Cornwall is very much part of the Celtic fringe that surrounds Saxon England - indeed the very name of the county seems to derive from the Anglo Saxon for the Welsh of the West: Cornovii and Wealas.

With its position as a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by the sea, Cornwall has always been perfectly placed for trade, and it has been a centre for trade for thousands of years, for trade and for culture and ideas, for the three always come together.

Unfortunately the other thing that comes with trade is invasion. From the Romans to the Spanish, with the Vikings and the Saxons in between, some of the most enduring signs of Cornwall's history are the Iron and Bronze Age forts that rings its coastline. Although some of the invaders have left their mark too, like the Norman castle of Tintagel, built on the remains of a Dark Age fortresss, and the legendary birthplace of King Arthur.

In fact Cornwall also has the greatest concentration of prehistoric monolithic monuments in the whole of the British Isles.

In 1497 a Cornish army raised in rebellion against excessive taxes managed to reach Blackheath in London, but were then quickly quashed by the forces of Henry VII.

Cornwall then got its own back during the Civil War. Supporting the King, Cornish soldiers seized Plymouth, Taunton and even Bristol - for which they were thanked by King Charles in a Royal decree posted in every parish church.

The real Cornish invasion, however, must surely come in the form of men like Richard Trevithick, Humphrey Davy, Goldworthy Gurney and others, the men who gave the world everything from the railway engine to the safety lamp, building the British Industrial Revolution.