| Oliver's Cornwall |
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| In a county with so strong a maritime and industrial heritage, the sea and the mines are well represented. Major maritime museum is the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth; another is in the small former china clay port of Charlestown. Whilst I describe only a few industrial museums, there are many other tin and copper mining sites with easy access - and I have included some of these. Other museums include the important Royal Cornwall in Truro and several about modern communications. Important artistic colonies in St. Ives and Newlyn have given rise to major galleries and to artists' and craftworkers' studios and galleries in St. Just, St. Agnes and elsewhere. |
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CORNWALL REVIEWS INDEX and SITE CONTENTS
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National Maritime Museum Cornwall
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Hot 2003 museum news was the opening of Cornwall's brand new National Maritime Museum in Falmouth. Until 2002 a small maritime museum was oddly tucked up an alleyway on the landward side of Market Street. But now it has moved, to become part of a brand new major Maritime Museum, on the waterfront by the docks. By 2004 it had settled in well. No local museum this, however, rather the most comprehensive small-boat maritime museum in Britain, housing the national collection from Greenwich. In a vast but handsome oak-clad modern building, not unlike a ship-building shed with a lighthouse tower on the end, the National Maritime Museum Cornwall Charitable Trust has assembled a most impressive collection of small boats and of technological and inter-active displays. Here are not just the artefacts but the complete maritime story in a dozen purpose-built galleries. The two most striking features come at the beginning of your visit. After enjoying a superb showcase of scale models, you find yourself on a ramp leading past the screens of a vast audio-visual theatre telling the story of the sea – with impressive lighting and sound effects. Then, as you continue up, you find yourself alongside the ‘Flotilla’, a comprehensive small-boat collection spanning 150 years and including racing dinghies, record breakers, working boats, fishing vessels, canoes, punts, rafts and coracles. Simple interactive displays offer more information. A gallery is home to works by the Royal Society of Marine Artists and to an exhibition on the packet boats that sailed from Falmouth. At the top of the tower - reached by stairs or elevator - is a viewing gallery with telescopes and local displays. In the basement you are underwater with related displays. At ground level you will find a 'pilchard cellar' from the original Falmouth museum , a sail loft, a working boatyard where craftsmen are busy on restorations - and even a pool where children (of all ages) can try their model sailing skills. |
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April 2007 - Revisit - 'Flotilla' revamped with new and better inter-active displays |
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Charlestown may well be familiar from such movies as ‘The Eagle has Landed’, ‘Poldark’, ‘The Onedin Line’ and ‘Charles Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle’. The harbour and picturesque village were the work of engineer John Smeaton - who built the pier at St. Ives, several canals and the famous lighthouse on Eddystone Rocks, now replaced and standing on Plymouth Hoe. He built Charlestown in 1801 for local industrialist Charles Rashleigh, mainly to export the china clay from the hills above St. Austell. China clay is no longer exported from here and now the harbour is owned by a company called Square Sail who provide ships of all periods for movie-making; their small boatyards operate on the western side of the harbour and a couple of their tall ships are usually moored by the quay. Unusually the harbour has a sea-lock keeping it in constant water. Beech trees line the approach to the village; colourful Georgian cottages line the harbour and fetch premium prices. A Shipwreck Exhibition has a vast collection of shipwreck artefacts and displays on diving and ocean liners. There are a couple of pubs; the Rashleigh Arms, on Fore Street above the harbour, is preferred. A restaurant, in a former boathouse, is open all day and serves good local produce. Charlestown gets busy, so you would do best to avoid school holidays. |
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Charlestown is signed from the A390 in St. Austell |
Industrial History and Museums
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Cornwall has an
incredibly rich industrial history. Tin and copper were mined from
the bronze age right through the to the end of the twentieth century.
Gold, silver, lead, arsenic and tungsten were found, too. Mining
gave birth to a major engineering industry which included inventors like
Richard Tevithick and engineering companies like the Cornish Copper Company
and Harveys Foundry - both of Hayle. Harveys built beam engines,
locomotives and even ocean-going ships. The remains of the mining
industry can best be seen in West Penwith, near St. Agnes, in Pool and
on south-east Bodmin Moor. China clay was discovered in 1746 by William
Cookworthy. The industry is Cornwall's largest; its museum
is at Wheal Martyn.
