were constructed over a long period. It is often not clear when building started, a further obstacle to dating is that there are generally no other archaeological artifacts associated with the stone circles. Traditional archaeological artifacts, such as pottery sherds, bones, etc. are not often found at the sites, the sites display no evidence of human dwelling, and rarely encompass graves. This suggests that stone circles were constructed for ceremonies and were in use on ceremonial occasions only, the type of ceremonies is entirely unknown. The crudeness and variety of the stones excludes the possibility that they had astronomical observation purposes of any precision, sometimes a stone circle is found in association with a burial pit or burial chamber, but the great majority of these monuments have no such association. A stone circle is a different entity from a henge. That suggests religious context, the details of which are still obscure, during the Middle Neolithic stone circles began to appear in coastal and lowland areas towards the north of the United Kingdom. The Langdale axe industry in the Lake District appears to have been an important early centre for circle building, many had closely set stones, perhaps similar to the earth banks of henges, others were made from unfounded boulders rather than standing stones. By the later Neolithic, stone circle construction had attained a greater precision, rather than being limited to coastal areas, they began to move inland and their builders grew more ambitious, producing examples of up to 400 m diameter in the case of the Outer Circle at Avebury. Most circles, however, measured around 25 m in diameter, designs became more complex, with double and triple ring designs appearing along with significant regional variation. These monuments are often classed separately as concentric stone circles, by 1500 BC stone circle construction had all but ceased
3.
Fairy
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A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural. According to Thomas Keightley, the word derives from the Latin fata. Other forms are the Italian fata, and the Provençal fada, in old French romance, fee was a woman skilled in magic, and who knew the power and virtue of words, of stones, and of herbs. Faierie became fairy, but with that now almost exclusively referring to one of the legendary people. The word fairy was used to represent an illusion, or enchantment, to the word faie was added the suffix -erie, used to express either a place where something is found or a trade or typical activity engaged in. In later usage it applied to any kind of quality or activity associated with a particular type of person. In the sense land where fairies dwell, the distinctive and archaic spellings Faery, the latinate fay is not to be confused with the unrelated fey, meaning fated to die. Various folkloristic traditions refer to them euphemistically, by such as wee folk, good folk, people of peace, fair folk. Sometimes the term fairy is used to any magical creature, including goblins or gnomes, at other times. Fairies have their origin in the conflation of Celtic traditions in the Middle French medieval romances. Fairie was in origin used adjectivally, meaning enchanted, but was used as a name for enchanted creatures from as early as the Late Middle English period. In English literature of the Elizabethan era, elves became conflated with the fairies of Romance culture, the Victorian and Edwardian eras saw an increase in interest in fairies. The Celtic Revival viewed them as part of Irelands cultural heritage, carole Silvers and others suggest that the fascination of English antiquarians arose from a reaction to greater industrialization, and loss of folkways. Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers, even with these small fairies, however, their small size may be magically assumed rather than constant. Some fairies though normally quite small were able to dilate their figures to imitate humans, on Orkney they were described as short in stature, dressed in dark grey, and sometimes seen in armour. Wings, while common in Victorian and later artwork of fairies, are rare in the folklore, even very small fairies flew with magic. Nowadays, fairies are depicted with ordinary insect wings or butterfly wings. In some folklore, fairies have green eyes, some depictions of fairies either have them wearing some sort of footwear and other depictions of fairies are always barefoot
4.
