Do some Cornish people have a closer affinity with Wales than England?

My old man, born & bred in St Austell, was a proud Cornishman.

He always maintained he was Cornish rather than English ~ so too did the rest of his large family.

Married my mum in Tongwynlais and happily settled in Cardiff for rest of his life, working as a guard on the coal trains up & down the valleys.

Said that South Wales was similar to Cornwall ... so many towns & villages preceded by Tre-

Way back the early settlers of Normandy, Cornwall, Southern Ireland & Wales were the Celts.

Wish I was in St Austell tonight for the match.

Rambling on ... due to the noise from those pesky Yorkies

In my experience - no.
They're Cornish first, then English.

Perhaps you'd expect the opposite from a Celtic point of view but I'm yet to find it

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Originally Posted by Forest Green Bluebird

My old man, born & bred in St Austell, was a proud Cornishman.

He always maintained he was Cornish rather than English ~ so too did the rest of his large family.

Married my mum in Tongwynlais and happily settled in Cardiff for rest of his life, working as a guard on the coal trains up & down the valleys.

Said that South Wales was similar to Cornwall ... so many towns & villages preceded by Tre-

Way back the early settlers of Normandy, Cornwall, Southern Ireland & Wales were the Celts.

Wish I was in St Austell tonight for the match.

Rambling on ... due to the noise from those pesky Yorkies

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Probably not - but there are many places in England where people feel as disenfranchised and as poor as the people in Wales. The endless England v Wales posts on here seem to ignore such things.

In the past I have occasionally come across Cornish people that have told me of their fondness and affinity with Wales but not for a good few years.
Just like Pembrokeshire, there is a large population of people that have moved from other parts of England so I guess that would have been diluted over the years.

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

Probably not - but there are many places in England where people feel as disenfranchised and as poor as the people in Wales. The endless England v Wales posts on here seem to ignore such things.

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Completely agree, that's a great point you make, although are we talking division by class, not nationality?

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

Probably not - but there are many places in England where people feel as disenfranchised and as poor as the people in Wales. The endless England v Wales posts on here seem to ignore such things.

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The UK is likely an example of a trickle down economy and that in focussing in on London and South West that UK politician's feel that the whole of the UK gets wealthier - not most groundbreaking of observations. It would explain why the North of England (for example) feel disenfranchised also, but I do think it's different in that while Newcastle can feel ignore they won't feel their national culture is under threat at any point.

To the original point, there are probably people in Cornwall or feel connected to the Union and people in Cornwall who feel more Celtic only. This is probably quite similar to Wales so a natural connection all round.

Being born and brought up in Wales, but with Cornish mother I would say they are Cornish first. I am told by my family that they are Cornish not English. But have no real affinity to the Welsh, and would support England every time. However they are aware of their Celtic roots and language. I do feel very much at home down there and I consider it do be different from the rest of England.

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Originally Posted by Rjk

In my experience - no.
They're Cornish first, then English.

Perhaps you'd expect the opposite from a Celtic point of view but I'm yet to find it

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Definitely Cornish first with their own language similar in many ways to Welsh / Irish

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Originally Posted by cardiff55

Being born and brought up in Wales, but with Cornish mother I would say they are Cornish first. I am told by my family that they are Cornish not English. But have no real affinity to the Welsh, and would support England every time. However they are aware of their Celtic roots and language. I do feel very much at home down there and I consider it do be different from the rest of England.

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My sentiments exactly. I feel 'at home' when visiting Falmouth & St Austell where one half of my relatives lived.

My OP was not meant to be another comment in England v Wales banter.

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Originally Posted by surge

The UK is likely an example of a trickle down economy and that in focussing in on London and South West that UK politician's feel that the whole of the UK gets wealthier - not most groundbreaking of observations. It would explain why the North of England (for example) feel disenfranchised also, but I do think it's different in that while Newcastle can feel ignore they won't feel their national culture is under threat at any point.

To the original point, there are probably people in Cornwall or feel connected to the Union and people in Cornwall who feel more Celtic only. This is probably quite similar to Wales so a natural connection all round.

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I'm my lifetime I've seen prosperity grow in Cardiff, so perhaps the trickle down effect has delivered some wealth and job benefits to Wales.