In the 19th and 20th centuries Cornwall again led, this time in modern communications. Cables linking Britain with the empire were laid from Porthcurno, where you can visit a museum in original buildings. Marconi made his first radio transmission from Bass Point on the Lizard and his first transatlantic transmission from Poldhu Point; both have small museums. The first satellite signals were sent to the USA from Goonhilly Earth Station on the Lizard; visitor centre here too. |
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UNESCO World Heritage Status for Cornwall and West Devon Mines
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In 2006 many of the mining areas of Cornwall and West Devon were granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO. As a result many projects have been completed to conserve - and improve public access to - what are considered to be the most important 'heritage' sites from the period 1700 to 1914. Ten areas selected for their mine sites, landscapes, towns and villages, include St. Just in Penwith, areas around Helston, Camborne, Redruth, St. Agnes, Luxulyan, Caradon and Devon Great Consols in the Tamar Valley around Tavistock. Also included are the ports of Hayle and Charlestown and historic Perran Foundry between Truro and Falmouth. As part of the improvement of access to these sites, Cornwall Council has created new Mining Trails to add to the previous Coast to Coast and Great Flat Lode trails. The new trails were finished in 2010 and include a Tehidy Trail, a Portreath Branchline Trail, a Redruth and Chacewater Railway Trail and a short Tresavean Trail to the south of Lanner. During 2006 and 2007 I explored what I could of the new routes. In 2010 I walked all the Mining Trails (formerly Mineral Tramways) in full. My detailed reports on them appear on my Trails pages. |
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Cornish Mining - and Links to Mining Heritage and trails reports |
Mining Heritage - links to Mining Trails & Mine Sites and Museums
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In 2010 I re-walked
all the Mining Trails. I had previously visited major conserved mine
sites and museums. Here are links to them all.
Coast-to-Coast Trail - Portreath to Devoran Great Flat Lode Trail - A circular route around Carn Brea Redruth and Chacewater Trail - Redruth Churchtown to Twelveheads Portreath Branchline - Completed in 2010 Tehidy Trail - Mostly country park but begins on the Portreath Incline Tresavean Trail - Short 2 mile trail near Lanner, already opened in 2007 Tolgus Trail - Never built but I have devised a route for walkers Carn Brea - Guided tour of Carn Brea and two mine sites Wheal Peevor - Guided tour of a major restored mine site Levant Mine - Restored mine workings and working beam engine Geevor Mine - Important museum at a recently closed mine Poldark Mine - Important mine musem with working engines King Edward Mine - The best of all the mine museums with working mill Tolgus Tin - Restored tin streaming works |
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Devon engineer Thomas Newcomen devised the original steam-pressure beam engine, Scot James Watt first refined it, but it was the high-pressure engine of Cornishman Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) that enabled the Cornish mines to flourish, pumping deep shafts and raising the tin and copper ore. In 1801 he built a steam-powered road vehicle, known as 'Captain Dick's Puffer'. In 1802 he built his remarkable 'London Road Carriage' and in 1804 his 'Penydaren' locomotive hauled 10 tons and 70 men for 9 miles near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. A model of 'Penydaren' can be seen in the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro. Born at Illogan, he was raised in Penponds, off the Helston road on the southern edge of Camborne. His childhood home, cared for by the Trevithick Trust, is open only on Wednesday afternoons from April to October. The little thatched cottage is filled with memorabilia. A small memorial to him stands on a road that passes to the east of South Crofty mine, not far from the Cornish Mines and Engines site and his statue overlooks the junction of Commercial Street and Church Street. However his true memorial is 'Trevithick Day', celebrated in Camborne on the last Saturday of each April, when the town takes to the streets to enjoy brass bands, choirs, dancing and a parade of steam engines. |
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Trevthick Day report below |
| We would have gone to Trevithick Day in Camborne in 2005 but the steam parade had been cancelled for 'health and safety' reasons. Happily, such nonsense didn't happen in April 2006 so we went then. From early morning to late afternoon the central streets are closed to traffic. The Camborne Town Band led dancers through the town; a static steam traction engine display later trundled smokily throught the streets; in Town Square we were treated to a pipe and drum band, the Holman Climax Choir, the Praze and Hayle Male Voice Choir, a circus clown, a saxophone quartet and a samba band. We also saw a rousing steel band, fairground organs, vintage fire engines, classic cars, military vehicles and a Punch and Judy show. The parades of traction engines and their miniatures were the true highlights but our small personal highlight was sitting in Town Square, eating Rowe's excellent pasties whilst enjoying multi-instrumentalist Graham Hart playing and singing his rousing version of 'Going up Camborne Hill, coming down' - which commemorates the first trial of Trevithick's 1801 Puffing Devil road loco, which the crowd of fascinated spectators thought was going backwards. A great day - both for steam and Trevithick enthusiasts and for the folk of Camborne. We shall go again. |
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| Photo from Trevithick Day - loco also known as Captain Dick's Puffer |
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Harveys Foundry of Hayle - The Great Cornish Engineers
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Walking around the
run-down town of Hayle these days, you would never guess that the industrial
heart of Cornwall once beat strongest here. Yet in the mid-18th century
Hayle boasted perhaps 5000 jobs in industry. The National Explosive
Company, the Cornish Copper Company and the docks were all major employers
but the greatest of them all was Harveys.