Cornish people
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Many in the county today continue to assert a distinct identity separate from or in addition to English or British identities. Cornish identity has been adopted by migrants into Cornwall, as well as by emigrant and descendant communities from Cornwall, although not included as an explicit option in the UK census, the numbers of those claiming Cornish ethnic and national identity are officially recognised and recorded. The name Cornwall and its demonym Cornish are derived from the Celtic Cornovii tribe, the Anglo-Saxon invasion and settlement of Britain in the 5th to 6th centuries pushed Celtic culture and some Celtic peoples to the northern and western fringes of Britain. The Cornish people, who shared the Brythonic language with the Welsh, the Battle of Deorham between the Britons and Anglo-Saxons is thought to have resulted in a loss of landlinks with the people of Wales. The Cornish people and their Brythonic Cornish language experienced a process of anglicisation and attrition during the Medieval, by the 18th century, and following the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Cornish language and identity had faded, replaced by the English language and British identity. A Celtic revival during the early-20th century enabled a cultural self-consciousness in Cornwall that revitalised the Cornish language, in the 2011 census, the population of Cornwall, including the Isles of Scilly was estimated to be 532,300. Weighting of the 2001 Census data gives a figure of 154,791 people with Cornish ethnicity living in Cornwall, the Cornish have been described as a special case in England, with an ethnic rather than regional identity. The British are the citizens of the United Kingdom, a people who by convention consist of four national groups, meanwhile, another international rugby union player, Josh Matavesi, describes himself as Cornish-Fijian and Cornish not English. A survey by Plymouth University in 2000 found that 30% of children in Cornwall felt Cornish, a 2004 survey on national identity by the finance firm Morgan Stanley found that 44% of respondents in Cornwall saw themselves as Cornish rather than British or English. A2008 study by the University of Edinburgh of 15- and 16-year-old schoolchildren in Cornwall found that 58% of respondents felt themselves to be either ‘Fairly’ or ‘Very much’ Cornish, the other 42% may be the result of in-migration to the area during the second half of the twentieth century. A2010 study by the University of Exeter into the meaning of contemporary Cornish identity across Cornwall found that there was a west-east distance decay in the strength of the Cornish identity. The study was conducted amongst the community as they were deemed to be the socio-professional group most objectively representative of Cornishness. All participants categorised themselves as Cornish and identified Cornish as their ethnic group orientation. Those in the west primarily thought of themselves as Cornish and British/Celtic, all participants in West Cornwall who identified as Cornish and not English described people in East Cornwall, without hesitation, as equally Cornish as themselves. Those who identified as Cornish and English stressed the primacy of their Cornishness, ancestry was seen as the most important criterion for being categorised as Cornish, above place of birth or growing up in Cornwall. This study supports a 1988 study by Mary McArthur that had found that the meanings of Cornishness varied substantially, both studies also observed that the Cornish were less materialistic than the English. The Cornish generally saw the English, or city people, as being friendly and more aggressively self-promoting. The Cornish saw themselves as friendly, welcoming and caring, a campaign for the inclusion of a Cornish tick-box in the nationality section of the 2011 census failed to win the support of parliament in 2009
5.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
6.
Neolithic
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It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC, and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC, farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards, the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic 1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
7.
Cornwall
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Cornwall is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area of England within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, Cornwall has a population of 551,700 and covers an area of 3,563 km2. Cornwall forms the westernmost part of the south-west peninsula of the island of Great Britain, and this area was first inhabited in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. It continued to be occupied by Neolithic and then Bronze Age peoples, there is little evidence that Roman rule was effective west of Exeter and few Roman remains have been found. In the mid-19th century, however, the tin and copper mines entered a period of decline, subsequently, china clay extraction became more important and metal mining had virtually ended by the 1990s. Traditionally, fishing and agriculture were the important sectors of the economy. Railways led to a growth of tourism in the 20th century, however, the area is noted for its wild moorland landscapes, its long and varied coastline, its attractive villages, its many place-names derived from the Cornish language, and its very mild climate. Extensive stretches of Cornwalls coastline, and Bodmin Moor, are protected as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Cornwall is the homeland of the Cornish people and is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, retaining a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history. Some people question the present constitutional status of Cornwall, and a nationalist movement seeks greater autonomy within the United Kingdom in the form of a devolved legislative Cornish Assembly. On 24 April 2014 it was announced that Cornish people will be granted minority status under the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. The modern English name Cornwall derives from the concatenation of two ancient demonyms from different linguistic traditions, Corn- records the native Brythonic tribe, the Cornovii. The Celtic word kernou is cognate with the English word horn. -wall derives from the Old English exonym walh, the Ravenna Cosmography first mentions a city named Purocoronavis in the locality. This is thought to be a rendering of Duro-cornov-ium, meaning fort of the Cornovii. The exact location of Durocornovium is disputed, with Tintagel and Carn Brea suggested as possible sites, in later times, Cornwall was known to the Anglo-Saxons as West Wales to distinguish it from North Wales. The name appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 891 as On Corn walum, in the Domesday Book it was referred to as Cornualia and in c.1198 as Cornwal. Other names for the county include a latinisation of the name as Cornubia, the present human history of Cornwall begins with the reoccupation of Britain after the last Ice Age. The area now known as Cornwall was first inhabited in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods and it continued to be occupied by Neolithic and then Bronze Age people. The Common Brittonic spoken at the time developed into several distinct tongues
8.
