136-611: Redruth ( / r ə ˈ d r uː θ / rə- DROOTH , Cornish : Resrudh ) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall , England, United Kingdom. According to the 2011 census, the population of Redruth was 14,018 In the same year the population of the Camborne -Redruth urban area, which also includes Carn Brea , Illogan and several outlying villages, stood at 55,400 which made it the largest conurbation in Cornwall. Redruth lies approximately at
272-620: A Technology College , is a secondary school, for ages 11–16. It used to have a sixth form , for students aged 11 to 16, however, it closed applications for new students in 2016 and officially closed in 2020 due to funding cuts. The town used to have a coeducational independent school, Highfields Private School , but it closed in 2012. Primary schools within the town include Pennoweth School, Treleigh School, Treloweth Community Primary School, Trewirgie Infant School and Trewirgie Junior School. The Curnow Community Special School caters for students with special needs. The Passmore Edwards Free Library
408-452: A 100% interest of the property and assets of the mine. By 2012, the area covered by South Crofty extended over the setts of some 34 former mines, and Celeste Copper Corporation estimated that there were about 7.95 million tonnes of tin in the mine, valued at £1.5 billion ($ 2.4 billion). The company said it planned to start pumping out the shallower workings in the Dolcoath section in 2013 at
544-556: A Cornish translation of Ælfric of Eynsham 's Latin-Old English Glossary, which is thematically arranged into several groups, such as the Genesis creation narrative , anatomy, church hierarchy, the family, names for various kinds of artisans and their tools, flora, fauna, and household items. The manuscript was widely thought to be in Old Welsh until the 18th century when it was identified as Cornish by Edward Lhuyd . Some Brittonic glosses in
680-544: A basis, and Nicholas Williams published a revised version of Unified; however neither of these systems gained the popularity of Unified or Kemmyn. The revival entered a period of factionalism and public disputes, with each orthography attempting to push the others aside. By the time that Cornish was recognised by the UK government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 2002, it had become recognised that
816-505: A complete version of a traditional folk tale, John of Chyanhor , a short story about a man from St Levan who goes far to the east seeking work, eventually returning home after three years to find that his wife has borne him a child during his absence. In 1776, William Bodinar, who describes himself as having learned Cornish from old fishermen when he was a boy, wrote a letter to Daines Barrington in Cornish, with an English translation, which
952-470: A cost of £2.6 million. However, in November 2012, UNESCO called for a halt on work to reopen the mine until "an assessment had been made of the project's impact" because it said it had not been consulted before planning consent was granted in 2011. South Crofty is located within the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape which had been designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2006. In June 2013
1088-456: A drainage adit was begun. Over the next twenty years these shallow workings (less than 40 metres or 130 feet deep) produced copper of great value and made the fortune of the Bassett family. Following the opening of the numerous copper mines on Anglesey , which occurred in the 1770-1780 period, most of the mines around South Crofty closed down. By 1822, copper ore was being raised at a new mine in
1224-474: A far cry from the jumble of mining activity that had taken place there in the early 19th century. Redruth was making its transition from a market town dominated by mines and industry to a residential centre. Cornwall's last fully operational mine, South Crofty at Pool between Redruth and Camborne , closed in March 1998. The Camborne and Redruth constituency was created for the 2010 general election , following
1360-539: A lampoon of either of the Tudor kings Henry VII or Henry VIII . Others are the Charter Fragment , the earliest known continuous text in the Cornish language, apparently part of a play about a medieval marriage, and Pascon agan Arluth ( The Passion of Our Lord ), a poem probably intended for personal worship, were written during this period, probably in the second half of the 14th century. Another important text,
1496-493: A leisure centre, but latterly for a housing and business park. In 2003, 2006, and 2007 CPR threatened Baseresult with a Compulsory Purchase Order of the site. South Crofty cited the reason for delays in re-commencing mining as the repeated demand by Cornwall Council for Review of Mineral Planning Permissions (ROMPs), which the Council first requested in 2002. After three further reviews submitted by Baseresult in 2002, 2004 and 2005,
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#17328448982161632-841: A less substantial body of literature than the Middle Cornish period, but the sources are more varied in nature, including songs, poems about fishing and curing pilchards , and various translations of verses from the Bible, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer and the Creed. Edward Lhuyd's Archaeologia Britannica , which was mainly recorded in the field from native speakers in the early 1700s, and his unpublished field notebook are seen as important sources of Cornish vocabulary, some of which are not found in any other source. Archaeologia Britannica also features
1768-503: A lesser extent French entered the Cornish language throughout its history. Whereas only 5% of the vocabulary of the Old Cornish Vocabularium Cornicum is thought to be borrowed from English, and only 10% of the lexicon of the early modern Cornish writer William Rowe, around 42% of the vocabulary of the whole Cornish corpus is estimated to be English loan words, without taking frequency into account. (However, when frequency
1904-498: A manifesto demanding a return to the old religious services and included an article that concluded, "and so we the Cornyshe men (whereof certen of us understande no Englysh) utterly refuse thys newe Englysh." In response to their articles, the government spokesman (either Philip Nichols or Nicholas Udall ) wondered why they did not just ask the king for a version of the liturgy in their own language. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer asked why
2040-734: A marriage ceremony from being conducted in Cornish as the Marriage Act 1949 only allowed for marriage ceremonies in English or Welsh. In 2014, the Cornish people were recognised by the UK Government as a national minority under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities . The FCNM provides certain rights and protections to a national minority with regard to their minority language. In 2016, British government funding for
2176-535: A mixture of English and Brittonic influences, and, like other Cornish literature, may have been written at Glasney College near Penryn . From this period also are the hagiographical dramas Beunans Meriasek ( The Life of Meriasek ) and Bewnans Ke ( The Life of Ke ), both of which feature as an antagonist the villainous and tyrannical King Tewdar (or Teudar), a historical medieval king in Armorica and Cornwall, who, in these plays, has been interpreted as
2312-631: A number of orthographic, and phonological, distinctions not found in Unified Cornish. Kernewek Kemmyn is characterised by the use of universal ⟨k⟩ for /k/ (instead of ⟨c⟩ before back vowels as in Unified); ⟨hw⟩ for /hw/, instead of ⟨wh⟩ as in Unified; and ⟨y⟩, ⟨oe⟩, and ⟨eu⟩ to represent the phonemes /ɪ/, /o/, and /œ/ respectively, which are not found in Unified Cornish. Criticism of all of these systems, especially Kernewek Kemmyn, by Nicolas Williams, resulted in
