Cornwall's History
and Historical Timeline

The granite areas were formed and weathered down to more like we see today. The dinosaurs came and went and flowering plants evolved, the climate was tropical and dominated by monsoons. Later during the Ice Ages the rotten rock was further broken up and washed down to lower areas to form soils, minerals and china clay. Ancestors of modern humans visited Cornwall for the first time. Cornwall is too far south to be under the ice sheet, and is joined to Continental Europe.

From 400,000 BC to 200,000 BC, the archaeological record (ie. flint axes and blades) shows us that people, that were probably settled in Devon, were beginning to make periodic visits into Cornwall. By 40,000 BC (The Upper Palaeolithic) these modern humans have spread throughout the South West, but there is still no evidence of settlements in Cornwall at this time (as yet). Cornwall's landscape is similar to modern Arctic Tundra and The Isles of Scilly are still linked to the mainland.

This period begins at the end of the last glacial period, when water levels began to rise cutting Cornwall off from the Continent as the Channel floods, and hunter-gatherer bands begin to settle around the coastlines of Cornwall, around the Lizard Peninsula, for example, and have working sites on upland areas, such as Bodmin Moor as the lower areas would have been tree covered. The Isles of Scilly are cut off from the mainland and most of Cornwall is covered with oak and hazel woodland.

The Neolithic period is a time of great social and agricultural development. This can be seen through the adoption of farming and increased monument construction, brought about largely by an increasing population. Settlements begin to be fortified such as the one on top of Carn Brea, and structures such as Chun Quoit, Boscawen-Un, Trevethy Quoit and Chysauster Ancient Village.
The first Cornish hedges enclosed land for cereal crops during the Neolithic Age. Communal burial in long barrows and quoits is practised.

This period is defined by the introduction of metalworking, especially in bronze, which uses Cornwall's natural resources of tin and copper. These sources are found by tin-streaming and open-cast mining for copper which then started a trade boom driven by the export of tin across Europe. The period is also characterised by its ceremonial and burial monuments: the stone circles, rows and standing stones or menhirs, the barrows with their kist graves and many other ancient monuments.

The climate begins to get wetter during this period which causes settlement movement to lowland sites such as Trethellan, Newquay, and a move to more seasonal and less intensive grazing on the uplands. Large scale clearance of woodland for crop cultivation begins with the use of new iron ploughs and axes. Population pressure, as a result, creates a more warlike society which often sacrifices weapons to their gods. Arrival of the first Celtics in Britain by 600 BC. Some recent scholarship suggests that it was before 1,000 BC, and possibly as early as 2,000 BC.

Corineus, in medieval British legend, was a prodigious warrior, a fighter of giants, and the first ruler of Cornwall c. 1100 BC.

Iron gradually replaces bronze for weapons and farming tools. People are starting to live in defended settlements called rounds which are bank-and-ditch enclosures protecting a number of round-houses within. There are also economic and social centres, where manufacturing and trading occur, establishing on hill-tops and headlands, such as Trevelgue Head, near Newquay, Castle Dore near Fowey and Castle an Dinas near St. Columb.

First attempted invasion of British Mainland by Julius Caesar. Over the next century, the Romans come to rule Cornwall, then part of Dumnonia.

Greek historian Diodorus Siculus named Cornwall "Belerion" - "The Shining Land", the first recorded place name in the British Isles.

(AD 47 for Exeter / AD 55 for Nanstallon)
The late 1st century ostensibly brings Roman military occupation, but no noteworthy civil presence. The Britain annexed by Rome is divided among various tribes. The south west is occupied by the Dumnonii, Iron Age Celts who had held a large area for centuries. The rural society of the previous period continues, largely unchanged by the Roman influence in the rest of Britain. One fort is established, at Nanstallon near Bodmin on the River Camel, but it is occupied for twenty years; and one villa, at Magor, Camborne, which coincides with the increased trade in tin, during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, not only for bronze, but also to alloy with lead for pewter objects. This opened a trade route linking the south coast at Fowey to the north coast at Padstow.

New trading posts are set up such as the one at Carvossa, Probus, and a new style of housing is introduced in The Penwith Peninsula, the courtyard house, at villages like Chysauster.

St. Symphorian was beheaded at Forrabury church, Boscastle for his religious beliefs.

Romans start to exploit the Cornish tin.

Saints arrive in Cornwall.

A vision of the Archangel of St. Michael appeared on St. Michael's Mount.

King Mark's (Marcus Cunomorus) reign, his base was possibly Castle Dore and his name is mentioned on The Tristan Stone. Mark was the son of King Felix who died after a raid on his castle at Tintagel by the King of Ireland.

Battle of Deorham Down near Bristol results in the separation of the West Welsh (the Cornish) from the Welsh by the advance of the Saxons.

Earliest Cornish Saints systematically convert Cornwall to Christianity, a considerable period before the conversion of the Anglo-Saxon peoples of England (the territory east of the River Tamar). These early monastic foundations were started by Christian preachers or Christian Druids from other Celtic lands, mainly Ireland.

Earliest Christian church opens at St. Piran's oratory near Perranporth.

By now, the Saxons, have destroyed the remains of Roman civilisation in eastern England, and in the west it is almost forgotten. The Saxons are established as the most important tribe of invaders and they are converting to Roman Christianity.

English reach Bristol Channel: Celts of Cornwall cut off from Celts of Wales.

Cornwall had began to be recorded as Cornubia by the Romans, and its people as Cornovii or Cornavii.

Athelstan's settlement fixes the east bank of the River Tamar as the boundary between Anglo-Saxon Wessex and Celtic Cornwall.

Benedictine monks re founded the priory in Bodmin.

(25th April) Edmund Ironside, son of Ethelred II the Unready of England, becomes King. At the battle of Abingdon, in Essex, King Canute II of Denmark defeats Edmund who is assassinated a few months later and Canute takes the throne as King Canute of England.

Famine throughout Europe.

(5th January) King Edward the confessor dies and Harold Godwinson becomes King Harold II.

Robert of Mortain builds a castle at Launceston. Earl Ordulf is in charge of Moresk Castle, Truro.

The Cornish and Breton languages are mutually intelligible at this point.

(14th October) William and his Norman army defeat Harold II and the Anglo Saxons at the Battle of Hastings. Harold is killed and, after subduing the south of the country William is crowned King of England.

Earl Moreton takes Moresk Castle at St. Clements near Truro, for William the Conqueror.

Robert, Count of Mortain is made Earl of Cornwall.

Domesday survey: the major landholders in Cornwall are Robert, Count of Mortain, King William, the Bishop of Exeter, and Tavistock Abbey. The entire population of Cornwall was reckoned to be 29,532.

Worthyvale Manor at Slaughterbridge near Camelford is known as 'Guerdevalan', (Battle of Avalon?).

Markets and fairs recorded are: Bodmin, Launceston, Liskeard, Methleigh in Breage, St. Germans, Trematon.

Cornwall was divided into seven (subsequently nine) administrative areas known as 'hundreds'. The original hundreds were Penwith, Kerrier, Pydar, Powder, East and West Wivel and Trigg. Trigg was tri-divided to produce an additional two hundreds of Lesnewth and Stratton. Bodmin was recorded as the largest town in Cornwall with 68 houses.

A Benedictine priory is established in Tywardreath.

(2nd August) Henry I succeeds his brother, William II.

'Rugby' evolved from hurling in Penzance.

Castle Bottreaux was founded by the Bottreaux family at Boscastle.

Restormel Castle is built after the Norman conquest of England as a motte and bailey castle by Baldwin Fitz Turstin, the local sheriff.

Ingulf's Chronicle records Cornwall as a nation distinct from England.

The Knights Templar built a little church at Temple as a hospice for travellers high on Bodmin Moor.

(December) Henry persuades the barons to accept Matilda as his lawful successor to the throne.

A Priory is built at Launceston on the banks of the River Kensey.

Truro receives its first Charter of Incorporation from Earl Richard de Lucy, the King's Justicar.

Geoffrey de Monmouth publishes the 'History of Britain' and claims that Tintagel was the birthplace of King Arthur.

(1st December) King Henry 1st dies of food poisoning. Stephen usurps the throne from Matilda, Henry's daughter and plunges England into nineteen years of civil war.

Edward the Confessor granted St. Michael's Mount to the Benedictine monks from Mont St. Michel in France, and they built a priory on the summit of the mount. They also constructed a harbour and causeway. Henry V granted it to the Abbey of Syon in Twickenham.

The wooden castle at Launceston was replaced with the imposing stone castle known as 'Castle Terrible' (Launceston is the only Cornish town to have been surround by a stone wall, up to six feet wide, and gates for defensive purposes).

The first Tintagel Castle is constructed by Earl Reginald.

(6th July) Richard I becomes King of England upon the death of Henry II. Prince John is granted possession of Cornwall.

Lostwithiel is granted a Royal Charter.

Prior Theobald of Tywardreath established a 'free borough' at Fowey which quickly became a major Cornish port.

Saltash also became a franchised seaport at this time.

King John grants a charter for the Cornish Stannaries. No fixed boundaries were set for the Stannaries so in effect they covered all of Cornwall and as each Stannary appointed six Stannators to the Stannary Parliament, the Parliament represents all of Cornwall.

The first Assizes in Cornwall are held in Launceston.

A passenger ferry between Cremyl and Plymouth across the River Tamar is started.

Grant to William de Boterell of a market at Boscastle.

Grant of a market at St. Germans.

Cornwall is acknowledged as having the continuing right to appoint its own sheriff.

Grant of a fair at St. Keyne.

Henry III grants the Earldom of Cornwall to his younger brother, Richard of Cornwall.

A market charter was granted by Richard, Earl of Cornwall to Liskeard and he builds a Castle there.

The Franciscan Friary at Bodmin is founded.

Reinfred Arundell is born at Lanherne House.

St. Mary's church, Truro is dedicated by Bishop Bronescombe (later to be absorbed within Truro Cathedral).

Walter de Bronescombe, Bishop of Exeter, makes a tour of Cornwall dedicating nineteen parish churches which had been re-built or re-modelled. They include St. Anthony-in-Roseland, Antony, Botus Fleming, St. Breoke, St. Dominick, Pillaton, and Truro St. Mary's. By this time Norman designs are considered dark and old-fashioned.

Grant of market and fair at Camelford.

Fowey is the most important port in medieval Cornwall.

Richard, Earl of Cornwall bought Trematon Castle for £300 and it has remained the property of the Earls and Dukes of Cornwall without interruption ever since.

Isolda de Cardinan granted Restormel Castle and certain lands to her over-lord Richard, Earl of Cornwall.

(2nd April) The title Earl of Cornwall passes to Edmund on the death of Richard who died at Berkhamsted Castle in Hertfordshire and holds it until 1300, and on his death it then reverts to Edward I then to Edward II.

(16th November) Edward learns that he has succeeded to the throne on his way home from the Crusade after the death of Henry III.

Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, makes Lostwithiel the county capital where he built the 'Duchy Palace'. This once extensive building incorporated the Shire Hall, the Exchequer of the Earldom (later Duchy), the Stannary Goal and the Coinage Hall. Edmund also modernised Restormel Castle at Launceston. He was the last Earl of Cornwall to reside in the county.

Mappa Mundi [in Hereford Cathedral] shows the four constituent parts of Britain as England, Scotland, Wales and Cornwall.

A bridge is constructed across the River Fowey at Lostwithiel.

Edmund, Earl of Cornwall builds the Duchy Palace at Lostwithiel.

Grant to Philip Daubeney for market and fair at Polruan.

(1st October) Edmund, Earl of Cornwall dies aged 51 and the Earldom of Cornwall reverted to the Crown.

Grant of a market and fair at Mousehole.

Grants, or claims proved, to allow markets and/or fairs at Bodmin (claim of the prior of Bodmin), Boscastle (claim of W. de Boterus), Boswythgy, Callington (claim of Reg. de Ferrars), Kilkhampton (claim of R. de Grenville), Lananta (claim of W. de Boterus), Looe (claim of W. de Bodrygan), Michell (claim of J. de Arundel), Mousehole, Penryn (claim of Thomas, Bishop of Exeter), Plymouth, St. Brian, St. Germans (claim of the prior of St. Germans), Tregony (claim of H. de Pomeray); claim of the burgesses for a merchant guild at Helston proved.
Grant of a market and two fairs at St. Buryan.

King Edward's Stannary Charter re-affirms the Crown's right of pre-emption, its first call upon the tin mined in Cornwall and Devon.

William le Poer, coroner of The Isles of Scilly, is recorded as being worried about the extent of wrecking in the islands, and sending a petition to the King.

(7th July) Edward II accedes to the throne on the death of his father, Edward I.

The Tinners Charter is granted by Edward 1.

Edward II gives the title, Earl of Cornwall, to his court favourite Piers Gaveston who holds it until his execution in 1312.

Grant to the Bishop of Exeter of a market for Caergaule (Cargoll, Newlyn East); grant of a market and fair at Castelboterell.

The Italian, Antonio Pessaigne, obtains from the Crown a lien on coinage dues in Cornwall and Devon and the authority to buy all tin coined. This causes great hostility in the Stannaries. The miners continue to sell to whom they please and in 1316 obtain a revocation of the patent.

(19th June) Piers Gaveston Earl of Cornwall, is executed on the orders of the Earl of Lancaster.

Grant to the prior of Tywardreath of a market and fair at Fowey.

Total failure of the harvest in Cornwall through bad weather.

Grant by Edward III of weekly market and seven day fair at Penzance to Alice de l'Isle.

A Charter is granted to the village of Grampound by the Earl of Cornwall.

(25th April) Penzance received its market charter from King Edward III.

Grant to William Basset of two day a week market and two annual fairs at Redruth.

Grant to Sir John Arundell of market and fair at St. Columb Major.

Grant of a market and fair at Inceworth (in Maker and Antony), and Shepstall (in Ruanlanihorne).

John de Boscawen Ros of St. Buryan married the heiress Johan de Tregothnan and he moved his home from the Penzance area to Tregothnan, where his descendants still live.

John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall dies aged 20.

A Charter was granted to the town of Helston. This gave the town a weekly market and four annual fairs. The income from the market and fairs helped considerably with the finances of the town.

(17th March) Edward the Black Prince, eldest son of Edward III, is created first Duke of Cornwall, when the Earldom of Cornwall was raised to a Dukedom. He then makes repairs to Launceston Castle.

(3rd March) The Irish vessel 'Porthlyn' was wrecked in Crantock Bay.

The sailing vessel 'La Trinite' was wrecked in Widemouth Bay.

Edward the Black Prince, first Duke of Cornwall is made Prince of Wales.

(10th February) The sailing vessel 'Tarite' was wrecked on the south coast of Cornwall while heading for Falmouth.

(26th August) Cornish archers, conspicuous for their long bows and accurate shooting, distinguish themselves at the Battle of Crecy.

777 men from Fowey ("Gallants of Fowey") fight at the Siege of Calais.

Fowey and Polruan provide more large ships than London for Royal service.

(16th July) Ten year old Richard II succeeds his grandfather, Edward III; the kingdom is ruled at first by the King's uncles, John of Gaunt and Thomas of Gloucester.

A poll-tax census was taken, when it was found that the entire population of Cornwall did not exceed 61,964 persons.

The hermit's chapel on Roche Rock near St. Austell, dedicated to St. Michael, is licensed.

Launceston Technology College is established.

(9th April) Henry V accedes to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of his father, Henry IV.

Treverbyn Bridge is built across the Rivey Fowey just east of St. Neot.

Greystone Bridge, which crosses the River Tamar on the Launceston to Tavistock Road is constructed.

Work is started on building a new quay at Newquay.

Henry Pomeroy captured St. Michael's Mount, on behalf of Prince John, against 6,000 of Edward IV's troops.

(November) Sir John Arundell VII died at his seat of Lanherne aged 52.

(9th April) On the death of Edward IV, the crown passes to his 12 year old son, Edward V.

(6th July) Richard III declares himself King after confining and possibly ordering the murder of his two nephews, Edward V and Richard Duke of York, in the Tower of London.

(22nd August) Henry VII becomes King after defeating Richard III of York at the Battle of Bosworth Field. The Wars of the Roses are ended.

Cotehele House was built by Sir Richard Edgcumbe, who also receives a Knighthood.

Sir Richard Grenville I is born at Stowe, near Kilkhampton, Bude.

(21st April) Henry VIII accedes to the throne on the death of his father, Henry VII.

(23rd June) Henry VIII's coronation procession includes 'nine children of honour' representing 'England and France, Gascony, Guienne, Normandy, Anjou, Cornwall, Wales and Ireland.'

Penzance received Royal Charters for its harbour from King Henry VIII.

Death of Thomasine Bonaventure of Week St. Mary. Known as 'the Cornish Shepherdess' (later Dame Thomasine Percival), she has been Lord Mayoress of London.

Sir Humphrey Arundell is born at Helland near Bodmin. He became the leader of Cornish forces in the Prayer Book Rebellion early in the reign of King Edward VI.

Marazion was attacked and burnt during a war with France that started in 1511.

Berry tower is completed as part of a chapel on Berry Down overlooking Bodmin.

As part of the colonisation of Ireland an English official suggests that one man should be sent from 'every parish in England, Cornwall and Wales'.

King Henry VIII granted Sir Piers Edgcumbe permission to create a deer park at Mount Edgcumbe.

Sir William Godolphin is born at Godolphin House, he later serves as an English Knight, politician, and MP.

The New Bridge across the River Tamar at Gunnislake is built by Sir Piers Edgcumbe.

The population of Cornwall is now 64,000 persons.

(25th January) King Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn. And Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth I) is born.

Thomas Treffry became collector of customs in the ports of Plymouth and Fowey. These types of appointments gave the holder valuable income and power.

Polydore Vergil's Anglica Historia describes Britain as being made up of 'Scots, Welsh, English and Cornish people' and that 'England is limited on the West part with the bounds of Cornwall and Wales.'

King Henry VIII abolished the priory on St. Michael's Mount, turning the island into a fortress as a defence against threatened invasions by Roman Catholic France and Spain.

(12th October) Jane Seymour dies giving birth to Edward (later Edward VI).

(12th October) Edward becomes the Duke of Cornwall.

King Henry VIII creates a chain of fortifications along the south coast, including the castles of Pendennis and St. Mawes.

King Henry VIII starts the dissolution of the Monasteries including most religious houses in Cornwall.

Sir Piers Edgcumbe built a deer park at Mount Edgcumbe.

St. Catherine's Castle built by Henry VIII in Fowey to defend the port.

Sir Francis Godolphin is born near Helston.

(6th January) King Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves, but the marriage is annulled in July.

(28th July) King Henry VIII marries Catherine Howard.

Andrew Boorde's First book of 'the introduction of knowledge' records that 'In Cornwall is two speeches, the one is naughty Englysshe and the other is Cornysshe. And there may be many men and women the which cannot speak one word of Englysshe but all Cornysshe.'

(13th February) Catherine Howard is executed for treason.

(15th June) Sir Richard Grenville is born at Kilkhampton near Bude.

King Henry VIII continues with the dissolution of the Monasteries and priories in Cornwall.

(12th July) King Henry VIII marries the twice-widowed Catherine Parr, his sixth and last wife.

King Henry VIII visits his new castles at Pendennis and St. Mawes.

(19th July) Loss of the flagship 'Mary Rose' in the Solent and the death of Sir Richard Grenville.

(28th January) Edward VI accedes to the throne at the age of nine after the death of his father, Henry VIII.

Roger Palmer, a local mason, was commissioned to build Mount Edgcumbe House.

Second uprising against new government taxation laws starts in St. Keverne.

(June-August) Uprising in protest against the imposition by Edward VI of the use of the Book of Common Prayer in English. From the 9th. June, rebels attacked St. Michael's Mount, Marazion and St. Ives. Following this the rebels, under their leader Sir Humphrey Arundell of Helland, marched to Bodmin and where they were joined by the towns mayor Nicholas Boyer. Sir William Godolphin was escorted to Dunheved Castle, Launceston, to be imprisoned. Soon after they captured the governor of Trematon Castle and plundered the buildings. They then drew a petition to the King. The 5000 strong Cornish army continued on to take Plymouth and Exeter. They were eventually beaten and forced back with at least 4000 of them killed. This spells the end for the use of the Cornish language.

Truro gained a grammar school.

(27th January) Sir Humphrey Arundell, leader of the Cornish army, dies aged 37.

Sir John Killigrew re-builds Arwenack House in Falmouth.

(18th March) Sir Richard Grenville I dies aged 55 at Launceston Castle.

A small fort, now known as the Old Blockhouse, is built on Tresco to protect Old Grimsby harbour.

Thomas Godolphin becomes captain (or governor) of the Isles of Scilly.

Sir Walter Raleigh visits Falmouth.

Edward VI’s government found the money to begin building a fort to protect the port at St. Mary's on the Isles of Scilly, the unfinished remains of which are now known as Harry’s Walls. It was later replaced by Star Castle.

King Charles's Castle is built on Tresco to defend the Isles of Scilly.

John Rashleigh II, is born, he becomes builder of the first house at Menabilly, a shipping merchant, the MP for Fowey in 1588 and 1597, and High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1608.

(17th July) Richard Carew is born at Antony House.

Great famine across Cornwall.

A Royal Charter was granted to Launceston by Queen Mary.

(29th September) John Trelawny of Menheniot dies aged 59.

Bodmin received a Royal Charter from Elizabeth I.

Sir Reginald Mohun, 1st Baronet of Boconnoc is born. He became a prominent member of the gentry of Cornwall.

Sir Walter Raleigh brings potatoes and tobacco from the New World.

Tregrehan Estate is bought by the Carlyon Family.

Richard Buller is born at Shillingham near Saltash. He was Knighted in 1608, and became MP and Sheriff of Cornwall in 1637.

Spaniards land at Penryn late at night with the intent of burning the town. It is during a performance of the Miracle Play of St. Sampson and, according to Richard Carew writing in the 1590's, they are put to flight by the players.

Sir John Killigrew of Arwenack House, Falmouth dies aged 51. He was the first Governor of Pendennis Castle.

(17th December) Birth of Jonathan Trelawny at Menheniot.

Sir Francis Drake marries Mary Newman at Saltash.

Heligan Estate was purchased by Sampson Tremayne from the Heligan family.

Birth of Sir William Lower. He became an astronomer from the early telescopic period.

(30th July) Sir William Godolphin of Godolphin House, dies aged 55.

The population of Cornwall is now 70,000 persons.

Under Elizabeth I Fowey is granted the right to elect two MP's.

Trerice House near Newquay was built by Sir John Arundell.

The bridge at Lerryn was re-built by order of Queen Elizabeth I.

John I Rashleigh purchased the estate of Menabilly.

(2nd June) Martha Treffry is born at Place House in Fowey.

Sir Richard Grenville proposes to the Queen an expedition to find the southern route around America to the Pacific and to establish new colonies, however this plan was rejected.

Sir Francis Vyvyan is born at Trelowarren

Birth of Sir John Arundell at Trerice.

The Catholic Priest Cuthbert Mayne was captured by the High Sheriff of Cornwall, Sir Richard Grenville and executed at Launceston after which his head was impaled on the gate of Launceston Castle. This was done as a warning to Catholics to renounce their faith.

(4th April) Sir Francis Drake Knighted by Queen Elizabeth I on the deck of The Golden Hind. His first wife Mary Newman also dies in this year.

(10th August) John I Rashleigh of Fowey, dies aged 64.

Queen Elizabeth I awards Padstow its Borough Charter.

Boscastle harbour, built by Sir Richard Grenville.

(5th March) Sir John Killigrew of Arwenack House, Falmouth dies aged 45, he was the 2nd Governor of Pendennis Castle, and appointed by Queen Elizabeth I.

Nicholas Prideaux begins building Prideaux Place at Padstow after inheriting the estates in 1581.

Sir Walter Raleigh was Knighted and was appointed warden of the Stannaries in Cornwall.

Philip Rashleigh's ship 'Francis of Fowey' sails with Frobisher to the Arctic and with Drake to the West Indies.

John Trefusis is born at St. Columb Major, he later served as an MP and a magistrate.

Spanish soldiers invaded Penryn.

Meeting of the Convocation of Tinners of Cornwall petitions Queen Elizabeth I to confer powers to legislate, but this goes unheeded. In 1624 the Meeting of Tinners of Cornwall assumes the power to legislate. These laws are added to in later Convocations in 1636, 1688 and 1753.

Spanish Armada seen from the Lizard on 19th July. A warning beacon was lit on St. Michael's Mount. On that evening, the English fleet was trapped in Plymouth Harbour by the incoming tide. By the 20th July they were just off Rame Head and engaging the English fleet led by Sir Francis Drake near the Eddystone Rocks. The Spanish Armada fleet was chased off up the channel towards the Isle of Wight.

Truro was granted a new charter by Elizabeth I which ensured it was a free borough with a mayor and 24 Capital Burgesses.

(October) Sir William Godolphin dies aged 42.

Sir John II after being imprisoned in the Tower and then less rigorously confined, died at Isleworth in this year. His body was returned to St. Columb for burial.

(4th July) Jonathan Rashleigh I is born. He later serves as MP for Fowey. After the execution of King Charles I Jonathan was imprisoned at St. Mawes Castle and his estate became bankrupt.

(10th September) Death of Sir Richard Grenville of the Revenge whilst he was second in command of a fleet (vice admiral) under Lord Thomas Howard that sailed to seize the Spanish treasure ships on route to Spain from South America.

Bubonic plague recorded at Redruth.

The building of Prideaux Place is completed by Sir Nicholas Prideaux.

Penzance receives Royal Charters from King Henry VIII for markets and fairs.

(11th April) John Eliot was born at Port Eliot.

Sir Francis Godolphin builds Star Castle on St. Mary's.

(January) John Treffry is born. He became an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1622.

Sir Francis Basset is born. He made his fortune from tin mining and later bought St. Michael's Mount.

(July) Enemy Spaniards land in Mount's Bay, attacking Mousehole, Newlyn, Penzance and Paul.

