CORNISH SYMBOLS
The National Flag of Cornwall is St. Piran¹s flag, black with a white cross. St. Piran, the patron saint of Cornwall, was initially the patron of miners, the black symbolizing ashes from the tin extraction process, and white for the pure melted tin.
The Coat of Arms displays on the Ducal shield of black with 15 gold balls over the shovel of the miners, King Arthur¹s ³Excalibur² sword, a split Celtic wheel-cross, the dragon from the standard of King Arthur¹s father, Uther Pendragon, and topped with the Ducal crown, held in place by the Chough (pronounced ³chuff² or ³chaw², the National bird. It is a raven with red beak and feet and had been thought extinct in Cornwall, but a mating pair were recently spotted on the coast, symbolic of the Celtic revival in the people of Cornwall. It has been the national emblem for so long that the Welsh word for a Chough is Bran Gernyw (Crow of Cornwall). It is believed to be the guardian of the spirit of King Arthur.
SOME WORLD-FAMOUS
CORNISH PEOPLE
Sir Humphry Davy - Inventor of the safety lamp
Richard Trevithick - Father of the steam engine
Henry Trengrouse - Inventor of
ship-to-shore rocket line
Captain William Bligh - Of Mutiny on the Bounty fame
Goldsworth Gurney - Invented flashes for lighthouses
Mary Newman - Sir. Francis Drake¹s first wife
(Drake born in Devon of
Cornish stock)
Richard Lander - Explorer of the River Niger
Bob Fitzsimmons - World Boxing Champion
John Opie - Portrait painter
Guy Gibson - Dambuster fame |