In 1779 Gwinear blacksmith John Harvey started a small works in Hayle to make hand tools and pumps for the mines. Three generations of Harveys built the country's greatest engineering company, employing geniuses like Richard Trevithick to build beam engines, locomotives and packet ships. Beam engines were the company's best known product and included the largest ever built, draining a polder at Cruquis in Holland and still in working order 150 years later. Cornish examples can be seen at Levant Mine and at Taylor's Shaft in Pool. Most remarkable ship that Harveys built was the Cornubia, an iron-built paddle steamer, originally operating as a Bristol packet boat, bought by the Confederacy as an American Civil War blockade runner, captured by the Union and used by them as a blockader of Gulf ports. Harveys final throw was to build 2nd World War landing craft. |
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You can see remains of Harveys in the area known as Foundry in Hayle |
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We had been in this area of Bodmin Moor before, parking in Minions to visit Stowe's Hill and the local antiquities - the Pipers and Hurlers and King Doniert's Stones - but we first learned of South Caradon Mine when it became a candidate for millions of pounds in a 2004 TV show called 'Restoration'. We decided to look for ourselves on a walk from Minions village. Total dereliction is the order of the day now but for 50 years from 1835 this was one of the world's most prosperous copper mines. Financed by the miners themselves, led by the Kittow and Clymo families, it paid dividends (in today's terms) of around £50 million from an investment of only £64,000! Other mines, too, were sunk all around Caradon Hill - Gonamena, East Caradon and West Caradon. I cheat a little by describing this as a museum since, to our delight, Caradon district council failed in its quest for TV show money. This is one of those magic places which needs to be enjoyed for itself, not prettified to meet the needs of the tourist industry and the demands of 'Health and Safety' regulations. The land on which the mine ruins stand is private but access seems to be allowed and there are no signs forbidding entry. To see how to find it, take a look at the walk Jane and I did taking in Minions, Crows Nest and South Caradon. |
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Except at the Crows Nest Inn, there is no nearby parking |
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but decided to take a closer look at the extensive remains of Botallack
Mine during a walk in the area in October 2006. I parked at Pendeen
Watch and then walked the coast path to Kenidjack. It is quite difficult
to decide where one mine finishes and another begins - Geevor,
Levant,
Botallack, Wheal Edward, Kenidjack and Cape Cornwall - so closely are they
packed together. Indeed, after Levant closed, Geevor, one of the
last to work in Cornwall, and the most modern-looking along here, took
over some of its workings.
At its most prosperous from around 1835 to 1890, Botallack was visited by Queen Victoria in 1846. In 1865 some 500 men worked there and eleven steam engines operated. Most impressively sited of these were the Crown engine houses, perched on a ledge above the sea. The lower of these housed a pumping engine, the upper was the winding engine for the 1360 foot deep Diagonal Shaft. The mine last worked in 1907-1914 when the impressive arsenic flues near the cliffs were built. A photo of the Count House, now owned by the National Trust, is in a walk I did, in October 2006 from Pendeen Watch. There is also some 20th century headgear to be seen. If in need of refreshment, try the Queen's Arms in the village. |
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| If you want to see the area without a long walk, park in Botallack |
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Wheal Peevor at Radnor near Redruth
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The conservation of
Wheal Peevor, located at the hamlet of Radnor on the north side of the
A30 near Redruth, is clearly one of the major enterprises of Cornwall Council's
contribution to the World Mining Heritage Site.
No expense has been spared in consolidating the engine houses and creating
a disabled access path around the site and a small car park. Apparently
there may also be a small visitor centre. In September 2007 work
is not yet finished but we were lucky enough to be able to join a guided
tour preview of Wheal Peevor, ably led by mining historian Allen Buckley,
assisted by wldlife guide Rory Goodall.