Marazion is granted its charter, the first in The Penwith Peninsula.

Birth, near Bodmin, of Sir Bevil Grenville grandson of Sir Richard Grenville.

A Spanish raid is seen off by local militia at Cawsand before they have sunk two boats and burned several houses.

(February) The Spanish Fleet of Indies galleon 'San Bartolomé' (Spain) was lost within the Isles of Scilly. She was carrying lead ingots and fragments of bronze bells.

Sir Jonathan Trelawny (1568–1604) is Knighted.

During the Spanish Armada two Spanish ships, a bark and a pinnace had made their way to St. Ives to seek shelter from the storm which had dispersed the Spanish fleet. They were captured by the English warship 'Warspite' of Sir Walter Raleigh leaking from the same storm. The information given by the prisoners was vital on learning the Armada's objectives.

Pendennis Castle is fortified with ramparts and bastions.

St. Michael's Mount sold by Queen Elizabeth I to Sir Robert Cecil (later the Earl of Salisbury).

Francis Carew created a method of producing out of season fruit.

Sir Jonathan Trelawny purchased the manor of Trelawne near Pelynt from the Crown, and moved his residence to there from Menheniot.

Various small mines which are later to form Polberro Tin Mine are working at St. Agnes. By the 1830's the mine employs 480 people and in 1846 it is visited by Queen Victoria.

The ancient Cornish Kendall family build Pelyn House near Lostwithiel.

(11th November) Vice Admiral Charles Trevanion of Caerhays, dies aged 41. He also served as an MP for Grampound.

Publication of Richard Carew's 'The Survey of Cornwall'.

(24th March) Upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I, Arthur Hopton the Venetian ambassador described her as ruling over five different peoples: English, Welsh, Cornish, Scottish and Irish. James VI of Scotland becomes King James I of England, Scotland, and Ireland uniting the thrones of Scotland and England. Henry Frederick, eldest son of James I becomes the Duke of Cornwall.

William Tremayne built Heligan House in the Jacobean style.

(21st June) Sir Jonathan Trelawny from the manor of Trelawne near Pelynt dies aged 36, he served as the High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1595.

(12th August) John Killigrew of Arwenack House, near Falmouth dies aged 52.

(5th November) Guy Fawkes and other Catholic dissidents attempt to blow up King and Parliament in The Gunpowder Plot. They are betrayed and arrested. The event is celebrated to this day with bonfire night.

Sir William Killigrew is born. He later became Governor of Pendennis Castle.

John Robartes, son of Sir Richard Robartes is born at Lanhydrock Estate.

(30th January) A coastal flood in the Bristol Channel which may have been a tsunami, also floods all the low lying villages along the north Cornwall coast.

Sir William Lower from near Bodmin, an astronomer from the early telescopic period observed Halley's comet and took a number of careful measurements and it was determined that the comet was following a curved course.

(4th January) Piers) Edgcumbe of Mount Edgcumbe and of Cotehele in the parish of Calstock, both in Cornwall, who was an English MP, dies aged 72.

Sir Francis Godolphin, born in 1540, dies aged 68. Expert in mining, he has prospered from some of the best Cornish mines of the time, bringing in German engineers to improve mining processes. His success added to Queen Elizabeth's revenues by £1,000 per year.

(30th August) Sir Alexander Carew, 2nd Baronet, of Antony is born. He became an English MP executed for attempting to betray the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War.

(4th February) Hannibal Vyvyan of Trelowarren dies aged 64.

(11th October) Birth of Samuel Enys at Constantine.

Anthony Payne is born at the Grenville Manor house at Stratton. He became a 7 foot 4 inch Cornish giant who was enlisted as a bodyguard to the Royalist Sir Bevil Grenville.

Charles, younger son of James I becomes the Duke of Cornwall.

Sir Robert Geffrey is born at Landrake. He was later to become an English merchant and Lord Mayor of London.

A Royal Charter is granted by James I to Penzance and John Maddern was appointed as the first Mayor.

The Market House in Penzance was built.

(12th April) Sir William Lower an astronomer who observed Halley's comet, dies aged 45.

Pocahontas may have visited Indian Queens, although this is disputed.

Edward Herle is born at Prideaux Place, he became an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1689. He also fought in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.

(29th November) John Godolphin is born on the Isles of Scilly, he later becomes judge of the admiralty.

A merchantman of unknown name is wrecked on Lizard Point. It is later called either the "Rill Cove Wreck" or the "Lizard Silver Wreck" due to the large amount of coins recovered from the site.

Sir John Killigrew's lighthouse built at the Lizard Point, but was demolished again after complaints from the locals about the reduction in the number of shipwrecks.

Sir Richard Robartes, a Truro tin and wool merchant. buys the Lanhydrock estate and begins to build the house which bears two dates at the front, 1636 and 1642. The gatehouse is only completed in 1658. In 1881 a large part of the house is destroyed by fire, but re-built with additions.

(16th August) The 'Mayflower', en route to America with the Pilgrim Fathers stops off at Newlyn to take on water.

(31st August) Sir John Trelawny's daughter, Anne, married Sir Francis Bassett of Tehidy.

(6th November) Richard Carew dies aged 65, at Antony House.

Penryn is granted a Royal Charter by Kings James I.

(19th August) A severe storm greatly damaged cereal crops in Cornwall, extreme winds blew for six hours.

(13th August) Thomas Burgess of Truro, dies aged 83. He was an English merchant, and was Mayor of Truro in 1589 and an alderman of the town at the time its coat of arms was confirmed in 1620. He was also MP for Truro.

(12th May) John Rashleigh II of Menabilly, near Fowey, dies aged 69. He was the builder of the first mansion house on the family estate at Menabilly.

The Bodmin Wassail Festival was started by Nicholas Sprey, a three-time mayor of Bodmin.

(27th March) Charles I succeeds his father, James I.

(July) Thomas Burgess of Truro, dies aged 46, was an English MP.

(28th October) Charles Boscawen was born at Tregothnan, he later became an English politician who sat in the House of Commons.

Pendennis Castle is improved again with new defensive lines, and artillery, was built across the peninsula to defend The Fal Estuary.

(May) Sir William Killigrew was Knighted and became Governor of Pendennis Castle.

(1st July) The Trelawny Baronetcy was created for John Trelawny.

(August) Sir John Grenville was born at Kilkhampton. He was the third son of Sir Bevil Grenville.

(4th March) Sir John Eliot imprisoned in the Tower of London.

Sir John Dodridge re-interprets preceding historical records in his book An historical account of the ancient and modern state of the Principality of Wales, Duchy of Cornwall and earldom of Chester, referring to Cornwall as 'anciently reputed a Dukedom', and earlier 'an Earldom'. He states that 'until the 11th year of King Edward III, at a time it was a-new constituted a Duchy, the first erected in England after the Conquest', suggesting ancient Duchy Charters and Royal intents had been misunderstood over the preceding 300 years.

(29th May) Charles, son of Charles I becomes the Duke of Cornwall.

William Noy (1577-1634) probably born in St. Buryan, MP for Grampound 1603-1614, Fowey 1623-1625 and Helston 1627-1631, becomes Attorney General. Author of several legal works.

Richard Lower is born at St. Tudy near Bodmin. He was involved in some of the earliest experiments with blood transfusions.

A harbour is built at Trevaunance Cove, St. Agnes.

(27th November) Sir John Eliot dies aged 40 whilst imprisoned in the Tower of London.

Trewan Hall at St. Columb Major is built.

Many clergy in Cornwall refused to read the Declaration of the Book of Sports in their churches on Sundays.

(7th February) Robert Robartes is born he later became an MP and Viscount Bodmin.

Turkish Pirates infest the Cornish coast.

(11th June) Sir Francis Vyvyan of Trelowarren, dies aged 60 and is succeeded by his eldest son Richard.

Ralph Keats, grand-son of William Keats is buried at St. Ervan church near Padstow.

(24th March) The sailing ship 'Gift of God' of Kirkcaldy was wrecked on The Isles of Scilly.

(18th February) The Battle off Lizard Point was a naval action which took place off the coast of Cornwall, during the Eighty Years' War. The Spanish admiral, Miguel de Horna, commander of the Armada of Flanders, intercepted an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by six warships, destroying or capturing twenty of them.

Sir Francis Godolphin (1605-1667), an English MP who inherited estates which included the lease of the Isles of Scilly, was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall.

A Royal Charter is granted to St. Ives by King Charles I.

(26th December) Reginald Mohun, MP, 1st Baronet of Boconnoc dies aged 74.

St. Michael's Mount is sold to Sir Francis Basset.

John, 2nd Lord Robartes, the leader of the Cornish Group of Parliamentarians became Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall.

Land was bought near Saltash by Henry Killigrew to build Ince House on.

(23rd September) The 'Royal Merchant', an English merchant ship was lost at sea with 18 lives lost off Land's End. On board were at least £100,000 of gold, 400 bars of Mexican silver and nearly 500,000 pieces of eight and other coins, making it one of the most valuable wrecks of all times.

(24th July) Jonathan Rashleigh II is born. He becomes Sheriff of Cornwall in 1686/7, and several times MP for Fowey.

(22nd August) War of the five peoples - Civil War in Britain, involving the English, Scots, Irish, Welsh, Cornish.

(30th September) At the start of the Civil War a Royalist force under Sir Ralph Hopton and Sir Bevil Grenville enters Cornwall and the First Battle of Lostwithiel begins.

(13th October) Sir Ralph Hopton proclaims the King's commission at Launceston gaining the support of the townspeople against the Parliamentary committee which attempted to indict him for disturbing the peace.

St. Michael's Mount seized by Charles I.

Prince Charles (Charles II) stays at Pendennis Castle, protected by the Governor, Sir John Arundell.

(Early December) Sir Ralph Hopton secures the Cornish side of Plymouth Sound.

(19th January) Battle of Braddock Down. Colonel Ruthin's Parliamentarian troops are defeated by Sir Ralph Hopton with Sir Bevil Grenville's Regiment which includes the giant 7 foot 4 inch Anthony Payne carrying his colours. Two hundred Parliamentarians were killed, 1,250 were taken prisoner and two large cannon were captured by the Royalists.

(22nd January) The Cornish Royalist army captured Saltash from the Parliamentarians and forced them to cross the Tamar into England.

(8th February) During a fight between the Cornish Royalists and Parliamentarians Colonel Sidney Godolphin of the Cornish army was shot dead.

(14th March) Sir Richard Carew, 1st Baronet of Antony dies aged 63.

(22nd April) The Parliamentarian forces under the command of Oliver Cromwell advanced in an attempt to capture Launceston, from the Royalists. The Royalist army stationed their forces on the summit of Windmill Hill, the steep hill which overlooks the town. The Parliamentarians captured the town, but were unable to dislodge the Royalist forces from Windmill Hill. James Basset, brother of Sir Francis Basset and Sir Thomas Basset, was killed in battle at Polsloe Bridge near Launceston.

(25th April) The Earl of Stamford sends a detachment to hold Bodmin for Parliament and concentrates his main force at Stratton.

(16th May) Battle of Stratton. The Earl of Stamford's Parliamentarian force is repelled by Hopton's men after day-long fighting, with 300 men killed and 1700 captured, and retreats to Bideford.

(5th July) The victories for Hopton with the Cornish militia provide the impetus for campaigns in Devon and Somerset. Taunton and Bridgwater are taken by the Cornish army, but Sir Bevil Grenville, John Trevanion and Sir Nicholas Slanning are killed in the moment of victory at the Battle of Lansdown in Somerset and Hopton is seriously wounded. Bristol falls to Hopton's troops, and later Exeter.

(August) John Grenville, third son of Sir Bevil Grenville was Knighted by King Charles I after the capture of Bristol.

(7th September) The city of Exeter surrendered to the Cornish Royalist army.

(10th September) The King sent a letter thanking the Cornish for their support and for fighting for him. The letter was placed in every church and chapel in Cornwall. Some churches in Cornwall still display the letter today.

(5th October) The town of Dartmouth in Devon surrendered to the Cornish Royalist army.

(3rd December) The siege of Plymouth begins, but the result is disastrous for the Cavaliers. Sir Richard Grenville, having previously declared for Parliament, invites his troops to follow him into the King's service. Parliament proclaim him a traitor.

(March) Sir Richard Grenville arrives in Plymouth to maintain a blockade, but it results in a stalemate as inhabitants obtain enough provisions to survive. The arrival of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, in command of the Roundhead army of 8000 men forces Grenville to retreat westwards across the River Tamar.

(May) some 300 Parliamentarians attacked and captured the fort at Mount Edgcumbe, then went on to attack the House and take Maker Church (used as a signal tower), and a battery of six guns at Cawsand.

(26th July) Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex crossed the River Tamar at Horsebridge with 10,000 men and advanced into Cornwall, arriving at Bodmin two days later.

Campaign at Lostwithiel.
(1st August) King Charles I arrived in Cornwall and spent the night at Trecarrel south of Launceston.
(2nd August) Charles was in pursuit of the Earl of Essex and stayed at Stuart House in Liskeard.
(4th August) Charles took possession of Boconnoc House and stayed there many days. Sir John Arundell was Knighted for gallantry.
(11th August) Sir Richard Grenville's Royalist men surround them at Lostwithiel, secure Respryn Bridge and Lanhydrock House then take Bodmin.
(21st August) Grenville takes Restormel Castle and Beacon Hill, Lostwithiel. Intermittent fighting follows with gains and losses, but the Royalists push the Parliamentarians back to Castle Dore high above the Fowey River.
(31st August) Essex escapes leaving his army to surrender. They are not kindly treated by the Royalists, but sent off having had their weapons confiscated.
(2nd September) Perhaps 1000 of the 6000 Roundheads survive hunger, disease and exposure, but their time in Lostwithiel has seen the vandalism of Lostwithiel's Duchy Palace and Jonathan Rashleigh's Menabilly house, and the destruction of all the constitutional Charters and Stannary records placed in Luxulyan church for safety. The ensuing debate in London about the unsatisfactory manner of the war leads to the passage of the Self-Denying Ordinance. This is the prompt for a professional English army with a unified command and devoid of its earlier feudal nature - the New Model Army.

(End September) Sir Richard Grenville was put in command of the siege of Plymouth (surrounding Plymouth with soldiers). Plymouth supported the Parliamentarians but Sir Richard’s Cornish troops tried to make its people surrender.

(23rd December) Sir Alexander Carew, 2nd Baronet of Antony is executed aged 35 for attempting to betray the Parliamentary cause.

(21st January) Sir Thomas Fairfax is chosen to command the New Model Army. The Royalist army is also reorganised and a succession of command changes and squabbling ensues. Prince Charles becomes the Commander-in-Chief. The Royalists suffers a noted defeat at Naseby in Northamptonshire and Fairfax's men overrun them in confrontations in the south and west of England.

Launceston Castle eventually fell to Cromwell.

(15th June) Sidney Godolphin is born in Godolphin Hall near Helston. He served in Parliament for most of his life.

Cornish Royalist leader Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet made Launceston his base and he stationed Cornish troops along the River Tamar and issued them with instructions to keep "all foreign troops out of Cornwall".

(19th September) Sir Francis Basset dies aged 51 at Camborne.

(Late September) Prince Charles withdraws from Exeter to spend a great part of the autumn and winter in Cornwall, principally at Launceston and Truro.

(January) The Prince gives Lord Hopton command of the Royalist forces, with Wentworth to command the horse and Grenville the foot. Sir Richard Grenville refuses and is imprisoned in Launceston prison initially and later in St. Michael's Mount.

(February) Hopton advances from Stratton to Torrington en route to Exeter, but is driven out by Fairfax's men, and falls back to Stratton. Fairfax proceeds into Cornwall reaching Launceston (25th February), Bodmin (2nd March) and St. Austell (3rd March). Oliver Cromwell came with 500 Dragoons and 1000 horsemen to take and hold the bridge at Wadebridge. Cornish Royalist leaders realised that they were losing the war and surrendered the east of Cornwall to the Parliamentarians at Millbrook. Hopton's army is in disarray but he refuses to surrender. News at Bodmin of an imminent Irish invasion further damages the Royalist cause locally and Fairfax offers Hopton terms. Surrender of the Royalist forces to the Parliamentarians takes place at Tresillian Bridge near Truro on 15th March.

(2nd March) Sir Arthur Basset escorted the Prince of Wales in his flight to the Isles of Scilly.

(April) The siege of Pendennis Castle began and lasted for five months. Parliamentary forces attacked the castle from both land and sea and it finally surrendered on 17th August 1646.

(23rd April) Some Cornish Royalists refused to surrender their castles. Brothers Sir Francis and Sir Arthur Basset did not surrender St. Michael's Mount to the Parliamentarians until April 1646.

Plague in Penzance and St. Ives again.

(16th May) The Gear Rout - The last Cornish armed uprising following the end of the English Civil War involving some 500 rebels who fought against the Parliamentarian forces of Sir Hardress Waller at sites in Penzance and near the Helford River. The Parliamentarians defeated both risings. To show that Cornish resistance had been crushed, Parliamentarian soldiers marched through Penryn with Cornish hurling balls stuck on the ends of their swords.

Plague hits St. Austell.

(30th January) Charles I is executed. There follows eleven years of rule by Parliament as the Commonwealth under Cromwell.

(30th January) HMS 'Garland' carrying the wardrobe of the Prince of Wales was wrecked at Godrevy. She was taking shelter off St. Ives in a great storm and dragged her anchors. Only a man, boy and wolf–dog survived out of about 60 passengers and crew.

(24th March) Sir Jonathan Trelawny was born at Pelynt, near Looe. The hero of the Cornwall's National Anthem - Song of the Western Men.

The Stannary regulations were abolished, coinage duty as well as pre-emption, and there followed a decade of unprecedented prosperity when the price of tin doubled and production reached a record levels.

Reverend Hugh Peters baptised at Fowey in 1598 becomes Chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. Author of numerous publications, his life ends by hanging and decapitation at Charing Cross in 1660.

(4th May) Oliver's Battery is built by Sir Robert Blake, after he invaded Tresco, to enable his attack on St. Mary's.

(23rd May) Sir John Grenville and Royalists driven out of the Isles of Scilly by Admiral Robert Blake during the Civil War.

Cromwell's Castle is built on Tresco as a replacement for the earlier King Charles Castle partially destroyed during the Civil War.

Battle of Plymouth off Cornish coast, part of First Anglo-Dutch War.

Charles Trelawny is born, he later serves as a British Army officer, and was the fourth son of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd Baronet.

(December) Sir John VII Arundell, eldest son and heir, of Trerice, dies aged 78.

William Hals, the historian, is born at Tresawsen, Merther, near Truro. Part of his projected History of Cornwall is published in 1750, covering 72 parishes alphabetically from Advent to Helston. A manuscript for Illogan survives but the remainder is unfinished.

George Fox (the founder of the Quakers) visits Falmouth.

Digory Vingoe of Treville purchased Land's End from Sir John Arundell.

Quaker George Fox was imprisoned at Launceston Castle.

(March) The English man-o'-war, 'Primrose' lost her main topmast off the Longships and drifted onto the Seven Stones. She managed to free herself from the reef and sank in 60 fathoms taking sixteen men, two women and a child with her.

(March) John Harris, of St. Michael's Mount, dies aged 71. He had served as an MP for Launceston.

The Cornish ship 'Aleppo Merchant' was wrecked on the approaches to the River Camel at Treyarnon Bay while on passage from Smyrna bound for London.

(3rd September) Death of Oliver Cromwell. He is succeeded by his son Richard Cromwell.

(24th September) John Treffry dies aged 64 at Fowey.

(May) Richard Cromwell is forced to resign. The Rump Parliament is restored.

The St. Aubyn family buys St. Michael's Mount from Sir Francis Basset.

(21st October) Sir Richard Grenville was a professional soldier from Cornwall, who served in the Thirty Years War, dies aged 59.

(29th May) Charles II returns to England from Holland and is restored to the throne.

(26th July) Charles Robartes is born at Lanhydrock Estate.

(20th August) The names of Smithike and Penny-come-quick changed to Falmouth by Charles II's proclamation.

The population of Cornwall is now 118,000 persons.

The village of Flushing near Falmouth is founded.

Falmouth received its charter from King Charles II.

Sir William Lower from Tremeer, St. Tudy. He becomes a noted playwright of his day. Dies aged 52. He is buried in London.

The church of King Charles the Martyr is built in Falmouth.

King Charles II made Penzance a new coinage town for the tin mining industry.

(16th February) Sir John Trelawny, 1st Baronet of Trelawne dies aged 72. He was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1630.

(18th January) The cargo ship 'Royal Oak' was sunk at the Isles of Scilly.

(July) Sir William Killigrew, 1st Baronet of Arwenack dies aged 65.

(3rd October) Sir Richard Vyvyan, 1st Baronet of Trelowarren dies aged 52. He was MP at different times for Penryn, Tregony and St. Mawes.

Dr. Richard Lower, of Tremeer, St. Tudy, baptised in 1631, publishes information on the transfusion of blood between animals, and of an experiment practised on a man in London.

(March) The 'Jonkheer' of the Dutch East India Company, loaded with a cargo of sugar, coffee, spices and Banca tin with a value of £50,000 was wrecked under Angrouse Cliff near Mullion Cove.

During the wars with the Dutch, the Dutch fleet threatens Fowey harbour but is defended by furious canon fire from St. Catherine's Castle and Polruan Blockhouse.

Great Plague reaches West Cornwall.

(7th October) The 'Santo Christo de Costello', a Genoese merchant vessel sailing from Amsterdam to Genoa on its maiden voyage with a general cargo, was driven ashore at Mullion Cove. Twenty five of the 120 people on board drowned, with the remainder escaping on the ship's boats.

Thomas Basset of Tehidy, dies aged 40.

The French ship 'San Salvador' is wrecked on Lizard Point. This wreck may be the ship the Ferdinand Research Group discovered in 1969 below Angrouse Cliff near Mullion Cove.

(29th August) John Anstis, born at St. Neot, he later becomes Garter King at Arms.

Sir Peter Killigrew built a new quay near Arwenack House in Falmouth.

(23rd June) A man called John Trehenban (1650-1671) of St. Columb Major, murdered two young girls and was sentenced to imprisonment in a cage on Castle an Dinas, and he eventually starved to death.

(3rd November) Walter Moyle is born at Bake near St. Germans. He became an English politician and political writer, an advocate of classical republicanism.

James Williams dies. He came to Cornwall with his brothers Davey and Richard from Shropshire to make a major contribution to the development of the Cornish Mining Industry.

The last Cornish language sermon was preached at Landewenack church, near Lizard village.

(27th February) The fourteen gun sloop HMS 'Lizard' was wrecked on the Seven Stones reef with the loss of over one hundred crew.

(1st May) Jonathan Rashleigh I of Menabilly, near Fowey, dies aged 84, he was an English shipping-merchant and a MP for Fowey.

Most of the church of St. Columb was blown up with gunpowder by three youths of the town.

Chesten Marchant, died at Gwithian, she was believed to have been the last monoglot Cornish Language speaker.

(August) John Harris dies aged 46, he was an English politician from near Liskeard who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 to 1677.

(4th April) John Godolphin dies aged 61. He was an English jurist and writer, an admiralty judge under the Commonwealth.

(20th September) Thomas Tonkin is born at Trevance, near Wadebridge. He served as an MP for Helston. He also advocated that copper should be smelted in Cornwall instead of being taken to Bristol and to Wales, and that it should be brought within the stannary laws.

John Grenville, 1st Earl of Bath builds Stowe House near Kilkhampton.

St. Agnes Lighthouse is constructed on shore at St. Agnes, Isles of Scilly.

Tregrehan House near St. Blazey is built by Thomas Carlyon.

(23rd August) Sir John Coryton, 1st Baronet of Newton, dies aged 58.

(5th March) Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 2nd Baronet of Trelawne dies aged 68. He was MP for East Looe.

(25th July) Sir Thomas Carew dies aged 57. He had served as an MP for Saltash.

(December) A cargo vessel was wrecked off St. Agnes on the Isles of Scilly. The lighthouse keeper on St. Agnes was found guilty of negligence for being inattentive to the light and for plundering some of the cargo.

Francis Buller of Saltash dies aged 52, he was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1659 and 1679.

(14th December) Loveday Hambly from St. Tudy and known as “the Quaker Saint”, dies aged 78.

A 40 foot daymark is erected at the northern end of St. Martin's on The Isles of Scilly to help ships navigate around the islands.

(9th February) The East Indiaman 'the President' ran aground on the Loe Bar near Porthleven. She was carrying a valuable cargo of spices.

(4th April) The 'Schiedam' a Dutch built ship and, at the time, a sixth rate transport ship of the English fleet was wrecked at Gunwalloe Church Cove, near Porthleven.

(6th February) James II succeeds his brother, Charles II.

Sir Robert Geffrye, born at Landrake in 1613, becomes Lord Mayor of London. Dying in 1703 he leaves money for the building of almshouses (built in 1715). They are now renowned as the Geffrye Museum.

(17th July) John Robartes 1st Earl of Radnor, dies aged 79 at Lanhydrock Estate. He was an English politician, who fought for the Parliamentary cause during the Civil War.

(February) The ship 'Prinses Maria' sank in shallow water within the Western Rocks on the Isles of Scilly. King James II sent his yacht to salvage some of the cargo and in 1973 a diving team recovered coins, iron cannon and timbers.

Fowey gets a Royal Charter and Rashleigh's ship Francis forms part of new town arms.

The Duchy of Cornwall leased The Isles of Scilly to the Godolphin family.

(20th March) Peter Killgrew's son George was killed in a duel in a Tavern in Penryn.

(23rd June) Sir John St. Aubyn, 1st Baronet of Clowance dies aged 42.

(7th September) Richard Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Trerice, dies aged 71.

Imprisonment in Tower of London of Jonathan Trelawny for refusing to sign a paper to bring back Catholicism as official religion - acquitted.

