CORNWALL FOR EVER!

To understand ourselves we need to know where we have come from and to know something of our roots. This excellent book will help you to do this and I hope will encourage you to discover more about the wonderful place that is your home – Cornwall.

I am enormously proud and privileged to be the Duke of Cornwall and I have always believed that Cornwall and the people who live here are very special. This is so because of the place that Cornwall is. It is an ancient land, formed of ancient rocks, shaped by the sea, the wind, the rain and the sun. It has an incomparable coastline, magnificent uplands, secret valleys and tranquil estuaries. Its villages and towns, its harbours and ports, each have their own Cornish distinctiveness.

The uniqueness of Cornwall lies also in its history. Its very many prehistoric sites, its medieval buildings and its latter-day monuments all add to Cornwall’s distinctiveness.

These, too, have helped shape the Cornish people, with their own special beliefs, myths and folk stories, their language and dialect, their courage, their sense of adventure and their inventiveness. The Cornish have always made their mark on the world, at home and abroad, on the sea, down the mines and on the land. I believe we can all take pride in Cornwall’s heroes and heroines, as well as in the ordinary people of Cornwall who often had to endure conditions of great adversity. They are examples to us as we begin our journey in a new Century and a new Millennium.

But we cannot take Cornwall’s future for granted. If Cornwall is to be successful in times to come, and if Cornwall and its people are to keep their Cornishness, it will need all the optimism, confidence, determination and skill that you – our next generation – can muster. You will all come to carry an important responsibility for preserving the Cornish way of looking at life, the Cornish language and dialect, the Cornish culture and identity, and the very appearance of Cornwall.

I pray that the picture of Cornwall you will find in this book will reinforce your love of this particularly special part of Britain.