2448-674: A number of toponyms, for example bre 'hill', din 'fort', and bro 'land', and a variety of animal names such as logoden 'mouse', mols ' wether ', mogh 'pigs', and tarow 'bull'. During the Roman occupation of Britain a large number (around 800) of Latin loan words entered the vocabulary of Common Brittonic, which subsequently developed in a similar way to the inherited lexicon. These include brech 'arm' (from British Latin bracc(h)ium ), ruid 'net' (from retia ), and cos 'cheese' (from caseus ). A substantial number of loan words from English and to
2584-504: A number of verbs commonly found in other languages, including modals and psych-verbs; examples are 'have', 'like', 'hate', 'prefer', 'must/have to' and 'make/compel to'. These functions are instead fulfilled by periphrastic constructions involving a verb and various prepositional phrases. The grammar of Cornish shares with other Celtic languages a number of features which, while not unique, are unusual in an Indo-European context. The grammatical features most unfamiliar to English speakers of
2720-545: A review of parliamentary representation in Cornwall by the Boundary Commission for England , which increased the number of seats in the county from five to six. It is primarily a successor to the former Falmouth and Camborne seat. In the 2024 United Kingdom general election the results were: Redruth until the late 1800s comprised the Redruth Urban District and Redruth Rural District . The urban district
2856-590: A study by Kenneth MacKinnon in 2000. Jenefer Lowe of the Cornish Language Partnership said in an interview with the BBC in 2010 that there were around 300 fluent speakers. Bert Biscoe , a councillor and bard, in a statement to the Western Morning News in 2014 said there were "several hundred fluent speakers". Cornwall Council estimated in 2015 that there were 300–400 fluent speakers who used
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#17328448982162992-525: A variety of reasons by Jon Mills and Nicholas Williams , including making phonological distinctions that they state were not made in the traditional language c. 1500 , failing to make distinctions that they believe were made in the traditional language at this time, and the use of an orthography that deviated too far from the traditional texts and Unified Cornish. Also during this period, Richard Gendall created his Modern Cornish system (also known as Revived Late Cornish), which used Late Cornish as
3128-469: A year since 1906, was increased to 92,000 tons in 1959 following improvements in both mine and mill. Production exceeded 100,000 tons in 1968 for the first time. Black tin production was steady at between 500 and 800 tons a year from 1907 to 1956, excluding a break in production during the tin price slump of the early 1920s. Wolframite and arsenic was also produced at the mine, the former accounting for around 50 tons to 150 tons between 1907 and 1956, and
3264-434: Is taken into account, this figure for the entire corpus drops to 8%.) The many English loanwords, some of which were sufficiently well assimilated to acquire native Cornish verbal or plural suffixes or be affected by the mutation system, include redya 'to read', onderstondya 'to understand', ford 'way', hos 'boot' and creft 'art'. Many Cornish words, such as mining and fishing terms, are specific to
3400-617: Is a Southwestern Brittonic language, a branch of the Insular Celtic section of the Celtic language family , which is a sub-family of the Indo-European language family. Brittonic also includes Welsh , Breton , Cumbric and possibly Pictish , the last two of which are extinct . Scottish Gaelic , Irish and Manx are part of the separate Goidelic branch of Insular Celtic. Joseph Loth viewed Cornish and Breton as being two dialects of
3536-429: Is a steeply wooded valley, with Carn Brea on one side and the now-called Bullers Hill on the other. The presence of shallow lodes of tin and copper lying east to west made it an advantageous site for extracting metals, including, tin, lead and copper. The first settlers stayed by a crossing in the river and started extracting metal ores, and this process turned the colour of the river red. Historically, Redruth
3672-641: Is an Anchor point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage . It is home to Cornwall's first ILR Radio Station, Pirate FM . On 20 June 2008, the town held its first regular Farmers' Market in Market Place: the Market will now be held every Friday throughout the year. Redruth is an important transport hub. The railway station is a railhead for both Helston and the Lizard , and there are frequent buses connecting
3808-620: Is inherited direct from Proto-Celtic , either through the ancestral Proto-Indo-European language, or through vocabulary borrowed from unknown substrate language(s) at some point in the development of the Celtic proto-language from PIE. Examples of the PIE > PCelt. development are various terms related to kinship and people, including mam 'mother', modereb 'aunt, mother's sister', huir 'sister', mab 'son', gur 'man', den 'person, human', and tus 'people', and words for parts of
3944-522: Is now the Redruth Civic Centre and home of Redruth Town Council, as well as the Redruth Library and Information Service. The Mining Exchange building was used as a housing advice centre (it was built in 1880 as accommodation for share brokers). The Old Courthouse , which once accommodated the local council, was completed in 1850. The house now called Murdoch (or, sometimes Murdock) House in
4080-706: Is of Norman foundation but was rebuilt in 1756. The patron saint is also honoured at Lelant. The tower is two centuries earlier and the whole church is built of granite. A chapel of ease was built in the town in 1828 but it is no longer in use. Other places of worship include the Wesleyan Church of 1826, the Free Methodist Church of 1864 (in grand Italianate style) and the Quaker Meeting House of 1833 (no longer in use). The former post office in Alma Place
4216-590: Is the -ruth (and not the Red- part of the name) which means the colour red. Beroul 's Roman de Tristan features a location in Cornwall called Crois Rouge in Norman French or 'red cross' in English. Traditionally in the Penwith Hundred , the town has developed away from the original settlement, which was near where the present Churchtown (around St. Euny 's Church) district of Redruth stands today. This location
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4352-420: Is the older form of 'Res', which is a Cornish equivalent to a ford (across a river), a common Celtic word; Old Cornish rid ; Welsh rhyd (Old Welsh rit ); Old Breton rit or ret , Gaulish ritu- , all from Indo-European *prtus derived word in -tu from the root *per " to cross, to go through "; Proto-Germanic *furdúz (English ford, German Furt ); Latin portus , all related to the Celtic word. Again, it
4488-447: Is to support the language, in line with the European Charter. A motion was passed in November 2009 in which the council promoted the inclusion of Cornish, as appropriate and where possible, in council publications and on signs. This plan has drawn some criticism. In October 2015, The council announced that staff would be encouraged to use "basic words and phrases" in Cornish when dealing with the public. In 2021 Cornwall Council prohibited
4624-633: The Tregear Homilies , was realized to be Cornish in 1949, having previously been incorrectly classified as Welsh. It is the longest text in the traditional Cornish language, consisting of around 30,000 words of continuous prose. This text is a late 16th century translation of twelve of Bishop Bonner 's thirteen homilies by a certain John Tregear, tentatively identified as a vicar of St Allen from Crowan , and has an additional catena, Sacrament an Alter, added later by his fellow priest, Thomas Stephyn. In
