He used to say that the reason he never left Cornwall was because
"There be devils over the Tamar"
Was wand'ring up and down
To see what mischief he could brew,
And made for Launceston-town.
For 'tis fish and tin and copper, boys,
And Tre and Pol and Pen,
And one and all we may rejoice
That we are Cornishmen.
Across the Tamar he had come,
Though you might think it strange,
And having left his Devon home
Tried Cornwall for a change.
Now when to Launceston he grew near,
A-skipping o'er the sod,
He spied a rustic cottage there
With windows all abroad.
And in the kitchen might be seen
A dame with knife in hand,
Who cut and slashed and chopped, I ween
To make a pasty grand.
"Good Mornin', Missus, what is that?"
"Of all sorts, is a daub.
'Tis beef and mutton, pork and fat,
Potatoes, leeks, and squab."
"A Cornish pasty, sure", says she,
"And if thou doesn't mind,
I soon shall start to cut up thee
And put ye in, you'll find!"
In fear he turned and straight did flee
Across the Tamar green
And since that day in Cornwall
He has never more been seen!
Another interesting story, is about the Cornish/Devon cream tea.
Cream teas can be found up and down the length of England eagerly wolfed down by thousands of tourists during their summer holidays or on a day out in the country, but the bone of contention in the West Country is whether the jam should be placed before the cream.
Firstly, the way they do things in Devon is to serve the cream topped by the jam on a scone and in Cornwall its the jam topped by the cream served on a Cornish Split a traditional sweet bread roll where, thank goodness, there are no horrid currants.
Now, it has been noted that clotted cream is a delicacy that is made throughout the Middle East, Southern Europe and as far as India and Turkey. Well I don't care about that or the fact that its earliest historical roots are with the monks of Tavistock Abby (that's in Devon I have to point out) were munching their way through cream teas in the 11th century and even way before William the Conqueror was packing his bags!
Well, I'm not going to beat around the bush here because well, I am from Cornwall and therefore I say that its jam first then the cream, there's no doubt about that and even if I do appear to be childish I've just got to repeat what I've heard recently:
"The Devon stuffs a bit gritty and anyway we've got better cows" So there!!!