Wheal Peevor, part of the great North Downs complex, is a particularly important site because of three surviving engine houses, pumping, winding and stamps. Not only that, it also has remains of an ore crusher, buddles and an arsenic calciner - and more that will remain hidden beneath the furze and bracken. The mine worked intermittently for a hundred years or so until around 1890, producing vast quantities of tin. It re-opened to mine wulfram in 1911 but soon closed again. We felt that restoration had been a bit overdone and, while we understand the need for access, the paths looked too much like a cycle track. And we wish the money could run to clearing furze from the lower site. |
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Leave A30 at Redruth, take Porthtowan road and first right. |
| I revisited Wheal Peevor in June 2008 to check on progress. Much has been done in nine months and the site is now complete. Good storyboards are located in key positions and viewing platforms are in place. In addition to the east entrance, there is also a west entrance, from a track from North Country. This is a very impressive site. My only criticism is that there are no signs from any nearby roads. |
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At the end of Sepember 2007 I did a walk from Godrevy National Trust car park - busy with surfers - to Hayle and back to investigate Upton Towans to see how much I could find of its former industry, the National Explosive Works. I was surprised by just how much I found. The National Exposive Works, which gave the dunes their alternative name of 'Dynamite Towans', opened in 1888 to make dynamite for the Cornish mines. It continued in operation until around 1920, latterly producing explosives for the First World War. To my surprise explosives were still stored on the site until the 1960s. At first I thought that all I would see was several protective bunkers near the sea where, presumably, testing took place. But, when I made my way towards the tall brick chimney by the Hayle to Gwithian road, I passed quite a number of abandoned buildings and skeletal ruins. By the chimney were even more substantial remains, including what must have been a very large brick building. This was clearly a vast works and indeed once employed 1500 workers. Elsewhere on Upton Towans I found some of 30 odd capped mine shafts - one on Gwithian Towans too - as well as WWII pillboxes and bunkers. While at Hayle I also sought out the power station, operating from 1910 to 1977. At its closure the once busy harbour which had imported the coal also closed. |
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Se also - Hayle & Harveys of Hayle |
The Gunpowder Works at Kennall Vale, Ponsanooth
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I knew about the National Explosive Works at Hayle but, until a visitor to my site told me about it, I had no idea that significant remains of its precursor stood in lovely Kennall Vale at Ponsanooth. A small works was started in Kennall Vale in 1809 to supply gunpowder to the Cornish mines but things really took off when the Fox family, owners of nearby Perran Foundry, set up the Kennall Vale Gunpowder Works. Nature provided its location - now a Nature Reserve - a tremendous head of water from the tumbling River Kennall to power the waterwheels, a steep sided valley to make the site safely damp and beech woods to mitigate the effects of explosion. By 1860 the works employed more than 50 but the invention of dynamite forced its eventual closure in the early 20th century. It is astonishing how much of the site remains intact almost a century later, thanks to constuction in locally quarried granite. The main leat is still intact, shutes tumbling from it to power massive overshot waterwheels, all sadly missing though the double mill buildings mostly still stand. Park in the village and walk past the shop and up the steep hill to the site to fully appreciate the tremendous head of water that made the site possible. This is a lovely place, enjoyed by nature enthusiasts, dog walkers and those, like us, who love old industrial sites. We visited in September 2008. |
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Some parking in Ponsanooth village near the shop |
| My thanks to the World Heritage Cornwall and the Cornish Mining World Heritage web sites for the factual information I have used. My greatest thanks go the Geoff Rogers of Penryn who put me on to this superb and important site in the first place. |
The Kenidjack Valley at St. Just-in-Penwith
| The little Tregeseal River rises somewhere around Lower Bostraze, a mile or so east of St. Just. It reaches the sea at Porthledden Cove, below Cape Cornwall and Kenidjack Head, no more than three miles later and is still only feet wide as it enters the Atlantic. Yet, its 300 foot descent in the mile from the hamlet of Nancherrow - which gave the alternative name to the valley - once powered some of Cornwall's most frantic tin mining activity. In the late 18th century there were fifty waterwheels powering the mines and mills in the valley. Even with the advent of steam power many of the mine engines only needed to work in dry weather. Mining here more or less ceased at the end of the 19th century; first the tin price collapsed in 1870 and then, in 1893 the river burst its banks and destroyed many mine buildings. However, there is still a lot to see, including a great wheel pit close to the cove - which once housed a 52 foot waterwheel - and Carn Praunter, recently conserved by the National Trust along with its mill pond. I visited the site in March 2008 and was glad to find that the NT has also cleared a lot of Japanese knotweed to make access easier - though it is still a struggle in places on the Boswedden Cliff side. For refreshment, I can recommend the good value egg and bacon baps at the Cape Cornwall Golf Club above the NT car park. |  |
| It's only a short walk from the National Turst Cape Cornwall car park |
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Cornish Mines and Engines at Camborne
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Camborne was Britain's major centre of copper and tin mining during the 19th century. Around 1870, as the copper became exhausted, the 'Great Flat Lode' of tin was discovered. New shafts were sunk, more engine houses built. Sadly only South Crofty Mine (now being re-opened) remains capable of production but substantial relics stand in their hundreds. The National Trust and the Trevithick Trust (Richard Trevithick was the Cornish engineer who invented the high pressure engine that enabled deep mining) have restored two at Pool, close to Trevithick's birthplace. In 2002 we toured the Discovery Centre at Taylor's Shaft and were immensely impressed by the massive Harvey's Cornish Beam Engine, one of the largest ever built. Nearby, we saw the smaller working engine in steam at Michell's Shaft. We have also enjoyed seeing Levant Engine in steam at the National Trust's site, beautifully located on a cliff-top near Cape Cornwall. We walked too - up Carn Brea Hill and past other mining relics. We report elsewhere on the 'Great Flat Lode Trail', the Coast-to-Coast Trail and other Mining Trails. |
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I am glad I visited
King Edward Mine (in August 2007) after I had been to Tolgus
Tin, which, for a number of reasons, I found a little disappointing.