4760-525: The Cranken Rhyme , a corrupted version of a verse or song published in the late 19th century by John Hobson Matthews , recorded orally by John Davey (or Davy) of Boswednack , of uncertain date but probably originally composed during the last years of the traditional language. Davey had traditional knowledge of at least some Cornish. John Kelynack (1796–1885), a fisherman of Newlyn, was sought by philologists for old Cornish words and technical phrases in
4896-687: The Common Brittonic spoken throughout Britain south of the Firth of Forth during the British Iron Age and Roman period . As a result of westward Anglo-Saxon expansion , the Britons of the southwest were separated from those in modern-day Wales and Cumbria , which Jackson links to the defeat of the Britons at the Battle of Deorham in about 577. The western dialects eventually evolved into modern Welsh and
5032-569: The High Court on the basis that it had not been involved in the consultation process. The price of tin increased from below $ 4,000/tonne in 2002 to over $ 17,000/tonne in March 2010, and the economic viability of the South Crofty mine, with identified and inferred reserves of about 50,000 tonnes of tin (in 1994 ) had improved considerably. In May 2011, a Canadian company, Celeste Copper Corporation, entered into an earn-in agreement to acquire up to
5168-492: The 'glotticide' of the Cornish language was mainly a result of the Cornish gentry adopting English to dissociate themselves from the reputation for disloyalty and rebellion associated with the Cornish language since the 1497 uprising. By the middle of the 17th century, the language had retreated to Penwith and Kerrier , and transmission of the language to new generations had almost entirely ceased. In his Survey of Cornwall , published in 1602, Richard Carew writes: [M]ost of
5304-463: The 10-fathom (60 ft; 18 m) level drilling a crosscut north from the Tuckingmill Decline to New Cooks Kitchen Shaft. In 2006, equipment from the dormant Wheal Jane processing plant was purchased, and although some of this was outdated, it was planned that some elements would be refurbished at South Crofty to be used in the new mill adjacent to the decline entrance. Local support for
5440-601: The 1549 edition of the English Book of Common Prayer as the sole legal form of worship in England, including Cornwall, people in many areas of Cornwall did not speak or understand English. The passing of this Act was one of the causes of the Prayer Book Rebellion (which may also have been influenced by government repression after the failed Cornish rebellion of 1497 ), with "the commoners of Devonshyre and Cornwall" producing
5576-497: The 16th century, resulting in the nasals /nn/ and /mm/ being realised as [ᵈn] and [ᵇm] respectively in stressed syllables, and giving Late Cornish forms such as pedn 'head' (Welsh pen ) and kabm 'crooked' (Welsh cam ). As a revitalised language , the phonology of contemporary spoken Cornish is based on a number of sources, including various reconstructions of the sound system of middle and early modern Cornish based on an analysis of internal evidence such as
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5712-448: The 1970s. Criticism of Nance's system, particularly the relationship of spelling to sounds and the phonological basis of Unified Cornish, resulted in rival orthographies appearing by the early 1980s, including Gendal's Modern Cornish , based on Late Cornish native writers and Lhuyd, and Ken George's Kernewek Kemmyn , a mainly morphophonemic orthography based on George's reconstruction of Middle Cornish c. 1500 , which features
5848-486: The 1980s, Ken George published a new system, Kernewek Kemmyn ('Common Cornish'), based on a reconstruction of the phonological system of Middle Cornish, but with an approximately morphophonemic orthography . It was subsequently adopted by the Cornish Language Board and was the written form used by a reported 54.5% of all Cornish language users according to a survey in 2008, but was heavily criticised for
5984-507: The 19th century. It is difficult to state with certainty when Cornish ceased to be spoken, due to the fact that its last speakers were of relatively low social class and that the definition of what constitutes "a living language" is not clear cut. Peter Pool argues that by 1800 nobody was using Cornish as a daily language and no evidence exists of anyone capable of conversing in the language at that date. However, passive speakers , semi-speakers and rememberers , who retain some competence in
6120-510: The 20th century, including the growth in number of speakers. In 2002, Cornish was recognized by the UK government under Part II of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . UNESCO 's Atlas of World Languages classifies Cornish as "critically endangered". UNESCO has said that a previous classification of 'extinct' "does not reflect the current situation for Cornish" and is "no longer accurate". Cornwall Council 's policy
6256-544: The 9th-century colloquy De raris fabulis were once identified as Old Cornish, but they are more likely Old Welsh, possibly influenced by a Cornish scribe. No single phonological feature distinguishes Cornish from both Welsh and Breton until the beginning of the assibilation of dental stops in Cornish, which is not found before the second half of the eleventh century, and it is not always possible to distinguish Old Cornish, Old Breton, and Old Welsh orthographically. The Cornish language continued to flourish well through
6392-701: The Barncoose Industrial Estate . It is intended to reduce HGV traffic using the main Camborne road and provide a direct access to the Industrial Estate. It did, however, provoke some controversy, as some residents in Barncoose lost their parking spaces to make way for the new road. It was extended further towards Camborne in 2016. Redruth has been a major centre for Cornish wrestling for centuries. The ancient traditional location for wrestling tournaments
6528-504: The Cornish Language . The publication of this book is often considered to be the point at which the revival movement started. Jenner wrote about the Cornish language in 1905, "one may fairly say that most of what there was of it has been preserved, and that it has been continuously preserved, for there has never been a time when there were not some Cornishmen who knew some Cornish." The revival focused on reconstructing and standardising
6664-889: The Cornish language ceased, and responsibility transferred to Cornwall Council. Until around the middle of the 11th century, Old Cornish scribes used a traditional spelling system shared with Old Breton and Old Welsh, based on the pronunciation of British Latin . By the time of the Vocabularium Cornicum , usually dated to around 1100, Old English spelling conventions, such as the use of thorn (Þ, þ) and eth (Ð, ð) for dental fricatives , and wynn (Ƿ, ƿ) for /w/, had come into use, allowing documents written at this time to be distinguished from Old Welsh, which rarely uses these characters, and Old Breton, which does not use them at all. Old Cornish features include using initial ⟨ch⟩, ⟨c⟩, or ⟨k⟩ for /k/, and, in internal and final position, ⟨p⟩, ⟨t⟩, ⟨c⟩, ⟨b⟩, ⟨d⟩, and ⟨g⟩ are generally used for
6800-438: The Cornish orthography within them. Around 1700, Edward Lhuyd visited Cornwall, introducing his own partly phonetic orthography that he used in his Archaeologia Britannica , which was adopted by some local writers, leading to the use of some Lhuydian features such as the use of circumflexes to denote long vowels, ⟨k⟩ before front vowels, word-final ⟨i⟩, and the use of ⟨dh⟩ to represent the voiced dental fricative /ð/. After
