Knocker, the warner in the tin mines of Cornwall

The Knocker is a spirit of the Celtic tradition of Cornwall.

Its knocking warns of collapses and points to rich ore. The Knocker served as a warner in the tin mines of Cornwall, its sounds signalling danger below.

SpiritCeltic

Knocker

The Knocker, also called Tommyknocker or Bucca, is the knocking spirit of the tin and copper mines of Cornwall and Devon. Its knocking warns of collapses or indicates ore-rich veins; it usually remains invisible and is only heard.

Cornish miners, known as Cousin Jacks, carried this belief to America from the 1820s onwards, where the beings are called Tommyknockers. The Knocker is not warded off but appeased: with the last corner of the pastie and with good behaviour underground.

At a glance: Knocker

Type: Knocking spirit of the tin and copper mines
Origin: mining folklore of Cornwall and Devon
Texts: Hunt, Popular Romances; Briggs, Dictionary of Fairies
Period: documented from the 19th century
Appearance: small figure in miniature miner’s garb, usually only audible

Context of tradition

Period of the Texts

The Knocker belongs to mining folklore and is documented from the 19th century onwards; the classic collections come from Robert Hunt and Katharine Briggs.

Area of Diffusion

Cornwall and Devon, as well as the Cornish diaspora in the USA: from the 1820s onwards, emigrants carried the belief to Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada and California.

Sources

The source material is good: Robert Hunt documented the Cornish tradition in 1865, and Katharine Briggs classifies it lexicographically.

Name and variants

English/Cornish: knocker, dialectally knacker, comes from the knocking on mine walls, understood partly as an onomatopoeic term for the phenomenon and partly as an acting being. The alternative name Bucca is Cornish and corresponds to the Welsh Bwca, a goblin or spirit being.

Form and knocking signals

Appearance

The Knocker is a small figure of about sixty centimetres, with a large head, long arms, wrinkled skin and white whiskers, dressed in miniature miner’s garb. It is usually invisible and present only through sound.

Effect

Its knocking warns of collapses, in reality the cracking of rock and pit timber before giving way, and points to ore-rich veins. As a small mischief, it drives the theft of tools and food.

Profile: Knocker

The key aspects of the Cornish knocking spirit at a glance.

Cultural Context

Knocking spirit of the tin and copper mines of Cornwall and Devon, carried by emigrants into US mining folklore as the Tommyknocker.

Responsible for

Miners underground: the Knocker warns of collapses and points to ore-rich veins, but demands respect in return.

Depiction

About sixty centimetres tall, with a large head, long arms, wrinkled skin and white whiskers, dressed in miniature mining gear; usually only heard.

Function

Warning of collapses and pointing to ore; alongside minor mischief such as stealing tools and food.

Dealing with it

Appeasement rather than warding off: the last corner of the pasty for the mine, plus the taboo against cursing or whistling underground.

Parallels

The Welsh Coblynau as direct relatives, the German Kobold, the Brownie and the Bergmönch.

From the Cornish mine to the Tommyknocker

The name Knocker, dialectally knacker, comes from the knocking on mine walls, sometimes understood as onomatopoeic for the phenomenon, sometimes as an acting being. The alternative name Bucca is Cornish and corresponds to the Welsh Bwca, a Kobold- or spirit-like being.

From the 1820s onwards, Cornish miners carried this belief to the American mining regions of Pennsylvania, Colorado, Nevada and California, where the beings are called Tommyknockers; the migrants themselves were called Cousin Jacks. Thus a spirit of the Cornish tin mines became a figure of American mining folklore, faithfully tracing the path of those who carried it.

Reception between Cornwall and America

Stephen King’s 1987 novel The Tommyknockers popularised the name, without folkloristic fidelity. The Knocker is also present in US mining folklore and in Cornish cultural tourism.

From a religious-studies perspective, the Knocker is generally benign and warning; danger arises only from disregard and the loss of its favour. One clarification is important: the interpretation that Knockers are spirits of Jewish miners from the 11th or 12th century is a folk legend, not evidence of actual Jewish mining work in Cornwall, and should be reported only as a motif.

Appeasement rather than warding off

No banishing formula helps against the Knocker, for it is not warded off but appeased: the last corner of the pasty was thrown into the mine. Cursing and whistling underground were taboo, as they angered the Knockers; however, whether this whistling taboo relates specifically to Knockers or is a more general mining superstition remains uncertain.

Coblynau, Brownie and Bergmönch

The Knocker stands alongside the Welsh Coblynau, to which it is directly related, the German Kobold and the Scottish Brownie, as well as knocking spirits in general. In German mining, its counterpart is the Bergmönch as a giant type: the same mining world, but a wholly different scale.

Frequently asked questions about the Knocker

What is a Knocker?

The knocking spirit of the Cornish tin mines, whose knocking warns of collapses and points to ore.

What is a Tommyknocker?

The Knocker within the Cornish diaspora in the USA, brought there by the Cousin Jacks.

How is it appeased?

By giving it the last corner of the pasty in the mine and by not cursing or whistling underground.

Further links

Literature (selection)

Further standard works in the bibliography.

As a Cornish mine spirit and knocking spirit of the tin mines, the Knocker combines warning and goodwill: whoever leaves it the last corner of the pasty has an ally underground.