Historic county of England
Cornwall
Kernow
Atlantic cliffs north, deep creeks south, granite running through the peninsula.
Cornwall forms the great south-western peninsula of Britain, surrounded by sea to north, west and south and separated from Devon by a landward frontier formed almost entirely by the Tamar system. Its shape gives the county an exceptional geographical unity: wherever one travels, the Atlantic, the Channel or the long westward spine of the peninsula is never conceptually far away.
The two coasts are markedly different. The north faces Atlantic weather across cliffs, headlands and broad beaches; the south is more deeply indented, with tidal creeks and sheltered estuaries reaching inland towards towns and ports such as Falmouth. Between them lies a broken granite backbone of moor, heath and mineral country, running through Bodmin Moor towards the far west. Cornwall’s landscape, industry and cultural identity all grow from this peninsula geography.
- Land of the Cornovii
- Separate kingdom until the 9th century
- Became a shire c.890s
- Area: 1,365 sq miles / 3,535 km²
- Population: 533,594
- County top: Brown Willy 1,378 ft / 420 m
County geography
Current Census
Contemporary Census profile
England and Wales Census 2021. Detailed contemporary statistics are available in the Geographic County Census Explorer.
- Population density
- 417.6 people per sq mi (161.2 people per km²)
- Population
- 571,897
Two very different coasts
Cornwall’s north coast is the more exposed face of the county: cliffs, headlands and open bays meet the Atlantic directly. The south coast is more sheltered and intricate, cut by drowned river valleys and long tidal creeks.
Those creeks created natural harbours and maritime settlements, while the rougher north developed around fishing coves, estuaries and exposed coastal routes. Cornwall is maritime on both sides, but in two strikingly different ways.
Granite, tin and clay
The interior is structured by a chain of granite uplands, most dramatically Bodmin Moor. Mineralisation around these granite masses helped create the tin and copper districts that became inseparable from Cornwall’s landscape and identity.
Around St Austell, altered granite also produced the great china-clay deposits whose workings created another distinctive industrial landscape. Moorland, engine houses and clay country all reveal the geology beneath the peninsula.
Kernow
Cornwall is not distinctive only because of its scenery. Its Cornish name, Kernow, and the continuing use and revival of the Cornish language express a cultural identity with roots much deeper than later administrative arrangements. The English and Cornish names describe the same enduring county.
County questions
Questions about Cornwall
Is the Duchy of Cornwall the same thing as Cornwall?
No. Cornwall is the geographic county. The Duchy of Cornwall is a separate territorial and institutional estate whose holdings are not the boundary of the county.
Is Kernow a different place from Cornwall?
No. Kernow is the Cornish-language name for Cornwall.
County record
Names and continuity
- Formal name
- County of Cornwall
- Local name
- Kernow
- County day
- 5 March
- Foundation
- 9th century
Cornwall and County of Cornwall are established forms of the county name; Kernow is its Cornish form. The county’s unusually clear peninsula geography has helped sustain an equally strong territorial identity.