William Scawen
and his manuscript
The document
 You have some extracts from
William Scawen’s manuscript, called
Antiquities Cornubrittanic.
 He has beautiful handwriting: can
you read any of it?
 He added extra bits in when he got
older. Can you spot the difference in
his writing?
Document F/2/39
 Preserving the Cornish language
meant a lot to William Scawen.
 The language had already declined
and he was worried it would die out
so he copied a Cornish poem into
this manuscript, and then wrote lots
of background information to it.
The Film
 Watch the film about William Scawen and
answer the following questions.
1) Where is the document kept now?
2) How old is the document?
3) Where did William Scawen live?
4) What is the document about?
5) Why did he write it?
6) Why couldn’t Scawen speak Cornish?
7) Why is Scawen important?
8) What would you
preserve?