6936-572: The Cornish-speaking area was largely coterminous with modern-day Cornwall , after the Saxons had taken over Devon in their south-westward advance, which probably was facilitated by a second migration wave to Brittany that resulted in the partial depopulation of Devon. The earliest written record of the Cornish language comes from this period: a 9th-century gloss in a Latin manuscript of De Consolatione Philosophiae by Boethius , which used
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#17328448982167072-503: The Cornishmen should be offended by holding the service in English, when they had before held it in Latin , which even fewer of them could understand. Anthony Fletcher points out that this rebellion was primarily motivated by religious and economic, rather than linguistic, concerns. The rebellion prompted a heavy-handed response from the government, and 5,500 people died during the fighting and
7208-492: The Council finally granted permission for the mine in September 2006. One month later CPR Regeneration announced that they would be applying for a Compulsory Purchase Order , and published plans for a multimillion-pound development of 150 acres (0.61 km ) including the South Crofty site. However, by March 2012, CPR Regeneration had ceased operational activity. In November 2007, a new company named Western United Mines Limited
7344-555: The Middle Cornish ( Kernewek Kres ) period (1200–1600), reaching a peak of about 39,000 speakers in the 13th century, after which the number started to decline. This period provided the bulk of traditional Cornish literature , and was used to reconstruct the language during its revival. Most important is the Ordinalia , a cycle of three mystery plays, Origo Mundi , Passio Christi and Resurrexio Domini . Together these provide about 8,734 lines of text. The three plays exhibit
7480-530: The Robinson Shaft as the secondary access shaft of access. However, after several more years of depressed tin prices, South Crofty Ltd announced in August 1997 that closure was imminent, and after further attempts at the time to keep the mine open, closure was completed by March 1998. In March 2001, a new locally formed company named Baseresult Holdings Ltd. bought the mine with the stated aim of re-opening it. In
7616-524: The South Crofty mine. In October 2017, following successful water treatment trials, Strongbow announced that it had received a dewatering permit from the UK Environment Agency allowing the discharge of up to 25,000 cubic metres of treated water per day into the Red River. The granting of this permit means South Crofty is fully permitted to work towards a production decision. By early 2018 the funding
7752-595: The South Crofty site was placed into administration. In October 2015 a local newspaper again raised the idea that the mine could be reopened. In March 2016 it was revealed that the Canadian company Strongbow Exploration had acquired, from administration, a 100% interest in the South Crofty Tin Project and associated mineral rights in Cornwall. In April 2017 Strongbow announced that it has filed an NI 43-101 Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for
7888-613: The US. The results of the fight were disputed and at a later brawl in a hotel between the two, Carkeek bit off Pearce's ear. In August, Carkeek defeated Philip Hancock, although there were accusations that Hancock threw the fight. In 1889, Redruth hosted the tournament for "Championship of World", where many wrestlers descended on Redruth, including Carkeek, who eventually won. The Interceltic games were held in Redruth in 1933 and 1972. Men from Redruth were very successful in Cornish wrestling throughout
8024-904: The United States, and Real del Monte in Mexico. A museum organised by the Old Cornwall Society is housed in the Town Council office at the bottom of the main street. Redruth is also home to Carn Brea , which has most historical interest. The Carn, however, is not the highest point in Redruth; it is beaten slightly by Carnmenellis , south west of the town centre. Redruth Rugby Football Club currently play in National League 2 South (tier 4 of rugby union in England). Players such as Phil Vickery and Rob Thirlby have both passed through its ranks though
8160-466: The adjacent New Cooks Kitchen mine. Improvements were made in the mine and the deepening of Robinsons Shaft commenced in 1903. The mine returned to profit and in 1906 a new era began, with the incorporation of South Crofty Limited. By 1908, the Robinsons Shaft had been sunk to the 205-fathom (1,230 ft; 375 m) level and work had begun on a second new shaft at New Cooks Kitchen. Increasing use
8296-466: The alias Kerrier District ; a reference to name of the district in which Redruth is located. Hedluv + Passman both grew up in Redruth, and wrote the song "'druth" in tribute to the town. The traditional Cornish dance and music group, Hevva is based in Redruth. The historians Kenneth Hamilton Jenkin and Charles Thomas were also born in Redruth, and the Victorian philanthropist John Passmore Edwards
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#17328448982168432-434: The anticipation of its reopening at the end of 2009 after further investment of £50 million. The owners of the mine stated that it had the "potential for a mining life of eighty years". On 28 November 2007, the owners of the mine successfully challenged the regeneration plan developed by Kerrier District Council for the area around the surface workings. Crofty Developments Ltd., a partner of Western United Mines appealed to
8568-411: The area, East Wheal Crofty, which by 1833 included Penhellick Vean. Mining depths were now 80 metres (260 ft) or more, and throughout the 1830s a substantial investment was undertaken to improve the mine including a rail link; so much that by 1842 East Wheal Crofty was regarded as a 'model' mine. This state of affairs did not last however, and by 1863 part of the property was for sale. The remainder of
8704-475: The authorities came to associate it with sedition and "backwardness". This proved to be one of the reasons why the Book of Common Prayer was never translated into Cornish (unlike Welsh ), as proposals to do so were suppressed in the rebellion's aftermath. The failure to translate the Book of Common Prayer into Cornish led to the language's rapid decline during the 16th and 17th centuries. Peter Berresford Ellis cites
8840-409: The basis of revived Cornish ( Kernewek Dasserghys ) for most of the 20th century. During the 1970s, criticism of Nance's system, including the inconsistent orthography and unpredictable correspondence between spelling and pronunciation, as well as on other grounds such as the archaic basis of Unified and a lack of emphasis on the spoken language, resulted in the creation of several rival systems. In
8976-420: The beginning of the Celtic Revival in the late 19th century, provided the groundwork for a Cornish language revival movement. Notwithstanding the uncertainty over who was the last speaker of Cornish, researchers have posited the following numbers for the prevalence of the language between 1050 and 1800. In 1904, the Celtic language scholar and Cornish cultural activist Henry Jenner published A Handbook of
9112-617: The body, including lof 'hand' and dans 'tooth'. Inherited adjectives with an Indo-European etymology include newyth 'new', ledan 'broad, wide', rud 'red', hen 'old', iouenc 'young', and byw 'alive, living'. Several Celtic or Brittonic words cannot be reconstructed to Proto-Indo-European, and are suggested to have been borrowed from unknown substrate language(s) at an early stage, such as Proto-Celtic or Proto-Brittonic. Proposed examples in Cornish include coruf 'beer' and broch 'badger'. Other words in Cornish inherited direct from Proto-Celtic include