Bodmin
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Bodmin is a civil parish and major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor, the extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordered to the east by Cardinham parish, to the southeast by Lanhydrock parish, to the southwest and west by Lanivet parish, Bodmin had a population of 12,778. This population had increased to 14,736 at the 2011 Census and it was formerly the county town of Cornwall until the Crown Courts moved to Truro which is also the administrative centre. Bodmin was in the administrative North Cornwall District until local government reorganisation in 2009 abolished the District, the town is part of the North Cornwall parliamentary constituency, which is represented by Scott Mann MP. Bodmin Town Council is made up of sixteen councillors who are elected to serve a term of four years, each year, the Council elects one of its number as Mayor to serve as the towns civic leader and to chair council meetings. Bodmin lies in the east of Cornwall, south-west of Bodmin Moor and it has been suggested that the towns name comes from an archaic word in the Cornish language bod and a contraction of menegh. The monks dwelling may refer to a monastic settlement instituted by St. Guron. Guron is said to have departed to St Goran on the arrival of Petroc, the hamlets of Cooksland, Dunmere and Turfdown are in the parish. St. Petroc founded a monastery in Bodmin in the 6th century, the monastery was deprived of some of its lands at the Norman conquest but at the time of Domesday still held eighteen manors, including Bodmin, Padstow and Rialton. Bodmin is one of the oldest towns in Cornwall, and the only large Cornish settlement recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086, in the 15th century the Norman church of St Petroc was largely rebuilt and stands as one of the largest churches in Cornwall. Also built at that time was an abbey of canons regular, for most of Bodmins history, the tin industry was a mainstay of the economy. The name of the town derives from the Cornish Bod-meneghy. Variant spellings recorded include Botmenei in 1100, Bodmen in 1253, Bodman in 1377, an inscription on a stone built into the wall of a summer house in Lancarffe furnishes proof of a settlement in Bodmin in the early Middle Ages. It is a memorial to one Dunoatus son of Mecagnus and has dated from the 6th to 8th centuries. Arthur Langdon records three Cornish crosses at Bodmin, one was near the Berry Tower, one was outside Bodmin Gaol, there is also Carminow Cross at a road junction southeast of the town. The Black Death killed half of Bodmins population in the mid 14th century, Bodmin was the centre of three Cornish uprisings. Then, in the autumn of 1497, Perkin Warbeck tried to usurp the throne from Henry VII, Warbeck was proclaimed King Richard IV in Bodmin but Henry had little difficulty crushing the uprising
9.
