> it seems to me there could be two paths by which German myths
>reached Cornwall, apart from contacts dating back four millennia.
>
Why should 'knockers' be a German myth? Earlier in the discussion someone
suggested an early date for such stories and I'd put my money on a common
Celtic heritage being the source of the myths.
As to the influence of 'Germans' or Saxons on British mining mythology, I'm
sure the author is getting mixed up with the influence of Anglo-Saxon
immigration into the British Isles in the early medieval period, long before
the tin deposits in central Europe were discovered. Bohemian tin became
available in the 13th century, Saxon somewhat later, whereas Cornish tin had
been exploited from at least the later Roman occupation, and probably as
early as the Bronze Age - the Saxons had nothing to teach Cornish tinners.
The 'German' contribution to advances in British mining is quite limited.
There have always, since at least the medieval period, been contacts with
central European mining and some diffussion of techniques. However, it was
only in the mining and processing of copper ores that there was a 'German'
domination and that was an economic failure. When the British copper
industry took off in the late 17th century it was on the back of home grown
developments - not a central European in sight.
Peter
______________________________________________
Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599
University of Exeter - School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
(Centre for South Western Historical Studies)
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details.
Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/
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