Beach Ices at Praa Sands
Ice meeting the sand at the base of the low cliff behind Praa Sands Beach, West Cornwall. 6th January 2009....
Icicles at Trewellard Bottoms
Water seeping through a wall is turned to icicles, ate Trewellard Bottoms, where Geevor Mine meets the sea....
Winter Sunset at Levant
A late afternoon scene, at Levant Mine, West Cornwall. 7th January 2009....
Winter at Levant
The old electricity generator building, at Levant Mine, West Cornwall, during the recent cold snap. 7th Jnauary 2009....
Now things have calmed down it might be appropiate to return to the subject that made me register on C24 in the first place.
This is the law of the land:
“The State, when fulfilling the functions assumed by it in regard to education and teaching must take care that information and knowledge included in the curriculum is conveyed in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner”.
Would those who have been to school in Cornwall, or have children in school in Cornwall, either accept or refute the notion that in respect of Cornish language, history and culture, the government is fulfilling its legal obligations?
I never had any Cornish history taught at school. History for me was taught from a purely English point of veiw that was so complete in its anglo-centric teaching, that I had no idea that Cornwall had any culture or history of its own until my late teens when my parents and various relatives started to explain various parts of Cornish history.
The government most definately is not fulfilling its legal obligations in respect of Cornish lanquage, history and culture and I have formed an opinion that the LEA is happy to keep it that way. Which is why many young students look at me amazed when I explain the Cornish have a different identity to the English.
I never learnt anything about Cornwall whilst at school and that is the reason why I have spent the last 50 years studying it - and I still consider myself to be ignorant about many facets of Cornish history & geography!
As long as Cornwall is misrepresented as being an 'English county' and illegally promoted as being 'in England', then it is impossible for any Imperial State Curriculum ( or its agencies) to properly address the issues which we have faced. It certainly denies the Cornish the confidence and consolidation of their 'Cornish' identity which true knowledge brings.
The existence of 'some' aspects of Cornish history today is welcome but lacks the consistency to be truly meaningful. It must be acknowledged also that this tokenism has come about only by the magnificent efforts of a small handful of campaigners and not by any altruistic response of the English Imperial Establishment
i was lucky I went to Bosvigo School in Truro untill 1966, there we had Local Studies, but yet again it was from the English perspective.
I have now studied Cornish History for some 30 years and reading between the lines, and re evaluating what was written, i believe i have come to a balance. Ok maybe not, I might be guilty of siding on the Cornish perspective.
I do know however that our History from the English perspective is, wrong is not the right word, but, is misrepresented.
Maybe one day, if and when we get a truely Cornish University, the History Department can dedicate itself to finding the truth. I do not feel that the Institute of Cornish Studies is doing that good a job. With the likes of Bernard Deacon and Co using terminology as the 're-invention' in regards to the Language, what chance is there. Philip Payntons books, I also feel to be missing something, in one book he wrote regarding An Gof, some of the members of that Group are easily contactable (is that a word?) and he did not do so, but drew his own conclusions, not a very good thing in my opinion.
Maybe Cornish History Buffs, could form a group to dedicate themselves to this task?? Does the Forum think this to be a good idea?
I went to school in mid-Cornwall in the 1960s and was taught nothing of Cornish history.
Interesting what you say angofbew, I was under the impression that stuff by Bernard Deacon and Philip Payton pretty much had Cornwall at heart. In fact, both have been criticised by the "Devon Celtic" lot for being too Cornish in their writings and interviews. However, don't get me going about those pseuds and wannabes.
A good writer of Cornish stuff is Craig Weatherhill - place names, history, myths, culture, etc and you can tell he's Cornish from the heart by how he writes things.
I have to agree with you Mike about Craig Weatherhill ? I thought it was Weatherall. I might be wrong. I do not agree with his stance on the Language, but I cannot critisise where his Heart lies.
As for the Devon Celtic group criticising People who work for the Institute of Cornish Studies by saying they are too Cornish, ummm well that says a lot about their intelligence doesn't it.
Bernard and Philip, now my concern is soem of their language usage, and I do believe that when putting something into print it should be totally researched. I think that they might be falling into the same trap as ALRowse to some degree. Trying hard to be accepted by an English based system. Then again they do work for Exeter University, so I suppose they have to be careful. Nonetheless I think History is about fact and should in todays world be witten in the right context.
Craig Weatherhill is an authority on matters Cornish, try 'googling' the name, and you will see he has been very busy for a long time.
Is he a Cornwall24 memberI wonder?
He is quoted on one of the main pages of this website.
I suppose not everyone would agree with everything he writes, but he seems well informed and well researched.
The only critical thing I will say is that A.L.Rowse was once regarded as a top authority, yet now his work is questioned by some.
I have read some of Craig Weatherhill's work without realising at the time how broad his scope is.
Graham.
Mr Weatherhill wrote a letter to the Cornishman not long ago which was almost word for word of a post made on this forum. I'm sure he is a member here and I think I know who but I'm not into giving out people's names.
Thanks Mike for pointing out that, and if Craig is reading this my apologies.
Graham, yes ALRowse was regarded as quite an authority, but I have read somewhere that amoungst Historians his work was hightly criticised. That does not however detract from the point that he did some very important work. I think it is generally his translation of fact to Anglo Fiction that comes under scruitiny.
No-one has yet answered my question in regards to the formation of a History Research Group, I would like some input on that if anyone has an ideas.
History Research Group..Angof, if people want to get together to do this then thats fine, but its VALIDITY would always be questioned unless the people were trained historians, who would research to professionally acceptable standards. Most of us enthusiastic amateurs have built in prejudices and bias that we aren't even personally aware of, which would 'infect' our findings..witness the bitter arguments that spring up over different perceptions of single issues!
...I think you could have a 'fun' Research Group of amateurs, but to have anything with clout, that official organisations would have to listen to, you need qualified people, funding and all that goes with that.
Even so, we know what Cornwall is like, if the results were unpopular with one group or another, there would be bitter fighting for years, like with the language factions. You would probably need qualified and respected Historians that are neither English nor Cornish to avoid accusations of bias!
To conclude, if you are looking for a body whose work and conclusions would carry any weight, it'll cost somebody a lot of money!
Coady, if you think we've got built-in prejudices and bias you haven't seen academic output! Even Newton and Galileo fabricated or distorted experimental results to give the conclusions they wanted! Academics are very often fighting to preserve funding for their own little area of research and will be just as spiteful and offensive about other people's work as any Cornish speaker. (Just kidding!) Sadly you can't assume that an academic's work is unbiased, and similarly you can't assume that it's done to a high standard. All one can do is confirm for oneself that the work is acceptable.
I went to school in Cornwall in the 70's and had the priveledge to be taught by two people who had some knowledge of the Cornish language. They subsequently got into trouble for not teaching what they were there for i.e. French. My French was not harmed, I passed with an A grade and now I study and teach Cornish. There should be more Cornish taught in schools, preferably at Primary level and others like myself are working towards this.
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(Just kidding!) Sadly you can't assume that an academic's work is unbiased, and similarly you can't assume that it's done to a high standard. All one can do is confirm for oneself that the work is acceptable.