(10th June) James Francis Edward, the Old Pretender becomes the Duke of Cornwall.

Falmouth is selected as the most westward port for packets to carry mails to the Groyne (Corunna), and was named The Royal Mail Packet Station, the first sailing being in January 1689.

(11th April) William and Mary become joint King and Queen after King James II abdicates and flees to exile in France.

(13th July) Philip Rashleigh II is born. He served as MP for Liskeard. He rebuilt Menabilly circa 1710–15. He was a supporter of the Jacobite Pretender. He died in 1736 without progeny.

(27th July) Sir Hender Molesworth, 1st Baronet of Pencarrow dies aged 51.

William Scawen One of the pioneers in the revival of the Cornish Language from St. Germans, dies aged 89.

Mapmaker George Withiell is commissioned to make a new map of Falmouth to keep track of the new town which was rapidly expanding.

Sir John Coryton, 2nd Baronet of Newton, dies aged 58.

(17th January) Richard Lower, famous for his medical studies and work, dies aged 60.

(3rd September) HMS 'Coronation' foundered off Rame Head while at anchor in a south–east gale with the loss of approximately 600 lives.

Anthony Payne dies aged 81 at the Grenville Manor house at Stratton. He was a seven foot four inch Cornish giant who was enlisted as a bodyguard to the Royalist Sir Bevil Grenville.

Sir John Tremayne re-builds Heligan house in William and Mary style using Heligans own bricks.

(28th April) The first ship named HMS 'Cornwall' is launched at Southampton.

(1st August) Sir John Carew, 3rd Baronet of Antony dies aged 56. He was MP for Lostwithiel and Saltash.

(13th March) Jonathan Rashleigh III was born, he became MP for Fowey from 1727 until his death in 1764.

(25th June) HMS 'Falmouth' was a fifty gun fourth rate ship of the line built for Royal Navy.

(28th December) Death of Queen Mary, William III now rules alone.

Thomas Martyn, a topographer, is born in Gwennap near Redruth. He is noted for his 'New and accurate map of the County of Cornwall from actual survey' published in a number of editions and scales, from 1748 to 1784. He dies aged 56 at Ashburton, Devon, in 1751.

(4th August) William Oliver is born at Trevarno, near Helston.

(17th October) Sir William Killigrew of Pendennis Castle, dies aged 89 in London.

(2nd February) William Borlase, the Cornish antiquary, is born at Pendeen. Author of a 'Natural History of Cornwall' 1758 and 'Antiquities of Cornwall' 1754. Dies in 1772.

(15th November) William Lemon who later lived at Carclew House near Truro and made his fortune from tin mining, is born.

(24th February) Sir Vyell Vyvyan, 2nd Baronet of Trelowarren dies aged 58. He was governor of St. Mawes Castle.

(8th November) Samuel Enys dies aged 86, he served as an MP for Penryn.

(9th November) Mary Vivian of Trewan Hall, St. Columb Major, marries a distant cousin Sir Richard Vyvyan, 3rd Baronet of Trewlowarren. Thus uniting two branches of the family which had been separated for three centuries.

Pentillie House is built by James Tillie, overlooking The River Tamar.

The first lighthouse is built on the Eddystone Reef by Henry Winstanley.

(21st June) John Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Trerice dies aged 59.

Joel Gascoyne publishes a map of Cornwall commissioned by John Robartes, 1st Earl of Radnor and set new standards in county map making.

Eddystone Lighthouse is re-built with a new stone clad exterior by Henry Winstanley.

(February) The East Indiaman 'Thornton' was wrecked at Port Quin.

(30th May) Hugh Boscawen of Tregothnan a MP for Cornwall dies aged 76.

(22nd August) Sir John Grenville dies aged 73. Two weeks after his death his son and heir Charles Grenville shot himself, apparently overwhelmed by the debts he had inherited.

(8th March) Anne succeeds her brother-in-law, William III.

Sidney Godolphin becomes Lord Treasurer until 1710.

The first Falmouth Packet service across the Atlantic to the West Indies.

(11th September) Jonathan Rashleigh II of Menabilly near Fowey, dies aged 60. He was several times MP for Fowey.

The 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot was first raised by Colonel Edward Fox as Edward Fox’s Regiment of Marines to fight in the War of Spanish Succession.

(14th April) Daniel Gumb is born at Linkinhorne. Raised as a stone-cutter, he makes a name for himself as a self-taught mathematician. He makes his home carving out a cave by The Cheesewring. The roof serves as an observatory, and the whole as a place where he can study uninterrupted but near to his work. He becomes more reclusive and the home also serves as a chapel for him as he was never seen to attend the parish church. His wife and several children also live in the rock dwelling.

(17th June) John Wesley was born in the rectory at Epworth, Lincolnshire, the 15th child of the British clergyman Samuel Wesley.

(18th October) Sir Richard Carew, 4th Baronet of Antony dies aged 20.

(27th November) A violent storm, the tail end of an American hurricane results in damaged houses, ships being driven ashore and the destruction of Eddystone Lighthouse killing six occupants, including its builder Henry Winstanley. A ship torn from its moorings in the Helford River was blown for 200 miles before grounding eight hours later on the Isle of Wight.

(16th January) Approximately one hundred lives lost when HMS 'Colchester' was wrecked in Whitesand Bay near Rame Head.

(8th January) Sir Peter Killigrew, 2nd Baronet of Arwenack dies aged 71.

Grant to Anthony Nicoll for two fairs or markets at St. Tudy.

(September) John Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Trerice dies aged 28.

(December) Sidney Godolphin was titled Earl of Godolphin for his work with Marlborough in bringing about the union of England and Scotland.

(21st October) HMS 'Devonshire' sank after a battle off Lizard Point against a French fleet of twelve ships.

(22nd October) HMS 'Association', the flagship of Sir Cloudesley Shovel, wrecked on the Isles of Scilly with a loss of 800 lives, along with three other ships of the 21 strong fleet: HMS 'Firebrand', 'Eagle' and 'Romney'. In all, approximately 2,000 men died that night.

Grant in fee for Robert Hooker, gent. of three fairs at Camborne.

(26th February) HMS 'Falmouth' was a fifty gun fourth-rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy.

(9th December) The East Indiaman 'Albemarle' was blown ashore with a valuable cargo of diamonds, coffee, pepper, silk and indigo near Polperro.

The thatched Friends' Meeting House at Come-to-Good, near Feock is built.

Rudyerd's Tower built on the Eddystone rock, but burnt down in 1755.

Truro lost jurisdiction of Falmouth harbour.

Antony House, the home of the Carew family at Torpoint, begins construction, and is completed in 1721.

(27th August) Sir William Godolphin, 1st Baronet of Godoplhin dies at Godolphin House aged 70.

(29th July) A French pirate ship landed at St. Loy, near Penberth and robbed Boskenna House.

(19th August) Birth of Admiral Edward Boscawen near Falmouth.

(6th December) Sir William Coryton, 3rd Baronet of Newton, dies aged 61.

(15th September) Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, who had served as an MP in Cornwall and Governor of The Isles of Scilly, dies aged 67.

(5th November) Charles Mohun, 5th Baron Mohun, is killed in a duel with the Duke of Hamilton. Mohun has previously been tried and cleared (1692-3) by the House of Peers for the murder of William Mountford.

The first harbour was built at Portreath.

John Williams is born. He becomes a successful mining engineer, and manager of Poldice and Gwennap mines. He is noted for driving the County Adit from Bissoe Bridge to drain the mines of Poldice, a task which lasts twenty years and the completed work, thirty miles long, takes in numerous branch adits and drains fifty mines.

(20th June) Sir John St. Aubyn, 2md Baronet of Clowance dies aged 44.

(1st August) George I, the first Hanoverian King, succeeds his distant cousin, Queen Anne after she dies aged 49, at Kensington Palace. George Augustus, son of George I becomes the Duke of Cornwall. Naturally the legitimate heir James, son of James II of England, protested against this and those who believed in his rights took stronger steps than protestations, though they took a good year to get under way.

(3rd May) "The most celebrated eclipse ever recorded in England. Totality passed right across England from Cornwall to Norfolk".

(22nd September) The Jacobite uprising in Cornwall begins. John Anstis, MP for Launceston was arrested for plotting an uprising and on 6th October Sir Richard Vyvyan of Trelowarren, MP for Cornwall and the most influential Jacobite in the West, was taken and sent to London in the custody of a messenger. Mr James Paynter of Trekenning, proclaimed the Pretender in the market square at St. Columb Major. At this time the representative of the Government in Cornwall was Hugh Boscawen, of Tregothnan. He called out the militia and took measures which effectively put an end to any attempt at a rising.

Trewithen House near Probus, under re-construction by Thomas Edwards of Greenwich is bought by Philip Hawkins.

Admiral Sir Richard Spry is born at Place Manor on The Roseland Peninsula. He was in later life a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, North American Station.

John Williams the First (1685–1761) built Burncoose House at Gwennap near Redruth.

John Buller (1632–1716) dies aged 84. He inherited from his father the Cornish estate of Shillingham near Saltash. He inherited from his first wife the Cornish estate of Morval, near Looe. He served six times as an MP for various towns in Cornwall. And he was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall from November 1688 to March 1689.

(28th June) Lieutenant-General George FitzRoy, Duke of Northumberland, KG, PC, Viscount Falmouth (1665–1716) was the third and youngest illegitimate son of King Charles II of England dies aged 50.

(18th October) Sir John Molesworth, 2nd Baronet of Pencarrow dies aged 81.

The first beam engine in Cornwall was erected at Wheal Vor (Breage) and worked for about four years.

Pendennis Castle struck by lightning and seriously damaged.

John Anstis, born at St. Neot in 1669, (MP for St. Germans in 1702 and Launceston in 1713) becomes Garter King at Arms and authors of a number of heraldic works.

The Jacobite uprising in Cornwall of this year was the last uprising against the British Crown to take place. John Anstis, MP for Launceston was arrested for plotting an uprising and Sir Richard Vyvyan of Trelowarren, MP for Cornwall, the most influential Jacobite in the West, was taken and sent to London.

(27th January) Samuel Foote, playwright and comedian, is born at Truro.

Thomas Newcomen comes to Cornwall to erect an atmospheric engine at Wheal Fortune Mine in Ludgvan.

Thomas Pitt, otherwise known as 'Diamond Pitt', (1653-1726) buys Boconnoc, near Lostwithiel, and other manors in Cornwall with the proceeds of the sale of a famous 127 carat diamond to the Regent of Orleans (later Louis XV) in 1716 for approximately £125,000. While Governor of Fort St. George, Madras, he had bought it for around £20,400. Thomas Pitt becomes the grandfather of William Pitt the Elder (statesman) and Great Grandfather of William Pitt the Younger (Prime Minister), and 2nd Baron Camelford (see 1775).

Ralph Allen devises the first cross-country postal service. Known as 'The Man of Bath', he was born in St. Blazey in 1693, becoming Post Master in Bath; Contractor for Cross Posts (1722-1764) and Mayor of Bath 1742.

Dolcoath, near Camborne, perhaps Cornwall's most celebrated mine, is already working and by 1778 is 160 fathoms deep. By 1864, equipped with its ten engines, seven water wheels, and a man-engine, it employs about 1200 people. Underground working ceases in 1920 by which time the bottom level is at 550 fathoms, the deepest of all the Cornish mines.

William Esco Treffry is born at Fowey.

Mining is in operation by this time at Botallack Mine on the cliff's edge near St. Just, and by 1800 the workings extended to over 100 fathoms and a long distance beneath the sea. It becomes one of Cornwall's richest tin mines. Operations finally end in 1914.

(19th July) Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet of Trelawne dies aged 71. His body was brought back to Pelynt near Looe for burial.

(10th November) The 127 foot HMS 'Royal Anne', the last oared fighting ship built for the Royal Navy, hit rocks off Lizard Point while en route to the West Indies with Lord Belhaven, the new Governor of Barbados. 182 crew and 25 gentlemen died and there were only three survivors.

The ownership of Ince Castle was transferred to John Hobart 1st Earl of Buckinghamshire when the Nosworthys died leaving many debts.

(17th Jume) Sir John Molesworth, 3rd Baronet of Pencarrow dies aged 55.

(3rd August) Charles Robartes, 2nd Earl of Radnor of Lanhydrock Estate, dies aged 63.

Thomas Hawkins is born at Trewithen near Truro.

A harbour is built for the tiny fishing cove of Coverack.

One of the first Newcomen engines in Cornwall was installed by Joseph Hornblower at Wheal Rose Mine, near Truro.

(13th March) Alexander Pendarves of Roscrow, dies aged 64, he was at various times MP for Penryn, Saltash, Helston and Launceston.

(11th June) George II succeeds his father, George I. Frederick Lewis, son of George II becomes the Duke of Cornwall.

Sir John Aubyn, the 3rd Baronet, re-built the harbour at St. Michael's Mount.

Another Newcomen engine is installed by Joseph Hornblower at Wheal Busy Mine near Chacewater.

St. Michael's Church in Helston was struck by lightning.

(18th March) Francis Godolphin was appointed governor of the Isles of Scilly.

(23rd April) Birth of Samuel Wallis near Camelford.

(28th December) Philip Rashleigh III is born, his collection of minerals was remarkable for its various specimens of tin. It is now held by the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro.

St. Agnes un-maintained harbour was swept away into the sea.

Robert Corker of Falmouth dies aged 63, owing thousands to the Prince of Wales and the Duchy of Cornwall. He was an apprentice to a Falmouth merchant but lost all his money when he started a whale fishery of the coast of Cornwall. He was also MP for Bossiney for a while.

(22nd September) Colonel Sidney Godolphin dies aged 81, he was Governor of the Isles of Scilly. He served in Parliament for nearly 50 years.

John Knill who instigated the five yearly celebrations at his mausoleum near St. Ives, is born at Callington. He becomes Collector of Customs at St. Ives and is elected Mayor in 1767. Resigning his Customs post in 1782 around which time he arranges the erection of a mausoleum on Worvas Hill as he "abhorred the practice of burial within the body of the church" which prevailed in St. Ives at the time. He moves to London and buys chambers in Gray's Inn Square and is called to the Bar in 1787. In 1811 he dies aged 78 and is buried at Holborn, not St. Ives.

(29th May) The ferry at Saltash overturned and sank with the loss of twenty lives.

Tehidy House, Illogan, is built for the Basset family to the design of Thomas Edwards of Greenwich. It is destroyed by fire in 1919.

(25th October) Hugh Boscawen, 1st Viscount Falmouth, of Tregothnan was an English Whig politician dies aged 54.

Daniel Gumb, a gifted 18th century thinker and stone-cutter moved his large family into a cave near Minions.

John Arnold, was born in Bodmin. He later perfected the ships chronometer.

(12th August) Philip Rashleigh II, the eldest son and heir of Jonathan Rashleigh (1642–1702) by his second wife Jane Carew, dies aged 47. He served as MP for Liskeard 1710-1722.

(1st December) Sir Richard Vyvyan, 3rd Baronet of Trelowarren dies aged 55. He was involved in the Jacobite uprising in Cornwall of 1715 and was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

(3rd March) Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford is born at Boconnoc.

The Sherborne Mercury newspaper commences publication in Dorset. It includes Cornish news and advertising, and circulates throughout the south west of England. It continues until 1867.

The Killigrew Monument or Pyramid is erected in Falmouth.

(21st November) The 'Vigilantia' bound for Hamburg from Lisbon with a cargo of salt, tobacco, sugar and lemons was wrecked west of Porthleven with the loss of the captain, three crew and all the cargo. Five men were saved.

(November) The Dutch vessel 'Lady Lucy' was wrecked on Porthleven beach while bound for Rotterdam from Bordeaux with a cargo of wine, coffee, indigo and brandy.

(29th December) The Dutch ship the 'Nebotis Vineyard' loaded with a cargo of wine was wrecked near Porthleven.

(22nd May) Sir John Coryton, 4th Baronet of Newton, dies aged 49.

Carclew House designed by the architect Thomas Edwards, is built near Truro. It was destroyed by fire in 1934.

Stowe House near Kilkhampton, a mansion built in 1679 by John Grenville is demolished.

Expansion of deep copper mining in Cornwall. This heralds the Industrial Revolution in Britain.

Fearing a Spanish attack the corporation built a battery of guns, on rocks near the Old Quay, to defend Penzance.

Princes House is built in Truro for William Lemon.

(18th May) Malachy Hitchins is born at Gwennap near Redruth. He later becomes an astronomer and mathematician. He was also involved the production of the Nautical Almanac.

Redruth Brewery was founded by William Davey. By the middle of the 19th century, the brewery had expanded to include three malt houses, counting houses, an engine and boiler house, sheds, a carpenter's shop, beer store, aerated water factory, water tank and water reservoir.

(9th March) The 'Nancy' carrying spirits, hemp, iron and gunpowder caught fire and blew up at New Grimsby in the Isles of Scilly. There was damage to several ships in the vicinity.

John Stackhouse is born at Probus. He later becomes a famous botanist.

John Wesley's Methodism becomes the dominant religious denomination. The first of 32 visits to Cornwall was to Wesley Cottage near Altarnun.

(13th June) The Dutch East India Ship 'Hollandia' was wrecked off the Isles of Scilly. The entire ship's company of 276 - crew, soldiers and passengers - all perished. In 1971 Rex Cowan found the wreck, and discovered a large quantity of silver coins, along with bronze cannons and mortars.

(4th March) John Anstis the politician, dies aged 75. He rose to the highest heraldic office in England and became Garter King of Arms in 1718 after years of political manoeuvring.

(8th March) Sir William Carew, 5th Baronet, dies aged 55 after building Antony House. He was MP for Saltash.

(15th August) Sir John St. Aubyn, 3rd Baronet of Clowance dies aged 48.

(September) John Wesley is threatened with murder by a large crowd of demonstrators at St. Ives.

The Jacobite rising of 1745, often referred to as "the Forty-five", was the attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for the exiled House of Stuart. The rising occurred during the War of the Austrian Succession when most of the British Army was on the European continent. These plans were kept secret from Sir John St. Aubyn (a Member for Cornwall and owner of tin mines) and Sir William Carew (a Member for Cornwall).

(4th July) John Wesley faced a large crowd of demonstrators against his preachings at Falmouth.

Work starts on a 600 foot long pier for Penzance.

(24th November) The French frigate 'Medee' was wrecked during gales at St. Ives.

(26th December) Sir Francis Vyvyan, 4th Baronet of Trelowarren dies aged 47. He held the office of High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1739.

William Cookworthy, (A Kingsbridge Quaker who began a wholesale chemist's business in Plymouth around 1733), having researched the Chinese manufacture of porcelain, obtains kaolin from Virginia in America, then he locates china clay and china-stone deposits on the western side of Tregonning Hill in Germoe parish, near Helston. On a later journey to Cornwall he finds much larger quantities in the vicinity of St. Stephen-in-Brannel and St. Dennis, near St. Austell.

(3rd May) Admiral Boscawen wins fame at Cape Finisterre by singly engaging the French fleet until the English fleet arrive.

Shipwrights from Fowey harbour are recruited to work at the new navy dockyard in Plymouth.

(17th November) Charles Rashleigh who later developed Charlestown as a port, is born.

(December) The 'Jonge Alcida' ran aground near Porthleven and its cargo plundered.

(27th February) HMS 'Lizard' was wrecked on the Seven Stones reef with the loss of one hundred lives.

(24th March) Sir Coventry Carew, 6th Baronet of Antony dies aged 32. He was an MP for Cornwall.

William Cookworthy discovers china clay deposits at Foxhole.

Poldice's chief adventurer Sir William Lemon and manager John Williams started the Great County Adit to drain the mines in the Carnon Valley.

(11th October) Sir William Lemon, who becomes MP for Penryn (1769-72) and the County (1774-1824), is born in Truro. He dies at Carclew, Mylor, in 1824.

Sir William Lemon acquired the family estate at Carclew.

Wheal Jane mine is opened near Redruth.

Jamaica Inn is built at Bolventor as a coaching house on the A30 road across Bodmin Moor.

The Lizard lighthouse is re-built.

The Cornish Stannary Parliament is suspended, subsequent to a dispute with the Lord Warden, Thomas Pitt, over the location of the Convocation in Lostwithiel contrary to the wishes of the Stannators.

(9th July) Sir Evan Nepean, 1st Baronet was born in St. Stephens near Saltash. He later became a British politician and colonial administrator.

The capital of Cornwall is transferred from Lostwithiel to Launceston.

(August) The greatest hurricane ever remembered, wrecked fifteen vessels between Padstow and Tintagel.

(7th December) HMS 'Falmouth' was a fifty gun fourth rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy.

(11th September) The last Stannary Parliament was convened at Hingston Down near Kit Hill by a Lord Warden of the Stannaries.

Famous pirate and smuggler, John 'Eyebrows' Thomas of Marazion, was laid to rest in Gulval graveyard.

(5th July) Jonathan Hornblower Inventor of the compound steam engine is born at Chacewater near Redruth.

The 1753 Marriage Act stops churches like the one at Temple from conducting marriages without a licence.

(25th March) The Marriage Act was passed which forbade clandestine marriages such as those held in St. Catherine's church at Temple on Bodmin Moor.

'Antiquities of Cornwall' by William Borlase, published.

The first turnpike Act for Cornish roads was introduced, dealing with roads in Truro.

(5th July) Robert Were Fox the Elder was born at Fowey.

(9th September) William Bligh is born, grandson of John Bligh of Tinten Manor, St. Tudy, near Bodmin. In 1787 he sets sail as Captain of the 'Bounty' to procure bread fruit trees from the South Seas.

(12th December) The brig 'Adventure Kingdom' carrying hemp, iron and tallow from Peterburgh sank as she entered her home port of St. Michael's Mount.

(6th February) Henry Bone, enamelist, is born at Truro. He becomes enamel painter to the Prince of Wales in 1800, a Royal Academician in 1811, dying in 1834.

(1st November) The Lisbon Earthquake strikes at about 09:40 hours. Its magnitude is somewhere between eight and nine on the Richter Scale, the epicentre being some 125 miles west of Cape St. Vincent. It has knock-on effects throughout Europe, mostly in the form of flooding. Further damage is done by a Tsunami hitting the city and this is followed by several massive fires. In Cornwall, at St. Michael's Mount, at about 14:00 hours, the sea is observed to rise suddenly and then to retire. After ten minutes the sea rises nearly six feet, very rapidly coming in from the South East; it then ebbs again to the West with the same speed for about ten minutes, until it is nearly six feet lower than before. It returns again, and falls again in the same space of time, and continues to do so for some five hours after. In Penzance the tide rises some eight feet, at Newlyn Pier some ten feet. The same effect is reported at St. Ives and Hayle somewhat later.

(2nd December) The wooden Eddystone Lighthouse burns down.

(2nd February) Sir John Trelawny, 4th Baronet of Trelawne dies aged 65. He was MP for West Looe.

The old church of St. Enuy at Redruth is taken down and replaced by a new building in the classical style, although its 15th century tower remains.

A large work-house was built at Bodmin on the Friary lands now belonging to the corporation, at the expense of Sir William Irby.

(January) St. Bartholomew's church at Lostwithiel is struck by lightning. About twenty feet of the tower was thrown down in all directions frightening many of the town's inhabitants.

(15th July) An earthquake is felt in the Penzance area. It was documented and studied by the naturalist William Borlase.

(17th July) Benjamin Franklin landed at Falmouth on his way to America.

(9th August) Francis Basset (son of Sir Francis Basset) is born at Tehidy. He later becomes Francis Basset-Bt. Lord de Dunstanville and has a 90 foot granite monument erected to him at the summit of Carn Brea.

The Cornish Copper Company established premises at the eastern end of Hayle where they smelted copper, later diversifying into iron founding. The two companies competed fiercely for more than a century, particularly over the use of harbour quays, dividing the town's loyalties between themselves and Harvey and Company. The two companies merged in 1867.

(23rd April) Captain Philip Gidley King was born in Launceston, he joined the Royal Navy at the age of twelve as captain's servant, and later became Governor of New South Wales, Australia.

'Natural History of Cornwall' by William Borlase, published.

(29th May) Sir Christopher Hawkins, 1st Baronet is born. He was to become a Cornish landowner, mine-owner, Tory MP, and patron of steam power.

(20th October) The 'Bell' a vessel smuggling tea and brandy was wrecked near Porthleven while trying to escape from the 'Shaftesbury' a customs sailing cutter which was also wrecked.

(22nd November) Richard Edgcumbe, 1st Baron Edgcumbe dies aged 78. He was MP for Lostwithiel.

(January) While bound for Barcelona from London and Falmouth the 'Vincento Farea' was lost at the Isles of Scilly.

(23rd February) The schooner 'Anna Adriana' was wrecked on the Isles of Scilly with the loss of her crew and cargo.

(25th April) A Dutch ship carrying cheese sank near Sennen.

Smeaton's tower built on Eddystone rock, which was replaced in 1882. The top half of the tower was dismantled and re-erected on Plymouth Hoe as a monument to the builder.

The actress Mary Ann Davenport is born in Launceston.

Pirates visited Penzance.

The current harbour is built at Portreath.

The Orangery is built in the Italian gardens at Mount Edgcumbe.

(29th September) The Turkish ship 'Cavalla Bianca' was wrecked on Chimney Rocks, Penzance.

(25th October) George III becomes King on the death of his grandfather, George II.

Reverend Richard Polwhele, who becomes the Vicar of Manaccan (1794-1821) and Newlyn East (1821-1838) and the author of a two-volume seven-part History of Cornwall, a similar work on Devon and many other books, is born at Truro.

(10th January) Admiral Edward Boscawen of Tregothnan dies aged 50. A hero of his time, he assists in the capture of Porto Bello in 1740, commands a party which storms Carthagena in 1747 capturing two batteries, becomes Commander-in-Chief of the Navy in 1758, and, with General Wolff, captures Louisberg and in 1759 beats the French fleet in Port Lagos.

