The Tale of Three Statues On Heritage Sites!

News from Kernow Matters To Us:

Here is the tale of three statues.

One is situated in Llandovery, Cymru and is set next to the castle there which is managed by the Welsh Heritage Agency, CADW. It depicts a real historical figure, Prince Llewellyn the Great who was probably the last true Prince of Wales before the English at the time forcibly occupied Wales. Llewellyn was a real Welsh hero. The statue looks rather elegant and sits alongside the castle mound not interfering with the archaeology of the site.

Next, we see what is fast becoming known as the 'Raggedy Man' - a cobbled up mess, attached directly to the archaeological structure of Tintagel Castle in Kernow and covertly helicoptered in by the now charity 'English Heritage' which administers the castle on behalf of the Duke of Cornwall, Charles Windsor. The object, which may possibly be a plagiarism of the one in Wales, is said to represent King Arthur, a mythical figure, casting aside generations of real Cornish Kings and a Cornish Royal lineage in favour of a top down, Disney theme park exploitation of a mythical figure in an attempt by 'English Heritage' to part the gullible tourists from their pounds.

Finally, let us travel to the far west of Cornwall, to Geevor Mine, part of the UNESCO World Heritage estate administered by local Cornish folks, many of them retired miners who work together as a local charity. (http://www.geevor.com/index.php?page=12 )

Here, a shortly to be finished statue stands proudly at the mine's entrance.

The sculptor at Geevor is Colin Caffell of Lamorna, who worked on the statue down in the mill at Geevor for a couple of years.

The physique was modelled on a real Geevor miner, Dave Harvey of Mousehole, who was later a guide at the site, and the face is a composite of several former Geevor miners.

The difference between this statue and Tintagel's 'Raggedy Man' is that the sculptor's truly local. It is sited at the site entrance and not on any historically sensitive part of the site. It is entirely relevant to the site's history and real local miners were used as models.

Now, compare what 'English Heritage' have imposed on one of our ancient and near sacred sites to what the people of Wales will proudly tolerate as a representation of a brave and real Welsh Warrior Prince to what a Cornish run charity with Cornish miners and artists have erected.

We think it's time for 'English Heritage' to be cast lock, stock and barrel from Cornwall and for the ever powerful Charles Windsor, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Wales etc. to find Cornish people to run his historical sites and to stop dictating down to us their corrupted version of our history.

We send this message to 'English Heritage' and indeed to Duke Charles, 'It's our bloody heritage, not yours!'

(Please share this including to some of Cornish folks who are in awe of the English Establishment and who have lost their pride - we called them the 'cream tea' or the 'plastic' Cornish!)