Where Tolgus is now run by Treasure Park, a major 'tourist attraction',
King Edward Mine is run by the enthusiasts of the Trevithick Society.
The mine has an unusual history. Once part of South Condurrow mine,
it was abandoned in 1890 only to be re-opened in 1892 as a fully working
part of the Camborne School of Mines. In 1974 the school ceased to
use it but in 1987 volunteers took over, installed rescued machinery in
the mill and now the Trevithick Society opens it to the public. Unlike
Geevor,
there is no underground tour but the mill is capable of full operation.
The Trevithick Society has made a superb job of presentation. Kingsley Rickard, who had guided us previously on a tramway walk, gave me a fascinating introductory talk. I was then free to wander outside to see engine house, winding gear, a beam ready for restoration and even a cage. On into the informative museum and a good short video before my guide Ben showed me round the mill and ran some of the machinery. I must have spent 2 hours at King Edward; I enjoyed every minute, thank you Kingsley and Ben. I hope to return the day after next Trevithick Day, when all machinery is operated. |
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Trevithick Society website |
| UPDATE OCTOBER 2009 We were at King Edward Mine again on 26 September 2009 for their Open Day. This was held in comjunction with the launch of the new Mining Trails, held at Elm Farm Cycle Centre at Camrose on the Coast-to-Coast Trail. Although we enjoyed wandering the King Edward site and mill freely, listening to the Illogan Sparnon Silver Band and seeing the chimneys in the valley smoking, we also had three other purposes. To walk some of the Great Flat Lode Trail to South Wheal Frances and back, to lunch at the always excellent and good value Countryman Inn at Piece, and to meet up with friend and map maker Ernie Biddle at King Edward. Ernie had a display of several of his maps including those of Looe, Fowey, the Camel Trail and some Mining Trails. Great maps and a good day. |
Levant Mine near St. Just in Penwith
| Cornwall's oldest working beam engine lay idle for 60 years after Levant Mine closed. Built in 1840, to power lifts taking miners down 1800 feet, and tin and copper ore up, it operated continuously until Levant Mine closed in 1930. In 1935 an enthusiast purchased it for £25, founding a preservation group - later the Trevithick Society - to save it. Around 1990 a group of volunteers, known as the Greasy Gang, restored the engine, the only Cornish beam engine still operating in its original engine house. The whole site is now in the care of the National Trust, which owns much of the cliff top in this part of Cornwall. Now that the beam engine is fully restored and in steam again, the site is open as a museum and is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining World Heritage Site. In addition to the engine, you can see a restored electric winding engine and the pumping and winding shafts, take a short underground tour and see a film. Not far south, at the old Count House at Botallack Mine, there are historical displays. Although there is parking on the site, my own view is that the best way to visit Levant Mine is in the course of a wonderful cliff-top walk between Pendeen Watch and Cape Cornwall, offering Cornwall's finest collection of mine remains in beautiful locations. | |
| Signed from B3306 coast road at Trewellard |
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Geevor is at the northern
end of the massive St. Just complex of former tin mines that runs from
Pendeen Watch to Cape Cornwall - Geevor, Levant,
Owles, Botallack, Edward, Kenidjack, Cape Cornwall
and many more. Although Geevor had been going in one form or another
since around 1700, the present Geevor Mine was effectively started in 1911
by Cornish miners who had returned from South Africa during the Boer War.
As a modern mine, it was a success all the while the tin price stayed high
but, when the price collapsed in 1985, even a modern mine like Geevor felt
the pinch and closed in 1990. It re-opened in 1993 as a museum.
