Tin and copper mining boom; engine houses rise; rural life shifts as Cornwall enters the industrial age. Methodism becomes the majority religion.
Period
The English Civil War erupted when political, religious, and social disagreements spilled beyond King and Parliament to everyday folk countrywide. MP’s and land-owning families, minor gentry, and yeoman farmers, were divided, though the majority of the Cornish supported the King.
Battles and skirmishes left scars across Cornwall. Iron Age monuments like Castle Dore (a hillfort overlooking the river Fowey), Gear Camp (an earthwork overlooking Helford River), and Castle-an-Dinas (another hillfort with coastal views north and south) all played a part in the turbulent story. Castles like Pendennis, St Michaels Mount, and Restormel, were re-equipped for the use of canon and gunpowder. The downs of Goonhilly and Caradon saw foot-soldiers and cavalry mustering for battle. Towns on marching routes like Truro, Penzance, Bodmin, Launceston, Saltash, Liskeard and Lostwithiel all suffered from both Royalist and Parliamentarian armies.
In the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution saw a renewed demand for Cornish minerals like tin, copper, china clay, granite and slate. Investment brought more roads, railways, canals, and the enlarging of ports, triggering local engineering inventions. Richard Trevithick of Illogan built the first high-pressure steam engine, powering enormous pumps extracting water from deep flooding mines, and the first locomotives for railways and vehicles for roads.
Growing mining communities were ideal congregations for Methodist preachers, and a new Christian movement began. But it was not all respectability and sobriety, it was also a time of highwaymen, smugglers, and pirates.
In the 19th century the fishing industry thrived. Nets hanging in the water with floats and weights could encircle huge shoals of pilchards, capturing thousands. Larger boats braved the dangerous waters of the North Atlantic. This booming economy benefited coastal villages, boat-builders, fish factories, net and pot makers, lighthouse keepers and more.
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