Gunwalloe - Church Cove
View across Church Cove in Gunwalloe at the base of the Lizard Peninsula.
The church is St Winwalloe with it's distinctively seperate bell tower and surrounding Tamarisk hedge....
newlyn house
Wonderfully painted frontage....
rogers tower
A folly built 18th C, for Mr Rogers, a local landowner....
I have been aware of the Cornish national question in one way or another since childhood. Songs in the pub, overheard comments amongst adults, the flickering flame of our language, graffiti that called for a “Free Kernow” and much more, all of this has fashioned my opinions of today.
The Cornish constitutional question however is a different kettle of slippery fish that I first became aware of back in 2001. Of course I knew there was a ‘Duchy of Cornwall’ but that was as far as it went. The TGG website followed by the works of the Stannary Parliament completed by the book -Our Future Is History- were a real discovery and pushed me in to action.
With the information I had at hand I decided to set about asking the questions that these peoples' findings posed. I wanted answers but also I wanted to demonstrate what one person, inside or outside the Duchy, could do with access to the internet and a keyboard.
Almost the integrality of my letters and responses can be found here and here and here.
I’ve come to a dead end is the sad truth, even the use of the Freedom of Information act has provided little. I have been referred from one government department to another and back again for years now. The two ‘black hole’ like options left open to me are pointless searches through the parliamentary or national archive at great expense (and as we all know with absolutely no chance of finding anything) or asking the Duchy who refuse to respond.
I have no more ideas and I’m open to all suggestions.
My own opinion on the constitutional question is that there is a “let sleeping dogs lie” mode of operation. Most civil servants have absolutely no clue when it comes to the Duchy and only know of Cornwall in terms of an English county. A few more perhaps know that the Duchy of Cornwall is a special beast that seems to exist outside the law. Finally a very small number are aware of the fact that the Duchy is above the law and has a valid legal claim over the territory of Cornwall. It is from this small minority that resonate the lullabies to keep the Cornish dog snoring and ensure difficult questions get snuffed out and inconvenient facts forgotten. Perhaps between the Duchy (Monarchy) on one side and the Westminster government/parliament on the other we have a constitutional game of chicken, the Duchy with its legal claim facing parliament with its political dominance. The sad fact of course is the collateral damage this struggle between royalty and parliament has had on the Cornish identity.
When did all this start and what has really happened? Surely these are questions that our Institute of Cornish Studies needs to answer.
I understand there is a very serious academic proposal on the table at the moment for the Institute of Cornish Studies to consider. They are counteracting this with the suggestion that they would prefer to look into people's PERCEPTIONS of the Cornish constitutional situation.
Sounds a bit of a red herring on behalf of the ICS. Most have had enough of perceptions as they abound and it's the black or white, right or wrong or the yeah or neah of constitutional matters that's important.
You'd think by now that someone at the ICS would have had that Eureka! moment, jumping out from under a dusty Piran flag mumbling "bloody hell, we're not actually part of England".
You can forgive them for it in years gone by but now its all over the internet and they still haven't clocked on.
Is this a run up to the actual truth?
Like a warm up session?
Is there going to be prizes for those who perceive it correctly?
Do you loose points if your perceptions include the words Duke of Cornwall?
Or Charters?
Accused teacher's apology letter
A letter of apology to sex abuse victims was not an admission of guilt a former outdoor instructor says.
Fewer Cornish homes repossessed
Fewer homes have been repossessed in Cornwall in the past year, bucking the national trend.
Man in court over shooting death
A man appears in court charged with murdering the father of his former girlfriend in Cornwall.
Robbery gang sentenced for raids
Five members of an armed gang who committed offences in Devon and Cornwall are sentenced.
Sailor in Spain saved by 999 call
Falmouth Coastguard coordinates the rescue of a missing sailor off Spain after his wife dials 999 in England.
Review urged over toll rise plans
Councillors in Cornwall want plans for a 50% increase in toll charges to cross the River Tamar to be reviewed.
Safety DVD helps migrant workers
A safety DVD aimed at helping migrant workers in Cornwall settle into life in the county is released.
MK CALL ON SW RDA TO SUPPORT SOUTH CROFTY PLAN
Members of the Camborne and Redruth constituency party of Mebyon Kernow have called on both the South West Regional Development Agency (RDA) and the Urban Regeneration Company (URC) for the area to drop any opposition to the current re-opening of South Crofty Mine. The MK members want statements issued in support of the mine.
