Bodmin
Bodmin is the county town of Cornwall as the county long understood the term: from 1838 its assizes met here, and the courts and county business followed. In Kernewek it is Bosvena, and the monks were here early: Saint Petroc founded a monastery at Bodmin in the sixth century, and Bodmin is the only large […]
Bude
Bude is a seaside town on the north coast of Cornwall, where the river Neet reaches the Atlantic. In Kernewek it is Porthbud. The cliffs here are made of Carboniferous sandstone, the only cliffs of that rock on the Cornish coast, and they have been both the town's shelter and its hazard: many ships have […]
Camborne
Camborne is a town of the mining heartland, and its churchtown was first mentioned in 1181, long before the mines made it a byword for wealth and hard work. In Kernewek it is Kammbronn, the crooked hill. When the county talks about what it was in the industrial age, it is talking about Camborne and […]
Camelford
Camelford is a small town in north Cornwall on the A39, the Atlantic Highway, and the road runs through its centre rather than around it. In Kernewek it is Reskammel, the ford of the crooked water, a name formed in the twentieth century: the parish was historically Lanteglos and took the name Camelford only in […]
Charlestown
Georgian harbour village east of St Austell, still used as a working port.
Falmouth
Deep-water port on the Fal: the third-deepest natural harbour in the world.
Fowey
Fowey is a port town on the south coast of Cornwall, standing where the river Fowey meets the sea. In Kernewek it is Fowydh, which means beech trees, and the English name is pronounced "Foy". The town has existed since before the Norman invasion, its church was first established in the seventh century, and the […]
Gorran Haven
Small fishing village on the Roseland coast, with a working harbour and Vault Beach below the cliffs.
Hayle
Hayle is a port town at the mouth of the Hayle river, where it meets St Ives Bay across miles of sand. In Kernewek it is Heyl, estuary, which names its whole reason for being. The town grew from three settlements, Foundry, Copperhouse and the Towans, and its working life was made of engines. Engines […]
Helston
Helston is a town at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula, and the most southerly town on the island of Great Britain. In Kernewek it is Hellys, and the name comes from hen lys, old court. It was already a place of importance when King John granted its charter on 15 April 1201, and […]
Launceston
Launceston is a town in east Cornwall, about a mile west of the Tamar, the river that divides Cornwall from Devon. It has been a gateway to the county for centuries, and it is known as one of the gateways still, near where the A30 enters Cornwall. In Kernewek it is Lannstevan, the church enclosure […]
Liskeard
Liskeard is a market town on the southern edge of Bodmin Moor, and it has been a place of trade and tin for most of its written history. In Kernewek it is Lyskerrys, from lys, a court, and the personal name Kerrys. It was recorded as Liscarret at the Domesday Survey, and it grew prosperous […]
Looe
Looe is a coastal town in south-east Cornwall, and it is two towns in one. East Looe and West Looe sit on opposite sides of the river Looe, joined by a bridge. In Kernewek the town is Logh, deep water inlet; West Looe is Porthbyghan, the little cove. The two halves were separate boroughs for […]
Lostwithiel
Lostwithiel is a small town at the head of the Fowey estuary, and for a stretch of the Middle Ages it was one of the most important places in Cornwall. In Kernewek it is Lostwydhyel, the tail-end of the woodland. It was founded in the twelfth century by Norman lords who built Restormel Castle on […]
Marazion
Marazion is a small town on Mount's Bay, 2 miles east of Penzance, and it lives across the water from St Michael's Mount. In Kernewek it is Marghasyow, Thursday market, a name that records the town's origin exactly: a charter of the late eleventh century gave the Mount its Thursday market, and the market was […]
Mevagissey
Mevagissey is a fishing village about 5 miles south of St Austell, facing east across its bay and up the hill from the harbour. In Kernewek it is Lannvorek, and the place is first recorded in 1313 as Porthhilly. It has worked for its living ever since, and the record describes it as Cornwall's second […]
Mousehole
Mousehole is a fishing village on Mount's Bay, about 2.5 miles south of Penzance, with St Clement's Isle lying just off the harbour mouth. In Kernewek it is Porthenys, the old spelling in the records from 1267; the village is first mentioned as Mousehole in 1283, and pilchards were being exported from its quay to […]
Newlyn
Newlyn is a fishing town on Mount's Bay, next door to Penzance, and by tonnage its harbour is described as the largest fishing port in England. In Kernewek it is Lulynn, the fleet pool. The sea has written most of the town's history, and it has not always been kind about it. The sea's record […]
Newquay
Atlantic surf town on the north coast, built around a working harbour.
Padstow
A working fishing harbour at the mouth of the Camel estuary, still dependent on the tide.
Penryn
Penryn is one of the older towns of Cornwall, standing on its granite spur above a tidal river just upstream from Falmouth. In Kernewek it is Pennrynn, promontory. The town was founded and named in 1216 by the Bishop of Exeter, and the streets still keep to that medieval plan, running down to the quay. […]
Pentewan
Former harbour village on the south coast, now a quiet base for coastal walks.
Penzance
Market town at the western end of the railway: gateway to Mount's Bay.
Porthleven
Porthleven is the most southerly port in Great Britain, a harbour town on the south coast where the sea has always had the final word. In Kernewek it is Porthelvan, the cove of Saint Elvan. It was built as a harbour of refuge in the days of sail, a place a ship could run for […]
Porthtowan
North-coast village in a steep valley, with a wide sandy beach at the stream mouth.
Portmellon
Small fishing village on Mevagissey Bay, with a sheltered beach at low tide.
Redruth
Redruth is one of the two towns at the heart of the old mining country, and the boom in copper ore turned a market town into an industrial one. In Kernewek it is Resrudh, the red ford. The town's shape, its chapels and its terraces were set by the mines, and its story is the […]
Saltash
Saltash stands on the west bank of the Tamar, the river that divides Cornwall from Devon, and for centuries it was the first town a traveller reached on entering the county from the east. In Kernewek it is Essa, the ash. It was made a borough around the start of the thirteenth century, a distinction […]
St Agnes
St Agnes is a village on the north coast about five miles from Redruth, standing above the coves that its mines once worked. In Kernewek it is Breanek, a name that may come from bre, hill, and Anek, Agnes. The parish stretches wide: Blackwater, Mithian, Mount Hawke and Porthtowan all sit within it. Mining country […]
St Austell
St Austell is the main town of Cornwall's china clay country, standing in the south of the county a few miles inland from the coast. In Kernewek it is Sen Austel, and the town is named after Austol, a sixth-century Cornish saint. It was a village until tin mining arrived in the eighteenth century, and […]
St Ives
A working harbour town turned art colony, built into a granite bay on the Atlantic side.
St Just in Penwith
St Just is the most westerly town in mainland Britain, about 8 miles west of Penzance on the road that runs out towards the end of the land. In Kernewek it is Lannust, and its church was rebuilt and dedicated in 1336, above streets that were shaped by the mines. Mining town St Just was […]
St Mawes
St Mawes is a village on the Roseland Peninsula, on the east bank of the Carrick Roads, looking across the water to Falmouth. In Kernewek it is Lannvowsedh, Mowsedh's holy enclosure. It was made a borough in 1563 and sent two members to Parliament until it was disfranchised in 1832; the village that remains is […]
Truro
Cornwall's only city: cathedral, river port, and the administrative centre of the Duchy.
Wadebridge
Wadebridge is a market town on the river Camel, five miles upstream from Padstow, and it takes its name from its bridge. In Kernewek it is Ponswad. The bridge was begun in 1468 and completed in 1485, carrying the road over the river on many arches, and wool was part of how it was paid […]