|
To
search for properties for sale and rent in Cornwall
click here............
"Cornwall
- maritime County of England, forming its SW extremity; is
bounded by Devon on the East, and washed on all the other
sides by the sea; length, NE and SW, 75 miles; average breadth,
22 miles; coast line, about 200 miles; area, 863,065 acres,
population 330,686. The South coast is much and deeply indented,
and has some good harbours. The principal openings from West
to East are Mounts Bay, Falmouth Bay and Harbour, St Austell
Bay, Fowey Harbour, Whitsand Bay, and Plymouth Sound. Falmouth
is one of the finest harbours in Britain. The indentations
on the North consist of shallow bays with few or no harbours.
The chief promontories are Land's End, where the granite cliffs
are about 60 ft. high; and the Lizard, the most southerly
point of England. The Isles of Scilly lie off Land's End,
25 miles to the SW. The Devonian range extends NE and SW,
rising in Brown Willy to an altitude of 1368 feet. The streams
are numerous, but small. The principal are the Tamar (which
forms the boundary with Devon), Lyhner, Fowey, and Camel.
There is much barren moorland, but the soil in the valleys
is fertile. The prevailing rock is granite, of a grey or bluish-grey
colour, which often rises above the surface in huge, rugged
masses; clay slate also abounds. The tin and copper mines
of Cornwall have been celebrated from remote ages, having
been known, it is supposed, to the Phoenicians. Some of them
are of very great depth, and have been carried beneath the
sea. Silver, lead, zinc, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth are
also found in considerable quantities. The fisheries, especially
of pilchard and mackerel, are extensive and valuable. The
county comprises 9 Hundreds, plus the Isles of Scilly, 219
parishes, the parliamentary borough of Penryn and Falmouth
(1 member), and the municipal boroughs of Bodmin, Falmouth,
Helston, Launceston, Liskeard, Penryn, Penzance, St Ives,
and Truro. It is entirely in the diocese of Truro." From Bartholomew's
Gazetteer 1887.
|