The Jews of Cornwall

More about the book

Cornwall was the first of the Celtic regions of Britain and Ireland to be annexed by the English, and so the first to lose its native language. The linguistic and cultural confusion which resulted from the death of Cornish led to unsubstantiated but persistent traditions that Phoenicians, Saracens and Jews had been present in Cornwall from ancient times and that Jews had controlled and operated the tin industry in medieval times. In this substantial and meticulously researched book, the author applies a critical and penetrating analysis to the place of Jews in Cornish folklore, and also distinguishes the Cornish Jews from the indigenous Cornish Gentiles who adopted Hebrew names, but who are not known to have been of Jewish decent.