Graph showing Cornwall’s population from 1800 to 2000Cornwall’s population was 537,400 in the 2011 census, with a population density of 144 people per square kilometre, ranking it 40th and 41st, respectively, among the 47 counties of England. Cornwall’s population was 95.7% White British and has a relatively high rate of population growth. At 11.2% in the 1980s and 5.3% in the 1990s, it had the fifth-highest population growth rate of the counties of England. The natural change has been a small population decline, and the population increase is due to inward migration into Cornwall. Cornwall is the landing point for twenty-two of the world’s fastest high-speed undersea and transatlantic fibre optic cables, making Cornwall an important hub within Europe’s Internet infrastructure. The Superfast Cornwall project completed in 2015, and saw 95% of Cornish houses and businesses connected to a fibre-based broadband network, with over 90% of properties able to connect with speeds above 24 Mbit/s.
The national tree is a sessile oak which is known locally as a Cornish oak. The effects of the Gulf Stream mean that Cornwall has the sunniest climate in the UK. Warm ocean currents ensure that snow and frost are rare in Cornwall even during the winter months.
The sudden rise and demand of tourism in Cornwall caused multiple traffic and safety issues in coastal areas. A Cornish pastyCornwall is perhaps best known though for its pasties, a savoury dish made with pastry. Today’s pasties usually contain a filling of beef steak, onion, potato and swede with salt and white pepper, but historically pasties had a variety of different fillings. “”Turmut, ‘tates and mate”” (i.e. “”Turnip, potatoes and meat””, turnip being the Cornish and Scottish term for swede, itself an abbreviation of ‘Swedish Turnip’, the British term for rutabaga) describes a filling once very common.
It is believed that humans first started visiting Cornwall between 400,000 BC and 200,000 BC. Cornwall has plenty of award-winning local food producers and celebrity chefs putting the region on the gourmet map. So much so, that around 220 acres of Truro, one of the county’s capitals, are designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
They see Cornwall’s language, landscape, Celtic identity, political history, patterns of settlement, maritime tradition, industrial heritage, and non-conformist tradition, to be among the features making up its “”distinctive”” culture. However, it is uncertain exactly how many of the people living in Cornwall consider themselves to be Cornish; results from different surveys have varied. In the 2001 census, 7 per cent of people in Cornwall identified themselves as Cornish, rather than British or English.
Dogs are restricted on the designated beaches at the times listed below Cornwall Council enforces restrictions at the following beaches which are all part of a Public Spaces Protection Order. Other privately owned beaches may have their own local restrictions in force. Falmouth, the harbour town with a bustling shopping centre and beaches with blue flags. We all love a bit of freedom when on holiday and by going self-catering in Cornwall you can enjoy it by the bucket load. Bring the whole family and rent a sprawling apartment complete with all the mod cons and better-than-at-home touches, or pick an intimate fisherman’s cottage perched on the harbourside for the ultimate romantic hideaway.
It’s said that over 20% of people in Cornwall work in the tourism industry – difficult in those winter months. Speaking of Padstow, the Obby Oss Festival is one of the most important weekends in the harbour town, and I’ve been! Many years ago but I was there watching the May Day folk festival take place. One of the most interesting facts about Cornwall for history lovers is that King Arthur is believed to have been born here, in Tintagel. There are many mysteries and stories surrounding his existence, one of our favourites is that he was believed to have been protected from evil by Merlin the magician who lived below the castle in a cave.
The Cornish language continued to be spoken, particularly in west and mid Cornwall, and evolved a number of characteristics that began to separate it from its descendant language of Breton. The latter also went through evolution over the centuries, however they remain exceedingly similar. As well, Cornwall showed a very different type of settlement pattern from that of Saxon Wessex and places continued, even after 1066, to be named in the Celtic Cornish tradition. Mills argues that the Breton rulers of Cornwall, as allies of the Normans, brought about an ‘Armorican Return’ with Cornu-Breton retaining its status as a prestige language. In the west, Devon and Cornwall held out as the British kingdom of Dumnonia.