A PASTY programme has got it wrong about the earliest printed reference to the native Cornish dish, says an expert contributor to the Cornish Times.

Geologist Calum Beeson got in touch after watching ‘Gregg Wallace’s Inside the Factory’ about Cornish Pasties.

A food history researcher interviewed for the programme made the claim that the oldest reference to a Cornish Pasty in print was in the Leeds Times of 1861.

Calum says: ‘As a member of staff at the world famous Camborne School of Mines, I couldn’t let it stand that the oldest reference to our beloved Cornish pasty came from a Leeds newspaper. Looking through older mining texts from the area I have been able to push back the first reference of the pasty by nearly 100 years.

‘In 1778 William Pryce from Redruth published his “Mineralogia Cornubiensis,” possibly the oldest textbook covering everything related to mining in Cornwall. At the back of the book a mention of the Cornish Pasty is made in a list of “Terms and Idioms of Tinners”.

This reads – HOGGAN. In Cornish signifies a Hawthornberry; also, any thing mean or vile: but here it means a Pork Pasty; and now indeed any Tinner’s pasty that he carries to Bal with him, is called a Hoggan. (Calum adds – A tinner refers to all Cornish miners, rather than specifically a tin miner, and Bal means a Cornish mine).

‘William Pryce’s text shows not only that the Cornish pasty goes back before 1778 but also that a new word was appearing for the pasty. It is thought that over time Hoggan became Hoggy and then shortened to Oggy and hence the origin of the local term for a pasty, oggy.’

The ‘Mineralogia Cornubiensis’ is an amazing insight into mines and mining in Cornwall in the 18th century and mentions subjects such as geology, ventilation, assaying, smelting, exploration, surveying, mineral processing, management, and pumping.

It also reveals the dangers of mining, especially the lack of scientific and medical understanding at the time, leading to a lot of superstition. One interesting cure, which is for carbon dioxide poisoning, reads “… the ordinary remedy is to dig a hole in the earth, and lay the miners on their bellies, with their mouths in it; if that fails, supply them with large quantities of good ale; and if that miscarries, their case is considered desperate”.