Bude
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Bude is a small seaside resort town in north Cornwall, England, UK, in the civil parish of Bude-Stratton and at the mouth of the River Neet. It is sometimes known as Bude Haven. It lies southwest of Stratton, south of Flexbury and Poughill, Bude is twinned with Ergué-Gabéric in Brittany, France. Budes coast faces Bude Bay in the Celtic Sea, part of the Atlantic Ocean, the population of the civil parish can be found under Bude-Stratton. Its earlier importance was as a harbour, and then a source of sea sand useful for improving the moorland soil, the Victorians favoured it as a watering place, and it was a popular seaside destination in the 20th century. It lies just south of Flexbury and north of Widemouth Bay and is located along the A3073 road off the A39 road. A section of Budes coast which is located between Compass Cove to the south and Furzey Cove to the north, is a SSSI noted for its geological and biological interest, during the Variscan Orogeny the strata were heavily faulted and folded. As the sands and cliffs around Bude contain calcium carbonate, farmers used to sand from the beach. The cliffs around Bude are the ones in Cornwall that are made of Carboniferous sandstone, as most of the Cornish coast is formed of Devonian slate, granite. The stratified cliffs of Bude give their name to a sequence of rocks called the Bude Formation, many formations can be viewed from the South West Coast Path which passes through the town. Many ships have wrecked on the jagged reefs which fringe the base of the cliffs. The aftermath of the wreck of the Bencoolen was described by Robert Stephen Hawker in letters which were published in Hawkers Poetical Works, like the rest of the British Isles and South West England, Bude experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. Temperature extremes at the Met Office weather station at Bude range from −11.1 °C during February 1969 to 32.2 °C in June 1976, the Met Office recorded Bude as the sunniest place in the United Kingdom during the summer of 2013 with 783 hours of sunlight. In the Middle Ages the only dwelling here was Efford Manor, the seat of the Arundells of Trerice, another chapel existed at Chapel Rock which was dedicated to Holy Trinity and St Michael. Bude Canal, which ran to Launceston, now runs only a few miles inland. Several historic wharf buildings were demolished in the 1980s, but since then the canal has undergone restoration. On 10 October 1844, during an exercise, the unnamed Bude Lifeboat capsized when the steering oar broke followed by four on the port side, the local senior school Budehaven Community School suffered a major fire in October 1999, destroying most of the older parts of the school. The school was forced to close for weeks until temporary classrooms could be brought in
10.
Camborne
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Camborne is a town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England. It is at the edge of a conurbation comprising Camborne, Pool. The population of Camborne was 14,726 in 1901 and 20,010 at the 2001 census, by 2011 the population had grown to 20,845. The Northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path which includes, Hells Mouth, Camborne is located in what was formerly one of the richest tin mining areas in the world and was once the home to the Camborne School of Mines. The School of Mines moved from the centre of Camborne to Trevenson, Pool and is now a specialist department of the University of Exeter, Camborne is in the western part of the largest urban and industrial area in Cornwall with the town of Redruth 3 miles to the east. It is the centre of a large civil parish and has a town council. Camborne-Redruth is on the side of the Carn Brea/Carnmenellis granite upland which slopes northwards to the sea. The two towns are linked by the A3047 road which was turnpiked in 1839 and the villages along the road were Roskear, Tuckingmill, Pool and Illogan. Running north-south are a number of streams with narrow river valleys which have been deeply-cut following centuries of tin streaming. An example is the Red River valley which crosses the A3047 at Tuckingmill, to the north, the A30 forms a boundary between the urban area and the agricultural land on the other side. It is the only Roman villa to be found in the whole of Cornwall, there are also early Christian sites such as an inscribed altar stone, and dated to the tenth or eleventh centuries, which attests to the existence of a settlement then. Langdon records seven crosses in the parish of which two are at Pendarves. By the late Middle Ages manorial holdings developed in the surrounding area, Cornish medieval mystery plays were held in a playing place and the chuchyard is said to have had a pilgrimage chapel and holy well. John Norden visited in 1584 and described Camborne as ″A churche standinge among the barrayne hills″, at this time there would have been moors and rough grazing as well as small fields in the surrounding countryside. By 1708 Camborne had rights to hold markets and three fairs a year which may be an indication of tin mining in the area, Cambornes was inland and in an unfavourable location for trading. Mining is first recorded locally in the 1400s with early exploitation of the small streams cutting through the mineralised area, adit mining was first recorded in the 16th-century. A sign of increasing industrial activity and increasing population is the first chapel built in 1806. In 1823 the population was around 2,000 and in 1841 it was 4,377, with 75 smiths recorded, in the expanding town gasworks were opened in 1834, the Hayle Railway was built and Holmans opened a small foundry in 1839
