Bicentennial Celebrations in Cornwall and Mexico

The Bicentennial Celebrations in Cornwall and Mexico: September and October 2024

This year we marked an important milestone: 200 years since the arrival of the first nine Cornishmen to the silver mines of Real del Monte and Pachuca in Mexico. I was closely involved in a series of spectacular functions to mark this anniversary on both sides of the Atlantic. To say that some of these events were the highlight of my 30 years as a Cornish historian, is an understatement.

 

© Dr Sharron P. Schwartz

 

At the beginning of 2024, I got the ball rolling by posting a blog on this website about the remarkable links between Cornwall and the State of Hidalgo in Mexico. As a founder member of the Cornish-Mexican Cultural Society, I wanted to raise awareness of the importance of the bicentenary.

I followed this up with a series of three short films making use of important historical documents, which detailed the remarkable journey of the first nine Cornish mineworkers to set foot in Real del Monte.

On foot of this, I worked with the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site (WHS) to produce three pop-up banners, celebrating Mexico’s links with the Tamar Valley/Tavistock area, West Penwith, and the Central Mining District. These were displayed at The Tavistock Guildhall, Geevor Museum, and King Edward Mine, respectively.

 

 

By now, interest was well and truly piqued, and I had signed myself up for a series of talks in Cornwall to coincide with the town’s September Pasty Festival. I had also committed myself to a return visit to Mexico during Real del Monte’s International Paste Festival in October, where I was also billed to present lectures.

I then worked closely with Ainsley Cocks, the WHS Research and Information Officer, to produce three bespoke banners to take out to Mexico. These covered the beginning of the migration process, the formation and consolidation of the Cornish community, and its decline and renaissance.

I was delighted to kick-start my return home to Cornwall in September, with an interview at Radio Cornwall with Julie Scantlebury. Her own family were involved in Cornwall’s ‘Great Migration’, and she asked some very insightful and interesting questions. The interview was made available online during September.

 

 

I then gave an illustrated lecture to the Redruth Old Cornwall Society (ROCS) at a packed Wesleyan Memorial Hall at Redruth. Although I am a Redruth girl, this was my maiden lecture to the ROCS.

The event was especially poignant, as it was in that very hall that Captain John Penberthy gave his maiden lecture in 1896. He was very much on my mind that evening, for I am currently writing his biography.

Incredibly, I have since discovered that his father was one of the nine intrepid Cornishmen who arrived in Mexico in 1824. Some thirty-five years later, John spent a decade and a half working for the Mexican incarnation of the Real del Monte Company that had employed both his father and his uncle.

Although by no means as good a raconteur as Captain Penberthy — whose maiden lecture with its poetic renderings was said to have ‘brought the house down’ — judging by the applause and smiles I received at the end, I think I gave a good enough account of the history of the Cornish in Real del Monte and Pachuca!

 

 

It was on that evening that I began raising monies for the maintenance and upkeep of the English Cemetery in Real del Monte, the most important burial place of its kind for the Cornish in Latin America. Hundreds of Cornish men, women and children repose there, including my own ancestors, the Trythalls and Vials of Camborne.

This was achieved through the sale of my booklet, Mining a Shared Heritage: Mexico’s ‘Little Cornwall’. It was published in 2011 under the aegis of the Cornish-Mexican Cultural Society with financial assistance from the Cornish Mining WHS. Its aim was to celebrate and commemorate the 2008 twinning of Redruth with Real del Monte, and the signing of the Friendship Agreement between Pachuca and Camborne.

I was humbled by the generosity of the good people of Redruth and District who helped me to raise £135 on the night.

I also took part in a conference organised by Professor Joanie Willett of the Institute of Cornish Studies, University of Exeter, which aimed to explore the significance and cultural importance of Cornwall’s links to Mexico. It felt very odd indeed to return to the Tremough Campus, where, twenty years ago, I was employed as a postdoc in migration studies!

My presentation was a comparative analysis of the only two areas dubbing themselves ‘Little Cornwall’s’ in the world: Moonta in South Australia, and the Real del Monte-Pachuca District. Using a series of photographs drawing on research and field study undertaken in both places, I clearly demonstrated that Mexico’s Little Cornwall is every bit as worthy of the title as is Moonta.

My final contribution was a talk at the Royal Cornwall Museum at Truro, which was live-streamed on the night. This was one of the first lectures to be given in the beautifully refurbished Mineral Gallery, even though proceedings were interrupted by the wailing of a fire alarm just as I was discussing the fall of Emperor Maximilian!

 

 

After vacating the building and waiting until the Fire Brigade arrived and the all clear was given, we resumed my talk. Again, generous donations and book sales on the night swelled the coffer of monies raised for the Cemetery fund.

While In Cornwall, I was delighted to support the work of Redruth Town Council and the Redruth Twinning Association. The latter was set up in 2013 and is ably run by Councillor Deborah Reeves and committee, who had welcomed a delegation from Real del Monte that was over to celebrate Redruth’s Pasty Festival.