(10th May) Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Baron Edgcumbe dies aged 45. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall in 1759.

(16th May) John Opie born near St. Agnes. He was introduced to London in 1781 as 'the Cornish Wonder'. His style as a portraitist was marked by strong realism.

(25th December) William Gregor is born near Tregony, he goes on to discover titanium.

(7th April) Sir Harry Trelawny, 5th Baronet of Trelawne dies aged 75. He was MP for East Looe.

John Wesley first visits Gwennap Pit in 1762, and thereafter eighteen times until his last visit in 1798 at the age of 86. In the entry in his Journal for Sunday 22nd August 1773 he estimates that 'two and thirty thousand' were present, and other dates record upwards of 20,000 in attendance. The pit we see today was remodelled by local tin miners and their helpers, re-opening on Whit Monday 1807. The annual Whit Monday service is still a feature of the local Methodist calendar.

(12th August) George Augustus Frederick, son of George III becomes the Duke of Cornwall.

The church of St. Michael in Helston was entirely rebuilt by Earl Godolphin.

(17th March) Dr William Oliver from Trevarno, near Helston dies aged 68.

(24th November) Jonathan Rashleigh III, MP for Fowey from 1727, dies aged 71.

Pencarrow House, near Bodmin, is built in the Palladian style by Sir John Molesworth 4th Baronet of Pencarrow.

Thomas Bond was born at Looe, he became a historian and for nearly 40 years Town Clerk of both East Looe and West Looe.

(17th January) Francis Godolphin 2nd Earl of Godolphin dies 87. He was MP for Helston and Tregony.

(4th April) Sir John Molesworth,4th Baronet of Pencarrow dies aged 61.

Francis Basset inherited Tehidy and became MP for Penryn.

(4th November) Arthur Woolf Inventor of the high pressure compound steam engine is born at Camborne.

(1st December) Thomas Hawkins of Trewithen near Truro dies aged 43 after being inoculated for smallpox.

(11th January) The 'Seahorse' of Newcastle, bound from Cadiz to London, laden with currants, cream of tartar, Spanish wool and fustick, was wrecked near Old Grimsby, Isles of Scilly.

(24th January) William Trevanion of Caerhays dies aged 40.

(6th March) Davies Gilbert (Giddy) PRS FAS FGS is born at St. Erth. He becomes a national figure of the Industrial Revolution, an antiquarian, the President of the Royal Society, and MP for Bodmin. He later served as High Sheriff of Cornwall. He chairs several parliamentary committees concerning, for instance, the building of roads, steam power, feeding the population, and the Poor Laws. He moves in the same circles as Boulton and Watt, Peel and Canning, and Darwin, and many others; he is patron of Cornish inventors like Richard Trevithick and Jonathan Hornblower and he discovers Humphry Davy.

(January) William Hennah is born at St. Austell. He became a British naval officer, whose largely undistinguished career was suddenly highlighted by his assumption of command of HMS 'Mars' at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 upon the death of that ship's captain, George Duff, who was decapitated by a cannonball.

William Cookworthy takes out a patent for the making of porcelain using Cornish china clay, and this and the establishment of a (short-lived) porcelain factory in Plymouth is greatly supported by the Honourable Thomas Pitt of Boconnoc (later Lord Camelford) who grants Cookworthy a lease on his land in St. Stephen.

The first Jewish Synagogue in Penzance was built.

(13th August) John Arundell, 4th Baron Arundell of Trerice dies aged 67.

The Bodmin to Launceston turnpike road is opened across Bodmin Moor. This later becomes the A30 road.

John Smeaton, noted for the Eddystone lighthouse, constructs a pier at St. Ives, since lengthened.

John Carter is born at Breage near Helston, he matured to become one of the biggest rogues on the coast, the self styled King of Prussia.

The Liskeard to Torpoint turnpike road is opened. This becomes the A38 and A374 roads.

(March) John Arnold of Bodmin produced the first production marine precision timekeeper to the Board of Longitude.

(13th April) Richard Trevithick is born at Redruth. He was later to become one of Cornwall's most famous engineers.

The 123 feet high obelisk commemorating Thomas Pitt, Lord Camelford, is erected at Boconnoc.

The Penrose Estate near Helston was bought by the Rogers family for £11,000.

(18th March) Henry Trengrouse is born at Helston. He became the inventor of the rocket line apparatus that fired a rope to stricken ships on the rocks, and enabled the crew to be taken off.

(31st August) The famous author William Borlase dies aged 76 at his home in Ludgvan, hear Penzance.

(12th October) Sir John St. Aubyn, 4th Baronet of Clowance dies aged 45. He was MP for Launceston.

(11th December) Sir William Trelawny, 6th Baronet of Trelawne dies aged 50. He was MP for West Looe.

The St. Columb Canal, proposed by John Edyvean, is authorised and planned to run from Mawgan Porth through parishes inland and to return to St. Columb Porth. Its purpose is to import sea-sand for manuring to improve land. Two sections are built. One, from Trenance Point to near Whitewater, and the other from Lusty Glaze to near Rialton Barton in St. Columb Minor.

(25th September) The 'Duke of Cumberland' from Boston, Massachusetts carrying oil, lumber, deal and other timber to London was wrecked north-east of St. Helen's at the Isles of Scilly.

John Edyvean an engineer from Cornwall, designed and invented the inclined plane system, to reduce the necessity for locks within the Bude canal system. He started building work on the St. Columb Canal, but died in the 1780's before it was completed.

William Cookworthy passes his patent for making porcelain from Cornish china clay to Richard Champion, prompting the interest of Josiah Wedgewood, the distinguished Staffordshire potter. Following a legal battle, Champion loses his monopoly over the Cornish materials.

A grid-based design for town of Torpoint was commissioned by Reginald Pole Carew.

Tregenna Castle in St. Ives was built as a twelve bedroom private home for a wealthy Cornishman with a love for the sea. Samuel Stephens Esquire commissioned the build of the house from local granite, and the four castellated turrets and original glazed skylight with the family coat of arms can still be seen today. The house remained in the family until it was sold by their final heir, John Stephens, to a family of local bankers, the Bolithos, in 1871.

(19th February) Thomas Pitt, 2nd and last Baron Camelford is born at Boconnoc, near Lostwithiel. He becomes a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, leads a short but remarkably adventurous life, and is mortally wounded in a duel with a friend Captain Best in 1804, behind Holland House, London.

(6th April) Edward William Wynne Pendarves is born at Pendarves near Camborne.

(28th July) Richard Hussey Vivian (afterwards General Lord Vivian) is born at Truro. During a distinguished military career he became MP for Truro (1820-25) and Windsor (1825-30), and later a Privy Councillor (1834), Master General of Ordnance (1835) and MP for East Cornwall (1837-41) at which time he was created Baron Vivian of Glynn House.

Sir John Call's mansion at Stoke Climsland near Callington is built. It is demolished in 1912.

(20th October) Sir John Molesworth, 1st Baronet of Pencarrow dies aged 41.

Acton Castle was built near Perranuthnoe, by John Stackhouse

(25th November) Admiral Sir Richard Spry dies aged 60 at Place Manor on the Roseland Peninsula. He was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, North American Station.

William Bodinar, who had learnt the Cornish language from fishermen, wrote a letter in Cornish which was probably the last prose in the language.

(1st July) Charles Rashleigh from Duporth, marries Grace Tremayne of Heligan at St. Ewe.

Daniel Gumb, the stone mason who lived with his family in cave near Minions, dies aged 73.

Dolly Pentreath, who dies aged 85 in this year, is often claimed to be the last speaker of the Cornish language. However, William Bodinar who dies in 1794 knows five people in Mousehole who speak the language. Others claim knowledge of it as late as the 1890's. It is probably safe to say that the last native speakers are alive in the late 19th century. However, the Education Act of 1870 makes the teaching of English compulsory in all schools.

(21st October) Samuel Foote Dramatist and actor from Truro dies aged 57.

James Watt erects his first pumping engine in a Cornish mine at Great Wheal Busy near Chacewater, one of the oldest of Cornwall's copper mines. It replaces a Newcomen engine installed by John Smeaton. By now, the mine has worked at various times from 1700 and continues to do so until 1900.

(17th December) Sir Humphry Davy is born in Penzance, he later invents the safety lamp.

Bodmin Jail is opened as the new county jail.

Scottish engineer, William Murdoch, (born in Ayrshire in 1754) comes to Cornwall in the employment of Boulton and Watt.

John Harvey established a foundry and engineering works at Hayle called Harvey and Company, which went on to become a world class engineering works producing beam engines.

(November) William Esco Treffry dies aged 59.

Scorrier House near Redruth is built by the mining tycoon John Williams after profiting spectacularly from a sudden tin price rise, enlarging it substantially in 1845. After a serious fire in 1908, it is re-built.

(July) Francis Vyvyan Jago Arundell is born at Launceston. He was in later life the Rector of Landulph, an antiquary and an oriental traveller.

(31st August) The brig 'Tryal' of Bristol was wrecked in Crow Sound, Isles of Scilly en route from St. Christopher, West Indies, with sugar.

(17th October) William Cookworthy dies aged 75.

(20th November) While carrying Portland stone to Dublin, the Weymouth brig 'Charming Molly' was stranded and lost on Bryher.

(18th February) Henry Martyn is born in Truro, he later becomes a missionary in India.

Jonathan Hornblower who lived in Chacewater developed a compound steam engine (the double-beat steam valve). He was originally prevented from pursuing his invention by litigation with James Watt. However following the expiration of Boulton and Watt's patent, Hornblower's compound steam engine principle was used in steam engine efficiency.

(13th October) Sir Richard Vyvyan, 5th Baronet of Trelowarren dies aged 49. He married Jane Hawkins, daughter of Christopher Hawkins, on 6th December 1754.

(2nd February) A British cargo ship the 'Lady Johanna' was wrecked at Little Smith, St. Agnes. The cargo of cotton and rum was salvaged and taken to Plymouth whilst the wreck was sold and broken up.

(4th February) Hugh Boscawen, 2nd Viscount Falmouth, of Tregothnan was a British soldier and politician dies aged 75.

Joseph Treffry, famous for building the railway viaduct at Luxulyan and the harbour at Par, is born in Plymouth.

John Knill built himself a triangular pyramid of granite some 50 feet high on Worvas Hill as a mausoleum for himself near St. Ives.

An oil-fed wick is developed and used for the first time on Eddystone Lighthouse.

(24th January) The brig 'Oldenburger' carrying a general cargo from St. Vincent to Ostend went ashore on Tresco in New Grimsby harbour.

A Bronze Age necklace was discovered in the Gwithian area and was housed in the British Museum until 2011 when it was moved to Penlee House Museum in Penzance.

(15th April) Maria Branwell, Mother of the Brontes is born in Penzance.

(10th August) An earthquake is felt in the Launceston area.

(4th September) The 'Financier' bound for London from Charlestown, Carolina with tobacco, rice and indigo hit rocks near Annet, Isles of Scilly and sank.

William Murdoch makes a small steam locomotion which he tries successfully in Redruth in Church Lane.

(26th February) The packet ship 'Nancy', carrying actress Ann Cargill and her young child, struck the Gilstone in the Western Rocks and sank in deeper water near Rosevear Ledges on the Isles of Scilly.

(9th August) William Hamley, founder of Hamleys toyshop is born in Bodmin.

(3rd September) Sir Charles Lemon, 2nd Baronet is born at Carclew House, near Truro.

(18th March) Birth of General Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert at Bodmin.

(25th May) Francis Godolphin, 2nd Baron Godolphin dies aged 79. He was governor to The Isles of Scilly from 1766.

Mail coaches were seen for the first time in Cornwall.

(April) The prolific smuggler Thomas Welland, in his armed lugger 'Happy go Lucky' ,was killed in a gun battle near Mullion Island by men of the Revenue cutters 'Hawk' and 'Lark'. The rest of the crew were captured, and on board were found many illegal fighting cocks.

(25th August) James Silk Buckingham, MP, journalist and reformer, is born at Flushing near Penryn.

(December) The 'Metta Catharina' was blown onto a dangerous underwater reef off Mount Edgcumbe. The captain and crew were able to escape to safety.

(24th December) The brigantine 'Duke of Cornwall' of Penzance hit the Bartholomew Ledge and was beached on St. Agnes. She was the Duke of Cornwall's private tin ship and was carrying a general cargo from London for Falmouth and Penzance, in the teeth of a violent gale. The crew were saved but little of her cargo was retrieved for the proprietors. Also on the same day the brig 'Betsy' from Chester, and heading for London, was lost between the Bartholomew Ledge and Perconger, St. Agnes. She was carrying lead blocks and empty casks.

Riots at Poldice mine due to the copper price depression.

(28th February) The 'Star Cross' was wrecked off Manacle Point on The Lizard Peninsula.

Assembly Rooms are built in Truro.

(January) James Ruse, a Launceston man, is deported on the first Australian convict ship.

John Wesley's last visit to Cornwall.

(16th August) A great fire in Church Street, Falmouth extends up Well Lane, and as far as the present Public Rooms.

(15th March) Jonathan Couch, Cornwall's foremost naturalist in the 19th century, is born at Polperro.

Bread riots in Truro at the outbreak of the French Revolution - the tinners are nearly starved.

(25th August) King George III and Queen Charlotte visited Cotehele House.

William Gregor discoveries manaccanite, now know as Titanium at Manaccan, on the Lizard Peninsula.

Philip Rashleigh builds a lime kiln on the quay at Polkerris.

(20th April) The 'Elizabeth of London' with a cargo of salt from Alicante was wrecked under Tinklers Hill, St. Martin's.

John Williams of Burncoose who constructed the Great County Adit, dies aged 76.

An Act of Parliament formed a body of men called Improvement Commissioners with powers to clean and light the streets of Truro.

Mr Charles Rashleigh commences creation of the new port of Charlestown for the shipment of china clay to Liverpool for Worcestershire or Staffordshire porcelain manufacturers.

(April) Scilly pilot boat sunk off Old Town Bay, St. Mary's with the loss of eleven men.

(4th July) The official ferry service across the River Tamar at Torpoint started operating.

(2nd March) John Wesley preacher of Methodism dies in London aged 87.

William Gregor from near Tregony, discovers titanium.

Cornwall County Library is founded at Pydar Street, Truro, with nearly thirty subscribers, minimum subscription one guinea, and survived until 1920. In that time the library moved to Princes Street and then to the Public Rooms, situated between Quay Street and the Green.

William Murdoch lights Redruth house by gas, the foundation for today's gas industry.

(21st August) A great fire destroyed 42 houses and the theatre in Falmouth.

(19th January) Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford of Boconnoc, an MP, died aged 55.

A public meeting is held at Bodmin which resolves that a canal linking the River Camel to the River Fowey at Wadebridge would be advantageous. Sir William Molesworth arranges surveying and costings and plans are sent to John Rennie for comment. It all comes to nothing, but Marc Isambard Brunel surveys the Padstow - Fowey route in 1825 for a ship canal, proposing one 13 miles long. This too is not taken further.

(14th February) Sir Goldsworthy Gurney is born near Padstow, he later went on to be a surgeon in Wadebridge.

Charles Rashleigh builds Crinnis Gun Battery to protect Charlestown.

(September) The first Royal Cornwall Show is held at Bodmin.

(10th December) Sir Joseph Sawle Graves-Sawle is born at Penrice, near St. Austell. He later becomes a baronet.

In Truro the building of Boscawen Street and Lemon Street is started.

Passing of the Truro Paving and Lighting Act enables the Corporation to improve Boscawen Street by pulling down Middle Row and to lay out and build Lemon Street (after Sir Charles Lemon).

Lanherne House was given by Lord Arundell to some Carmelite nuns who fled from Belgium during the French revolution; it remained a convent until very recently.

(1st June) Billy Bray, Cornish evangelist, is born at Twelveheads, near Chacewater.

(21st January) Samuel Wallis, from Camelford, was a Pacific explorer, discoverer of Tahiti and Wallis Island as Captain of HMS 'Dolphin', dies aged 67.

(4th February) George Edgcumbe, 1st Earl of Mount Edgcumbe dies aged 75. He was MP for Fowey.

(29th September) First Longships Lighthouse completed.

Adrian Stephens Inventor of the steam whistle is born in Penzance.

A Butter Market is built in Redruth.

The American engineer and inventor, Robert Fulton, with the surveyor Charles Moody, examined the practicality of building a canal from the Helford River at Gweek to the Hayle River near St. Erth. It was not proceeded with.

(2nd April) Ann Glanville is born in Saltash, she became a champion gig rower for Cornwall.

"On Saturday 20th August at twenty minutes past two o'clock (pm) a slight Shock of an Earthquake was felt at St. Hilary near Penzance, which lasted two or three seconds being in the middle space of a rumbling noise which attended it and which lasted six or seven seconds. The Motion was from East to West. The Air was still. The Thermometer at 70" - St. Hilary parish records.

Prime Minister Pitt made Francis Basset Lord de Dunstanville, in recognition of his success in his mining exploits and his actions in quelling the food riots.

(April) The ship 'Happy Return' was wrecked at St. Agnes, with the loss of all hands.

(1st November) Michael Loam who became the inventor of the man engine from Ludgvan near Penzance is born.

(7th November) John Harvey's daughter, Jane, married Richard Trevithick.

(22nd February) Sir William Molesworth, 6th Baronet of Pencarrow dies aged 40.

A Polperro boat called the 'Lottery' was involved in an incident in which a Customs Officer was killed. One of the crew, Tom Potter, was later tried for murder at the Old Bailey and executed.

A new harbour is constructed at St. Agnes.

Wheal Wherry, a mine started offshore on a reef 240 yards off Penzance, was destroyed when it was struck by a ship which had broke its moorings and drifted out to sea.

(12th December) HMS 'Colossus' is wrecked on the Isles of Scilly with the loss of only one life.

Charles Rashleigh completes his very successful development of Charlestown harbour.

(11th August) John Arnold from Bodmin, who perfected the ships chronometer dies aged 63.

(12th August) The Royal Cornwall Infirmary at Truro was opened to serve Cornwall's mining community and the poor. It had twenty beds, ten for women, and ten for men, on separate floors, and it was funded by subscription. In its first year, forty seven patients were admitted.

(8th May) William Lovett, noted Chartist, is born at Newlyn. He migrates to London in 1821 where he becomes a formidable spokesman on behalf of the deprived.

(6th June) Richard Vyvyan is born at Trelowarren.

Tom Bawcock, a well known local fisherman who lived in Mousehole dies.

(January) The 'Melantho' was wrecked in the Isles of Scilly while on a voyage from London to Tortola, Virgin Island.

(13th April) The collier 'North Star' struck a rock and later sank at the pier on St. Michael's Mount. Her cargo was salvaged.

Holman Brothers Limited, a mining equipment manufacturer is founded in in Camborne. At its height it employed 3,500 people.

A canal from Hayle to Carwinnen bridge near Camborne via Angarrack is proposed, but is never built.

The Cornwall Gazette and Falmouth Packet newspaper commences publication in Truro, becomes the Royal Cornwall Gazette in 1803 and continues until 1951 when it is incorporated into The West Briton.

Lemon Street is built in Truro as a new road into the centre of the city with an easier gradient for coaches.

The King's Pardon is offered to any smuggler giving information on the Mullion musket men involved in a gunfight with the crew of HM Gun Vessel 'Hecate'.

(24th December) Richard Trevithick, born in 1771 at Illogan, runs the first road-going locomotive (named Puffing Devil) in Camborne.

The population of Cornwall is now 192,281 persons.

(12th February) The 'Fortune' struck the Seven Stones reef while carrying a general cargo from Dublin to London. Her crew were rescued by a Yarmouth brig while the 'Fortune' sank with the loss of two Tresco pilots who were attempting to save the ship.

Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) runs his road locomotive from Leather Lane, London - to Islington and back.

Trerice House is sold to the Acland family of Killerton in Devon.

Richard Trevithick invents a high pressure steam dredge.

(3rd December) Reverend Robert Stephen Hawker, the noted vicar of Morwenstow, is born in Plymouth. Famed as a poet,and particularly for The Song of the Western Men ('Trelawny'), he is remembered for risking his life to help shipwrecked mariners, supporting his impoverished parishioners, and for reviving harvest-time festivals. He dies in 1875. His cliff-top hut is a National Trust property.

A lifeboat is stationed at Penzance, the first lifeboat was sold in 1812, having never been used.

(20th January) The frigate HMS 'Fearless' was driven ashore near Redding Point on the Rame Peninsula with the loss of one man.

(8th February) Richard Lemon Lander (who afterwards discovered the River Niger with his brother John) is born at the Fighting Cocks Inn, Truro.

(17th February) Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot of Port Eliot dies aged 76. He was MP for St. Germans.

(21st February) Richard Trevithick runs his railway locomotive at Penydarren in Wales.

(10th March) Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford of Boconnoc, was a British Royal Navy officer, died aged 29.

(26th May) HMS 'Dispatch' was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built by Richard Symons and Co. at Falmouth. Dispatch was instrumental in the capture of a 40-gun French frigate and was active at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807.

(30th May) The 'Quicksilver' was wrecked in Crow Sound, Isles of Scilly while carrying salt for Newfoundland.

Perranzabuloe's church of St. Piran, the third church of the parish, is erected in a new location at Lambourne, with material from the earlier buildings.

Arthur Woolf from Camborne, invents the high pressure compound steam engine.

(5th November) London brig 'Esperance struck Nut Rock, Isles of Scilly and was a total loss, after parting her cables during a south-west gale. She was bound for Venice from Penzance with pilchards.

(31st January) HMS 'Avon' was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop built at Falmouth. In the War of 1812 she fought a desperate action with USS 'Wasp' that resulted in Avon sinking on 27th August 1814.

John Opie of St. Agnes, becomes Professor in Painting to the Royal Academy.

Glynn House, near Bodmin Parkway (formerly Bodmin Road) Railway Station is re-built by Edmund John Glynn.

(21st October) The news of the Battle of Trafalgar and Nelson's death was sent overland from Falmouth to the Admiralty in London. The Trafalgar Way is the name given to the historic route used to carry the dispatches. The first messenger was Lieutenant Lapenotiere, of HMS 'Pickle', who reached Falmouth on the 4th November. This journey became known as The Trafalgar Way.

(4th November) The first announcement of the death of Nelson was made from the balcony of the Union Hotel, Penzance.

Zephaniah Job began issuing Bank notes in £1, £2,and £5 denominations in Polperro to support the smuggling trade.

Caerhays Castle, designed by John Nash for John Bettesworth Trevanion, is erected in St. Michael Caerhays parish.

(9th April) The famous painter John Opie dies aged 46.

(5th August) HMS 'Primrose' was a Royal Navy Cruiser-class brig-sloop built by Thomas Nickells, at Fowey. She was wrecked less than two years later.

(4th November) The Portuguese brigantine 'Harmonia' was wrecked near St. Ives. Her crew were rescued. She was on a voyage from Porto, Portugal to Sligo.

(7th November) The 400-ton 'James and Rebecca' carrying the 9th Regiment of Dragoons cavalry along with their equipment and the officers' families home from a campaign against the Spanish in Buenos Aires. Ten sailors, 28 soldiers and three children drowned under Halzephron cliff at Gunwalloe on the Lizard Peninsula and 36 of them were buried in a mass grave nearby.

(29th December) The wreck of the frigate, HMS 'Anson' which went aground with the loss of 120 sailors on The Loe Bar near Porthleven, is witnessed by Henry Trengrouse, the Helston cabinet maker. The terrible loss of life spurs him on to devise at his own expense a line-throwing apparatus to be propelled across any stricken vessel by a rocket. His successful experiments in 1816 pave the way for saving the lives of thousands of seamen. Like Richard Trevithick before him, he dies aged 82 in poverty in 1854.

(29th December) John Lander (who afterwards discovered the River Niger with his brother Richard) is born at the Fighting Cocks Inn, Truro.

(11th February) George Boscawen, 3rd Viscount Falmouth, of Tregothnan was a British soldier and politician dies aged 50.

(18th March) Thomas James Agar is born, he assumed the name Robartes in 1822. He inherited the estate from his mother in 1861. Thomas was created Baron Robartes of Lanhydrock and Truro in 1869.

(15th April) The vessel 'Hermanest August' bound for London from Porto with a cargo of wine and cork was wrecked near Porthleven. Nine of the eleven crew drowned along with two local men trying to save them.

The Board of Trade decreed that Falmouth was to become a compulsory pilotage area. The first pilot's licence was issued on 22nd December.

(6th January) The 110 ton brig 'Royal Recovery' was wrecked near Porthleven while bound from Liverpool to London with a cargo of salt.

(22nd January) HMS 'Primrose', an 18-gun Cruiser, was wrecked and sank after striking the Manacle rocks off Lizard Point, with only one of the 126 on board surviving. Also on the same night HMS 'Dispatch' was wrecked on the same reef.

Ordnance Survey's first mapping of Cornwall. It is published at one inch scale in 1813.

(25th October) The first rails are laid by John Williams for the Poldice Tramway to serve the St. Day mines, providing a horse-drawn rail link (for goods and minerals) to the port of Portreath. It falls into disuse in the 1850's.

The West Briton newspaper commences publication at Truro.

(23rd May) Sir William Molesworth who later served as High Sheriff of Cornwall, is born.

(September) Sickness and bankruptcy forced Richard Trevithick and his family to leave London and return to Cornwall where he continued to develop new machines.

(24th October) Men of the packet service at Falmouth mutinied over pay levels.

(25th October) A huge granite rock north of Blisland is carved by locally based soldier, Lieutenant John Rogers to celebrate the golden jubilee of King George III.

Joseph Mallord William Turner toured Cornwall studying artwork and gallery's centring on St. Ives.

(21st February) The HMS 'Franchise' struck a transport ship off Falmouth during a gale resulting in the loss of 269 lives. Franchise herself suffered little damage and no casualties.

(29th March) John Knill dies aged 78. Born at Callington, he was a slightly eccentric mayor of St. Ives, in 1767 and Collector of Customs from 1762–1782. He built his own memorial, a 50-foot high granite obelisk known as Knill's steeple.

