The Duchy of Cornwall

The document was prepared in 1975 as a thesis for RIBA examinations. It describes the construction phase of Dartmoor Prison (1805) and the work of the architect Daniel Asher Alexander (1768 - 1846). The prison design was prepared during a phase of social concern for the conditions prisoners were kept in at the time. It was not designed as a normal prison - rather it was prepared for prisoners of war, firstly French, and then American. Only in the 1840's was it adapted to normal prison use.
As the document was prepared on a typewriter, and before the internet, it was not possible to prepare links to other works.
Most of the drawings were prepared by myself from copies of original elements held in the relevant archives and libraries.

This document includes a series of sources relating to the life of Nellie Sloggett (aka Enys Tregarthen, and aka Nellie Cornwall). Nellie (1850-1923) was a successful late Victorian children's writer who also wrote a series of folklore tales, mainly about the North Cornish coast.  She was known, in Padstow, her home town, as 'the little cripple' because she had been paralysed in early life.

This paper looks at how the New Woman is situated in Cornish Gothic fiction in the nineteenth century, using the specific example of 'The Phantom Hare', a short story published by an author known only as M. H. in The Argosy pulp fiction magazine in 1897, under the editorship of Mrs. Henry Wood. In looking at the way the Gothic story draws upon Cornish folklore, brought under popular scrutiny by the Victorian antiquarian revival, the tension between past and present is illuminated, and is emblematic of the tensions surrounding woman's progress in the period.

Southern History is a peer reviewed academic year book published by the Southern History Society covering the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Gloucester, Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Oxford, Buckingham, Berkshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It contains articles and reviews. Prospective authors are requested to email the editor (aspicer@brookes.ac.uk) for copies of Notes for Contributors. Outlines of proposed submissions are welcome and articles should be submitted in electronic form.

This short collection includes 18 of Enys Tregarthen's 42 short stories. These 18 are those that could be said to be the most interesting to folklorists, particularly those interested in Cornish lore. They were either demonstrably collected by the author or resemble other south-western tales and so might we might assume that they were collected. Enys Tregarthen was the pen-name of Padstow writer Nellie Sloggett.

Surveying historiographical, methodological and conceptual contexts (as well as the advantages and disadvantages) of county and regional studies, this survey considers these principles and approaches in relation to the study of south-western England (Somerset, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall) as a region.

This survey of the Duchy of Cornwall’s landed and marine interests in South-West England (from Cornwall to Somerset) considers the relevance of office-holding in royal patronage policies (from Henry VI to Henry VII), and questions whether consolidation of such power – in the hands of royal favourites (such as regional governors) – might promote, rather than prevent, political instability.

The Homeric Island of Tenedos (Tanatus) will be identified with The Isle of Thanet (Tanatus) and appears to be the first destination of Odysseus' second voyage after his visit to Kirke, where he had to pass the first initiation test of continence with the Seirenes, also called Tenitae.

A magnate, as a monarch in miniature, was required to ensure that rule of his ‘country’ conformed to certain established conventions. Understanding these constraints leads onto wider consideration of the nature of bastard feudal (patron-broker-client) ties, and the importance of royal patronage in influencing local patterns of governance and magnates’ spheres of influence.

Consideration of the Duchy of Cornwall’s role in south-western England – and its wider importance in terms of royal patronage – is a precursor to examining the careers and connections of some of those individuals involved in Duchy of Cornwall administration from the 1450s onwards, such as the royal household servants John Trevelyan and Avery Cornburgh (d.1487).

From its creation in 1337, the Duchy of Cornwall enjoyed certain singular regalities in Cornwall and Devon, and its landholding extended throughout the realm (but was particularly concentrated in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset).

◈ 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞
The royal and political influence of the Duchy therefore radiated throughout these peripheral south-western shires, making its senior officers important foci for the region. Hence this paper – using Duchy of Cornwall, and other, archives – examines the most influential of these figures during the later fifteenth century.

◈ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬
The endowment of Humphrey, Lord Stafford of Southwick, later Earl of Devon (d.1469) with significant Duchy offices during the 1460s ensured that he became the crown’s chief agent in the south-west region (which is of broader significance because of Edward IV’s wider ‘regional policy’).