My daughter's boyfriend is from St Ives, and he watched the England games wearing a f***ing England shirt!

The Cornish are a recognised minority within the EU and have the same status as the Welsh, Scots and Irish.

Going back to the OP, if the question was do the Welsh have a closer affinity to Ireland rather than England, or to Scotland rather than England, I'd expect this thread to go into meltdown.

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Originally Posted by Forest Green Bluebird

My sentiments exactly. I feel 'at home' when visiting Falmouth & St Austell where one half of my relatives lived.

My OP was not meant to be another comment in England v Wales banter.

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Despite being a Cardiffian I have lived in a number of counties in the south west and feel at home here - and I even felt at home living in Germany and Scotland. My siblings have also lived abroad and have felt at home in Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Devon, The Netherlands and Germany. There are beautiful places and people all around the UK and people's DNA is not drastically different on either side of a line drawn on a map at a particular juncture in history. It's also about what one brings to the party, as it were.

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Originally Posted by Taunton Blue Genie

Despite being a Cardiffian I have lived in a number of counties in the south west and feel at home here - and I even felt at home living in Germany and Scotland. My siblings have also lived abroad and have felt at home in Yorkshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Devon, The Netherlands and Germany. There are beautiful places and people all around the UK and people's DNA is not drastically different on either side of a line drawn on a map at a particular juncture in history. It's also about what one brings to the party, as it were.

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Cwrw Ysgawen - Purple Moose Brewery, Porthmadog.

I'm a Cornishman born and raised there until I was 10.

The Cornish certainly see themselves as Cornish first, but many do see themselves as English second. I moved to Cardiff at a young age so I saw the contradiction in this quickly, but there has been a huge influx of people from up country into Cornwall, and with the price of property and lack of work there is a back door ethnic cleansing going on. If the local population in Cornwall isn't protected then it will end up where more people in Cornwall won't be Cornish than are.

I have a right under European law to call myself Cornish, although whenever I do this, even here in Wales it gets laughed at, and i get told 'so you're English'.

In a lot of ways the Cornish bring it on themselves though, it's one of the poorest areas within the UK but continues to return conservative MPs and although the EU is what is protecting the Cornish identity and Cornwall also gets far more money from the EU than it contributes (the UK government having backed out of is promise to spend money on protecting the Cornish language), they still voted to leave the EU.... Turkey's voting for Christmas comes to mind.

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Originally Posted by speedyblue

I'm a Cornishman born and raised there until I was 10.

The Cornish certainly see themselves as Cornish first, but many do see themselves as English second. I moved to Cardiff at a young age so I saw the contradiction in this quickly, but there has been a huge influx of people from up country into Cornwall, and with the price of property and lack of work there is a back door ethnic cleansing going on. If the local population in Cornwall isn't protected then it will end up where more people in Cornwall won't be Cornish than are.

I have a right under European law to call myself Cornish, although whenever I do this, even here in Wales it gets laughed at, and i get told 'so you're English'.

In a lot of ways the Cornish bring it on themselves though, it's one of the poorest areas within the UK but continues to return conservative MPs and although the EU is what is protecting the Cornish identity and Cornwall also gets far more money from the EU than it contributes (the UK government having backed out of is promise to spend money on protecting the Cornish language), they still voted to leave the EU.... Turkey's voting for Christmas comes to mind.

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Maybe they're more like the Welsh than they think!

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Originally Posted by Forest Green Bluebird

My sentiments exactly. I feel 'at home' when visiting Falmouth & St Austell where one half of my relatives lived.

My OP was not meant to be another comment in England v Wales banter.

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If I couldnt live in Cardiff or able to afford second home Falmouth it would, love the place .

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Originally Posted by Harry Monk

Maybe they're more like the Welsh than they think!

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When I holidayed there and it's usual every year UKIP presence could be felt I think their philosophy is about jobs , health ,schools for own first , not purely a racism /immigration thing ,bit like the many valley mates I have, who strangely do not vote in a rightist way only when Brexit came around . One of the many mysteries of politics, which Mrs May read wrongly,.