(26th June) Philip Rashleigh a Cornish mineral expert and MP for Fowey dies aged 82 at Menabilly, near Fowey.

(17th November) William Colenso FRS was born in Penzance he became a Cornish Christian missionary to New Zealand, and also a printer, botanist, explorer and politician.

The population of Cornwall is now 220,525 persons.

(6th January) HMS 'Cornwall' was a 74-gun third-rate Vengeur-class ship of the line built for the Royal Navy.

Work is re-started at Great Wheal Vor Mine near Tregonning Hill. By 1820 it employs over 500 men underground. In the 1860's it is described as 'probably the richest tin mine in the world' by the Mining Journal. It closes in 1877, although part of the sett sees limited working at the end of the 19th century.

(8th April) A Knighthood is given to Humphry Davy by the Prince Regent, King George III being insane.

Richard Trevithick designed the 'Cornish boiler'. These were horizontal, cylindrical boilers with a single internal fire tube or flue passing horizontally through the middle. Hot exhaust gases from the fire passed through the flue thus increasing the surface area heating the water and improving efficiency. These types were installed in the Boulton and Watt pumping engines at Dolcoath Mine and more than doubled their efficiency.

Refined soap is invented by William Pears of Mevagissey.

(16th October) The brilliant Henry Martyn, born in Truro in 1781, dies aged 31 alone in Tokat, having devoted his life to missionary work in India and Persia.

The worlds first steam powered rock boring machine was built by Harvey's of Hayle.

The Cornwall Central School is founded in Fairmantle Street, Truro, as Cornwall's first Anglican elementary school. It trains men and women teachers and, with a move to Agar Road, evolves into the Truro Training College which closes in 1938.

The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall was founded by Dr. Paris.

Steam powered stamps are used for the first time to crush ore at a mine near Carn Brea.

Ding Dong Mine in west Penwith is restarted and continues until 1877. Tradition says it was working in Roman times.

(14th January) The 'Queen' transport ship is wrecked in Falmouth and 195 soldiers drown.

(21st August) Lostwithiel Town Police Sergeant Joseph Burnett died aged 42. He was fatally shot attempting to disarm two drunken soldiers threatening people.

(27th August) In the War of 1812 HMS 'Avon' fought a desperate action with USS 'Wasp' that resulted in the Avon sinking.

(4th October) Sir Carew Vyvyan, 6th Baronet of Trelowarren dies aged 78.

(23rd February) Jonathan Hornblower Inventor of the compound steam engine from Chacewater dies aged 62.

The miners safety lamp is devised by Sir Humphry Davy of Penzance.

(15th July) Napoleon Bonaparte was brought into Falmouth Harbour on board HMS 'Northumberland' afer his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo.

(28th November) John Eliot was created Earl of St. Germans.

(18th September) HMS 'Whiting' was sent to patrol the Irish Sea for smugglers. She grounded on The Doom Bar at Padstow. When the tide rose, she was flooded and deemed impossible to re-float and was wrecked.

(10th October) Sir Charles Brune Graves-Sawle is born at Penrice, near St. Austell. He later becomes a baronet and an MP.

(20th October) Richard Trevithick goes to Peru - to superintend the Silver Mines on the Cerro de Pasco mountains, Lima and erect his engines. He returns on 9th October in 1827.

(20th January) A storm caused coastal flooding along the south coast. Polperro harbour was destroyed by this storm and Looe was badly damaged.

(January) The 'Resolution', a brigantine sailing from Oporto to London carrying wine and fruit was wrecked on the west Lizard Coast. Locals attacked the ship taking away all the property of the Captain and crew, and most of the cargo of wine and in two days damaged the ship beyond repair.

Sir Charles Hawkins commences building the harbour at Pentewan for the shipment of china clay. It is the first china clay port to be linked by rail - a horse tramway - to its hinterland.

(11th June) William Gregor dies at his home at Creed near Grampound, he discovered titanium in 1791.

(7th December) Captain William Bligh dies aged 63 and is buried in Lambeth in London.

(March) The steeple at Warleggan church is struck by lightning during a tremendous thunderstorm, part of the tower fell through the roof and started a fire which caused considerable damage.

The Royal Institution and Museum, situated in Pydar Street, Truro, is founded.

Morrab Library in Penzance was founded and is financed through membership subscriptions.

Robert Were Fox the Elder dies aged 64 at his home in Falmouth. He was a Quaker businessman who ran the family's ship-brokering business.

(11th October) Neville Northey Burnard is born in village of Altarnun from a long line of builders and sculptors. He later became a celebrated society sculptor.

Torpoint's chapel-of-ease, dedicated to St. James the Great, is erected. Its north and south galleries are removed in the 1930's.

Tresavean Mine, near Lanner, worked through much of the 18th century, is said to have already produced over £1,500,000-worth of copper ore. In the 1830's it is for a while the third largest copper producer in Cornwall, employing over 1300 people. By 1860 another £1,500,000-worth of ore has been sold. Working finally ends in 1927. From 1819 to 1840 the Consolidated Mines of Gwennap, worked as a number of smaller concerns from the 1750's, are the richest of all the Cornish copper mines, and for many years richest of the whole world. Ores to the value of £2,250,000 are sold. By 1838 63 miles of underground workings have been driven, and the mine employs 2000 persons.

(5th June) John Couch Adams was born in Laneast parish on Bodmin Moor. He later became a great scientist.

Lower Tamar Lake was constructed to be used as the mains water supply for Bude.

Harvey's build new quays at Hayle harbour.

(22nd November) John Stackhouse, a famous botanist from Probus dies aged 77.

(7th January) Jonathan Rashleigh is born at Menabilly, near Fowey.

(27th January) Sir Vyell Vyvyan, 7th Baronet of Trelowarren dies aged 52.

(29th January) George IV accedes to the throne, having spent the last nine years as Prince Regent for his blind and deranged father and becomes the Duke of Cornwall.

The Basset Mines near Redruth become important producers of copper from now on, and later of tin. By 1879 the concern employs 550 men.

Silas E Martin of Crantock proposes a canal from Newquay to Retyn near St. Enoder to serve the then-prospering East Wheal Rose lead and silver mine and carry sea-sand for the land. John Edgcumbe carried out a survey but no action was then taken.

The population of St. Michael's Mount peaked with the island having 221 persons living on it. There were three schools, a Wesleyan chapel, and three public houses, mostly used by visiting sailors.

Launceston Castle will no longer be used for hangings.

The population of Cornwall is now 261,045 persons.

(January) Zephaniah Job (1749–1822), a local merchant who became known as the 'Smugglers Banker' dies at Polperro.

Wheal Fortune and Wheal Chance were consolidated by Joseph Treffry to form Fowey Consolidated Mine.

(18th February) John Arthur Philips Geologist is born at Polgooth near St. Austell.

A large fire destroys part of Menabilly House, near Fowey.

Truro gained gas street lighting.

(23rd March) Charles Rashleigh of Duporth Manor dies aged 76 after his development of Charlestown harbour.

(24th March) John Passmore Edwards of Blackwater near Redruth, journalist and philanthropist, is born. He amasses his fortune as a publisher and devotes his resources to helping the public library and cottage hospitals movements in particular. He realises his aim of establishing a library for every one of the 19 letters in his name (for instance at Penzance, St. Ives, Camborne, Redruth, Truro, Falmouth, and Bodmin) as well as village Institutes to help the education of the miners (Blackwater, St. Agnes, Chacewater etc.) and cottage hospitals (Liskeard, Perranporth etc.). Most were in Cornwall, but several were in London. Many of the buildings that he paid for are still in use for their original purpose.

The Bude Canal was dug twenty miles inland to Launceston to transport sea sand, rich in lime, to farms in North Cornwall.

(November) The Isles of Scilly experience very heavy gales, which cause the loss of roofs and chimneys.

(17th November) John Eliot, 1st Earl of St. Germans dies aged 62. He was MP for Liskeard.

(26th December) Sir Arscott Ourry Molesworth, 7th Baronet of Pencarrow dies aged 34.

(28th January) The 'Vrow Gesina' on voyage from Lisbon to London was wrecked at Widemouth Bay.

(23rd February) A "hurricane" from the south and south–south–east caused much damage including the top of the lighthouse at Penzance and part of the pier, boats in the harbour were driven ashore and in some cases dismasted. Approximately 'a dozen boats in Mousehole and Newlyn destroyed and others damaged. Also the pier and lighthouse at Penzance were washed away.

(23rd February) The Celia' of Stockholm was driven ashore and wrecked at Lamorna Cove.

"The Song of the Western Men" was written by Robert Stephen Hawker, later known as the Cornish Anthem.

(15th April) Sir Edward Buller, 1st Baronet, of Trenant Park, near Looe was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars deis aged 88.

During the political battles in Fowey, the Mayor of Fowey is accused of smuggling.

Joseph Treffry purchased the ferry at Par and replaced it with a bridge.

A group of sailors the worse for drink climbed up to Logan Rock on Treryn Dinas near Porthcurno armed with crowbars and dislodged it, allowing it to fall down the cliff. Such was the disgust of the local people at this blatant act of vandalism, that they complained to the Admiralty and ordered them to replace the rock at their own expense. It took 60 labourers seven months to replace it.

(22nd November) In a storm three houses were destroyed in Polperro, the whole of one pier and half the other were swept away and nearly fifty boats in the harbour were dashed to pieces. Eddystone lighthouse weathered the storm but suffered significant damage.

(11th December) Sir William Lemon of Carclew dies aged 76. He was MP for Penryn.

Porthleven Harbour is completed after 15 years of difficulties during the construction.

Trelissick House is built by Thomas Daniell overlooking Falmouth harbour.

William Jago of St. Columb Major announces plans to build a new port at St. Columb Porth for the conveyance of china clay.

A causeway is built around Hayle estuary to avoid the dangerous crossing on the sands.

Sir Goldsworthy Gurney from Bude, invents the Steam Jet.

(30th January) Redruth and Chacewater Railway (for goods and minerals) opens, running from Wheal Buller to Devoran, with a branch to Redruth. It closes in 1915.

(5th February) The ketch 'Ida' bound from Messina for Stockholm with a cargo of oranges was wrecked on Porthleven beach near the newly completed harbour. Three crew members drowned and the captain and mate saved by a line from the shore. Waves breaking over nearby Loe Bar were an indication of the ferocity of the storm and a 14-year-old girl was swept into Loe Pool while crossing the bar and drowned as she was rushing to site of the wreck.

An explosives factory is opened at Herodsfoot near Liskeard.

The Bude Canal is opened to transport sea sand, rich in lime, to farms in North Cornwall.

(26th August) The ship 'Providence' was wrecked off Polkerris. The crew were saved by the lifeboat from Polkerris.

The harbour at Pentewan is completed by Sir Christopher Hawkins.

Enys House near Penryn is completely burnt down by a large fire.

Tregullow House was built near to Scorrier House by Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet.

Penwerris St. Michael's church at Falmouth is erected, and is made parochial in 1848.

Richard Trevithick arrives back in England, penniless.

The Liskeard and Looe Canal opens to transport copper ore and later granite from Caradon Hill and Cheesewring Quarry to the sea.

St. Paul's church at Chacewater is erected, and is later repaired in 1886 following a lightning strike. Except for the tower, it is completely re-built in 1892 to the design of Edmund Sedding. Nearby St. Day church is built. Its original galleries are removed in 1930 and it was condemned in 1956 as unsafe and closed. A preservation scheme of the 1990's sees it re-open as stabilised ruin with a historical display. In west Penwith, Morvah church, dedicated to St. Bridget of Sweden is constructed.

(27th July) King William IV and Queen Adelaide make a visit to Mount Edgcumbe.

(27th November) Thomas Spry of Place Manor, a Captain in the Royal Navy, dies aged 76.

The Falmouth Packet and Cornish Herald newspaper commences publication in Falmouth and continues until 1848.

The St. Austell to Pentewan Railway (for goods and minerals) opens. It closes in 1918.

Sir Goldsworthy Gurney journeys from London to Bath and back in his steam carriage. Born in 1793 at Treator, near Padstow, he devises a steam jet, which is applied to boats and carriages in 1824.

(6th April) Sir Christopher Hawkins, 1st Baronet dies aged 71 in his home at Trewithen. He was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall for 1783.

(29th May) Sir Humphry Davy from Penzance and of safety lamp fame, dies aged 51.

(19th January) The brig 'Hope', was bound for London with gold dust, ivory, palm oil and peppers. She foundered close to St. Martin's Daymark on The Isles of Scilly when her captain mistook the tower for St. Agnes Lighthouse, as it was painted white at the time. When realising his mistake the captain dropped anchor but it was too late, and four people died during their attempt to escape.

(26th June) William IV succeeds his brother, George IV, at the age of 64.

Richard and John Lander (born in Truro in 1804 and 1807 respectively) go out to Africa to discover the course of the Niger and become the first to find its source in November, returning home in June 1831.

St. Martin-in-Meneage church is erected, with the 15th century tower of an older building remaining.

Sir Goldsworthy Gurney builds himself a house on the sand in Bude (The Castle) just to prove it could be done.

Penzance gains gas street lights and a piped water supply.

A lighthouse was added to Smeaton's Pier at St. Ives.

(December) Severe storms across the whole of southern England cause about twenty shipwrecks in a few days along the south coast of Cornwall.

William Bickford (born in Devonshire in 1744) who is a leather merchant in Tuckingmill (near. Camborne) devised and patented the Safety Fuse - in doing so, he saves countless miners and quarry workers from death.

(August) Cholera outbreak reaches Cornwall.

A Daymark is built on Stepper Point near Padstow to mark the entrance to The Camel Estuary.

The population of Cornwall is now 301,306 persons.

St. Anne' church at Hessenford, near Looe, is built. It is re-built in 1871 to a design by G E Street.

(6th May) The 'Ospra' was wrecked on Asparagus Island near Kynance Cove.

Brenton Symons AICI is born at Rosehill, Gwennap. He is educated at Truro Grammar School, becomes a noted lithographer, assayer, draughtsman and mineralogist, Civil Engineer of the Chontales Mining Co., Central America, 1866-68, Managing Director of the Servian Copper Mining and Smelting Co, 1871, and publishes maps of Falmouth, the Redruth Mining District and the Bodmin and Liskeard District.

Since 1823 Gwennap Mine has produced 30.1% of the total production of Great Britain's copper, and 37.7% of the Cornwall total.

The Reform Act is introduced reducing the number of Cornish MP's from 42 to 12.

Construction of Newquay harbour begins.

An 84 foot granite tower is built on Gribbin Head near Fowey to help guide shipping. It was never lighted, but is painted in broad red and white bands as a daymark.

(23rd December) Captain William Hennah dies. He became a British naval officer, whose largely undistinguished career was suddenly highlighted by his assumption of command of HMS 'Mars' at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 upon the death of that ship's captain, George Duff, who was decapitated by a cannonball.

(14th February) HMS 'Forester' ran aground on a reef off St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly with the loss of a crew member. She was later re-floated and towed to Plymouth.

(22nd April) Richard Trevithick, Cornwall's greatest engineer, dies aged 62 in Dartford, Kent.

The Cornish Polytechnic Society in Falmouth is founded by 'the exertions of some ladies, among the most active of whom were the Misses Fox . . ' (reports RCPS, 1864). It was the first society to describe itself as 'polytechnic' and Miss Caroline Fox, (1820-1871), then aged thirteen, is credited with the idea.

Webb's Hotel, one of the finest in Cornwall, is built on the Parade at Liskeard.

Cholera breaks out at Falmouth.

Adrian Stephens, from Penzance invents of the steam whistle.

(27th September) St. Just Wesleyan Methodist Chapel opens.

(24th November) Sir Richard Trevithick Tangye is born at Illogan, near Redruth. He became an engineer producing hydraulic jacks amongst other items along with his two brothers. He was the grandfather of the authors Derek Tangye and Nigel Tangye. Tangye lived in Birmingham after he married, and latterly London, but often returned to his cliff-edge house in Newquay. He died in 1906 aged 72.

(6th February) Richard Lemon Lander (who discovered the River Niger with his brother John) is killed by a bullet during a fight with natives.

(25th February) Sir Harry Trelawny, 7th Baronet of Trelawne dies aged 78. He was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome.

The Isles of Scilly becomes the first place in Britain to have compulsory education, introduced by Augustus Smith (1804-1872) who acquired the lease on the Isles of Scilly from the Duchy of Cornwall for £20,000.

(17th April) Humphry Millet Grylls dies aged 45. He has a Victorian Gothic gate-like structure in his remembrance. This is the Grylls Monument in Helston.

(8th May) Henry Jenner FSA a Cornish Language revivalist, born in St. Columb Major but later lived in Hayle, dies aged 86.

St. Mary's church at Hugh Town, Isles of Scilly, is begun at the instigation of William IV. Penzance's church of St. Mary-the-Virgin, designed by Charles Hutchins, is built on the site of the ancient chapel on the headland which gives the town its name. It is made parochial in 1871. Severely damaged by an arson attack on 23rd March 1985 when it is restored.

Reverend Robert Stephen Hawker became the vicar of Morwenstow.

A new dry dock opened in Penzance.

(4th July) The Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway opens to carry sea-sand to farming districts for soil improvement.

The ferry at Torpoint is replaced with steam-powered floating bridges which pull themselves across on chains.

Stithians agricultural show is established.

(17th December) Henry Bone, an enamelist from Truro dies aged 79.

(14th February) Francis Basset, 1st Baron de Dunstanville of Tehidy, and served as an MP, dies aged 78.

(April) Reverend Pender Hodge Cudlip is born at Porthleven.

The church of St. Michael, Bude Haven, is built to the designs of architect, George Wightwick.

The West Briton joins the campaign against 'oppressive' Royal taxation in Cornwall and miners rally in London to protest.

St. Anthony Lighthouse is built at the entrance to Falmouth Harbour.

(25th November) St. Mary's church is completed and opened at Penzance.

Police forces are established in most towns across Cornwall.

A 90 foot high granite monument is erected on Carn Brea to the memory of Francis Lord de Dunstanville and Basset of Tehidy (1757-1835).

(17th May) Mr William Coryton was found drowned off the quay at Pentillie Castle.

St. Mary's church in Penzance is built to the design of Charles Hutchins of St. Buryan, who also designed St. Day church (1828), now a preserved ruin.

(2nd October) HMS 'Beagle' anchored at Falmouth at the end of its famous survey voyage around the world.

(12th October) The brig 'Experiment' on her maiden voyage from Newfoundland to Poole with fish and oil was found drifting off the Isles of Scilly after losing her mast and taking on water. Three of the nine crew survived.

(10th November) Clowance House near Camborne, burns down, it was once the seat of the St. Aubyns family (from 1671 they were Baronets but the line ended with Sir John St. Aubyn, 5th Baronet in 1839).

Discovery of copper at Caradon Hill on Bodmin Moor, which started the mining boom in the area.

A gold cup called the Rillaton Cup was found in Rillaton Barrow, a copy of which can be seen in the Royal Cornwall Museum.

A Lifeboat station opened at St. Mary's on the Isles of Scilly, and another at Bude.

(20th June) HRH Queen Victoria succeeds her uncle, William IV

Shire Hall at Bodmin is built.

Walsingham Place is built in Truro by Edmund Turner MP for Truro.

(16th October) The steam engine engineer Arthur Woolf dies aged 71.

(18th December) Thomas Bond, historian of Looe dies aged 73 at his home in Looe.

(December) The Hayle Railway, the first passenger-carrying line in West Cornwall, opens primarily as a mineral transport route for the Camborne and Redruth mines to the ports of Hayle and Portreath.

The earliest known published reference to the Cornish Banner - the Cross of St. Piran.

The Redruth Union Workhouse at Barncoose, Illogan is constructed to the design of George Gilbert Scott. Its remaining buildings now form part of the Camborne-Redruth Community Hospital.

The new Bodmin Union workhouse was built to designs by William Dwelly and was intended to accommodate up to 250 inmates.

(12th March) Reverend Richard Polwhele, a clergyman, poet and historian of Cornwall dies aged 78.

China clay production increases to around 13,000 tons a year from approximately 2,000 tons in the 1820's

Abolition of tin coinage (stannary), it was replaced by customs duties.

Construction of Newquay harbour is completed.

(May) Massive explosion at Kennall Vale Gunpowder Works at Ponsanooth due to an appalling accident at the works. "Five mills blew up in succession, and part of a roof was found a mile from the premises.

A tin mine is opened at the spectacular location of Cape Cornwall.

The capital of Cornwall is changed from Launceston to Bodmin.

A new Market House was completed at the top of Market Jew Street in Penzance.

The Penzance Gazette newspaper commences publication, becoming the Penzance and Cornwall Gazette in 1855, and continues until 1858.

The Liskeard Union Workhouse is constructed, designed by John Foulston of Plymouth. It later becomes the Lamellion Hospital.

A chapel-of-ease for Liskeard parish is erected at Dobwalls.

Falmouth was the scene of a gold dust robbery when £47,600 worth of gold dust from Brazil was stolen on arrival at the port.

The St. Austell Union workhouse was built to the north of the town in Priory Road.

John Trethewey is given permission by the Duchy of Cornwall to start a granite quarry near the Cheesewring.

(10th August) Sir John St. Aubyn of Clowance dies aged 81. The Baronetcy became extinct on his death. However, his illegitimate son Edward was created a Baronet in his own right in 1866 and was the ancestor of the Barons St. Levan.

(26th September) Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe dies aged 75. He was Lord Lieutenant and Vice-Admiral of Cornwall.

(6th November) John Lander (who discovered the River Niger with his brother Richard Lander) dies aged 32 from a disease he had contracted in Africa.

Trevemper bridge near Newquay is washed away by storm water. The two arches were repaired with only one arch.

Since 1823 Great Britain has produced 231,163 tons of copper, of which 198,200 tons, or 82.6%, have come from Cornwall's Mines.

(13th April) William and James Lightfoot were hanged at Bodmin Jail with an audience of 25,000 for the murder of businessman, Neville Norway. A special train was laid on to carry people from Wadebridge.

(September) A 30-strong gang of smugglers using several carts broke open the custom-house at Helford, and removed 126 half ankers of Brandy.

Par harbour, built by Joseph Treffry was completed and opened.

Place Manor was built in front of the church at St. Anthony's Head.

Significant emigration begins of Cornish Miners to Mexico and the Real del Monte silver mines; also to the iron mines of Lake Huron in Canada; and to the Wisconsin lead mines in America; and to Australia following the discovery of copper at Kapunda and Burra Burra.

(4th January) The Dublin steam packet SS 'Thames', en route from Dublin to London was wrecked and sank in a strong north-east gale off The Western Rocks on the Isles of Scilly. 62 of the 64 passengers and crew drowned when her Captain mistook the St. Agnes light for the Longships Lighthouse and changed course to head north. Pilot gig Whale, the only boat which managed to reach the wreck, saved three women. Her figurehead is in the Valhalla Museum at Tresco Abbey Gardens.

Treslothan church, near Camborne, the chapel to Pendarves House and dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, is erected to a design by George Wightwick.

Samuel Pidwell, a local brewer, built Morrab House surrounded by a walled garden in Penzance.

(1st September) A lightship was provided by Trinity House to warn shipping of the dangerous reef at Seven Stones between Land's End and The Isles of Scilly.

(9th November) Albert Edward, eldest son of Queen Victoria becomes the Duke of Cornwall.

(29th December) Edward Boscawen, 1st Earl of Falmouth of Tregothnan dies aged 54.

The population of Cornwall is now 342,159 persons.

Children's Employment Commission publishes a report by Dr. Charles Barham (of Truro) examining employment of children and young persons in the mines of Cornwall and Devon.

(17th February) An earthquake is felt in the Helston area.

The Truro Dispensary was set up as a charity. Subscribers could nominate poor 'worthy' cases for medical and surgical care and free medicines.

St. Peter's church at Flushing, near Falmouth, is erected in a mock-Norman style. Porthleven's St. Bartholomew's is also built.

Cornwall's first man engine is installed at Tresaven Mine, near Redruth, it had been invented a year earlier by Michael Loam.

(20th August) Sir Richard Hussey Vivian 1st Baron Vivian of Truro dies aged 67. He saw active service in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, which earned him the thanks of both houses of Parliament, and many honours.

(8th September) The Scottish brig 'Caledonia' foundered on the rocks at Sharp nose Point, near Morwenstow. There was only one survivor.

(12th October) The 600-tonne paddle steamer 'Brigand', a packet boat, en route from Liverpool to St. Petersburg, struck the Bishop's Rock with such force that it stove in two large bow plates. The rocks then acted as a pivot, and she swung round and heeled into the rock port-side, crushing the paddle-wheel and box to such an extent that it penetrated the engine room. She drifted over seven miles in two hours, before sinking. All the crew were saved.

(22nd October) The author Charles Dickens starts a week long tour of Cornwall, visiting Padstow, Tintagel and St. Michaels Mount amongst other places in west Cornwall.

(28th January) Registered in Liverpool, the 'Douro' was travelling to Portugal with a declared cargo of textiles and munitions, but was wrecked on the Western Rocks on the Isles of Scilly. She had an undeclared cargo of brass manillas, a currency widely used in the slave trade on the West African Coast.

All Saints Church at Tuckingmill near Camborne is erected to designs by J Hayward of Exeter.

(12th May) A railway service opened between Hayle and Redruth.

St. Piran's oratory was excavated before the site was engulfed by sand again.

(1st September) HRH Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited Mr Joseph Fox, Mayor at Falmouth.

(7th September) The brig 'Caledonia' was on a year-long voyage from Rio and Odessa, and was two days away from her destination of Gloucester when she wrecked on Sharpnose Point, Morwenstow with the loss of all the crew bar one. One of the memorials in Morwenstow churchyard was the white figurehead of the 'Caledonia'. The captain and crew are buried in the churchyard.