There is a lot to see above ground. Buildings range from the 18th to 20th century, many attractive. Production processes are demonstrated and a major gallery, opened in 2005 has an important exhibition about the Nicholas Holman engineering company. Underground tours of the 18th and 19th century workings are guided by former miners. If you walk to the bottom of the site you can see the ruins of the old East Levant Mine, where the coast path crosses. Facilities are good. There is a decent café and a well stocked shop has mining books, prints and videos and a good range of tin and pewter jewellery. Geevor is open every day of the year - except Saturdays. |
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You can't miss it, between Pendeen and Trewellard, on the St. Just road. |
Poldark Mine at Trenear near Wendron
| The history of this
site as an industrial museum began in 1972 when Peter Young, intending
to buy a wardrobe at auction, instead bought Wendron Forge. Here
he set up his collection of steam engines. Then, excavating into
the hillside, he discovered the workings of abandoned Wheal Roots mine,
which he opened to the public. With the success of the Poldark
TV series the name of the site was changed from Wendron Forge to Poldark
Mine. The present mining enthusiast owners took over in 1999.
The history of mining here goes back much further. Find a massive
granite rock in the main car park and you will see the famous Wendron mortar
stone, where tin ore was ground before 1200BC. Look in the museum
and you will see a copy of John Trenere's 1493 lease from the Duchy of
Cornwall; outside is his original wheelpit.
Force of circumstance - private ownership, no public funding (ever) and the need to pump vast volumes of water - means that this is an odd site. On the one hand, a genuine mine (good underground tour), wonderful machinery, a superb museum and helpful, knowledgeable staff. On the other hand, thanks to the need to keep up cashflow, an assortment of craft shops, shops and entertainments to bring in the the general public. But it's worth it for the real stuff. Café and ample parking. |
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| On B3297 Helston-Redruth, just north of Wendron. |
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I am in two minds
about Tolgus Tin. On the one hand, here is a wealth of original machinery,
still in situ in a former tin-streaming works. On the other,
it is now owned by one of Cornwall's biggest tourist attractions, Treasure
Park. Once owned and run by the now-defunct Trevithick Trust, it
is now operated by Treasure Park, is undermanned and badly lacking in staff
with any mining expertise or information. So, if you are, like me,
looking to learn, you will not learn much here. And, if you are hoping
to see working machinery, you will be disappointed. I suspect that
Treasure Park's view of Tolgus is that it is somewhere for Dad to take
the kids while Mum is shopping for jewellery.
That said, the machinery is so fascinating that I spent a very pleasant 40 minutes at the site enjoying waterwheels, a Cornish stamps, shaking tables, a round table, a trommel and one seriously ancient artefact, a 16th century mortar stone. As there was no-one to give me information, I don't know the origins of the works but assume it was streaming the waste washed downstream from Tolgus Mine, in order to recover the last vestiges of tin. I enjoyed my visit but, if you are seriously interested, you would do far better to visit the superb King Edward Mine museum near Troon with its working mill machinery. |
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At Treasure Park, on the Redruth to Portreath and Porthtowan road. |
Wheal Martyn Museum of China Clay
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Cornwall’s tin-mining industry may be long gone with the collapse in the price of tin but, with the demand for kaolin for porcelain, paper, medical and many other applications, china clay production continues on a large scale north of St. Austell, amidst a strange ‘Mountains of the Moon’ landscape, known locally as the Cornish Alps. Wheal Martyn, a major working clay-pit, has restored its 19th century workings to create an important museum of one of Cornwall's most enduring industries. An excellent introductory exhibition tells the story of china clay and of Wheal Martyn. Informative exhibitions include displays of minerals, examples of local pottery and porcelain, the great Fal Valley Oil Engine, displays on the local brick-making industry, on the cooper’s art and on tools and transport equipment. A Historic Trail covers the old works; along the way you see two working waterwheels, one 18 foot, the other Cornwall's largest at 35 feet, slurry pumps, settling pits, tanks and kilns. The whole process of china clay production, from quarrying to the final product, is well explained. A well waymarked Nature Trail runs for over a mile and shows how nature has colonised old workings and spoil heaps; a platform above modern Wheal Martyn pit offers views of the present industry and a panorama of the Cornish Alps. The museum is signed from the Bodmin-St. Austell road and is not far from the Eden Project. There is a shop, a good café and ample parking. Some Clay Trails start here |
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On B3274 at Carthew just south of Bugle |
