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Cornwall

historic county of England and Celtic nation

50 dated entries naming Cornwall, drawn from 40 separate years between 600 CE and 1981 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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6th century

  • 600The Britons of Strathclyde (Scotland), Wales, and Cornwall are all separated by the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.source

8th century

  • 705King Geraint of Dumnonia grants land at Maker (Cornwall) to Sherborne Abbey, in an attempt to strengthen his position in the disputed regions of Dorset (approximate date).source
  • 722Battle of Hehil: The West Saxons are defeated by a combined Viking and Cornish army, at Cornovii in Cornwall (approximate date).source

9th century

  • 807The Vikings land on the Cornish coast, and form an alliance with the Cornish to fight against Wessex.source
  • 815King Egbert of Wessex ravages the territories of the remaining British kingdom Dumnonia, known as the West Welsh (Cornwall).source
  • 838Battle of Hingston Down: Ecgberht, King of Wessex, leads his men to defeat a combined force of Cornish and Danish Vikings at Hingston Down in Cornwall.source
  • 875Donyarth, the last recorded king of Cornwall, drowns in what is thought to be the River Fowey.source
  • 875Donyarth, king of Cornwall (approximate date)source
  • 893Spring – Prince Edward, the son of King Alfred the Great, defeats the Danish Viking raiders at Farnham, and forces them to take refuge on Thorney Island. At the same time, Danes from East Anglia sail around the Cornish coast, and besiege Exeter.source

10th century

  • 936King Æthelstan sets the border between the Kingdom of England and Cornwall as the east bank of the River Tamar.source

11th century

  • 1050King Edward the Confessor unites the English dioceses of Devon and Cornwall. He moves the see from Crediton to Exeter and gives the order to build a cathedral. Leofric becomes the first bishop of Exeter.source

12th century

  • 1120The Pseudo-Ingulf's Croyland Chronicle records Cornwall as a nation distinct from England.source
  • 1198John of England captures a party of 18 French knights and many men-at-arms, in the ongoing conflict against France. His brother, King Richard I (the Lionheart) introduces a new Great Seal – in an attempt to keep the war against France funded. The government proclaims that charters previously struck with the old seal are no longer valid and must be renewed with a fresh payment. The office of Lord Warden of the Stannaries is also introduced, to tax the produce of tin mines in Cornwall and Devon.source

15th century

  • 1473September 30 – The Earl of Oxford, John de Vere, seizes St Michael's Mount in Cornwall and defends it for the next five months against 6,000 troops of King Edward IV.source

16th century

  • 1595July 23 – The Spanish raid Cornwall, England.source
  • 1596March 15 – During Spain's Brittany Campaign during the Anglo-Spanish War, a Spanish ship carrying 25 soldiers invades England after arriving at Cawsand Bay in Cornwall. After starting a fire, the Spanish retreat.source
  • 1597October 18 – The 3rd Spanish Armada, a fleet of 140 ships, departs from the port of La Coruña with 12,634 soldiers and sailors and a plan to invade the British Isles with a landing at Falmouth in Cornwall.source

17th century

  • 1625July – The Barbary pirates first attack south-western England. In August they enslave about 60 people from Mount's Bay in Cornwall.source
  • 1637February 18 – Eighty Years' War: Battle off Lizard Point – Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by six warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.source
  • 163718 February – Eighty Years' War: Battle off Lizard Point: off the coast of Cornwall, a Spanish fleet intercepts an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by 6 warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.source
  • 1641September 23 – The English ship Merchant Royal sinks off Cornwall along with its cargo of 100,000 lb of gold and 18 of its 58 crew. More than 380 years later, treasure seekers will still not have located the wreckage.source
  • 164123 September – English ship Merchant Royal sinks off Land's End, Cornwall, along with its cargo of 100,000 lb of gold, much silver and coin and 18 of its 58 crew. The treasure will still be sought for in the 2020s.source
  • 1644September 2 – English Civil War: Second Battle of Lostwithiel (in Cornwall) – Charles I and the Royalists gain their last major victory.source
  • 1646January 19 – Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet, a Royalist fighting for Prince Charles against Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth, is imprisoned for insubordination after proposing to make Cornwall self-governing in order to win Cornish support for the Royalists. After being incarcerated at the tidal island of St Michael's Mount off of the coast of Cornwall, he is allowed to escape in March to avoid capture by Cromwell's troops.source
  • 1646March 2 – The future Charles II of England escapes from Cornwall into exile across the English Channel.source
  • 1648May 16 – England's Commonwealth Army massacres 70 Cornish royalists at Penzance, leading to a rebellion against England's Parliamentarians.source
  • 164816 May – Parliamentarians massacre 70 Cornish royalists at Penzance, leading to a local rising which is put down in The Gear Rout.source