(1st October) Robert Stephen Hawker introduced the harvest festival service.

(21st November) The schooner 'Challenger' carrying fruit to her home port of London was wrecked on the Nundeeps, Isles of Scilly. Her crew of eight managed to row to Bryher with only one oar and the whole island was put under quarantine.

(1st January) Thomas Charles Robartes is born, he later succeeded as the 2nd Baron Robartes and began the reconstruction of Lanhydrock.

(21st March) The Dutch East Indiaman, 'Nickerie' was wrecked with the loss of nine crew off St. Agnes, Isles of Scilly.

(14th April) Charlotte Dymond was murdered on the slopes of Rough Tor. Her murderer Matthew Weeks was hanged in Bodmin Jail in front of a crowd of 20,000.

Completion in the Luxulyan Valley of the 100 feet high, 700 feet long viaduct\aqueduct serving Joseph Treffry's mineral tramway from the china clay area around Bugle to the port of Par.

Holy Trinity church at Penponds, near Camborne, is erected.

(20th October) Part of The Rame Peninsula including Cawsand and Mount Edgcumbe was in Devon until the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 was enforced, when the parishes of Kingsand, Maker and Rame were transferred from Devon to Cornwall.

The Liskeard and Caradon Railway opens from Cheesewring Quarry down to Moorswater, powered only by gravity and horse power until 1862, transporting goods and minerals.

A new Market House is opened in St. Austell.

(19th January) William Eliot, 2nd Earl of St. Germans dies aged 78. He was MP for St. Germans.

(5th June) The transport ship 'Ellen' was wrecked near Porthleven while bound for London from Wales with coal. Six drowned.

Christ church, Lanner, is built. A south aisle is added in 1883.

(31st July) St. Luke's church at Tideford, near Saltash, is consecrated.

The first pan-kilns for the artificial drying of Cornish china clay are introduced at Greensplat and Parkandillick and by 1858 annual production increases to 65,600 tons from 89 active china clay works.

A new church is built at Illogan on a new site. The 14th century tower of the old one with a ring of six bells remains nearby.

Truro St. Paul's church is built as a chapel-of-ease for St. Clement. It becomes parochial in 1865.

A new church is built at Bolventor by Squire Rodd at the cost of £666.

The Hayle Railway was taken over by West Cornwall Railway.

(9th July) A mining disaster at East Wheal Rose mine, Newlyn East near Newquay with 39 lives lost during flooding.

(3rd August) The Cornwall Railway Act to build a railway through Cornwall received the Royal Assent.

(6th September) HRH Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visit Calstock, Lostwithiel, Fowey, Land's End, Botallack Mine, Falmouth, The Lizard, Penzance and St. Michael's Mount.

(23rd September) John Couch Adams, born at Laneast in 1819, reported on his 1841-5 calculations regarding a new planet - Neptune. His submission to the Astronomer Royal was put aside until 1846 when calculations by the French scientist Le Verrier were verified.

(October) The 'Good Samaritan' was wrecked on Bedruthan Steps with a loss of nine lives.

(21st October) The 'Eliza' of Liverpool was stranded under Stowe Cliffs at ″Warren Gutter″, just north of Bude. She was heading for Valparaiso carrying a general cargo worth £80,000 including wine, cloth and tea. One man was shot and wounded during the plundering of her cargo.

(19th November) The ship 'Duke of Clarence' was driven ashore at Downderry. Her crew were rescued. She was on a voyage from London to Newport, Monmouthshire.

(20th November) The 'Elizabeth' from Bergen was wrecked while carrying a cargo of salt back to Norway. As the vessel tried to weather a storm it was blown aground at the base of the cliffs at Gunwalloe on the Lizard Peninsula and, according to reports at the time, was "smashed to matchsticks" within half an hour. The Master and three of the crew saved by breeches-buoy but two men and the boy were lost.

A railway from Plymouth to Falmouth is begun.

The Penzance Journal newspaper commences publication and continues until 1850.

(16th March) A 324-ton Goole brig 'Defiance' envoyage from London to Galway with a general cargo hit the Runnel Stone and drifted towards the Brisons. Part of the vessel, along with flour and meal was salvaged at Priests Cove, near Cape Cornwall. The fourteen crew abandoned her in the jolly, shortly after she struck, and were picked up four miles north-west of the Brisons by the Salcombe schooner Aid and landed at St. Ives.

A decision was made by Trinity House to erect a screw-pile iron lighthouse at a cost of £12,500 on Bishop Rock at the western extremity of The Isles of Scilly.

(June) A crowd of 3000 miners were rioting in the streets of Redruth after failed harvests had bought them to near starvation.

(11th June) Food riots in St. Austell were suppressed by Nicholas Kendall.

(16th July) Devastating floods swept down from Davidstow Moor, caused terrible damage in Boscastle and washed away all but two of the bridges along the River Camel - Wadebridge and Helland being the only survivors.

(4th August) Sir John Colman Rashleigh, 1st Baronet of Menabilly dies aged 74. He was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1813.

Par Canal which was built by Joseph Treffry opened for the carriage of tin, lead ore and china clay trans-shipped in containers onto boats from a tramway which ran up into the Luxulyan Valley.

(1st December) Trevose Head Lighthouse completed.

(8th December) The 'Marchioness of Abercorn' was driven ashore at Crantock Beach in heavy gales, most of the crew were saved and the vessel was repaired and re-floated several weeks later.

(5th April) William Copeland Borlase is born in Penzance.

The church of St. Michael, designed by the architect William White, is built at Baldhu near Truro. The revivalist preacher Billy Bray is buried in the graveyard in 1868. Baldhu church is now closed.

St. Agnes church, formerly a chapelry of Perranzabuloe, is re-built to the design of J P St. Aubyn.

Alfred Lord Tennyson visits Slaughter bridge, near Camelford and later writes Idylls of King Arthur.

(23rd May) Francis Aylmer Graves Sawle is born at Penrice, near St. Austell.

St. Paul's church, Charlestown, designed by Christopher Eales is built and consecrated in 1851. A fibreglass spire is added to the completed tower in 1971, and a peal of six bells by Taylor of Loughborough in 1972. In the same year St. Mary's church at Par is erected to the design of G E Street, his first complete church.

Cholera outbreaks in Mevagissey and Truro.

Granite quarries started at Lamorna Cove.

(29th January) Joseph Treffry, famous for building the viaduct at Luxulyan and the harbour at Par, dies aged 68 at Place House in Fowey.

(5th February) The newly built Bishop Rock Lighthouse is swept away by a terrific storm which lashed The Isles of Scilly for three days.

(15th February) Francis Godolphin Osborne, 1st Baron Godolphin dies aged 73. He was MP for Helston.

(24th March) Silas Kitto Hocking is the author is born at St. Stephen near St. Austell.

(May) A huge explosion occurs at the gunpowder works at Herodsfoot near Liskeard demolishing the whole site and killing two men.

Rhododendron arboretum specimen at Carclew, planted about now by Sir Charles Lemon, becomes one of the most famous in Cornwall. By 1928 it is about 35 feet high.

Holy Trinity church at Carnmenellis is erected to serve the thriving mining community. In the same year Herodsfoot All Saints is constructed for similar reasons. G E Street's church at Treverbyn, St. Austell, dedicated to St. Peter, is also built. Declining population around Carnmenellis in the 20th century leads to the eventual demolition of its church in 1970.

A religious preaching pit is constructed by local miners at Indian Queens.

(21st November) The crew drowned when the 'Queen of London' envoyage from Cardiff to Italy with tin-plate and iron sank near Godrevy Lighthouse.

(24th November) The 'Windrush' from Malaga was wrecked near Porthleven. The five crew members were all drowned and the wreck quickly became matchwood. It was carrying a cargo which included a large quantity of lemons and raisins and was recalled as the "Fruit wreck".

Period of greatest mining prosperity.

1850's - The greatest influx of Cornish miners to South Africa, to mine in the Namaqual and copper mines in the northern Cape.

(1st January) The 'Alessandro II Grande' was wrecked when she was blown on the Mare ledges, off the south shore of Tresco. There was no loss of life. The figurehead from the wreck, is of Tsar Alexander I and is now in the Valhalla Museum on Tresco.

(11th January) The 250 ton Whitby-built brig 'New Commercial' hit the Brisons ledge off Cape Cornwall. Only two members of the crew were saved form the wreck.

The Census on Religious Worship showed that in Cornwall 27% are Anglicans. 60% are Methodists and the remaining are mostly non-conformists of other denominations.

(28th April) Charles John Graves Sawle is born at Penrice, near St. Austell.

(30th April) The last packet ship arrived at Falmouth. Instead, the Post Office contracted for the carriage of mail with companies running other regularly timetabled services.

The Cornish Telegraph newspaper commences publication in Penzance and continues until 1915.

Mary Kelynack, a Madron fishwife born in 1777 at Newlyn, walks alone from Cornwall to London to see the Great Exhibition where she met HRH Queen Victoria.

J P St. Aubyn's design for the church of St. John Baptist at Godolphin is realised. The Rev Robert Aitken's church of St. John Baptist at Pendeen is also erected by the villagers to his designs.

West Wheal Basset near Redruth is re-started and yields good quantities of copper. By the 1860's it employs over 400 men. The adjacent South Wheal Frances is successfully worked at the same time.

St. Austell Brewery is founded in St. Austell by Walter Hicks.

(11th November) Cornish architect Silvanus Trevail is born in Luxulyan. He was Mayor of Truro 1894 - 1895 and, President of the Society of Architects.

The population of Cornwall is now 355,558 persons.

(11th March) A grand new railway station is opened at the terminus of the new railway at Penzance, the line is now opened between Penzance and Truro.

(13th April) The 'Mary Hay' was wrecked after hitting the Steeple Rock, on the Bream Ledges which is between Mincarlo and Samson on The Isles of Scilly.

Wheal Sophia, near Greystone Bridge on the River Tamar becomes the first Cornish mine to detonate a blasting charge with electricity.

The bridge at Wadebridge was widened from 9.8 feet to 16.4 feet

(11th August) An earthquake is felt in the Callington area.

(25th August) Chacewater railway station was opened by the West Cornwall Railway.

(29th August) George Henry Boscawen, 2nd Earl of Falmouth, of Tregothnan was a British peer and politician dies aged 41.

Caerhays Castle was bought and restored by a Cornish MP, Michael Williams.

(24th March) The cargo ship 'Sultana' was lost on the Nundeeps, Isles of Scilly and her crew drowned. A name-board was washed ashore near Padstow nearly a month later.

Lifeboat station opened at Sennen Cove.

(12th May) General Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert from Bodmin dies aged 68.

A new seven-arched stone bridge is opened in Looe.

(26th June) Edward William Wynne Pendarves MP for West Cornwall, dies aged 78.

Work is started by Isambard Kingdom Brunel on building The Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash.

(14th February) Henry Trengrouse from at Helston dies aged 82. He became the inventor of the rocket line apparatus that fired a rope to stricken ships on the rocks, and enabled the crew to be taken off.

The Fitzroy barometer was originally ‘loaned’ to Mousehole by Admiral Fitzroy, founder of the Meteorological Office. Its purpose was to provide data to the Met Office to improve storm warnings but also to give the fishermen of the village warning of pending bad weather.

(November) Two steam engines named 'Miner' and 'Smelter' were bought by The Redruth and Chasewater Railway to replace the horses used up until this date.

(18th November) At Newlyn a 36 foot fishing boat called 'Mystery', sails 12,000 miles to Australia arriving in Melbourne on the 14th March 1855, with seven men leaving the collapsing tin industry behind. Five of them later returned to Cornwall.

(30th November) The 'Nile', a passenger steamer was wrecked with the loss of all hands on the Stones at Godrevy Point.

(22nd January) Frances Basset, 2nd Baroness Basset of Tehidy, was a British peeress, dies aged 74.

(10th February) John Henry Vivian of Bosahan nearTruro dies aged 70.

St. George's church in Truro, designed by Rev William Haslam, vicar of Baldhu, is erected.

(3rd May) The barque 'John' hit The Manacles Reef near St. Keverne with the loss of over 190 of its passengers, despite the efforts of the local fishermen.

Augustus Smith, Lord Proprietor of The Isles of Scilly, expelled the ten inhabitants of Samson, in order to turn the island into a deer park.

A two-gun battery was added below St. Catherine's Castle to defend the port of Fowey during the Crimean War.

(3rd July) Joseph Trewavas an able seaman from Mousehole won the Victoria Cross during the Crimean War.

(1st August) A new lighthouse was opened on the new pier at Penzance.

(22nd October) Sir William Molesworth 8th Baronet of Pencarrow, who served as High Sheriff of Cornwall, dies aged 45.

Legal arguments of the Duchy of Cornwall defeat the Crown's aspirations of sovereignty of the Cornish foreshore. The Duchy argues that the Duke has sovereignty of Cornwall and not the Crown. During the same case, Parliament defines the Cornish as 'aborigines'.

Also on behalf of the Duchy, the following submission was made.

1. That Cornwall, like Wales, was at the time of the Conquest, and was subsequently treated in many respects as distinct from England.
2. That it was held by the Earls of Cornwall with the rights and prerogative of a County Palatine, as far as regarded the Seigniory or territorial dominion.
3. That the Dukes of Cornwall have from the creation of the Duchy enjoyed the rights and prerogatives of a County Palatine, as far as regarded seigniory or territorial dominion, and that to a great extent by Earls.
4. That when the Earldom was augmented into a Duchy, the circumstances attending to it's creation, as well as the language of the Duchy Charter, not only support and confirm natural presumption, that the new and higher title was to be accompanied with at least as great dignity, power, and prerogative as the Earls enjoyed, but also afforded evidence that the Duchy was to be invested with still more extensive rights and privileges.
5. The Duchy Charters have always been construed and treated, not merely by the Courts of Judicature, but also by the Legislature of the Country, as having vested in the Dukes of Cornwall the whole territorial interest and dominion of the Crown in and over the entire County of Cornwall.

Thenceforth mineral rights above the Low Water Mark belonged to the Duchy and below it to the Crown.

(22nd January) The SS 'Czar' broke in half and sank after hitting Vroge Rocks during a south-westerly gale off the Lizard Peninsula.

The Launceston Weekly News commences publication and continues until 1931, when it is incorporated into the Cornish and Devon Post

John Verran, who becomes Premier of South Australia in 1910, is born at Cusgarne, Gwennap. Working in the Australian mines he becomes a strong trades unionist and is elected for Parliament in 1901, achieving leadership of the Labour Party in 1908. He dies aged 76 in 1932.

Year of maximum copper production, 209,000 tons of ore produced.

A new quay is built at East Looe to handle the demands of the shipping trade.

The RNLI takes over the lifeboat station at Padstow.

(6th October) Tamsin Blight from Gwennap, near Redruth, who one of Cornwall's most famous witches, dies aged 58. People believed that she had the power to read fortunes, find lost objects and cure illness. As a 'white witch', Tamsin only used her powers for good.

(15th November) Sir William Lewis Salusbury-Trelawny, 8th Baronet of Trelawne dies aged 75. He served as High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1811 and later sat as MP for Cornwall East from 1832 to 1837. He served as Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall from 1839 to 1856.

(3rd January) The Cornish Times newspaper commences publication at Liskeard.

The 144 foot high obelisk commemorating Lt-Gen. Sir W R Gilbert is erected at Bodmin.

The china clay industry now employs about 1700 men producing an annual output of 68,000 tons

(1st June) The Padstow brig 'Voluna' while on route to Quebec went ashore on the south shore of St. Agnes during dense fog. The crew managed to get ashore but the boat broke up in the surf.

Richard Trevithick Tangye, from Redruth invents the hydraulic jack.

A man engine is installed at Levant Mine to carry the men many fathoms up and down the mine each day.

Cornwall County Constabulary is formed combining the police forces across Cornwall.

(October) Another explosion occurs at Herodsfoot gunpowder works, which destroyed the mill, and four men were killed. Shock waves were felt as far away as Liskeard and Lostwithiel.

(February) St. Luke's Chapel is built about a mile south of Bolventor.

(February) The SS 'Cornubia' a 210 foot fast iron paddle steamer built by Harvey and Company at Hayle is launched.

Lake's Falmouth Packet Newspaper commences its publication in Falmouth.

Construction of Godrevy Lighthouse begun.

Bishop Rock Lighthouse completed at a cost of £34,560.

The Miners Association established by Robert Hunt FRS, and the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society.

An 80 foot ornate summit chimney stack built on Kit Hill to serve the mining complex of Kit Hill Great Consols.

(24th August) Seven miners were killed when a surface pond collapsed into a mine near Helston, flooding it.

(26th August) The Liskeard and Caradon Railway is extended to Kilmar Tor serve the new granite quarries high on Bodmin Moor.

The Camelford Union workhouse was built to the west of Camelford. It was a small establishment, accommodating up to 80 inmates

(1st September) James Walker completes a new 115 foot granite tower lighthouse on Bishop Rock on The Isles of Scilly.

The Scilly Isles Steam Navigation Company is founded to provide shipping services between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

A new lifeboat house is built at the top of the roadway leading down to Polpeor Cove, on the Lizard Peninsula.

(May) The Royal Albert Bridge, Saltash is Isambard Kingdom Brunel's spectacular solution to bridging the River Tamar to allow the connection of the railway through Cornwall with the rest of the GWR system. 2,200 feet long and 100 feet above the water, it is officially opened on 2nd May 1859 by HRH Prince Albert, having cost £225,000 and is opened to the public on 4th May 1859. Although there were through services, passengers had to change trains at Truro because of the change in gauge.

The East Cornwall Times newspaper commences publication in Launceston, and continues until 1877, when it is incorporated into the Cornish and Devon Post.

The Liskeard to Looe canal carried a colossal 48,193 tons of freight in this year, prompting the need for a railway.

(26th October) Storm, said to be the worst since 1823, with numerous shipwrecks off Cornish coasts.

(November) A lifeboat, the 'Catherine Rashleigh' was stationed in Polkerris.

(11th January) Liskeard adopts Greenwich Mean Time to simplify timekeeping on the railway.

(13th January) An earthquake is felt throughout the county – from Land's End to Callington.

The St. Day Brick Works is begun at about this time by a Mr. Hawke. A large kiln is erected in 1874 and daily output is eventually 20,000 bricks per day. It closes down in 1912.

A Lifeboat station is opened in Newquay. The lifeboat 'Joshua' was bought to Newquay by six horses.

The foundation stone for Falmouth Docks was laid by Viscount Falmouth.

The first cottage hospital opens in Webb Street, Fowey. It is only the third in country.

The First and Last House is built at Land's End.

(7th November) Joseph Hocking the author is born at St. Stephen near St. Austell.

(27th December) The Liskeard and Looe Railway opened from Moorswater, near Liskeard to Looe thus extending The Liskeard and Caradon Railway down to the sea.

The Falmouth and Penryn Weekly Times newspaper commences publication, and continues until 1952 after a change of title in 1896 to the Cornish Echo.

Marazion's All Saints church, designed by J P St. Aubyn, is built, replacing an old chapel-of-ease, which had become ruinous by 1735 and was re-built. In the same year St. Peter's church, Mithian is erected to a design by William White. Its spire is taken down in 1898 and a new three-stage tower is built in 1928.

Lifeboat station opened in St. Ives.

(19th March) While on her second voyage and bound from Liverpool for New Orleans, the 846 ton sailing ship 'Award' struck rocks 1.5 miles off Gweal in the Isles of Scilly. After twelve hours the crew of twenty four managed to scramble ashore.

(3rd September) Ernest Edgcumbe, 3rd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe dies aged 64. He was MP for Fowey and Lostwithiel.

The population of Cornwall is now 369,390 persons.

(6th January) Sir Hugh Henry Molesworth, 9th Baronet of Pencarrow dies aged .

'Cornwall Works' in Birmingham is built by the Tangye's, tool-makers of Illogan, near Camborne. The growth of their business follows success in moving Brunel's 'Great Eastern' ship from its stocks when all else had failed.

Cornwall's first Mining Exchange, where mining men could gather and transact business, is established in November in Camborne by Charles Carkeek in the former premises of the Miners' Bank. It closes around 1865. The Redruth Mining Exchange is established at the end of 1863 and its later premises in Alma Place still stand.

(21st October) The ship 'Bencoolen' was wrecked by the jagged reefs which fringe the cliffs at Bude.

John Tabois Tregellas, 'the Cornish Matthews', a gifted lecturer and story-teller, dies aged 71 and is buried at Llantysilio in Wales. Born at St. Agnes in 1792, and a merchant and mine purser by trade, he is best known for his dialect stories - for example Specimens of Cornish provincial dialect (1846) and Peeps into the haunts and homes of the rural population of Cornwall (1879).

The Duchy of Cornwall Management Act confirms that the Duke possesses seigniory and territorial rights befitting a King.

(26th May) Bob Fitzsimmons, who later becomes a boxing champion is born at Helston.

(August) Sir Goldsworthy Gurney was Knighted by HRH Queen Victoria for improving the lighting and ventilation of the House of Commons.

(24th August) The Cornish Railway reached Falmouth, serving both tourists and the port.

(26th October) Thomas Merritt, composer of famous carols is born at Broad Lane, Illogan, near Redruth.

(21st November) Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, was born at Bodmin.

At Botallack Mine the chain which pulled the mine gig suddenly broke, causing eight men and a boy to plummet their deaths down the shaft.

(17th February) Mines Commission introduced.

(22nd April) John Harris, the poet (1820-1884) of Bolenowe, Camborne, wins the Shakespeare tercentenary first prize.

(April) Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian patriot, arrives in Fowey to see his friend, Colonel John Peard, and is greeted by large crowds.

A dispute arose over silver and gold coins which were found in the Luxulyan parish churchyard. The Duchy of Cornwall had asserted its right to them as treasure trove, but the Solicitor to the Treasury questioned this, asking for copy documents under which "the claim of the Duchy was founded." The Duchy sent copies of the Charters of its creation and correspondence stating that, as the Coroner is the officer responsible for treasure trove, and the Duke has the right of appointing the Coroner within Cornwall, the treasure trove belonged to the Duchy.

On the death of Lady Anne Grenville the Boconnoc Estate was bequeathed to George Matthew Fortescue.

A chimney for Cape Cornwall Mine is erected on Cape Cornwall. It is later maintained as a navigation marker.

(4th December) Selina Cooper (1864-1946) Suffragette and the first woman to represent the Independent Labour Party was born in Callington.

(13th January) Sir Joseph Sawle Graves Sawle dies at Penrice, near St. Austell, aged 72.

St. Stephens' church at Treleigh, Redruth commences construction to a design by James Piers St. Aubyn.

Penlee House is built in Penzance for the wealthy Branwell family.

(July) The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall visit Lostwithiel, Falmouth, St. Michaels Mount, Penzance and Botallack Mine where they descended underground.

(22nd July) The Trago Powder Mill located between Liskeard and Bodmin blew up. The roof was blown off and the end walls were blown out. The explosion was heard for miles around.

(25th October) The 'Georgina' was wrecked near Bude, with the loss of two of her six crew. She was on a voyage from Archangelsk, Russia to Cardiff, Glamorgan.

(29th October) The 'St. Malo' was wrecked at Hayle with the loss of two of her crew. Survivors were rescued by the Hayle Lifeboat.

(25th November) The SS 'Wearmouth' is wrecked on Par Sands.

(2nd January) The Lizard lifeboat was washed among rocks and smashed while on exercise in a hurricane. Three of the ten crew drowned – Coxswain Peter Mitchell, Richard Harris and Nicholas Stevens. Institution gave £130 to local fund.

Newlyn St. Peter's church is built in the 14th century style. A north aisle is added in 1888.

Collapse of copper prices begins the de-industrialisation of Cornwall and increases Cornish emigration.

Halsetown church, St. Ives, dedicated to St. John Evangelist, and designed by J P St. Aubyn is built.

The new South Pier in Newlyn was opened so that boats could now moor up here instead of in the bay.

Cornwall's farms were hit with "Rinderpest" which decimated Cornish cattle herds and there were outbreaks of cholera.

The Royal Naval Training ship HMS 'Ganges' arrives in Cornwall and is moored off Mylor near Penryn.

(6th November) The first broad gauge freight train to Penzance begins.

(28th December) A lifeboat station is established at Looe following the loss of several lives when local boatmen went to the assistance of a fishing vessel. Sadly their boat capsized in the breakers on returning ashore.

(6th February) Five of the crew of thirteen of Padstow lifeboatmen were drowned when going to the rescue of the schooner "Georgiana".

(26th March) The Dutch Barque 'The Jonkheer' ran aground close to Mullion. There was only one survivor and twenty four lives were lost.

(1st March) The first broad gauge passenger service train to Penzance begins.

The Redruth Times and Camborne Advertiser newspaper commences publication and continues until 1925, after changing its title to The Cornubian in 1879, and the Cornwall County Times in 1924.

The High Sheriff appeals for aid to prevent 'severe distress and great destitution' in Cornwall. Between 1860 and 1870 700 people die of poverty-related diseases in Truro alone.

New Lifeboat stations opened in Cadgwith, Falmouth and St. Ives.

The two fiercely competing companies Harvey Company and the Cornish Copper Company merged to gain control of Hayle's harbour.

The china clay industry now employs about 4000 men producing an annual output of 160,000 tons.

(13th February) Sir Charles Lemon, 2nd Baronet of Carclew, famous for development of much of Truro, dies aged 84. Hew was MP for Penryn.

The greatest number of pilchards ever taken in one seine was 5,600 hogsheads at St. Ives in this year.

(25th May) Billy Bray the revivalist preacher dies aged 74.

(29th June) Sir Samuel Thomas Spry of Place Manor, and MP for Bodmin, dies aged 64.

Truro gained a volunteer fire brigade.

(24th October) The steamer 'Augusta', of Bristol, was wrecked on The Doom Bar, near Padstow.

The Wolf Rock Lighthouse is completed at a cost of £62,726.

