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The Cornish folklorist Robert Hunt, in his book
Popular Romances of the
West of England,
 states that in eastern Cornwall
'all the marks of any peculiar kind found
on rocks... are almost always attributed to Arthur' and that
'King Arthur's beds, and chairs, and caves . . . are
frequently to be met with'.
How right he was. There is a rich vein
of Arthurian adventure running through Cornwall.
Places associated with the Once
and Future King are never far away. There many places for you to visit, and
enjoy.
Tintagel
is a good place to start because there is a strong tradition that this is where
King Arthur was conceived, and possibly born.
The north Cornwall coast is so exciting to
visit, with its ancient villages of Port Isaac, Boscastle, Padstowe, and
St Ives.
There are many other places of
Arthurian interest in the Duchy.
St Michael's Mount, is a spectacular island
to visit on the south coast.
Callington is a possible site of the famous 'Kelliwic'
which was one of King Arthur's great fortresses or
Courts.
This ancient fortress could have
been built just outside Callington on nearby
Kit Hill
which overlooks not only the town but also both the Tamar Valley as far as
Dartmoor and across the
Lyhner
Valley to Bodmin Moor.
Bodmin
Moor has many ancient sites identified with Arthur, including
Dozmary Pool,
possibly the Lake into which Sir Bedivere cast
Excalibur, after Arthur's
last
Battle of Camlann,
which may have been fought at
Slaughter Bridge, near
Camelford.
At Slaughterbridge you can visit The Arthurian
Centre with its nationally acclaimed Land of Arthur
exhibition.
Art
Since the 19th century, Cornwall, with its
unspoilt maritime scenery and strong light, has sustained a vibrant visual art
scene of international renown.
Artistic activity within Cornwall was initially
centred on the art-colony of Newlyn, most active at the turn of the
century, and associated with the names: Stanhope Forbes, Elizabeth Forbes,
Norman Garstin and Lamorna Birch.
Writers
Modernist writers such as D. H. Lawrence and
Virginia Woolf lived in Cornwall between the wars, and Ben Nicholson, the
painter, having visited in the 1920s came to live in St Ives with his then wife,
the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, at the outbreak of the second world war.
They were later joined by the Russian emigrant
Naum Gabo, and other artists. These included Peter Lanyon, Terry Frost, Patrick
Heron, Bryan Wynter and Roger Hilton. St Ives also houses the Leach Pottery,
where Bernard Leach, and his followers championed Japanese inspired studio
pottery. Much of this modernist work can be seen in
Tate St Ives.
The Newlyn Society and Penwith Society of Arts
continue to be active, and contemporary visual art is documented in a dedicated
online journal.
Music and Festivals
Cornwall has a rich and vibrant folk music tradition which has survived into the
present. Cornwall is well-known for its unusual folk survivals such as Mummers
Plays, the Furry Dance in Helston, and Obby Oss in Padstow.
 As
with other former mining districts of Britain, Male voice choirs and Brass Band
are still very popular in Cornwall.
Cornish players are regular participants in inter-Celtic festivals, and Cornwall
itself has several lively inter-Celtic festivals such as Perranporth's Lowender
Peran folk festival.
On a more modern note, contemporary musician Richard D. James (also known as
Aphex Twin) grew up in Cornwall, as did Luke Vibert (of Wagon Christ and Plug
fame) and Alex Parks winner of Fame Academy 2003. Roger Taylor, the drummer from
the band Queen was also raised in the county, and currently lives not too far
from Falmouth. The American Singer/Songwriter Tori Amos now resides
predominantly in North Cornwall not far from Bude with her family.
Literature
Cornwall produced a substantial amount of passion plays during the Middle Ages.
Many are still extant, and provide valuable information about the Cornish
language. Charles Causley, Launceston lad and poet laureate.
Daphne du Maurier lived in Cornwall and set many of her novels there, including
Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel, and The House on the
Strand. She is also noted for writing Vanishing Cornwall. Cornwall provided the
inspiration for The Birds, one of her terrifying series of short stories, made
famous as a film by Alfred Hitchcock. Hammond Innes' novel, The Killer Mine,
Charles de Lint's novel The Little Country, Winston Graham's series Poldark,
Kate Tremayne's Adam Loveday series, Susan Cooper's novels Over Sea, Under Stone
and Greenwitch, Mary Wesley's The Camomile Lawn and Gilbert and Sullivan's
operettas The Pirates of Penzance and Ruddigore are all set in Cornwall. Also of
the trilogy by Monica Furlong, Juniper, and Colman take place in medieval
Cornwall. Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Devil's Foot featuring Sherlock
Holmes is set in Cornwall. Highly respected spy author John Le Carré lives and
writes in Cornwall
The Nobel-prizewinning novelist William Golding was born in St Columb Minor in
1911, and returned to live near Truro from 1985 until his death in 1993. The
Scottish poet W. S. Graham lived in West Cornwall from 1944 until his death in
1986. The late Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman was famously fond of Cornwall and
it featured prominently in his poetry. He is buried in the churchyard at St
Enodoc's Church, Trebetherick.
 Prolific
writer Colin Wilson, best known for his debut work The Outsider (1956) and for
The Mind Parasites (1967), lives in Gorran Haven, a little village on the
southern Cornish coast, not far from Mevagissey and St Austell.
Chapters 24 and 25 of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows take
place at Shell Cottage, which is on the beach outside the fictional village of
Tinworth in Cornwall.
The second act of Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde takes place in
Cornwall.
 A
level of Computer Game Tomb Raider: Legend is set in Cornwall. This game deals
with Arthurian Legend, and takes place in Cornwall at a museum above King
Arthur's tomb. |
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