Page 62: Bird Worshipping Cults of Cornwall

Cornwall is situated in the extreme southwestern corner of England and forms a peninsula that separates the English Channel from the Celtic Sea.

The ancient history of England and Wales is marked by the migration of several tribes following the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the last ice age. The original inhabitants of Cornwall migrated from Bretagne in France and came to be known as Britons. Celts made their way over from Gaul and mixed with the Britons. After the Romans came and went, a wave of immigrant invaders from Europe were invited or forced their way in, including the Germanic Angles and Saxons (of Anglo-Saxon fame).

The cultural and ethnic diversity of England was reflected in a patchwork of kingdoms. These included Northumbria, Mercia, several Anglias, East Saxons (""Essex"), West Saxons ("Wessex"), South Saxons ("Sussex") and the Britons out in Cornwall and Wales. These kingdoms were able to stay largely independent until waves of Danish/Viking invaders started to arrive, forcing consolidation and/or destruction of the independent kingdoms.

The champion of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms turned out to be the West Saxons, or Wessex. Alfred the Great won a series of battles just before 900 AD that solidified Wessex as a kingdom and set the stage for English unification under his progeny.

The West Saxons were the closest to Cornwall, and it has long been assumed that the Britons of Cornwall joined up with the Saxons of Wessex to fight off the Vikings and stayed loyal ever since. However, nobody seems to be able to find the documents to show that the two areas officially united. As a result, there is a bit of an independence movement going on in Cornwall.

From a religious standpoint, Cornwall is the oldest part of England and its cultural heritage is from the oldest inhabitants of the island. Not surprisingly, its religious history is an amazing mix of influences. Old Blood talks about the Cornish Saints and the Sacred Wells, but there is a lot more. Pre-Christian Cornwall worshipped multiple gods and deities and was very naturalistic in its outlook. Christianity arrived fitfully via missionaries from Wales and Ireland starting near 500 AD. Cornwall being somewhat off the beaten path, the Catholic Church did not impose its dogma uniformly, and therefore the ancient religions and Christianity mixed to local tastes. Missionaries built churches, churches begat "church towns" and each one was a little center of beliefs, typically organized around a "Cornish Saint". Churches tended to be founded by points of natural resources, so the deities that guarded wells, bridges, and other important places slotted in neatly along with the highly local Christian bureaucracy. In that way, cultural "fossils" are to be found in Cornwall along with true fossils.

Speaking of fossils, the Cornwall bird cults are as described in Old Blood. Local Cornish people would dig a small pit and place in it the remains of a bird along with other artifacts. It is believed that the pits were ritually dug for the purpose of enhancing fertility. The witchcraft and imagery of the pits is clearly pre-Christian, but is attached to the Christian St. Bride. In that way, it is "classic" Cornish religion -- a tidy mix of old and new religious influences designed to keep all the gods happy.

Here is an article on the archaeology:

http://www.archaeologyonline.org/Site%20-%20Area%20Feather%20Pits.html

And here is one that provides more information on the witchcraft element:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/images/witchcraft1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://islesproject.com/2008/03/12/1640s-the-saveock-water-pits-and-an-ecology-of-magic/&usg=__rUPa5oq1Z-PvWw5xgJPywESV7bw=&h=493&w=300&sz=162&hl=en&start=11&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=erMZeym7rVPmIM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=79&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsaveock,%2Bcornwall,%2Bengland%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1