Following discussion of Lord Stafford, there is consideration of how, during the 1470s, John Stafford, Earl of Wiltshire (d.1473) was briefly entrusted with local influence before the ascendancy of the king’s stepson, Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset (d.1501); and also consideration of Richard III’s use of John, Lord Dinham (d.1501), and Henry VII’s use of Robert, Lord Willoughby de Broke (d.1502) as Duchy officers.

◈ 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Comparison of these kings’ attitudes to Duchy administration enables greater evaluation of their local and regional policies, and therefore facilitates greater appreciation of changing polity-locality relations.

Identification of Thrinakia as Cornwall, with St. Michael's Mount as the rocky Skulla and the coast as Charudbis. Lake Loe and Helston are the residence of the Furry's or Erinues who watch over Helios'cattle, i.e. ingots of tin and other metals.

This survey of the career and interests of Humphrey, Lord Stafford of Southwick, later Earl of Devon (d.1469) discusses his associations amongst the political elites of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset before exploring their – and wider royal household – involvement in local political societies (as sheriffs, knights of the shire and burgesses (MPs), and JPs), and the wider implications of both in terms of ‘regional’ and ‘household’ governance.

Consideration of the historiographical and methodological contexts of south-western England during the Wars of the Roses leads onto an examination of local politics and governance during the later years of Henry VI’s reign (1450–61), and the potential role of Queen Margaret’s favourite James Butler, Earl of Ormond and Wiltshire (d.1461).

Discussion of the family, career, and landholdings of Humphrey, Lord Stafford of Southwick, later Earl of Devon (d.1469) is a precursor to an exploration of his associations with leading figures in Somerset and Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall, their involvement in shire administration, and – after Stafford’s execution – the possible role of George, Duke of Clarence (d.1478) in the South West during the 1470s is also examined.

Patronage was one of the most important tools in medieval politics and governance: one of the pools of patronage from which the king could grant rewards was the Duchy of Cornwall (the landed estate inherited by the monarch's eldest son).

◈ 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞
The governance of the Duchy was a microcosm of the governance of the realm: Edward IV’s generous distribution of offices to his favourites contrasts with Richard III’s rather too conservative policy.

◈ 𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩
Edward appears to have established Humphrey, Lord Stafford of Southwick, later Earl of Devon (d.1469) as regional governor in South-West England, and marginalised long-serving administrators in preference for Woodville associates. Richard restored these excluded administrators and used Duchy patronage to gather support but, ultimately, Richard’s patronage policy may have encouraged his supporters either to desert, or to fail to defend, his kingship.

Is the Duchy of Cornwall free to break the law without criminal sanction? With a diversion into mysterious Crown Roads or what happens if the Duchy causes a nuclear explosion.

Please do not reproduce without my permission. I assert my copyright

A friend, who is a best selling author, and I are writing a book title as above. It seeks to bring together my researches into the history of Cornwall and its legal position and examines the legal position of the Duchy of Cornwall. It is written as a lawyer, the first time this has been done for over 200 years I think. I would appreciate the views of others including what demand you might think there would be for such a book

Presented at the SWW DTP STEAM WIP conference at the University of Bristol, January 2017.

Research into the Victorian period has recently taken a turn towards mobilities, or the significance of movement, motion, and transport throughout the period, particularly in relation to social mobility and industrial economies. Charlotte Mathieson's work looks at the complicated relationship between advancements in transportation technologies and notions of nationhood and empire. Mathieson proposes that Victorian novels preoccupied with transportation "demonstrate a deep-seated engagement with the state of the nation, in an era in which imperialism and the globalising effects of capitalist modernity were reforming the idea of national identity. Underpinning these ideological questions was an accompanying preoccupation with the space of the nation: what the nation-place is, and where it is located within an expanding world order" (Mobility in the Victorian Novel, 2015). This paper will focus on the significance of transportation, mobility, and movement in Cornwall in response to the building of the Royal Albert Bridge in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Cornwall was one of the last counties to be connected to the rail network, towards the end of the railroad boom, and as such its culture of construction and reception was radically different from those which preceded it. Mathieson's work notably overlooks Cornwall's place in the Victorian transport revolution, and furthermore, ignores the significance of barbaric, monstrous, or terrifying travel in Gothic novels of this period. This paper will establish the significance of Cornwall and Cornish transport in the popular imagination in the nineteenth century through analysis of the representation of travel into and out of the county in Gothic novels, and in doing so, will locate Cornwall as a site of projection for larger anxieties surrounding the dissolution of identity in a transport age.