| UPDATE AUGUST 2010: The South West Lakes Trust: In April 2010 Wheal Martyn was acquired by the South West Lakes Trust, probably a good thing. The Trust is a charitable body that owns or manages 50 lakes in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset. It works with such bodies as the Forestry Commission, South West Tourism and various sports organisations in the areas of leisure and water sports activities, green tourism and conservation. The list of trustees is impressive, including a former director of Imerys (the china clay people), directors from Viridor and South West Water, and the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall. Cornish properties, owned or managed, include Argal Reservoir, Colliford Lake, Crowdy and Porth Reservoirs, Sibleyback, Stithians and Tamar Lakes Country Parks - and now Wheal Martyn. At the latter, it is thought that the Trust may develop flooded Lansalson Pit, perhaps for water sports. Do take a look at swlakestrust excellent web site. |
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Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro
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Opened in 1818, at about the time when Cornwall’s tin-mining prosperity was first beginning to wane, the Royal Institution of Cornwall was founded primarily to promote knowledge about the archaeology, history and culture of the county. Not surprisingly, its major exhibit is the internationally renowned Rashleigh Collection of Cornish Minerals - which includes the world's largest crystal of copper ore - but there are other good collections, too. Outstanding are the De Pass Collection of English and European Old Master drawings and the collection of paintings by Cornish artists including portraitist John Opie and Newlyn School member Henry Scott Tuke. Applied Arts exhibits include pewter, pottery, porcelain, scrimshaw and Japanese ivories and lacquer-work. Local History and Archaeology are both well represented - highlight is three early Bronze Age collars of beaten gold, the only such ones found in England - and there is a scale model of Trevithick's 1804 Penydaren locomotive. There is a good café (in its own art gallery) and a well-stocked shop. Whilst in Truro you will also find a twentieth century cathedral and good shops, cafés and restaurants.. |
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The photo is from the museum's own web site. |
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Cornwall has always been in the forefront of communication technology. The first submarine cable network, the first radio transmuissions by Marconi, the first transatlantic satellite station. It should be no surprise. Its position - jutting out into the Atlantic - has always offered a direct route by sea and air to the rest of the world. The first world-spanning submarine cable came into Porthcurno from India in 1870. The tiny cove grew to be the world's largest cable station, fourteen cables coming in from all parts of the world. The original Eastern Telegraph Company became the multi-national Cable and Wireless which remained here until the 1990s. The original headquarters building is now apartments but the later building and its 2nd World War tunnels now house the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum. It tells the story of submarine telegraphy and of Porthcurno's part, as a secret communications base, in World War II. Story boards are good and exhibits - many working - fascinating. But for us the best part was upstairs over the reception area. Here was a comprehensive exhibit about Isambard Kingdom Brunel's great cable laying ship, the massive 'Great Eastern'. We would have been happy if this was all we had got for the price of entry. Later we walked down to the cove to see the old Cable Hut, climbed the cliff to visit Minack Theatre and walked the coast path to Porthgwarra. Ample parking. |
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From Penzance take A30, B3283 through St. Buryan, and follow signs |
The Marconi Centre at Poldhu Point on the Lizard Peninsula
| Sadly, Marconi's second
(but most famous) Cornish Wireless Station, from which he made the historic
radio transmission to St. John's in Newfoundland in 1901, no longer exists,
although the bases of the huts, in front of the former Poldhu Cove Hotel,
are preserved as of great historic and archaeological importance.
Gugliegmo Marconi chose this site - for his first transmissions to Ireland
and Newfoundland and for much later work - because of its westerly location,
its freedom from obstruction and for the convenience of the Poldhu Hotel
to house his workforce.
The Poldhu Hotel may now be apartments and Marconi's buildings may have gone, except for foundations, but the combined efforts of the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club, the National Trust and the Marconi Company resulted in a permanent Marconi Centre Museum opening at Poldhu Point in 2004. Essentially, the Marconi Centre is home to the Poldhu Amateur Radio Club, an entirely appropriate use for so historic a site. In the field behind the centre you can see the foundations of Marconi's buildings and a levelled circle where aerial arrays stood. Nearby an earlier monument stands on the clifftop, commemorating Marconi's feat. Centre opening times are a bit odd and there is an uphill walk from a car park. |
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| From Mullion village follow Poldhu Cove signs, car park behind beach |
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| Links: Poldhu Amateur Radio Club website - Marconi Centre Poldhu website |
North Cornwall Museum at Camelford
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Unusually, North Cornwall
Museum in Camelford is privately owned. Entirely appropriately for
a museum that is concerned with the countryside and its trades and skills,
the buiilding it occupies was originally the workshop of a maker of horse-drawn
coaches and wagons. Wide ranging collections are surprisingly comprehensive
and well displayed and explained. The period covered is very roughly
the first half of the 20th century. I visited for the first time
in September 2007 and greatly enjoyed my visit.