The Association and the Town Council organised a wonderful series of events to mark the bicentenary. Chief among these was the spectacular Smoking Chimneys event in the colours of the Mexican flag at Wheal Uny. This was compèred by Britain’s youngest acting Town Crier, Max Morrison, sporting an amazing red ‘story coat’.

 

 

The gala concert organised by the Twinning Association at Redruth Wesleyan Chapel was simply unforgettable. It featured the spinetingling singing of the Mousehole Male Voice Choir, and the truly remarkable Mexican guitarist, Raúl Salvador Ruíz Rangel, who entranced the audience with his skills. Thanks to the Twinning Association, I was able to make additional sales of my booklet on the night in aid of the Cemetery fund.

 

 

Unfortunately, after an Indian summer, the autumn weather threw an almighty spanner in the works, flooding Fore Street, Redruth, during a thunderstorm. Sadly, the town’s annual Pasty Festival had to be cancelled.

But spirits were not dampened, as people decamped to the wonderful Kresen Kernow, which had marked the bicentenary with a series of fantastic behind the scenes tours, at which Mexican records in the archive were on display.

After flying back to Ireland, and spending just over 24 hours in Donegal, we were back at Dublin airport to rendezvous with Ainsley Cocks and to board a flight to Mexico City via Istanbul.

After a few days’ fruitful research at the Archivo Nacional in Mexico City, where I presented a copy of my booklet, Mining a Shared Heritage, on 5 October we headed north to Real del Monte for the opening of the Mina Dolores Mining Museum.

 

 

It was amazing to meet so many of my Mexican friends there, and to witness the remarkable conservation of the site, which contains a well-preserved Cornish-type engine house, and four in-situ boilers dating from 1888, manufactured by Harvey’s of Hayle.

 

 

 

It was extremely gratifying to witness the community support for the museum, now one of four in the area, and to see so many former miners turn out on the day.

Whilst on site, I participated in an interview with Hidalgo’s Secretary of Tourism, Liz Quintanar, on the importance of preserving and celebrating our shared mining heritage.

 

 

Of particular poignancy was the unveiling of the Memorial del Minero Inglés 1824-2024, which has been erected at the entrance to the walled Mina Dolores complex in honour of the bicentenary.

Belem Oviedo Gámez, director of the Historical Archive and Mining Museum for the past 37 years, led this event. A plaque behind the statue contains the names of some (not all, as my future book will reveal) of the immigrant mineworkers employed by the Real del Monte Company in 1824-29.

 

 

After undertaking some field research and filming in the hot and steamy State of Veracruz for my forthcoming movie, which will cover the tragic and epic journey of the Great Trek of the Transport Party (1825-6), we returned to Mexico City.

 

 

I was scheduled to give an illustrated lecture to the British Society at the Cactus Club in the British Embassy.

With supreme British efficiency, the evening went with a tremendous swing. I was moved to see that so many old friends from various Anglo-Mexican families – the Ludlows, Browns, Straffons and Honeys – had turned out in force.

 

 

 

The banners that Ainsley Cocks and I produced in Spanish, with the aid of my friend, Laura Jean Pratt, were unveiled. They elicited much interest. Society members and local businesses provided a delicious spread of authentic Cornish pasties and delectable ice creams in celebration of Cornwall.

 

 

 

At the conclusion of my talk, I handed over a donation of £535 to the Society’s Business Secretary, Thomas Guy Scott, for the maintenance of the English Cemetery in Real del Monte.

 

 

I was astounded and delighted when, after he had thanked me for my talk and provided a token of the Society’s appreciation in the form of a beautifully embroidered cushion, he announced that the Society had match-funded the monies I had collected in Cornwall.

The English Cemetery is therefore the recipient of over £1,000, which will be managed by the British Society Mexico, to be allocated for necessary works when required. This is especially poignant, since members of my own family are interred there.

 

 

This evening was one of the highlights of my academic career. As I retired to the rooftop bar of the nearby Sofitel, where I indulged in a few bottles of delectable Mexican stout, I gazed down on the city lights spread out like glowing gossamer threads for as far as the eye could see.

 

 

I thought of the ‘young, stalwart, self-possessed and sanguine’ John Penberthy, making his way to Pachuca by stagecoach from this very city, having arrived by Packet Steamer at Veracruz over 160 years ago. His arrival came during La Reforma, a period when Mexico was riven end to end with political instability.

Things are not a lot different today, for there are several parts of the country with important mining remains I wished to visit, which are sadly off limits due to instability.

Fortunately, the State of Hidalgo is not affected, and the following day we roughly followed Penberthy’s route back to Pachuca in time for the 16th Paste Festival, due to take place at Real del Monte.

But before the festival started, we had chance to take in scenery on the breath-taking drive to the Real de Zimapán, an important centre of colonial mining activity, where the British re-opened mines in the nineteenth century.

In the nearby Parque Nacional Los Mármoles lie the remains of the nationally important iron works of La Encarnacion, which supplied high quality iron for the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and for the Puente de Tasquillo.

This was the first iron bridge in the Republic. It was constructed over the Tula River in 1880 by a Cornishman, and we crossed it en route to Zimapán.

