Bounded by heritage and the Tamar: Cornwall as ‘almost an island’

Abstract

This article considers the manner in which the English county of Cornwall has been imagined and represented as an island in various contemporary contexts, drawing on the particular geographical insularity of the peninsular county and distinct aspects of its cultural heritage. It outlines the manner in which this rhetorical islandness has been deployed for tourism promotion and political purposes, discusses the value of such imagination for agencies promoting Cornwall as a distinct entity and deploys these discussions to a consideration of ‘almostislandness’ within the framework of an expanded Island Studies field.