Cornish women performed work requiring strength and practical skill. Fishing households involved gutting fish quickly, handling knives, and mending nets. Women working at mine surfaces sorted material and helped prepare the tin-bearing output, while another group handled arsenic. Residual contamination in a former arsenic sorting house is said to explain restrictions on touching its walls. Farmers' wives form the other occupational group in the anecdote. The alleged Napoleon remark supplies a humorous invasion story and remains an unverified quotation.
Notable Point · 50:13-51:33
Women's work in Cornish fishing and mining
Cornish fishing, mining, and farming households depended on demanding work performed by women.