9248-415: The business and assets of the group were purchased from RTZ through a management buy-out. A trust was established for the benefit of the employees who received twenty per cent of the equity. Carnon Holdings Limited, was incorporated at this time. In February 1991 the DTI stopped support of capital projects. The company substantially reduced labour costs which coupled with a small rise in the tin price allowed
9384-443: The cast bronze 'dogs' and also liked the large amount of work that had been done to the town in terms of landscaping the central area (mainly Fore St & the opeways). Just outside the town is a European funded visitor attraction, themed on the Robinson Shaft Mine, it offers parking, an adventure play ground for older children and a pleasant restaurant. At times the last working Cornish pumping engine can be seen working. The museum
9520-482: The club's most famous "son" must be Richard Sharp OBE. A resident of Clinton Road with his mother and brother Nigel, he represented Redruth, Cornwall, and England, leading his country to the Five Nations title in 1963 . Redruth football club has not enjoyed as much success but still thrives in its regular fixtures. On the high street there is a Tang Soo Do (Korean Karate) and Kickboxing Academy named ISK Martial Arts. Duchy Hockey Club are based at Pool Academy on
9656-447: The co founder of and drummer with Fleetwood Mac , Mick Fleetwood , were all born here. The writer and comedian Rory McGrath was born here and educated at the town's secondary school, Cornish artist Jonathan Polkest studied art at The Redruth School of Art in Clinton Road, The musician Aphex Twin (and friend of Vibert) grew up near Redruth. Luke Vibert has released an album called Chicago, Detroit, Redruth and has also recorded under
9792-515: The consultation process, that the town did not have anything to represent the history of the men who worked down the tin and copper mines in the area. David Annand was selected from over 70 artists who responded to an advert placed by Cornwall Arts Centre Trust, the project managers, for expressions of interest in August 2006. Redruth is a small commercial town. It is twinned with Plumergat and Meriadec in Brittany, France, Mineral Point, Wisconsin in
9928-550: The creation of Unified Cornish Revised, a modified version of Nance's orthography, featuring: an additional phoneme not distinguished by Nance, "ö in German schön ", represented in the UCR orthography by ⟨ue⟩; replacement of ⟨y⟩ with ⟨e⟩ in many words; internal ⟨h⟩ rather than ⟨gh⟩; and use of final ⟨b⟩, ⟨g⟩, and ⟨dh⟩ in stressed monosyllables. A Standard Written Form , intended as a compromise orthography for official and educational purposes,
10064-560: The culture of Cornwall. Examples include atal 'mine waste' and beetia 'to mend fishing nets'. Foogan and hogan are different types of pastries. Troyl is a 'traditional Cornish dance get-together' and Furry is a specific kind of ceremonial dance that takes place in Cornwall. Certain Cornish words may have several translation equivalents in English, so for instance lyver may be translated into English as either 'book' or 'volume' and dorn can mean either 'hand' or 'fist'. As in other Celtic languages, Cornish lacks
10200-406: The deeper tin mineralisation. References implying mining, rather than streaming, occur in the area as early as 1592, and clearly by the mid-17th century mining was well established. During this period part of the mine which today is known as South Crofty was then called Penhellick Vean. The first really significant developments came in 1710 when Francis Bassett obtained a lease of Penhellick Vean and
10336-497: The dental fricatives /θ/ and /ð/, a usage which is unique to Middle Cornish and is never found in Middle English. Middle Cornish scribes tend to use ⟨c⟩ for /k/ before back vowels, and ⟨k⟩ for /k/ before front vowels, though this is not always true, and this rule is less consistent in certain texts. Middle Cornish scribes almost universally use ⟨wh⟩ to represent /ʍ/ (or /hw/), as in Middle English. Middle Cornish, especially towards
10472-530: The end of the 19th century, the Cornish mining industry was in decline and Britain was importing most of its copper ore. To find employment, many miners emigrated to the newer mining industries in the Americas, Pachuca, Mexico, Australasia and South Africa. By the turn of the 20th century, Victoria Park had been laid out to commemorate the Golden Jubilee and this part of town had taken on its present appearance –
10608-431: The end of this period, tends to use orthographic ⟨g⟩ and ⟨b⟩ in word-final position in stressed monosyllables, and ⟨k⟩ and ⟨p⟩ in word-final position in unstressed final syllables, to represent the reflexes of late Brittonic /ɡ/ and /b/, respectively. Written sources from this period are often spelled following English spelling conventions since many of the writers of the time had not been exposed to Middle Cornish texts or
10744-436: The evidence of this rhyme, of what there was to lose by neglecting John Davey." The search for the last speaker is hampered by a lack of transcriptions or audio recordings, so that it is impossible to tell from this distance whether the language these people were reported to be speaking was Cornish, or English with a heavy Cornish substratum , nor what their level of fluency was. Nevertheless, this academic interest, along with
10880-475: The existence of multiple orthographies was unsustainable with regards to using the language in education and public life, as none had achieved a wide consensus. A process of unification was set about which resulted in the creation of the public-body Cornish Language Partnership in 2005 and agreement on a Standard Written Form in 2008. In 2010 a new milestone was reached when UNESCO altered its classification of Cornish, stating that its previous label of "extinct"
11016-690: The house was used as a tea room, run by a Mrs Knuckey. In 1931 Mr A. Pearce Jenkin, a leading citizen of Redruth purchased the house and gave it as a gift to the Society of Friends ( Quakers ). Murdoch House has since been fully restored and is now regularly used by the Redruth Old Cornwall Society , as well as the Cornish-American Connection and the Redruth Story Group. Next door are St. Rumon's Gardens . Kresen Kernow , on
11152-400: The individualised nature of language take-up. Nevertheless, there is recognition that the number of Cornish speakers is growing. From before the 1980s to the end of the 20th century there was a sixfold increase in the number of speakers to around 300. One figure for the number of people who know a few basic words, such as knowing that "Kernow" means "Cornwall", was 300,000; the same survey gave
11288-402: The inhabitants can speak no word of Cornish, but very few are ignorant of the English; and yet some so affect their own, as to a stranger they will not speak it; for if meeting them by chance, you inquire the way, or any such matter, your answer shall be, " Meea navidna caw zasawzneck ," "I [will] speak no Saxonage." The Late Cornish ( Kernewek Diwedhes ) period from 1600 to about 1800 has
11424-688: The junction of the A 393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road (now the A30 ), and is approximately 9 miles (14 km) west of Truro , 12 miles (19 km) east of St Ives , 18 miles (29 km) north east of Penzance and 11 miles (18 km) north west of Falmouth . Camborne and Redruth together form the largest urban area in Cornwall and before local government reorganisation were an urban district . The name Redruth derives from its older Cornish name, Rhyd-ruth . It means Red Ford (literally ford-red). The first syllable 'red' means ford. The second 'ruth' means red. Rhyd
