Performing Cornishness: the Man Engine Pilgrimage and the ritualesque

Increasingly there is an understanding of the complexities of heritage within UK research, practice and policy. This has contributed to a growing recognition of intangible heritage, however there remains low awareness, and lack of sustained support, for Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). This paper outlines a case study - 'The Man Engine Pilgrimage' a popular performative heritage event in 2016 that celebrated the ten-year anniversary of Cornwall as a WHS, designated 'Outstanding Universal Value'. Central to this heritage performance was a twelve metre tall mechanical puppet, replicating parts of the mining process, which made a pilgrimage across the Cornish landscape, visiting old mining sites as an act of community remembrance, spatial identity and celebration. These events called attention to ways that 'heritage' was used and celebrated through formal and informal processes and practices. The study in particular provided insight into structural changes in official heritage processes in Cornwall that facilitated bridging processes or entry points for 'from-below' voices and intangible heritage. The latter included performing Cornishness, which is explored as the living, sensorial embodied performance of heritage in public. This is a reflexive cultural process, where values and symbolic meanings are seen in action – a 'loose' space. Within this performativity meanings and values are created, negotiated, confirmed or refuted in this process of heritage making.