The Romany or Gypsy community is (only), by comparison, almost homogenous, it is culturally and familiarly interconnected, it shares an ancient common language. A language having its roots in ancient Hindi from the Asian Sub-Continent. Though ‘immigrant’ in origin the community is long established here in the rural south west of England (500+ years). A mark of this connection is perhaps the opinion within the Gypsy community about Cornwall which is that “the Cornish are very accommodating” – (having many official Gypsy sites and temporary stopping places). Historically many Gypsies pursued seasonal and agricultural sources of income in the region. This linked them with the farming, fishing and mining Celts of Cornwall who have long had need of Gypsy knowledge, skills and labour ‘in the season’. They in addition, perhaps, share a sense of otherness and oppression with them (in respect to the English). The Cornish after all were trading with the Phoenicians thousands of years ago which does suggest a positive attitude to other cultures.
Plymouth (historically an English naval/military garrison town which is currently populated by around 240,000 people or 140,000 dwellings) by contrast hadn’t suffered one official Gypsy pitch for nearly thirty years until 2001. Around thirty years before, after evicting the Gypsy community from (and closing) the only official Gypsy site within the city boundaries, the city burgers probably breathed a collective sigh of relief when the National Trust didn’t notice the displaced travelling community settle on a narrow strip of unused land along a defunct access road to Chelson Meadow Rubbish Tip inside the city boundary. In 2000 the Trust decided to aggressively evict them. The existance of the so called Criminal Justice Act, and the fact that the statutory duty for Local Authorities to provide Gypsy sites had been abolished, meant that they faced (in their words): ‘ethnic cleansing’ from Devon and Cornwall where there is no spare capacity on official sites and little inclination to build, or even to allow the community itself to develop, new sites. The community had no choice but to take matters into their own hands and force the issue by moving onto council owned land on the other side of the Chelson site. Eventually Plymouth City Council decided to provide 13 permanent pitches (representing 0.00928% of the cities dwellings). The city still has no official temporary stopping places.
Written by a gorgio with editorial assistance from the travelling people: love and thanks to Sue (may she rest in peace – you are always remembered) and Happy (long may he make us laugh).
For more about Gypsy history see :- The Pariah Syndrome: An account of Gypsy slavery and persecution
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/pariah-contents.htm
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