11560-938: The language are the initial consonant mutations , the verb–subject–object word order, inflected prepositions , fronting of emphasised syntactic elements and the use of two different forms for 'to be'. Cornish has initial consonant mutation : The first sound of a Cornish word may change according to grammatical context. As in Breton, there are four types of mutation in Cornish (compared with three in Welsh , two in Irish and Manx and one in Scottish Gaelic ). These changes apply to only certain letters (sounds) in particular grammatical contexts, some of which are given below: Cornish has no indefinite article . Porth can either mean 'harbour' or 'a harbour'. In certain contexts, unn can be used, with
11696-427: The language as extinct was no longer accurate. The language has a growing number of second-language speakers, and a very small number of families now raise children to speak revived Cornish as a first language . Cornish is currently recognised under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , and the language is often described as an important part of Cornish identity, culture and heritage. Since
11832-407: The language despite not being fluent nor using the language in daily life, generally survive even longer. The traditional view that Dolly Pentreath (1692–1777) was the last native speaker of Cornish has been challenged, and in the 18th and 19th centuries there was academic interest in the language and in attempting to find the last speaker of Cornish. It has been suggested that, whereas Pentreath
11968-443: The language persisting into the 19th century. Cornish became extinct as a living community language in Cornwall by the end of the 18th century , although knowledge of Cornish, including speaking ability to a certain extent, persisted within some families and individuals. A revival started in the early 20th century, and in 2010 UNESCO reclassified the language as critically endangered , stating that its former classification of
12104-573: The language regularly, with 5,000 people having a basic conversational ability in the language. A report on the 2011 Census published in 2013 by the Office for National Statistics placed the number of speakers at somewhere between 325 and 625. In 2017 the ONS released data based on the 2011 Census that placed the number of speakers at 557 people in England and Wales who declared Cornish to be their main language, 464 of whom lived in Cornwall. The 2021 census listed
12240-438: The language, including coining new words for modern concepts, and creating educational material in order to teach Cornish to others. In 1929 Robert Morton Nance published his Unified Cornish ( Kernewek Unys ) system, based on the Middle Cornish literature while extending the attested vocabulary with neologisms and forms based on Celtic roots also found in Breton and Welsh, publishing a dictionary in 1938. Nance's work became
12376-462: The latter between 500 tons and 1000 tons between 1907 and 1919, declining to 100 tons by 1956. In 1967, South Crofty Ltd became a wholly owned subsidiary of Siamese Tin Syndicate Ltd and Siamese Tin's subsidiary, St Piran Ltd. This change of ownership was the start, in 1969, of a £1 million programme to increase ore hoisting capacity and to make substantial improvements to the mill. By 1975 the mill
12512-626: The main route out of the county as well as routes to the far West , North Cornwall , South East Cornwall and Plymouth . Another road, the A393, bisects the town in a north–south direction, and links the A30 with the port of Falmouth . A third road, the A3047, links Redruth with Camborne , some four miles (6.4 km) to the west. The Barncoose by-pass connects between the Redruth Community Hospital and
12648-436: The meaning 'a certain, a particular', e.g. unn porth 'a certain harbour'. There is, however, a definite article an 'the', which is used for all nouns regardless of their gender or number, e.g. an porth 'the harbour'. Cornish nouns belong to one of two grammatical genders , masculine and feminine, but are not inflected for case . Nouns may be singular or plural. Plurals can be formed in various ways, depending on
12784-454: The mid-17th century. The mine went into serious decline after 1985 and eventually closed in 1998. After several changes of ownership, South Crofty is owned by Cornish Metals Inc, which is working to re-open the mine, as of November 2022, having received a permit for dewatering the mine. South Crofty Mine, at Pool between Camborne and Redruth , is an ancient tin mine. For several centuries its shallow workings exploited copper rather than
12920-407: The middle of Cross Street was erected in the 1660s as a chapel and it afterwards became a prison. William Murdoch lived in it from 1782 to 1798. During this time, he worked on local tin and copper mines, erecting engines on behalf of Boulton and Watt . He fitted the house out with gas lighting from coal gas – this was the first house in the world with this type of lighting. In the 19th century,
13056-516: The mine to continue operating at a small loss. The losses were funded through the sale of surplus land and redundant assets. The mine produced about 1,900 tons of black tin in 1993 which was shipped to a smelter in Malaysia. In 1994 South Crofty was purchased by Crew Natural Resources of Canada; at this time the mines' identified and inferred reserves were expected to allow it to continue working for at least ten years. The New Roskear shaft took over from
13192-402: The mine was mixed, although nearly 2,000 people attended an Open Day in support of the mine on 8 July 2006. However others, including local councillor and former miner Mark Kaczmarek, believed that it was time to redevelop the site. A local regeneration company, CPR Regeneration , set up in 2001, actively opposed the reopening of the mine. CPR wished to develop the South Crofty site, initially for
13328-500: The mine, now at least 210 metres (690 ft) deep, was renamed South Wheal Crofty which, with the deletion of 'Wheal', has been the name ever since. The mine now faced one of its most far-reaching changes. In the 1860s, South Wheal Crofty was still almost entirely a copper mine but by 1873, after a substantial investment in new dressing machinery, the mine was - financially at least - dependent upon tin. Copper remained significant until 1880, when shallow reserves were exhausted. The mine
13464-561: The mines were rationalised and a programme of modernisation, started by RTZ before the price crash, was stepped up. This was made possible by the co-operation and financial support of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the form of loans for the capital improvement. The majority of this capital was put into the South Crofty mine. In addition, RTZ also provided a loan to fund the operating losses. Carnon became privately owned in June 1988 when
13600-429: The noun: South Crofty South Crofty is a metalliferous tin and copper mine located in the village of Pool , Cornwall , England. An ancient mine, it has seen production for over 400 years, and extends almost two and a half miles across and 3,000 feet (910 m) down and has mined over 40 lodes . Evidence of mining activity in South Crofty has been dated back to 1592, with full-scale mining beginning in
13736-459: The now extinct Cumbric , while Southwestern Brittonic developed into Cornish and Breton, the latter as a result of emigration to parts of the continent, known as Brittany over the following centuries. The area controlled by the southwestern Britons was progressively reduced by the expansion of Wessex over the next few centuries. During the Old Cornish ( Kernewek Koth ) period (800–1200),
13872-547: The number of Cornish speakers at 563. A study that appeared in 2018 established the number of people in Cornwall with at least minimal skills in Cornish, such as the use of some words and phrases, to be more than 3,000, including around 500 estimated to be fluent. The Institute of Cornish Studies at the University of Exeter is working with the Cornish Language Partnership to study the Cornish language revival of