I went there on honeymoon hundreds of years ago and I remember quite a few locals supporting Mebyon Kernew, the Cornish Independence Party.
I had assumed it was no more but it appears to be still going -
https://www.mebyonkernow.org/

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Originally Posted by Forest Green Bluebird

Way back the early settlers of Normandy, Cornwall, Southern Ireland & Wales were the Celts.

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Did you know that ALL of what is now england and even part of southern scotland was entirely welsh/cornish...entierly ‘P’ celts?.

The settlers in Britanny were displaced refugees from the southwern part of our island, escaping from the saxons (saeson) who went on to occupy all of what is now known as england.

The english are mainly a germanic people and have only really been on the island for 1,500 years , which is relatively recent. There are trees older than that.

How that translates to the present day is probably inconsequential. I know that genetically the cornish are really celtic, they have very little gentic influence from the english. Culturally though , I imagine the state of their language would give the best insight into their cultural identity. Predominantly I’d say they consider themselves english.

I remember arriving in Plymouth ferry terminal the day england beat us in the euros and I think I’d have been asking for trouble or at least hassle walking around in my wales top. Not much sympathy would have been received.

Emmetts go home

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Originally Posted by Divine Wright

Did you know that ALL of what is now england and even part of southern scotland was entirely welsh/cornish...entierly ‘P’ celts?.

The settlers in Britanny were displaced refugees from the southwern part of our island, escaping from the saxons (saeson) who went on to occupy all of what is now known as england.

The english are mainly a germanic people and have only really been on the island for 1,500 years , which is relatively recent. There are trees older than that.

How that translates to the present day is probably inconsequential. I know that genetically the cornish are really celtic, they have very little gentic influence from the english. Culturally though , I imagine the state of their language would give the best insight into their cultural identity. Predominantly I’d say they consider themselves english.

I remember arriving in Plymouth ferry terminal the day england beat us in the euros and I think I’d have been asking for trouble or at least hassle walking around in my wales top. Not much sympathy would have been received.

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Where did the Celts come from before they arrived on these shores though?

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Originally Posted by Divine Wright

Did you know that ALL of what is now england and even part of southern scotland was entirely welsh/cornish...entierly ‘P’ celts?.

The settlers in Britanny were displaced refugees from the southwern part of our island, escaping from the saxons (saeson) who went on to occupy all of what is now known as england.

The english are mainly a germanic people and have only really been on the island for 1,500 years , which is relatively recent. There are trees older than that.

How that translates to the present day is probably inconsequential. I know that genetically the cornish are really celtic, they have very little gentic influence from the english. Culturally though , I imagine the state of their language would give the best insight into their cultural identity. Predominantly I’d say they consider themselves english.

I remember arriving in Plymouth ferry terminal the day england beat us in the euros and I think I’d have been asking for trouble or at least hassle walking around in my wales top. Not much sympathy would have been received.

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I'm sure they said during the World Cup that they were supporting Wales in the Euros.

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Originally Posted by Divine Wright

Did you know that ALL of what is now england and even part of southern scotland was entirely welsh/cornish...entierly ‘P’ celts?.

The settlers in Britanny were displaced refugees from the southwern part of our island, escaping from the saxons (saeson) who went on to occupy all of what is now known as england.

The english are mainly a germanic people and have only really been on the island for 1,500 years , which is relatively recent. There are trees older than that.

How that translates to the present day is probably inconsequential. I know that genetically the cornish are really celtic, they have very little gentic influence from the english. Culturally though , I imagine the state of their language would give the best insight into their cultural identity. Predominantly I’d say they consider themselves english.

I remember arriving in Plymouth ferry terminal the day england beat us in the euros and I think I’d have been asking for trouble or at least hassle walking around in my wales top. Not much sympathy would have been received.

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Plymouth isn't in Cornwall, and is also an EDL type town where they hate everything not English from my experience.

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Originally Posted by Rjk

Where did the Celts come from before they arrived on these shores though?

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Indeed. Most of us are descendants of Celts, Frisians, Jutes, Danes, Angles, Saxons, Romans (who consisted of a multitude of people from beyond way beyond Rome and what is now Italy), Normans, French and many other people's who came over from the European mainland at some juncture. Our DNA is incredibly mixed and purists are bound to be disappointed if they send off for a DNA test. (I've just done one for another reason entirely).