 

 

That man was Richard Honey, from Wheal Busy near Redruth, who owned La Encarnacion. He was nicknamed the Iron Master of the Republic, as he provided the track for numerous railways, and iron pipes for water and sewerage schemes. President Porfirio Díaz referred to him as Gran Bretaña. His story will feature in my forthcoming book, The Cornish in Mexico.

 

 

Anyone visiting Real del Monte for the Pasty Festival could not have failed to be astounded by the show the town laid on. It was utterly magnificent from beginning to end. Even the weather was picture postcard-perfect!

The opening ceremony on a stage set up in front of the market, was an extravaganza of music and dance, interspersed with numerous welcome speeches.

 

 

High on the hill right opposite the stage was the English Cemetery. I felt that our Cornish ancestors were looking down on the proceedings with great pride.

 

 

Indeed, we decamped to the cemetery for a very moving ceremony of remembrance. Max Morrison led the Redruth visitors in singing the traditional Cornish folk song, The White Rose. Each of us held a symbolic white rose which we deposited on a grave of our choice in the cemetery.

 

 

 

This was followed by the screening of a brilliant film about the history and importance of the pasty to the district, and a splendid dinner showcasing cocina Hidalguense at the Real del Monte Restaurant.

Throughout the festival, the streets were lined with fabulous craft shops and temping delicacies, including champurrado, pulque, chinicuiles and, of course, pastes!

 

 

The town has a bewildering range of shops selling not just the ‘paste typico’ introduced by the Cornish, but ones with more exotic fillings, including moles (spicy sauces), pineapple and even rice pudding.

Proceedings were enlivened by the presence of Martin Near, the Town Crier of the British Society. I bumped into him at the Pasty Museum at Real del Monte. On learning that he has Cornish ancestry, we did an impromptu interview which featured in a podcast.

 

 

Musical entertainment included Mariachi bands and a memorable toe-tapping selection of classic bagpipe tunes with a Mexican twist, performed by the Banda de Gaitas del Batallón de San Patricio.

My contribution to the festival was to participate in a question-and-answer session about my booklet, Mining a Shared Heritage, hosted by my old friend, the journalist, Aída Suárez.

 

 

The banners were once more on display, there was a good turnout of people — many of Cornish descent — and I received a donation of original documents from the Brown family for my forthcoming book.

 

 

The final day of the festival saw the making of a huge pasty which was baked in an enormous oven, before being paraded through the streets to be portioned up and distributed among the cheering onlookers.

 

 

 

After the festival, I headed to Jalapa in the State of Veracruz, and spent a couple more days tracing the route of the 1825-6 transport party back to Real del Monte for my forthcoming film.

 

 

The finale for me was the talk I gave to the Comarca Minera Geopark at the Teatro Hidalgo Bartolomé de Medina in Pachuca, at the invitation of my good friend, Raúl Bustamente.

At the event, Ainsley and I gifted the three banners to members of the Geopark committee for their interpretation centre at Huasca.

 

 

I talked about the significance of the Cornish input to the State of Hidalgo’s mining industry and its culture, the importance of the region’s superlative industrial archaeology, and how it compares favourably with anything elsewhere in the world.

The event drew a large audience, and it proved to be a real gathering of the clans, with many of Cornish descent coming to show their support.

Mrs Hosking of Hosking’s Bakery laid on a magnificent repast of Cornish pasties baked to her family recipe, and a Cornish cream tea. The jam was placed on the scones first, naturally!

 

 

Unbeknownst to me, a musical extravaganza had been organised to provide a suitable close to my visit, in the form of the St Piran’s Pipe and Drum Band. When they entered the theatre playing Trelawney, I was moved to tears.

 

 

The audience was soon on its feet waving their St Piran’s flags, and singing along to our ‘national’ anthem and Harry Glasson’s famous ballad, Cornwall My Home. Wow. Top that!

 

 

For a moment it was possible to believe that I was back in Cornwall. It really struck home how our Mexican cousins are part of our vibrant Cornish Diaspora, and celebrate our shared culture as part of a living heritage.

 

 

Our black and white flag graces the façades of numerous businesses; the humble ‘paste’ is inextricably linked to Cornish immigrants, and is as feted as that other Hidalgo speciality: barbacoa. Even our ancient language is being spoken. The future looks incredibly bright in Mexico’s Little Cornwall.

I did not have time to visit all the places I wanted to during this trip. But I did get to the beautiful Reglas, where the silver ore was smelted, and Mineral del Chico and Capula with my dear friend, Franz Trejo.

 

 

I also had a meeting with Belem Oviedo Gámez at the Real del Monte Archive about future projects; visited the Mina La Dificultad and Mina Acosta Museums; and a few Cornish-run mines in the Pachuca district with another great chum, Zenon Rosas.

 

 

 

Crucially, we went to Mina Moran, where I shot some footage for my forthcoming film. This is where the first steam engine was set to work in 1826, heralding the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the Mineral of Real del Monte. And the rest, as they say, is history…

 

 

All being well, I shall be back in Mexico in May 2025 with my new film to highlight this monumental achievement, in the hope that this will lead into celebrations which will surely be organised for 2026.

The Bicentennial Celebrations in Cornwall and Mexico