Britishness, what it is and what it could be, is now high on both ...

Myths of origin <strong>and</strong> sacred places
Once equipped w<strong>it</strong>h a name, Cornwall <strong>could</strong> <strong>be</strong>gin to <strong>be</strong> shaped symbolically. In add<strong>it</strong>ion
to the acqu<strong>is</strong><strong>it</strong>ion of a collective name, Sm<strong>it</strong>h descri<strong>be</strong>s the main components of th<strong>is</strong>
shaping as a myth of ancestry, tracing the collective group back to a single origin, <strong>and</strong>
h<strong>is</strong>torical memories. 78 In the myth of origin popular<strong>is</strong>ed by Geoffrey of Monmouth’s
H<strong>is</strong>toria Regum Br<strong>it</strong>anniae in the twelfth century, Br<strong>it</strong>ain was settled by Brutus, who
arrived from Troy <strong>and</strong> divided the <strong>is</strong>l<strong>and</strong> <strong>be</strong>tween h<strong>is</strong> three sons who ruled <strong>what</strong> later
<strong>be</strong>came Engl<strong>and</strong>, Scotl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> Wales. However, Brutus was also accompanied by h<strong>is</strong>
kinsman Corineus who was given the l<strong>and</strong> of Cornwall. In Geoffrey’s account, Cornwall
therefore possessed a d<strong>is</strong>tinct location, outside the tripart<strong>it</strong>e realm of Br<strong>it</strong>ain. 79 By the
nineteenth century Corineus had <strong>be</strong>en supplanted in the popular imagination by a
different myth of Med<strong>it</strong>erranean origins: from the Phoenicians, who were attracted to
Cornwall by the lure of tin. 80
Th<strong>is</strong> co-ex<strong>is</strong>ted w<strong>it</strong>h a self-image as “Br<strong>it</strong>ons” or “ancient Br<strong>it</strong>ons”. While the Welsh
remained conscious of their Br<strong>it</strong><strong>is</strong>h inher<strong>it</strong>ance into the seventeenth century, 81 there <strong>is</strong>
less evidence for a similar <strong>be</strong>lief in Cornwall. Such an underst<strong>and</strong>ing may well have <strong>be</strong>en
current w<strong>it</strong>hin a Corn<strong>is</strong>h language culture. However, in a some<strong>what</strong> obscure process, the
Corn<strong>is</strong>h language had d<strong>is</strong>appeared from eastern Cornwall <strong>be</strong>fore the Black Death. It then
stabil<strong>is</strong>ed for two centuries or more, w<strong>it</strong>h a north-south dividing line in mid-Cornwall
<strong>be</strong>tween mainly Corn<strong>is</strong>h <strong>and</strong> mainly Engl<strong>is</strong>h-speaking areas. 82 But the num<strong>be</strong>r of Corn<strong>is</strong>h
speakers declined after the Reformation <strong>and</strong> any awareness of Br<strong>it</strong><strong>is</strong>h origins w<strong>it</strong>hin that
culture was then lost to the h<strong>is</strong>torical record. Wr<strong>it</strong>ten evidence for a pride in a Br<strong>it</strong><strong>is</strong>h
background first appeared in the manuscript compiled by the east Corn<strong>is</strong>h l<strong>and</strong>owner,
William Scawen, completed late in h<strong>is</strong> life around 1685. 83 That he may not have <strong>be</strong>en a
lone voice <strong>is</strong> suggested by a letter from William Borlase, Cornwall’s pre-eminent
eighteenth century natural<strong>is</strong>t <strong>and</strong> antiquarian, to Thomas Tonkin in 1730. Borlase warned
Tonkin that h<strong>is</strong> <strong>be</strong>lief that he had found Roman remains in Cornwall led him to run the
r<strong>is</strong>k he “will incur the severe censure of some Antient Br<strong>it</strong>ons who value themselves
above all things, like their brethren in Wales, upon their never having <strong>be</strong>en overcome by
the Romans”. 84 In the nineteenth century, we have more evidence for the adoption of the
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