The Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage was adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in 2003. The UK ratified the Convention on 7th March 2024, coming into force three months later.
Intangible cultural heritage is defined as “practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and know-how transmitted from generation to generation within communities.” It includes such things as oral traditions, performing arts, rituals, events, traditional craftsmanship, games and sport, and culinary traditions.
I wrote about the UK’s ratification of the Convention some 18 months ago. At that time, the Government’s initial plan was to “establish a UK inventory of intangible cultural heritage,” which would be done by “representatives of the four UK nations and any of the Crown Dependencies or overseas territories which choose to participate.” It proposed “approval panels for each of the four UK nations” to decide whether to include an item on the inventory.
Obviously, I responded to the DCMS consultation and set out my disappointment that the UK Government, in its approach to the treaty, was not seeking to treat Cornwall as a national entity. I made the case that, given the national minority status of the Cornish, there should be a “national panel” or “approval panel” for us as well. Cornwall Council did the same.
More recently, the UK Government has announced that communities would soon be able to nominate elements of living heritage into “official inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland,” which would be created by the Government together with the devolved administrations.
Cornwall gets no mention, but I suppose that we shouldn’t be surprised that central government has ignored our representations. It is nonetheless important that we engage with all discussions about intangible heritage as I take the view that this is especially important for communities to the west of the Tamar.
As an employee of the Cornwall Heritage Trust, I spent last Saturday at their Awenek festival at Enys Gardens. It was a fantastic occasion which really showcased so much of what is special about Cornwall’s national identity and culture, which we must do our utmost to safeguard and protect.
In relation to the UK Inventory, I am also pleased that Cornwall Council is carrying out a survey to find out what people think is important about the traditions of Cornwall.
The survey can be accessed via the unitary authority’s Let’s Talk Cornwall portal. Why not have a look and have your say?
Article published in the Cornish Guardian (17th September 2025) and the West Briton (18th September 2025).