18th century

  • 1738July 10 – Thomas Pellow of Cornwall finally escapes captivity, 23 years after having been captured by Barbary pirates and held as a slave in Morocco. He arrives in British territory when the ship he is on sails into Gibraltar Bay on July 21, and later recounts his story in the book The Adventures of Thomas Pellow, of Penryn, Mariner: Three and Twenty Years in Captivity Among the Moors.source
  • 173810 July – Thomas Pellow of Cornwall finally escapes captivity, 23 years after having been captured by Barbary pirates and held as a slave in Morocco. He arrives in British territory when the ship he is on sails into Gibraltar Bay on 21 July, and later recounts his story in the book The Adventures of Thomas Pellow, of Penryn, Mariner: Three and Twenty Years in Captivity Among the Moors.source
  • 1743July 13 – All 276 people on board the Dutch East India Company ship Hollandia drown after the ship strikes a rock off of the Isles of Scilly in England near Cornwall. The wreckage is located in 1971.source
  • 1746William Cookworthy discovers kaolin in Cornwall.source

19th century

  • 1804February 21 – Cornishman Richard Trevithick's newly built Penydarren steam locomotive operates on the Merthyr Tramroad, between Penydarren in Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon in South Wales, following several trials since February 13, the world's first locomotive to work on rails.source
  • 180421 February – The Cornishman Richard Trevithick's newly built "Penydarren" steam locomotive operates on the Merthyr Tramroad between Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon in South Wales, following several trials since 13 February, the world's first locomotive to work on rails.source
  • 1804February 21 - The Cornishman Richard Trevithick's newly built "Penydarren" steam locomotive operates on the Merthyr Tramroad between the Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon, following several trials since February 13, the world's first locomotive to work on rails. As a result of this achievement, Samuel Homfray wins a 1000 guineas wager with Richard Crawshay as to which of them could first build a steam locomotive for use in their works.source
  • 180729 December – The Royal Navy ship of the line HMS Anson runs aground on Loe Bar, Cornwall, with around sixty people drowned, inspiring Henry Trengrouse to invent a rocket apparatus for saving life from shipwrecks and passage of the Burial of Drowned Persons Act 1808 to ensure respectful burial of drowned sailors.source
  • 181518 October – The Bible Christian Church, a Wesleyan Methodist denomination, is founded by William O'Bryan in north Devon and Cornwall.source
  • 183816 August – The Tin Duties Act converts the tin coinage taxation system of the mines of Devon and Cornwall into an annual payment to the Duchy of Cornwall.source
  • 18469 July – A flood at East Wheal Rose lead mine in Cornwall kills 39.source
  • 185430 November – SS Nile is wrecked on The Stones reef off Godrevy Head on the north Cornwall coast, with the loss of all on board – at least 40.source
  • 1858The Miners Association is established in Cornwall, England, UK.source
  • 1858The Miners Association established in Cornwall.source
  • 1859May 4 – The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge, linking the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England.source
  • 188020 May – foundation stone laid for Truro Cathedral in Cornwall, the first to be built on a new site since the 13th century.source
  • 1882Redruth Mining School opens in Cornwall.source
  • 1888The Camborne School of Mines is founded in Cornwall, England.source
  • 1888Camborne School of Mines founded in Cornwall.source
  • 1899June 9 – American boxer James J. Jeffries wins the world heavyweight boxing championship when he knocks out Cornish-born Bob Fitzsimmons at Coney Island, New York.source

20th century

  • 192724 March - The Norwegian cargo ship Verdande leaves Cardiff, bound for Las Palmas, Canary Islands. Five bodies and two lifebelts and some lifeboats would later be washed ashore at Boscastle and Bude, Cornwall, leading to the conclusion that the ship had foundered with the loss of all hands.source
  • 1966July 31 – Loss of MV Darlwyne: a pleasure cruiser disappears off the Cornwall coast of England with the loss of all 31 aboard.source
  • 1981December 20 – The Penlee lifeboat disaster: While attempting to rescue those on board the Union Star off the coast of South-West Cornwall (England), the lifeboat Solomon Browne is lost with all crew. Sixteen people in all are killed.source

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