14008-410: The number of people able to have simple conversations as 3,000. The Cornish Language Strategy project commissioned research to provide quantitative and qualitative evidence for the number of Cornish speakers: due to the success of the revival project it was estimated that 2,000 people were fluent (surveyed in spring 2008), an increase from the estimated 300 people who spoke Cornish fluently suggested in
14144-415: The orthography and rhyme used in the historical texts, comparison with the other Brittonic languages Breton and Welsh, and the work of the linguist Edward Lhuyd , who visited Cornwall in 1700 and recorded the language in a partly phonetic orthography. Cornish is a Celtic language, and the majority of its vocabulary, when usage frequency is taken into account, at every documented stage of its history
14280-826: The other Brittonic languages. The first sound change to distinguish Cornish from both Breton and Welsh, the assibilation of the dental stops /t/ and /d/ in medial and final position, had begun by the time of the Vocabularium Cornicum , c. 1100 or earlier. This change, and the subsequent, or perhaps dialectical, palatalization (or occasional rhotacization in a few words) of these sounds, results in orthographic forms such as Middle Cornish tas 'father', Late Cornish tâz (Welsh tad ), Middle Cornish cresy 'believe', Late Cornish cregy (Welsh credu ), and Middle Cornish gasa 'leave', Late Cornish gara (Welsh gadael ). A further characteristic sound change, pre-occlusion , occurred during
14416-867: The outskirts of Redruth and compete in the West of England regional leagues. Redruth Cricket Club currently consists of 4 Men's playing XIs, one women's XI and multiple youth sides. Redruth First XI play in the Cornwall Cricket League ECB Premier League, coming second in the 2019 season. The Second XI placed second in County League One, the second division of Cornish Cricket, in the same year. Actress Kristin Scott Thomas , electronic musician Luke Vibert , baritone Benjamin Luxon , opera singer Alan Opie , record producer and broadcaster Tris Penna, and
14552-413: The phonemes /b/, /d/, /ɡ/, /β/, /ð/, and /ɣ/ respectively, meaning that the results of Brittonic lenition are not usually apparent from the orthography at this time. Middle Cornish orthography has a significant level of variation, and shows influence from Middle English spelling practices. Yogh (Ȝ ȝ) is used in certain Middle Cornish texts, where it is used to represent a variety of sounds, including
14688-544: The price of tin dropped dramatically on the world markets following the collapse of the International Tin Agreement . Carnon rationalised the operations, involving closure of the Pendarves mine which had supplied ore to the South Crofty mill. With a diminishing ore supply, this mill was progressively shut and by 1988 all South Crofty ore was trucked for processing at Wheal Jane . As well as a reduction in manpower,
14824-447: The publication of Jenner's Handbook of the Cornish Language , the earliest revivalists used Jenner's orthography, which was influenced by Lhuyd's system. This system was abandoned following the development by Nance of a "unified spelling", later known as Unified Cornish , a system based on a standardization of the orthography of the early Middle Cornish texts. Nance's system was used by almost all Revived Cornish speakers and writers until
14960-467: The rebellion's aftermath. Government officials then directed troops under the command of Sir Anthony Kingston to carry out pacification operations throughout the West Country. Kingston subsequently ordered the executions of numerous individuals suspected of involvement with the rebellion as part of the post-rebellion reprisals. The rebellion eventually proved a turning-point for the Cornish language, as
15096-499: The reign of Henry VIII, an account was given by Andrew Boorde in his 1542 Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge . He states, " In Cornwall is two speches, the one is naughty Englysshe, and the other is Cornysshe speche. And there be many men and women the which cannot speake one worde of Englysshe, but all Cornyshe. " When Parliament passed the Act of Uniformity 1549 , which established
15232-486: The revival of the language, some Cornish textbooks and works of literature have been published, and an increasing number of people are studying the language. Recent developments include Cornish music , independent films , and children's books. A small number of people in Cornwall have been brought up to be bilingual native speakers, and the language is taught in schools and appears on street nameplates. The first Cornish-language day care opened in 2010. Cornish
15368-503: The same language, claiming that "Middle Cornish is without doubt closer to Breton as a whole than the modern Breton dialect of Quiberon [ Kiberen ] is to that of Saint-Pol-de-Léon [ Kastell-Paol ]." Also, Kenneth Jackson argued that it is almost certain that Cornish and Breton would have been mutually intelligible as long as Cornish was a living language, and that Cornish and Breton are especially closely related to each other and less closely related to Welsh. Cornish evolved from
15504-558: The same year the company started refurbishment of the New Cooks Kitchen section of the mine. By 2003 an underground refurbishment of the Tuckingmill Decline and Old Engine shaft was under way, and later that year access was mined into New Cooks Kitchen Deep Adit level from the Tuckingmill Decline. The refurbishment of the New Cooks Kitchen section was completed in October 2003 and opened to the public for tours. In 2004, mining commenced at
15640-616: The site of Redruth Brewery , houses the archives and collections of the former Cornwall Records Office and Cornish Studies Library. It also holds a collection of Tregellas Tapestries which depict the history of Cornwall in embroidery. A bronze sculpture of a Cornish miner by artist David Annand standing at 6 feet 7 inches was erected in April 2008. The sculpture was commissioned by the Redruth Public Realm Working Party's Mining Art Group in response to comments received during
15776-456: The south of the railway station ) and Green Lane to the north. Street landscaping in Redruth includes wooden seating, with granite furniture, signposts , street lights and litter bins , and two sets of bronze 'dogs', which were cast from the boots of former tin miners by sculptor David Kemp. The town has a burgundy colour theme, which is in the Public Realm regeneration work to highlight
15912-563: The three places. Bus services to the town are provided by Go Cornwall Bus , First Kernow , and Hopley's Coaches , all under the Transport for Cornwall scheme. The railway station is served by Great Western Railway (GWR) operated trains from Paddington , South Wales , and the Midlands, as well as a daily CrossCountry service to the North. Redruth is next to the main A30 road and thus has access to
16048-522: The town's name. A project to light various public buildings around the town with LED coloured lights has already commenced. Some of the buildings opposite the railway station and the St Rumon's Gardens have now (April 2008) been completed. On 7 November 2007, Redruth jointly won (with Luton ) the annual UK town centre environment awards, which are run by the BCSC (a retail property consortium). The judges praised
16184-541: The town's population grew markedly, although most miners' families remained poor. In the 1880s and 1890s the town end of Clinton Road gained a number of institutions, notably a School of Mines and Art School in 1882–83, St. Andrew's Church (replacing the chapel in Chapel Street) in 1883 and, opposite, the Free Library, built in 1895. The Mining Exchange was built in 1880 as a place for the trading of mineral stock. By
