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Cornwall Business and Occupations: Difference between revisions
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There were many occupations related to mining, such as the production of the pumps, tools, and transport of the extracted ore. The Cornish pumps were exported to other places, and were largely responsible for the demise of the water mills that drained the polders in The Netherlands. Dozens of windmills could be (and were) replaced by one Cornish pump. The mining of copper and tin elsewhere, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, could be done more inexpensively, and led to the collapse of the mining industry in Cornwall in the latter part of the 19th century. This triggered the Cornish Diaspora, where a major part of the population left Cornwall for employment anywhere mines were operating throughout the world. | There were many occupations related to mining, such as the production of the pumps, tools, and transport of the extracted ore. The Cornish pumps were exported to other places, and were largely responsible for the demise of the water mills that drained the polders in The Netherlands. Dozens of windmills could be (and were) replaced by one Cornish pump. The mining of copper and tin elsewhere, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, could be done more inexpensively, and led to the collapse of the mining industry in Cornwall in the latter part of the 19th century. This triggered the Cornish Diaspora, where a major part of the population left Cornwall for employment anywhere mines were operating throughout the world. | ||
The one major source of of mining occupations through the 20th century and | The one major source of of mining occupations through the 20th century and to the present time is the extraction of china clay in the areas near St Austell. This is sent upcountry and also exported to other countries for the production of fine china. There is also at least one slate quarry still operating at Delabole. | ||
Of course, the usual occupations found everywhere, such as farming, teachers, shop keepers, carters, civil servants, clergy, construction, masonry, innkeepers, grocers, dressmakers, butchers, and the idle rich are to found in Cornwall. Away from the coast, the illiterate who were not engaged in other occupations were usually agricultural laborers, eking out a marginal living. The last named will often be identified on a census record as "Ag lab." In the agricultural areas, boys (and sometimes girls) were frequently found living away from home as farm servants, often as young as age 10. The girls are also often found elsewhere as "domestic servants" where they earned their keep with another family. | |||
No detailed explanation is made here concerning the occupations that are generally common to all areas, but emphasis is placed on those of greatest import in Cornwall. | |||