(1st June) The Lostwithiel and Fowey Railway was opened and the first shipment of china clay is made from new jetties. Fowey Harbour Commission established.

Lifeboat station opened in Port Isaac.

(5th February) The West Cornwall Steam Ship Company was established to operate ferry services between Penzance and the Isles of Scilly.

(24th March) Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet of Tregullow dies aged 79. He served as Deputy-Lieutenant of Cornwall, High Sheriff of Cornwall and Deputy-Warden of the Stannaries.

Cornwall is the premier tin mining field in the world, boasting over 2000 mines.

(13th April) Dr Jonathan Couch dies aged 81 in is home at Polperro.

A new international telegraph cable was laid from Porthcurno to Carcavellos in Portugal.

(12th January) Caroline Fox dies aged 52. As a Quaker, she wanted to end slavery and improve conditions for people in prison. She helped to establish the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society in Falmouth.

(24th June) The 'Primos' was wrecked on the Seven Stones reef.

Royal Cornwall Yacht Club (RCYC) was formed in Falmouth.

(14th July) Michael Loam The inventor of the man engine from Ludgvan near Penzance dies aged 74.

The first recorded End to End walk, from John O'Groats to Land's End, was undertaken by two brothers, Robert and John Naylor.

(20th December) The SS 'Delaware' is wrecked on the Isles of Scilly, most of the crew were lost.

The population of Cornwall is now 362,343 persons.

(7th May) The East Cornwall Mineral Railway opened from Kelly Bray near Callington to Calstock.

(16th July) The passenger steamer SS 'Earl of Arran', was wrecked on Nornour in St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly and sank soon afterwards.

(31st July) Augustus Smith Governor of The Isles of Scilly, dies aged 68. His son Thomas Algernon Smith-Dorrien-Smith takes over as Governor.

(8th August) Sir George Godolphin Osborne, The Right Honourable The Lord Godolphin, 8th Duke of Leeds dies aged 70. He married Harriet Stewart, with who he had eight children.

Trenython Manor is built near the village of Tywardreath by an Italian architect commissioned by the famous General Garibaldi.

(6th October) The passenger steamer SS 'Little Western' was wrecked on Southward Wells Reef, off Samson in The Isles of Scilly while attempting to give assistance to a disabled brigantine ship.

(17th October) Sir Humphry Davy's Monument erected in Penzance.

(22nd November) The Italian barque 'Rosa Tacchini' wrecked on the Paper Ledges, near Tresco, Isles of Scilly after her anchors dragged during a severe south-west gale. No one was hurt.

(30th November) Sir Edward St. Aubyn, 1st Baronet of St. Michaels Mount dies aged 73.

A telegraph cable was laid from Porthcurno to Vigo in Spain.

Longships lighthouse was re-built at a cost of £43,870.

(March) A miners strike took place in Geevor Mine and the miners 'rioted' when wages were not paid.

(15th March) All the crew were lost when the 'Elizabeth' was wrecked on St. Agnes.

(10th June) Mousehole sailing lugger 'Cornish Girl' sank after striking the Round Rock in the Spanish Ledges, Isles of Scilly in fine weather. No lives lost.

(24th July) Robert Barclay Fox is born at Falmouth. He later served as a Cornwall County Councillor and as a governor of a number of local schools, and of the Falmouth School of Art.

(3rd October) Elizabeth Bennett walked free from Camborne magistrates court to a tumultuous public welcome. She had been cleared of a charge of stealing £15 by a tyrannical police Superintendent Stephens. He was later dismissed.

(2nd December) There was a major collision between two goods trains on the railway near Menheniot.

(18th January) The 'Minnehaha', cargo ship, bound for Dublin, wrecked on Peninnis Head, St. Mary's with the loss of ten lives including the Pilot.

(16th April) The SS 'Zelda', on her maiden voyage, became stranded on rocks off The Isles of Scilly in fog. Her crew and passengers were saved, and some cargo was salvaged by divers. When the wreck was inspected in 1966, it was found that not only had the SS 'Brinkburn' sank on top of the Zelda in 1898, but that evidence of an unknown wooden warship was found beneath it.

(1st June) The Par to Newquay railway was taken over by Cornwall Minerals Railway and extended to Fowey via the newly constructed Pinnock Tunnel (The longest in Cornwall at 1173 yards) to transport china clay to the dock.

(28th August) The 'Josephine' on route from Cardiff to Newquay loaded with coal was wrecked 1.5 miles off Trevose Head with the loss of four crew.

(28th February) Sir Goldsworthy Gurney from Bude dies aged 82.

(7th May) The SS 'Schiller' one of the largest vessels of her time was wrecked in fog off The Isles of Scilly, there were 335 fatalities.

The Duke of Cornwall sails down the River Nile accompanied by six blue and gold steamers towing supply barges. One carried 3,000 bottles of champagne, 4,000 bottles of claret, 10,000 pints of beer and four French chefs.

(15th August) Reverend Robert Stephen Hawker dies aged 72.

The 'Lady of the Isles' is built by Harvey's of Hayle to work the Isles of Scilly ferry service, which she did until 1904.

Harvey's of Hayle acquired its rival company, the Cornish Copper Company.

(November) Heavy rain resulted in serious flooding in Bude, Camelford, Hayle, St. Just, Penzance and Truro.

(12th May) Another explosion occurs at Herodsfoot gunpowder works, caused merely by a spark from a workman’s mallet hitting a grain of grit, destroying the mill again, and killing three men.

(20th June) A railway station is opened in both Newquay and St. Blazey and a new passenger service is started.

(17th August) Act creates the Bishopric of Truro, and St. Mary's becomes the cathedral church.

A new bridge is built across the River Fowey at Draynes to replace an earlier ford.

The Cornish and Devon Post newspaper commences publication at Launceston.

(1st May) Bishop Benson is enthroned at St. Mary's church, Truro as the first Bishop of Truro.

(1st June) The railway branch line to St. Ives was opened.

Kit Hill Tunnel Limited began work on both the south and north sides of the hill to create a tunnel which would be two miles long.

(17th August) City status granted to Truro which then becomes the capital of Cornwall.

(September) The first use of a high-pressure hose in the extraction of Cornish china clay is introduced by the West Of England Company, but is sabotaged by the workers fearing the future of their jobs.

(7th October) Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St. Germans dies aged 79. He was MP for Liskeard.

St. Nicholas' church, Tresco, Isles of Scilly, is erected.

(December) A hurricane strikes across Bodmin Moor.

The Ding Dong Mine near Land's End ceases production and closes.

(18th July) The Cornishman newspaper commences publication in Penzance.

(15th August) Selina Wadge was hanged at Bodmin Jail for the murder of her child.

A telegraph cable was laid from Porthcurno to the Isles of Scilly.

(3rd September) Sir Frederick Martin Williams, 2nd Baronet of Tregullow dies aged 48.

Mount Hawke church, designed by the architect Charles Hancock, is built.

(27th November) Neville Northey Burnard who achieved national fame by sculpting the head of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, dies aged 60.

A cholera outbreak in Portreath caused the death of almost half the population of the village.

The Redruth Independent newspaper commences publication and continues until 1895.

(27th July) Both the barque 'River Lune' and the barque 'Maipu' were wrecked in heavy fog off The Isles of Scilly.

(15th August) Sir Richard Rawlinson Vyvyan, 8th Baronet of Trelowarren dies aged 79. He was Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the Cornwall Yeomanry Cavalry on 5th September 1820. He held the office of High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1840.

(11th September) Passenger services commenced on the Liskeard to Looe Railway.

Penlee Quarry is started on the coast near Newlyn.

(18th November) The present Penzance railway station was opened, the new stonework replacing the earlier wooden structure.

(25th May) HRH Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, lays foundation stone of Truro Cathedral (St. Mary's church is demolished except for the South Aisle). Work starts on the cathedral under John Loughborough Pearson. The Royal party was accommodated at Tregothnan for their stay in Cornwall.

Tresmere church is wholly re-built except for the tower, and re-consecrated in 1881.

A telegraph cable was laid from Porthcurno to Brest in France.

(7th October) The road between Penzance and Newlyn was washed away by rough sea conditions.

(October) Extreme rainfall resulted in serious flooding in both Bodmin and Truro.

Large scale quarrying for granite began at Kit Hill.

Greenwich Mean Time was legally adopted throughout the island of Great Britain. Until then clocks in Cornwall were set about twenty minutes later than London.

St. Andrew's church, Pencoys is built, as is Penzance's St. John Baptist church.

(19th March) William Gordon Cornwallis Eliot, 4th Earl of St. Germans dies aged 52. He was MP for Devonport.

(28th March) The French vessel 'Cecile Caroline' of Croisec, left Charlestown bound for Nantes, France. She was wrecked later that night with all five crew lost.

(4th April) Most of Lanhydrock House is destroyed by fire.

Holman Brothers of Camborne began producing the Cornish Rock Drill which went on to achieve great commercial success.

(1st July) The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) is formed at Bodmin.

The population of Cornwall is now 330,686 persons.

(9th March) Thomas James Agar-Robartes dies aged 74, he had inherited Lanhydrock Estate from his mother in 1861.

Walter Langley settles in Newlyn, the first of those who become known as artists of the Newlyn School to reside there.

(24th April) The London barge 'St. Vincent' sank on Toll Island, near Pelistry, St. Mary's after striking the Spanish Ledges. The crew escaped, but there was much embarrassment as she was carrying a St. Agnes pilot.

St. Peter's church at Port Isaac, is built, and St. Mary's church at Looe begins construction on the site of an old chapel. Its 13th century tower remains.

Douglass's tower built on Eddystone rock.

(9th August) The German passenger liner 'Mosel' was wrecked on Lizard Point, but no lives were lost.

(18th August) The London and South West Railway agreed the arrangements for building and working the North Cornwall Railway from Launceston to Padstow.

(October) High tides resulted in flooding in Boscastle, Truro, Wadebridge and Padstow.

Bishop Benson leaves Truro to become Archbishop of Canterbury.

St. Michael's Chapel on Rame Head was restored by the 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe.

(14th April) Frances Gerald Agar-Robartes is born at Lanhydrock, he later becomes the 3rd Baron Robartes.

At Temple on Bodmin Moor, the site of a 12th century Knights Templar commandery, St. Catherine's church is built to a design by Sylvanus Trevail in the location of an earlier one which had become ruinous by the 18th century.

Artists' colony established at Newlyn.

Passengers were carried for the first time on the Lostwithiel to Fowey Railway.

(25th June) An earthquake was felt in the Launceston area of Cornwall, it measured 4.2 on the Richter scale.

(15th August) Twelve miners are killed at Wheal Agar, near Redruth when a cage fell down a shaft.

(7th January) John Harris FRHS dies aged 64. A Cornish poet from Camborne who started life as a miner.

(26th January) The Austrian wooden sailing barque 'Cviet', ran aground on Porthleven beach. The captain and one of the crew were washed overboard and drowned. The rest of the crew were saved.

St. Andrew's at Redruth, daughter church to St. Euny's, is erected and completed in 1938.

Henry Vivian, builds a house at Bosahan near Helston.

During quarrying for building materials at Carne Farm near Morvah a hoard of gold ornaments was found dating from the late Bronze Age.

Herodsfoot's mine finally closed and went into liquidation, owing various monies.

(2nd February) The Norwegian three-masted sailing barque 'Petrellen' was washed ashore on Lomg Rock Beach, Penzance. The lifeboat saved the captain and crew, leaving the vessel to become a total wreck in the westerly, strong and heavy seas.

A larger lifeboat was provided for the Polpeor Station on the Lizard Peninsula, and the old (smaller) boat moved to a new station at Church Cove, where a new boathouse was built for £300.

The church of St. John and St. Petroc designed by J L Pearson (architect of Truro Cathedral) is built at Devoran.

Torpoint's parish church, dedicated to St. James was built in this year.

(25th June) The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 reduced the number of Cornish MP's to six.

(4th August) Sir John Salusbury Salusbury-Trelawny, 9th Baronet of Trelawne dies aged 69. He MP for Tavistock and for Cornwall East.

(17th December) The SS 'Sussex' was wrecked on the Isles of Scilly, all the crew were saved.

(23rd January) An earthquake which shook buildings is felt across Cornwall.

(21st March) The 916 ton steamship 'Newton' was washed ashore in thick fog north of Bude. Her crew of eighteen clambered to safety over the rocks.

(24th April) Charles Crespigny Vivian, 2nd Baron Vivian of Truro dies aged 78. He sat as MP for Bodmin and served as Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall.

Cornwall's first free public library service was founded by the creation of the Truro Free Public Library at the Public Rooms, Truro.

(21st July) The North Cornwall Railway arrives at Launceston.

J D Sedding's St. Elwyn's church at Hayle is erected, and is considered to be one of the architect's best works.

(28th September) The 2,924 ton steamship 'Suffolk' was wrecked near Lizard Point in dense fog. The forty five persons aboard were all saved.

(17th October) The 'Sarah Anderson' was wrecked at Trebarwith and all on board perished.

(9th December) The 'Alliance' was wrecked on the seaward side of the Albert Pier, Penzance.

(9th December) The SV 'Petrel' was wrecked off Trevose Head in a force ten gale.

(March) A new 600 feet long south pier was completed at Newlyn.

(9th May) Helston Railway opened for traffic.

(27th May) A new railway branch line opened from Bodmin Road (now Bodmin Parkway) to Bodmin.

(9th June) The 'Castleford' was wrecked near the Bishop Rock Lighthouse whilst carrying 450 head of cattle. Some of the cattle were landed on the uninhabited island of Annet.

(9th June) Arthur Victor Agar-Robartes is born at Lanhydrock House.

The Newquay Guardian newspaper commences publication, and continues until 1911 when it is incorporated into the Newquay Express.

All Saints church is built at Falmouth to the designs of J D Sedding. It becomes parochial in 1924.

Round Island Lighthouse completed on the most northerly outpost of the Isles of Scilly.

(21st August) The first Launceston agricultural show is held.

Visit of HRH the Prince of Wales, to Falmouth who laid the foundation stone of All Saints' Church.

(October) Sir James Douglass re-built Bishop Rock Lighthouse making it forty feet taller and much stronger.

The Cambornian newspaper commences publication in Camborne, changes its title to The Western Star in 1890 and continues until 1896.

Camborne School of Mines was established.

(17th May) The French schooner 'Jeune Hortense' was wrecked near Penzance. The Penzance lifeboat saved the crew.

(31st May) A new Town Hall is opened in Wadebridge.

Artists' colony established at St. Ives.

(3rd September) A railway line, from Bodmin to Boscarne Junction, a distance of three miles, was opened.

The King Harry Steam Ferry Company Limited is formed to better manage the ferry crossing across the River Fal from Trelissick to The Roseland Peninsula. The ferry crossing saves a detour by road of about 27 miles.

(1st April) Cornwall County Council is created by the Local Government Act of 1888. Committees include County Rate Basis, Finance, Highways and Bridges, Lunatic Asylum, Contagious Diseases of Animals, General Purposes and Parliamentary, Standing Joint, and Sea Fisheries.

The Cornish Post and Mining News newspaper commences publication in Camborne, and continues until 1944 when it is incorporated into The Cornishman. The St. Austell Star newspaper commences publication and continues until 1915. The Western Echo newspaper commences publication in St. Ives and continues until 1957 when it is incorporated in the St. Ives Times.

(27th September) Morrab Gardens are opened in Penzance.

The Cornish Football Association is founded.

(15th October) The Cunard liner 'Malta' run ashore in dense fog near Botallack. The vessel was a complete loss, but no lives were lost.

(6th November) Evelyn Boscawen, 6th Viscount Falmouth, of Tregothnan was a breeder of race horses and the winner of many classic races, dies aged 70.

(23rd December) Sir Paul William Molesworth, 10th Baronet of Pencarrow dies aged 68.

(8th February) The 'Spyridon Vagliano', a Greek steamer carrying grain from Russia to Falmouth sank on The Manacles Reef off the Lizard Peninsula with the loss of 14 of the 22 crew.

Bob Fitzsimmons of Helston is the first native Briton heavy-weight boxing champion. He also wins three world titles at different weights at an age when most of today's boxers would have retired.

(June) Commencement of the 'Cornishman' train service from Paddington to Penzance.

King Edward Mine, near Camborne is abandoned. It was re-opened in 1897, and developed as a fully operational/training mine.

(7th November) The tug 'Australia' was sunk on the rocks at Bude.

(30th January) Anne Treneer is born at Gorran Haven she later becomes an well known author.

(9th March) A blizzard swept through Cornwall bringing snowdrifts up to twenty feet deep. But it is the hurricane force wind that causes most damage: over 200 lives are lost, the majority at sea where 63 ships founder, one of them being the British Barque 'Bay of Panama' which was wrecked on the east coast of the Lizard Peninsula. Upwards of 6,000 sheep and lambs die, and half a million trees are brought down.

The schooner 'Mary Barrow' was built and launched by W H Lean at Falmouth. The ship was originally built for the trans Atlantic trade but nearly came to grief when stranded on Porthminster beach in St. Ives in 1908. She was wrecked in 1938 when she stuck rocks.

The population of Cornwall is now 322,571 persons.

(21st February) The 'Fratelli' hit The Runnel Stone and sank in deep water. Five of her crew were sighted from Lamorna in a punt which capsized off Carn Du throwing her occupants into the water where they all drowned. One body was washed up at Chyandour, Penzance, while the punt, plus another, was later brought into Newlyn.

(March) The famous children’s writer Beatrix Potter first visited Cornwall for an Easter holiday with her family at Falmouth.

(20th May) All the broad gauge railway lines on The Great Western Railway were re-laid to the standard gauge.

(July) The North Cornwall Railway is built to carry on westwards from Launceston.

(10th January) Wheal Owles (St. Just) mine disaster, twenty lives lost in flooding.

(4th March) The Lizard and Cadgwith lifeboats were called to the aid of the SS 'Gustav Bitter' which had run aground on rocks. The Lizard lifeboat recovered three of the four men from the ship, whilst the Cadgwith lifeboat recovered eight further crew members including the ships Master from the ship’s boat.

(5th April) The three-masted cargo ship 'Horsa' ran aground in Bread and Cheese Cove, St. Martin’s. The crew were rescued before it sank.

(6th June) John Passmore Edwards is made the first Freeman of the City of Truro for his generous gifts to the City and the County.

The St. Ives Weekly Summary newspaper commences publication and continues until 1918. From 1910 it becomes a local edition of The Cornishman.

The first free public library building in Cornwall is provided when Penzance's Public Library is opened in Morrab Road. It is established with a bequest of £1,947 from Octavius Allen Ferris of Highgate, London, who gives similar amounts to Truro, Falmouth, Camborne and Redruth. Thomas Bedford Bolitho and John Passmore Edwards each present 1,000 volumes. Passmore Edwards finances the building of these libraries too, as well as those at St. Ives, Bodmin, Liskeard and Launceston.

(14th August) The North Cornwall Railway arrives at Camelford.

(20th September) Seven miners were killed at an accident in Dolcoath Mine near Carn Brea.

Passmore Edwards Cottage Hospital is built in Falmouth.

(18th October) The North Cornwall Railway arrives at Delabole.

(21st October) Hussey Crespigny Vivian, 3rd Baron Vivian of Truro dies aged 59. He was appointed to be a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Cornwall in 1887.

(18th November) During a raging gale three colliers, 'Cintra', 'Bessie' and 'Vulture', were all wrecked in Carbis Bay, near St. Ives.

(24th November) The SS 'Serica' nearly foundered and took shelter in St. Mary's Roads on the 19th. As she left she struck an uncharted rock (later named Serica Rock) and sank.

(20th December) The barque 'Iota' was driven against the cliffs at Lye Rock, Trebarwith, all but one were saved.

Newlyn Art Gallery opened.

(26th June) The 'Busby' cargo ship was wrecked and sank at Trevose Head.

An new longer North Pier was completed in Newlyn, enabling every boat to tie up alongside the quay for safety.

(1st January) The largest ship wrecked on The Doom Bar is believed to be the 'Antoinette', a barque of 1,118 tonnes. She set sail from Newport in South Wales with a cargo of coal for Brazil, but foundered near Lundy Island, losing parts of her mast. She was towed by a steam tug towards Padstow but struck The Doom Bar. Her crew of fourteen and several men who had attempted to salvage her were rescued by lifeboats, following which she rapidly sank.

(25th January) The 1,187 ton steamer 'Escurial' was wrecked with a loss of eleven hands out of a full crew of nineteen in a severe winter storm off Portreath.

All Saints church, Millbrook, is built echoing the 15th century style.

(14th March) Botallack Mine finally closed during the mining depression.

(7th April) The Russian barque 'Pallas' was wrecked on Great Perhaver Beach off Gorran Haven after grounding on The Gwineas in an easterly gale. The vessel's cargo was timber and all the crew were rescued.

Mullion harbour was completed and financed by Lord Robartes.

Great Western Railway purchased Tregenna Castle in St. Ives. With the help of local craftsmen, the original house was extended to include new function rooms, a restaurant, adjoining kitchens, and a hallway leading to the main reception area. It wasn't long before Tregenna became the 'Jewel in the Crown’ of the GWR hotels.

(1st June) St. Kew Highway railway station opened on the North Cornwall Railway.

(18th June) The North Cornwall Railway arrives at Wadebridge.

A slipway was built at Towan Head, Newquay so the lifeboat could launch directly into the sea.

(2nd October) The British schooner 'Jessie Mcclew' on voyage from Porthcawl to Hayle with coal, was driven ashore off Trevose Head and wrecked.

(4th November) The American three-masted sailing ship 'Granite State' ran aground near Porthcurno and soon sunk.

January) Newlyn Lighthouse caught fire. The keeper, William Maddern, tried to withdraw the oil supply, but the pipes melted. He was badly burned trying to contain the fire when more oil washed over him.

(6th January) The schooner 'Cornish Lass' was wrecked at Trevellas while trying to enter St. Agnes harbour with coal.

(March) The sailing ship 'Bay of Panama' was wrecked under Nare Head, near St. Keverne, during a great blizzard. The ship carried jute from Calcutta; eighteen of those on board died but nineteen were saved.

(18th May) The fishermen of Newlyn spent three days rioting with fishermen from Lowestoft over fishing on the sabbath, which the local men did not agree with.

Stannaries Court (Abolition) Act enforced.

The church of The Good Shepherd was built in Par Green and the total cost of £850 met by Bishop John Gott.

(1st July) A railway station is opened at Golant on the Fowey to Lostwithiel line.

The Charles Buller Memorial Library is built in Liskeard.

A large granite cross is erected on Dodman Point to help protect shipping from this headland.

A lighthouse is built on the southern quay at Mevagissey.

(27th October) Sir Colman Rashleigh, 2nd Baronet of Menabilly dies aged 77. He was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1852 and Deputy-Warden of the Stannaries. He was a MP for East Cornwall from 1874 to 1880.

(6th March) The 'Syracusa' was a 1243-ton schooner-rigged iron-screw steamer which was wrecked at Newquay and lost with all 24 crew.

A serious outbreak of typhoid in the town of Wadebridge led to better water supplies.

The County Library is built in Union Place at Truro. The building was designed by Cornish architect Sylvanus Trevail and financed by local benefactor John Passmore Edwards.

(24th of May) The Bodmin Free Library was formally opened to the public by Right Hon. Leonard H Courtenay, MP for Bodmin.

Passmore Edwards Cottage Hospital is built in Liskeard.

Blue Hiils Tin mine finally closes.

(JulY) The fishing smack 'Ant' of Bude was sunk in a collision with the Padstow schooner 'Maria' off Trevose Head.

St. Anthony Battery is built on St. Anthony Head on the Roseland as part of Falmouth's coastal defences.

Jubilee Rock north of Blisland has more carvings added to it to celebrate The Golden Jubilee of HRH Queen Victoria.

(29th November) The 'Rose of Devon' was wrecked off Porthtowan.

The Victoria Gardens in Truro are laid out and opened for public use in commemoration of the 60th year of the reign of Queen Victoria.

(3rd July) The famous motor engineer and designer Donald Healey was born in Perranporth.

(10th August) The North Cornwall Railway arrives at Bude.

A telegraph cable was laid from Porthcurno to Gibraltar.

(14th October) The SS 'Mohegan' was wrecked after striking the Manacle rocks off The Lizard Peninsula. 106 lives were lost. Most of the recovered bodies of the drowned were buried in a mass grave in St. Keverne churchyard, which was given a memorial stained glass window by the Atlantic Transport Line. A magnificent staircase salvaged from the wreck stands in Coverack youth hostel.

(10th November) The SS 'Bluejacket' was wrecked on rocks near Longships lighthouse nearly demolishing the lighthouse in the process. All 22 of the crew were saved by the Sennen lifeboat.

(15th December) The SS 'Brinkburn' was wrecked if fog on the Maiden Bower in the Isles of Scilly.

(19th December) Principal keeper John Ball was swept to his death from Bishop Rock Lighthouse. His body was never found.

(5th January) The 2066 ton Italian steamer 'Voorwarts' was wrecked on the cliffs at Morwenstow. nine of her crew were saved but thirteen more were drowned.

(23rd March) The North Cornwall Railway arrives at Padstow.

(2nd May) The liner 'The Paris', was stranded on The Manacles Reefoff Porthoustock on the Lizard.

(28th August) HMS 'Ganges' left Falmouth.

The Western Echo Newspaper was founded by William J. Jacobs in St. Ives.

(2nd October) Cardiff collier 'Llandaff' a small Welsh steamer broke down off the Bude coast while on passage from Saint Malo to Swansea in ballast. She was washed onto the end of the breakwater in a force ten gale and the crew were taken off by rocket apparatus. Later, on the incoming tide, she shifted position, ending up overlooking Tommy’s Pit. A few days later she refloated herself and drifted out to sea, from where she was scrapped.

(23rd October) Lieutenant-General Sir William Penn Symons KCB (1843–1899) was a British Army officer from Saltash who was mortally wounded as he commanded his forces at the Battle of Talana Hill during the Second Boer War, he was aged 56.