16320-577: The words ud rocashaas . The phrase may mean "it [the mind] hated the gloomy places", or alternatively, as Andrew Breeze suggests, "she hated the land". Other sources from this period include the Saints' List , a list of almost fifty Cornish saints, the Bodmin manumissions , which is a list of manumittors and slaves, the latter with mostly Cornish names, and, more substantially, a Latin-Cornish glossary (the Vocabularium Cornicum or Cottonian Vocabulary),
16456-451: The world. Redruth is twinned with: Cornish language Cornish ( Standard Written Form : Kernewek or Kernowek , pronounced [kəɾˈnuːək] ) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family . Along with Welsh and Breton , Cornish is descended from the Common Brittonic language spoken throughout much of Great Britain before the English language came to dominate. For centuries, until it
16592-532: The years 1550–1650 as a century of immense damage for the language, and its decline can be traced to this period. In 1680 William Scawen wrote an essay describing 16 reasons for the decline of Cornish, among them the lack of a distinctive Cornish alphabet , the loss of contact between Cornwall and Brittany , the cessation of the miracle plays, loss of records in the Civil War, lack of a Cornish Bible and immigration to Cornwall. Mark Stoyle , however, has argued that
16728-516: Was a small market town overshadowed by its neighbours until a boom in the demand for copper ore during the 18th century. Copper ore had mostly been discarded by the Cornish tin -mining industry but was now needed to make brass , an essential metal in the Industrial Revolution . Surrounded by copper ore deposits, Redruth quickly became one of the largest and richest mining areas in Britain and
16864-530: Was at Plain-an-Gwarry, Redruth , which continued to be used as a venue, even after the Plen-an-gwary disappeared. Many other venues started to be used in the 1800s onwards such as South Turnpike, and the Recreation Ground/football ground. In 1887, Redruth hosted 2 challenge matches for the world title in Cornish wrestling at the recreation ground. In July, John Pearce drew with Jack Carkeek from
17000-418: Was born in the neighbouring village of Blackwater. Key shops and other outlets within the town centre include a multi-screen cinema , a covered market way, an old butter market, various antique shops , a second hand book shop and two supermarkets, plus Greens Newsagents, and the local cash and carry Jims. Off the main street (Fore Street), there are two separate specialist shopping areas, Bond Street (to
17136-407: Was built in 1894. Its architect was James Hicks who used a castellated baronial style; there is a prominent octagonal tower. The reading room was once the school of Thomas Collins, where Collins, who had been headmaster of Trewirgie School, taught local children and the children left behind by parents who had emigrated overseas. The Parish Church of St Uny, which is some distance from the town centre,
17272-428: Was formed to own and operate the mine. The previous owner of the mine, Baseresult Holdings Ltd. was the majority shareholder of the new company alongside Casserite LP, an investment vehicle acting for Galena Asset Management, a subsidiary of commodity trading company Trafigura . By this time the mine was employing 26 people and total capital investment to re-open the mine was forecast to reach £9 million by June 2008, with
17408-696: Was introduced in 2008, although a number of previous orthographic systems remain in use and, in response to the publication of the SWF, another new orthography, Kernowek Standard , was created, mainly by Nicholas Williams and Michael Everson, which is proposed as an amended version of the Standard Written Form. The phonological system of Old Cornish, inherited from Proto-Southwestern Brittonic and originally differing little from Old Breton and Old Welsh, underwent various changes during its Middle and Late phases, eventually resulting in several characteristics not found in
17544-452: Was made of rock drills and, by 1910, the mine operated profitably hoisting 60,000 tons of ore annually. By 1914, the works were down to 310 fathoms (1,860 ft; 570 m). For the next 70 years South Crofty continued to modernise and expand. As nearby mines closed, they were acquired by South Crofty to supplement its ore reserves at depth. The major purchase was of Dolcoath mine in 1936. Ore production, which had not exceeded 75,000 tons
17680-701: Was merged with that of Camborne and parts of Redruth Rural District and Helston Rural District (both of which were being abolished) in 1934 to form the Camborne-Redruth Urban District . The urban district persisted until it was merged into the Kerrier district of Cornwall under the Local Government Act 1972 . Redruth is represented on Cornwall Council by three wards: Redruth Central , Redruth North and Redruth South . The composition of Redruth Town Council as of August 2024: Redruth School ,
17816-466: Was no longer accurate. Speakers of Cornish reside primarily in Cornwall , which has a population of 563,600 (2017 estimate). There are also some speakers living outside Cornwall, particularly in the countries of the Cornish diaspora , as well as in other Celtic nations . Estimates of the number of Cornish speakers vary according to the definition of a speaker, and is difficult to determine accurately due to
17952-415: Was now operating at the 260-fathom (1,560 ft; 480 m) level, where only tin was found. The collapse of the tin price affected South Wheal Crofty both directly (loss of revenue) and indirectly, via increased pumping costs as neighbouring mines closed down. In February 1896 mining was suspended and the mine flooded. In 1899, further backing was obtained and South Crofty gradually reopened, and acquired
18088-567: Was probably the last monolingual speaker, the last native speaker may have been John Davey of Zennor, who died in 1891. However, although it is clear Davey possessed some traditional knowledge in addition to having read books on Cornish, accounts differ of his competence in the language. Some contemporaries stated he was able to converse on certain topics in Cornish whereas others affirmed they had never heard him claim to be able to do so. Robert Morton Nance , who reworked and translated Davey's Cranken Rhyme, remarked, "There can be no doubt, after
18224-403: Was probably the last prose written in the traditional language. In his letter, he describes the sociolinguistics of the Cornish language at the time, stating that there are no more than four or five old people in his village who can still speak Cornish, concluding with the remark that Cornish is no longer known by young people. However, the last recorded traditional Cornish literature may have been
18360-530: Was processing more than 200,000 tonnes of ore (including some from Pendarves mine) to yield around 1,500 tonnes of tin concentrate. In mid-1982, the company was acquired from St Piran by Charter Consolidated, which subsequently disposed of 40% of its holdings to Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) . These holdings were vested in a new holding company, Wheal Crofty Holdings Ltd, with the same balance of ownership. Then in 1984 RTZ acquired Charter's 60% interest and South Crofty became part of Carnon Consolidated Ltd. In October 1985,
18496-413: Was pushed westwards by English, it was the main language of Cornwall , maintaining close links with its sister language Breton, with which it was mutually intelligible , perhaps even as long as Cornish continued to be spoken as a vernacular. Cornish continued to function as a common community language in parts of Cornwall until the mid 18th century, and there is some evidence for traditional speakers of
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