To celebrate the passing of another St Piran's Day here is some history you were probably not taught in school. Can you add any, let us know via Twitter @thepacket or add a comment at the bottom of the article.

  • Tin was once more valuable than gold and Cornwall was one of the richest kingdoms in the world.
  • Cornwall was once an independent nation. No record exists of any formal annexation of Cornwall to England.
  • The population of Cornwall is now over 550,000
  • Cornwall is visited by an average of 5 million tourists a year
  • The residents of Cornwall pay the highest water rates in Britain (but have the best beaches)
  • The first powered flight was made by a Cornishman, Dick Pearce
  • The first powered road trip was made by a Cornishman, Richard Trevithnick
  • Cornwall has the highest density of second homes in the UK
  • The average house price in Cornwall is £219k
  • Average income in Cornwall is around £20k pa, 25% below the national average
  • During the 1800s 500,000 gallons of brandy were smuggled out of Cornwall every year. That’s 1.370 gallons every day.
  • Cornwall pays £300million more tax into the national coffers than it receives back in services
  • Tourism is worth £1.6billion a year to the Cornish economy
  • The value of the entire fish catching and processing sector in Cornwall is £99,000,000 and provides employment for over 5,000 people
  • Under the Common Fisheries Policy, French fisherman can take nine times more cod from the North Cornwall coast than the Cornish fleet
  • There are Cornish hedges that are estimated to date back to 5,000 BC, 1,500 years before the invention of the wheel
  • In Portscatho 85% of properties are unoccupied most of the year
  • Daphne de Maurier was a member of Mebyon Kernow, the Cornish Political Party
  • The British Postal Service, the first of its kind in the world, was conceived by a man from St Blazey
  • The first transatlantic radio message was sent from Poldhu Cove in Cornwall by Marconi.
  • In 1798 Richard Murdoch of Redruth invented the use of gas for domestic purposes – his house was the first to be lit by gaslight.