(11th April) The fishing boat 'Peace and Plenty' was driven onto the rocks near Padstow. Two lifeboats attended but eleven lives were lost.

(June) The Headland Hotel at Newquay, designed by the Cornish architect Silvanus Trevail is opened despite much opposition from locals.

The first motor cars arrive in Cornwall.

Annual production of Cornish china clay mainly from the St. Austell area is over 550,000 tons.

(26th September) Pendeen Lighthouse is commissioned.

(29th October) A. K. Hamilton Jenkins is born at Redruth, he later becomes a famous Cornish Author.

(28th December) The Austrian barque 'Capricorno' was wrecked on Bude breakwater.

(19th January) The 'Marie Celene' was wrecked off Falmouth after hitting rocks.

(22nd January) Edward VII becomes King on the death of his mother, HRH Queen Victoria.

(5th February) The 71 ton brigantine 'Julien Marie' was wrecked in a north-east gale on Porthminster beach St. Ives.

(28th February) The sailing vessel 'Concord' was wrecked on the Outer Trigg rocks at the harbour entrance to Porthleven.

(7th March) The 'Voorspoed' ran ashore in a northerly gale at Perranporth while travelling from Cardiff to Bahia. The wreck was one of the last to be looted.

(15th May) A new railway line opened with a climbing curving link line from Coombe Junction, a little south of Moorswater, to the now Great Western Railway station at Liskeard. The new connecting line had to climb a considerable vertical interval to reach the Cornish Main Line which passed above Moorswater on a 147 feet high viaduct.

The Cornish Guardian newspaper commences publication in Bodmin.

A lifeboat station is opened at Coverack.

A telegraph cable was laid from Porthcurno to Maderia.

A new barracks is built at Pendennis Castle.

Bude Canal closes due to the competition from the railway.

(9th November) George Frederick Ernest Albert, second son of Albert Edward becomes the Duke of Cornwall.

(18th November) The Penzance schooner 'Mary James' bound for Swansea from Newlyn with copper ore lost her mast and sails off the Longships and the wreckage was washed up the next day. The crew of six had been taken off by the Sennen Lifeboat.

(7th December) The cargo ship 'Rodney' was wrecked, a total loss, at Downderry, near Looe on the return voyage from Chile to France with a cargo of nitrate.

(12th December) Marconi sends first transatlantic signal from Poldhu between Porthleven and Mullion to Newfoundland, Canada. The site is marked by the Marconi Visitors Centre, near Mullion.

The population of Cornwall is now 322,957 persons.

(January) The 800 ton Scottish barque 'Glenbervie' became stranded on Lowland Point near Coverack. Her crew of 16 were rescued by lifeboat.

(2nd February) The 'Lofaro' was wrecked after striking Merrick Rock, St. Martin's with the loss of all her crew.

(9th April) Visit of HRH King Edward VII to Penzance and St. Michael's Mount.

(1st September) A new railway station is opened at St. Keyne on the Looe branch line.

(7th November) The Camborne and Redruth Tramway opens, Cornwall's only electric street tramway, and unique in Britain in providing for the transport of minerals too. The last passenger service ran in 1927.

(27th November) The Penlee Quarry Light Railway opens near Newlyn.

(December) Truro holds its first annual primestock show.

(4th February) The 'Berwick' of Newcastle was wrecked on The Runnel Stone; the crew took to two boats one of which reached land and the other with five crew taken to Penzance in the Sennen Cove lifeboat.

New Iceworks are built at Newlyn harbour.

(20th April) Sir Charles Brune Graves Sawle, 2nd Baronet of Penrice and MP for Bodmin, dies aged 87. He had served as a Justice of the Peace, Special Deputy Warden of the Stannaries and Honorary Lieutenant Colonel of the Royal Cornwall and Devon Miner's Militia.

(16th May) Sir William Robert Williams, 3rd Baronet of Tregullow dies aged 43.

The Old Post Office at Tintagel is acquired by The National Trust.

(6th July) A railway station is opened at Perranporth.

(15th July) HRH The Prince and Princess of Wales visit Truro for the opening ceremony of the new Cathedral. They also make a visit to Marconi's Wireless Station at Poldhu, near Mullion.

(3rd August) Francis Aylmer Graves Sawle, 3rd Baronet of Penrice dies aged 54.

(August) The Great Western Railway Company ran the first scheduled bus service in Cornwall. It ran from Helston to the Lizard. By the 1920's it had become one of the largest operators in the south west covering forty four routes.

(27th October) Heavy rains caused a severe flood to be swept down the Glynn Valley washing away Wainsford Bridge, near St. Neot. Lostwithiel was also badly flooded.

(7th November) Silvanus Trevail Cornwall's most famous 19th century architect born in Luxulyan near St. Austell, dies aged 52.

(4th December) The author A. L. Rowse is born at Tregonissey near St. Austell.

(26th December) Lancelot Stephen Bosanquet was born at St. Stephen's-by-Saltash, he later became a British mathematician who worked in analysis, especially Fourier series.

(5th January) A terrible explosion at the Hayle Royal Navy dynamite factory killed five men and several others were injured.

Publication of Jenner's 'Handbook of the Cornish language', prompts the revival of Cornish.

(30th May) Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show is held in Penzance.

(1st July) The first Cornish Riviera Express was run, reducing the Paddington to Penzance railway journey time to 7 hours from 8.5 hours.

Cornwall accepted into Celtic Congress.

(1st September) The SS 'Lady of the Isles' on an excursion to the Isles of Scilly hit a sunken ledge off Carn Du and later beached at Lamorna Cove. The passengers had to walk the four miles back to Penzance.

Harvey's Foundry at Hayle finally closed.

The main tower and spire of the new Truro Cathedral are completed.

A young woman, by the name Jessie Rickard, was murdered at Castle an Dinas by a jealous lover, who then took his own life.

(14th March) The barque 'Khyber', a triple mast iron cargo ship en-route from Melbourne, Australia, to Falmouth was blown ashore in heavy gales and wrecked on the rocks at Porthgwarra.

(12th April) Jonathan Rashleigh of Menabilly, near Fowey dies aged 85.

The Newquay Express newspaper commences publication, and continues until 1945, when it becomes the Newquay Guardian and Cornwall County Chronicle. In 1955 it is incorporated as a local edition of the Cornish Guardian.

Geevor Mine is the name given to the former North Levant Mine which has worked from about 1810. It survives as a working mine until August 1986. It re-opens as a mining heritage centre in August 1993.

(4th August) The French barque 'Noisiel' was beached on Praa Sands during a gale.

(20th September) Sir William Frederick Williams, 4th Baronet of Tregullow dies aged 19.

A telegraph cable was laid from Porthcurno to Fayal in the Azores via the island of St. Helena.

Dense fogs infested the coast of West Cornwall continuously from May to August.

(5th June) The steam-trawler 'General Roberts' of Hull sank after taking on water in the fishing grounds north of St. Martins, Isles of Scilly. Her crew abandoned ship in the punt and rowed towards Round Island.

(15th June) Six railway carriages accidentally left without their brakes on ran away down the incline from Liskeard Station to Moorswater where they demolished the engine shed and caused much other damage, but luckily no-one was hurt.

(22nd July)The 'King Cadwallon' was on voyage from Cardiff to Naples with a cargo of coal in foggy conditions when she struck the rocks off St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly at about 5am. On striking the head canted to starboard and the forehold filled with water within ten minutes. The crew abandoned ship and awaited rescue. The ship became a total loss after slipping back into deeper water.

(31st July) The French ship 'Socoa' struck rocks near Cadgwith.

The 'Morgawr', a giant sea serpent said to measure 12-14 feet long, was reportedly sighted swimming in the waters beyond Land's End.

(28th August) Sir John Betjeman the famous author is born.

(17th March) The 12,000 tonne liner SS 'Suevic' hit the Maenheere Reef near Lizard Point. In a strong gale and dense fog RNLI lifeboat volunteers rescued 456 passengers, including 70 babies. Crews from the Lizard, Cadgwith, Coverack and Porthleven rowed out repeatedly for sixteen hours to rescue all of the people on board.

A twelve-arched viaduct of some 120 feet in height and 870 feet long is built at Calstock to carry the railway across the River Tamar.

(13th May) Author Daphne du Maurier is born.

(23rd August) Par stack is demolished, it was the tallest stack in Cornwall at 235 feet.

(17th October) The collier 'Susan Elizabeth' was wrecked on Porthminster Beach St. Ives.

(28th October) Sir Colman Battie Rashleigh, 3rd Baronet of Menabilly dies aged 61. He was Mayor of Lostwithiel.

(14th December) The seven masted schooner 'Thomas W. Lawson' was wrecked on The Isles of Scilly with the loss of fifteen out of the seventeen crew.

(7th January) Both the 'Lizzie R. Wilce' and the ' Mary Barrow' were wrecked on St. Ives beach, both crews were saved.

Thomas Merritt, composer of famous carols was born at Broad Lane, Illogan on October 26th 1863, the son of a copper miner. He attended Pool School until his father died when Thomas was age eleven. For a time Thomas then worked at Carn Brea mine and later Tolvaddon Tin Streams. Mr Humphrey Broad taught him music for about six months at Redruth when he was about eighteen, but apart from that he appears to have had no formal training. He was organist at Chili Road Chapel and Illogan Highway Chapel. In addition to his carols, Merritt also composed (among others) The Christian Solider, an Oratorio and Shepherd of Israel, a Sacred Cantata. Merritt died on April 17th 1908, aged 46.

(2nd March) Calstock railway station opened.

(7th March) A serious fire at Scorrier House destroyed large parts of the property.

(16th March) The 'Hodbarrow Miner' Bound from Runcorn to Truro with coal. Went ashore and wrecked at Mawgan Porth having been abandoned by the crew, of which only one survived.

(14th May) Sir John St. Aubyn, 1st Baron St. Levan dies aged 78. He was MP for St. Ives.

(19th May) A viaduct at Forder, near Saltash was demolished after the main line was diverted to a more inland alignment.

Lifeboat station opened at Newlyn.

(4th October) The 'Alice Marie' was wrecked in Mounts Bay after hitting The Runnel Stone.

A breakwater is built at Sennen Cove.

Par has the honour of being the first troop of Scouts formed in Cornwall.

(1st January) The Bude County Secondary School first opened.

(10th June) HRH The Prince and Princess of Wales' visit Liskeard, Minions, Bodmin, St. Columb Major, St. Austell, Newquay and Padstow before presenting cups at the Royal Cornwall Show.

(20th July) William Hampton was hung for the murder of Emily Tredrea. This was the last hanging is performed in Bodmin Jail.

(14th August) The 300 foot 'Plympton' struck the Lethegus' Ledge off St. Agnes and sank in thick fog.

A new cable station is built to house the large amount of new telegraph cables which come ashore at Porthcurno.

(18th April) The SS 'Minnehaha', first-class liner hit Scilly Rock off Bryher in dense fog. Later re-floated with no loss of life. She was the first vessel to send an SOS call to the Marconi radio station on the Lizard Peninsula.

(6th May) George V becomes King and Emperor of India on the death of his father, Edward VII, and his son Edward becomes the Duke of Cornwall.

Truro's new three-spired cathedral is completed.

Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, is Knighted.

(July) Claude Grahame-White brought his aeroplane to Cornwall by train to put on a display – flying over Mount's Bay and Penzance. This was the first time the majority of west Cornwall people had seen an aircraft.

The St. Ives Times started by Martin Osbourne Clock commences publication and continues until 1971.

(5th September) The 1500 ton 'William Cory' was en route from Finland to Newport in south Wales with a cargo of pit props when she struck the rocks near Pendeen and was wrecked while the skipper was navigating without charts.

St. Piran's oratory was excavated and a number of skeletons, including one of a large headless man, were found before the remains were encased in a large concrete structure.

Winston Churchill visited Bodmin as a Liberal MP, accompanied by his wife Clementine.

A new coal-fired power station is opened on Hayle Quay, it closed in 1977.

(3rd October) The 180 ton French schooner 'Olympe' ran aground and was wrecked at Gunwalloe Church Cove, near Porthleven.

(8th November) The steamer 'Wimborne' was wrecked near Land's End.

(3rd May) The Norwegian ship 'Hansy' was wrecked on the eastern side of the Lizard Peninsula.

Newquay St. Michael's, a large church in the Cornish style designed by Sir Ninian Comper, is erected. It is destroyed by an arson attack on 29th June 1993 but re-opens following complete restoration.

The granite quarries at Lamorna Cove ceased production.

A new lifeboat station is built on the quay at St. Ives.

HRH Edward, Prince of Wales, and his brother Prince Albert (later Kings Edward VIII and George VI respectively) recuperated at the Headland Hotel in Newquay after catching measles and mumps while studying at Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.

Polperro Lighthouse is completed.

(31st July) A whole shoal of whales were beached at Longrock, Penzance.

(19th September) Author Sir William Golding born at Newquay.

(24th September) Henry Cornwallis Eliot, 5th Earl of St. Germans dies aged 76.

Peninnis Lighthouse is built on the southern extremity of St. Mary's, in the Isles of Scilly.

(3rd November) The 1497 ton Norway sailing ship 'Hansy' of Fredrikstad was wrecked at Housel Bay on the eastern side of the Lizard.

(12th November) Both the 'Angele' and the 'Island Maid' were wrecked on The Doom Bar in the Camel Estuary during a gale.

(13th December) The barque 'Saluto' was driven ashore close to St. Michael's Mount during a fierce gale. Her crew of thirteen were all saved.

The population of Cornwall is now 328,098 persons.

(11th February) The 'Maud' from the Isle of Man was wrecked at Kynance Cove. All her crew were saved.

(5th March) The three-masted schooner 'Bessie' was forced to shelter in Newquay Bay, in a strong north wind, but drifted ashore and wrecked when her anchor fouled. Two of the crew were saved by breeches buoy, the others clambered up the 100 foot cliff on the cliff ladder.

(21st March) The steamer 'City of Cardiff' wrecked at Nanjizal, two miles south of Land’s End. The Sennen Life-Saving Apparatus Team took the crew off by breeches buoy.

75% of Cornish china clay production is for shipment overseas.

(6th April) The 'Mildred' was travelling from Newport to London when it hit rocks at Gurnards Head Captain Larcombe and his crew of two Irishmen, one Welshman and a Mexican rowed into St. Ives as their ship was destroyed by the waves.

(15th April) Among the 2,200 people on board the ill-fated RMS 'Titanic', there was a group of Cornish miners hoping to build a new life in America.

(29th May) Sir Lewis William Molesworth, 11th Baronet of Pencarrow dies aged 59.

(4th October) Visit of HRH the Duchess of Albany to Penzance and St. Michael's Mount.

(12th November) R. B. Kitson from Lanreath, near Looe became the first Cornishman to pass his flying test and qualify as a pilot.

(8th December) The Greek steamer 'Antonios' was lost on Old Bess, Isles of Scilly with the loss of her crew. The wreck went unnoticed for three days until wreckage and thousands of oranges were washed up on St. Agnes.

(26th December) The SS 'Tripolitania' ran aground and wrecked on the Loe Sand Bar near Porthleven. Most of the crew were saved.

The St. Ives Times newspaper commences publication and continues from 1957 as the St. Ives Times and Echo (incorporating the Western Echo).

(5th May) The four-masted steel barque 'Queen Margaret', laden with 4500 tons of wheat from Australia hit the Maenheere Rock of Lizard Point and was wrecked.

(18th May) Sir Hender Molesworth-St. Aubyn, 12th Baronet of Pencarrow dies aged 79.

(23rd May) The square rigger 'Cromdale' was wrecked on Lizard Point.

A wooden mission church is constructed at Carbis Bay. Foundations for a new church are laid in 1927, the tower is finished in 1959 and the nave is completed in 1964-8.

(14th August) The 'Susanna', was wrecked on Zantman's Rock, Isles of Scilly.

A major strike occurs in support of a minimum wage of £1 5s 0d (equal to approx £82.00 in 2005) for the china clay industry in the St. Austell area. 200 policemen met 2,000 strikers at Bugle and charged the strikers and beat them back with truncheons.

Carn Brea power station was closed down.

(1st October) Sir Frederick William Williams, 5th Baronet of Tregullow dies aged 25.

(10th October) The public house the Farmers Arms in St. Columb Minor, near Newquay, caught fire and was burnt to the ground. The cause of which was a firework. The Inn was rebuilt in 1914.

(28th November) The SV 'Thornliebank' was wrecked off the Isles of Scilly.

(16th January) HMS 'A7', an early Royal Navy submarine, sank in Whitsand Bay with the loss of all her crew whilst carrying out dummy torpedo attacks.

(1st February) The German steel barque 'Hera' was wrecked on Gull rock off Nare Head on the Roseland Peninsula and was sunk with a loss of nineteen lives. The sailors are all buried at Veryan churchyard.

(15th March) The steel barque 'Trifolium' was wrecked at Sennen Cove. Six of her crew were saved by the coastguard but five others were drowned.

(July) Phoenix United Tin Mine at Minions closes.

(28th July) Start of World War One.

(1st August) W J Burley author born in Falmouth. The Cornish TV detective series Wycliffe is based on novels by him. His first novel was published in 1966, he died in Cornwall in 2002.

(4th August) Young men across Cornwall flocked to join the services at the start of World War One.

159 China clay works are in operation in Cornwall.

(2nd November) Richard Graves Sawle, from Porthpean, St. Austell, was killed in battle. He was the son of Sir Charles Graves Sawle.

(11th November) A large fire gutted several buildings and the clock tower in the centre of Truro.

Newlyn was selected as the Ordnance Survey datum point, the mean sea level from which all heights throughout Britain are calculated. A tidal observatory was built on the pier. Also Newlyn Lighthouse was built on the same pier.

(22nd May) Thomas Bedford Bolitho dies in Penzance aged 80.

Tehidy House was vacated and after 700 years of Basset family ownership, the estate was sold in 1916.

(25th September) The Redruth and Chasewater Railway closes.

Many ships were torpedoed and sunk by German submarines around the Cornish coast.

(12th November) Terrific gales caused much damage to property and uprooted large trees in and around Penzance.

The novelist, D.H.Lawrence, and his wife Frieda moved to Zennor in West Cornwall, as a first step toward emigrating to America.

(11th March) The poet and writer Jack Clemo was born at St. Stephen near St. Austell.

(June) RNAS Mullion was opened as an airship station at Bonython on the Lizard Peninsula.

(20th July) The 'Enrico Parodi', a 339 foot long, 3,800-ton steel vessel, struck Gurnard's Head, near Zennor during thick fog. While being towed, it sank off The Carracks and remains there, thirty yards below the surface as a diving attraction.

Private James Henry Finn from St. Clement near Truro, earned the Victoria Cross for his most conspicuous bravery in Iraq.

(13th October) The 'Henrietta' was wrecked on the Loe Bar near Porthleven.

(3rd November) The SS 'Ponus' was travelling from Trinidad to Britain. While off of the coast of Cornwall, she encountered a gale. Her anchor could not hold her in place and she was driven ashore on Gyllyngvase beach, Falmouth. She then caught fire. All the crew were safely landed, with the aid of the Falmouth lifeboat.

(1st December) Two French sailing ships were torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine 'UB-18' north of Trevose Head.

(December) The fishing trawler 'St.Ives' hit a mine just off St. Anthony Head whilst carrying out mine sweeping work near Falmouth.

(31st December) The Liskeard and Caradon Railway closes all lines north of Moorswater.

(March to June) Shortage of potatoes around Penzance, the majority of households having none for weeks.

(11th May) Two steam colliers were wrecked during heavy fog. The SS 'Italia' and SS 'Lady Charlotte' both hit rocks off The Isles of Scilly.

(27th May) Sir Vyell Donnithorne Vyvyan, 9th Baronet of Trelowarren dies aged 90. He was Rector at Withiel.

(24th August) The author Charles Causley was born in Launceston.

(25th September) William Henry Edgcumbe, 4th Earl of Mount Edgcumbe dies aged 83. He was an Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria from 1887 to 1897 and a Member of the Council to the Prince of Wales from 1901 to 1917 as well as Keeper of the Seal of the Duchy of Cornwall from 1907 to 1917. Between 1877 and 1917 he served as Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall.

(3rd October) Sir Burton Robert Williams, 6th Baronet of Tregullow dies aged 28. He died at the Battle of Passchendaele and was killed in action.

(7th October) The SV 'Carl' was wrecked at Booby's Bay near Trevose Head while on towed by the Royal Navy to London.

(30th November) Sir William Lewis Salusbury-Trelawny, 10th Baronet of Trelawne dies aged 73. He was High Sheriff of Cornwall.

(6th December) The USS 'Jacob Jones', an American destroyer, was hit in the stern by a torpedo while on convoy duty. She exploded killing her crew of 66 and sank within eight minutes, twenty five miles south-east of the Bishop Rock.

Many more ships were torpedoed and sunk by German submarines around the Cornish coast.

(17th December) Newquay lifeboat, 'James Stevens No.5', was wrecked on service after launching into a gale to assist the steamship 'Osten' from Copenhagen, in difficulties at Holywell.

(2nd March) The St. Austell to Pentewan Railway closed.

(23rd July) The SS 'Annie Sofie' was torpedoed and sunk off Trevose Head by the German submarine U-55 with the loss of one life.

(6th August) Lieutenant Thomas Algernon Smith-Dorrien-Smith dies aged 72 and his son Arthur Algernon Dorrien-Smith takes over as Governor of The Isles of Scilly.

(1st October) Major General Evelyn Edward Thomas Boscawen, 7th Viscount Falmouth, was a British peer and British Army officer, dies aged 71.

(17th October) A torpedoed tramp steamer 'Anthony Radcliffe' beaches near Land's End.

(11th November) Celebrations across Cornwall as World War One finally ends.

The artist Jack Pender was born in Mousehole.

Hundreds of people died across Cornwall when an epidemic of Spanish flu swept through the county.

(23rd February) Tehidy House, near Illogan, is destroyed by fire.

(15th March) Penzance Naval Base Closes.

(11th June) HRH The Prince of Wales visits Truro.

(20th October) Levant Mine (St. Just) disaster, 31 lives lost when main rod of man-engine broke.

Royal Institution of Cornwall occupies its present building in River Street, Truro with The Royal Cornwall Museum.

The amalgamation takes place of three large china clay companies - Martin Brothers, the west of England and Great Beam Company, and the North Cornwall China Clay Company, to become English China Clays Ltd or ECC based near St. Austell. It controls 50% of the production.

The first tarmacadam was laid on the A30 which started a new age of motorised road transport.

Donald Healey transmits an air-to-ground radio message over Perranporth, the first in Cornwall and possibly in the country.

(26th March) The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company Ltd was formed by the inhabitants of the Islands to provide regular, cost effective and enjoyable travel between the mainland and the Isles of Scilly.

First Old Cornwall Society founded by Robert Morton Nance at St. Ives

Bernard Leach started the Leach Pottery in St. Ives.

(27th August) HMS 'Hood', the largest battleship in the world, visited Mount' s Bay.

(29th November) The 'Capitaine Remy' ran aground just off Polkerris.

Robert Barclay Fox (1873-1934), becomes High Sheriff of Cornwall.

(2nd December) A big German steamer the 'Hathor', of 7,060 tons gross, sank right across the wreck of the 'Plympton', at the base of Lethegus Rocks, Isles of Scilly.

Ownership of The Isles of Scilly is passed back to the Duchy of Cornwall.

A new clock tower is built in St. Teath as a war memorial.

(20th January) The HMS 'K5' a British submarine, sunk about 120 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly with the loss of 57 lives.

Cornwall's deepest mine, the 3,500 foot Dolcoath, near Camborne closes.

The butter-market in the centre of Launceston is demolished to make way for a new war memorial.

The telegraph cable from Bilbao in Spain which had previously landed at the Lizard was diverted into Porthcurno.

Joan Rendell, the author was born in Launceston.

(September) West Penwith District Council proposed a new canal to run from Hayle to Marazion. The idea was shelved due to cost.

Percy Lane Oliver from St. Ives was the founder of the first voluntary blood donor service.

(20th December) Sir Frederick Law Williams, 7th Baronet of Tregullow dies aged 59. He was a Lieutenant 1st Battalion Dorsetshire Regiment.

The population of Cornwall is now 320,705 persons.

Lifeboat station opened in Fowey after a move from Polkerris.

The Forestry Commission purchase Cardinham Woods.

(3rd March) The French trawler 'Marguerite' went aground in Talland Bay, near Looe, having lost her bearings in a south-westerly gale.

(22nd March) John Granville Cornwallis Eliot, 6th Earl of St. Germans dies aged 32.

The lease of The Isles of Scilly passed to Arthur Dorrien-Smith, who agreed to pass several properties on Tresco, including King Charles's Castle, into the guardianship of the Ministry of Works.

(9th February) The five-masted schooner 'Adolf Vinnen' was wrecked on Lizard Point in a gale during her maiden voyage.

The Cornish Wrestling Association was formed to standardise the rules of the sport and to promote Cornish wrestling throughout Cornwall and the world.

Thomas Hardy writes "The Queen of Cornwall", a one-act play based on the Tristan and Iseult story.

(8th October) The 6,000-ton cargo ship SS 'City of Westminster' was wrecked on The Runnel Stone just south of Land's End, slicing off the top of the stone. Fortunately the 72 crew were rescued by local lifeboats.

The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies (FOCS) was formed on the initiative of Robert Morton Nance.

(March) The first Western Commercial Horticultural Show was held at Penzance. The show is now known as The West Cornwall Spring Show.

(24th March) The schooner 'Wyoming', the longest wooden ship ever built, was wrecked with the loss of all hands, off the Isles of Scilly.

(20th April) The trawler 'Smiling Throu' was wrecked at Trevone Bay,.

(11th May) Antony Hewish is born in Fowey. He becomes a British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974.

(22nd September) Rosamunde Pilcher, a best selling novelist was born in Lelant near St. Ives.