Trades and skills covered include farming, dairying, cider making and wagon making. The collections of tools are very extensive and relate to the carpenter, cooper, blacksmith, saddler, cobbler, tailor, printer, doctor and quarrymen for both slate and granite. On the domestic side there is a recreation of a moorland cottage of around 1900 and collections including bonnets and early vacuum cleaners (these are a delight). There is also some Cornish and Devon pottery and, to my amazement, examples of cloam ovens. Upstairs is a gallery with changing art and craft exhibitions. The museum opens daily (ex Sunday) April to September. It also houses the local TIC. Free car park opposite. |
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Approaching from the south, turn L up Clease Road, near top of hill |
Kresenn Kernow, the Cornwall Centre in Redruth
| When I walked a section of the Redruth and Chacewater Trail in June 2008, I had time to spare to wander around Redruth. I was glad I did because, on Alma Place off Fore Street, I encountered the excellent Cornwall Centre. At heart the Cornish Studies Library, with a vast collection of Cornish books, pamphlets, journals and photographs, it is much more than just that. In the foyer is the local TIC with helpful staff and ample good local information. In a front exhibition room I saw a good display of local crafts. For me, though, the highlights were through a door off the foyer. A corridor and stairs lead down to Market Way and the old Buttermarket. Along the corridor are the first few frames of the Tregellas Tapestry. At rhe foot of the stairs you come to Market Way, a small mall with a mix of shops and a café (all day breakfasts). Through the mall is the old Buttermarket. While the stalls here were of little interest, what took my attention was a replica of Richard Murdoch's 'Flyer' steam driven road car and the remainder of the 56 frames of the Tregellas Tapestry. Inspired and supervised by Cornish Bard Rita Tregellas Pope, the superb Tapestry covers the history of Cornwall from Prehistoric times to the present day. A few frames deal with myth and legend rather than fact - Jesus's visit to Cornwall and the story of Tristan and Iseult. |  |
| Alma Place is off pedestrianised Fore St. near the clock tower |
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Tate Gallery, Hepworth Sculpture Garden & Leach Pottery
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Tate Gallery St.
Ives
Architecturally superb and beautifully located high above Porthmeor surfing beach. Rather sadly it concentrates on the ultra-modern which, on one of our visits, bordered on the obscene. Too rarely does it exhibit any works of the great artists who lived and worked in St. Ives in the 20th century. You should still visit to enjoy the architecture, the views and a good coffee shop. Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden is only a five minute walk from the Tate. Some of the best of this wonderful sculptor is in the studio and garden of what was her own home - small works indoors, larger works competing with the sub-tropical plants in the small garden. For content we much prefer this to the Tate - of which it actually an outstation. Leach Pottery re-opened in March 2008 as pottery school and workshops, gallery, shop and museum. |
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| UPDATE 2010: At last the Tate is to be extended, having aquired the site on the right of the photo above. |
Newlyn Gallery and Exchange Gallery
| July 2007 - Newlyn Gallery must have come into some money recently. Not only has it built a new café and bookshop extension to the original Passmore Edwards building on the eastern fringe of Newlyn, it has also acquired a brand new gallery in the heart of Penzance, the Exchange Gallery just off the town's attractive Chapel Street. We can't claim that our taste in art matches theirs but we do admire the new buildings and we imagine that the cafés will prove a big attraction. We took a look at both places when we went to Penlee House for their marvellous Stanhope Forbes exhibition, definitely our taste. The exhibiton in Newlyn Gallery was quite beyond our comprehension; that in the Exchange Gallery, called Social Systems, was comprehensible but not our thing. |
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Penlee House in Penzance - Home of the Newlyn School
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Built as a private house in 1865, and standing in a pleasant small park close to the centre of Penzance, not far from Morrab Gardens and the seafront, Penlee House was completely refurbished in 1997. It contains West Cornwall's largest art collection, focusing on the local Newlyn School of the late 19th century. Expect to see slightly romantic views of working fishermen and of holiday-makers on the beach and around the harbour. Amongst the leading lights of the Newlyn School exhibited in Penlee House are Stanhope Forbes, its best known name, Frank Bramley, Norman Garstin, Thomas Cooper Gotch, Walter Langley, 'Lamorna' Birch and Henry Scott Tuke. We particularly enjoy the gallery's regular special exhibitions, covering differing aspects of the Newlyn School's work. There is also a museum, founded in 1839; this covers 6000 years of Cornish history, commerce and archaeology, and has displays of fine art and the decorative arts. Also in Penzance and adjoining Newlyn you will find differing galleries at the Penzance Arts Club and the ultra contemporary Newlyn Gallery; the latter tends to put on shows which are well beyond our comprehension. More Newlyn School Paintings are found at Falmouth Art Gallery and the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro. |
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There is an inexpensive all-day car park nearby |
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That Falmouth's art
gallery has surprisingly good collections is largely thanks to South African
businessman Alfred de Pass who honeymooned in Falmouth in 1888 and built
a holiday home there in 1895. An avid collector, he not only gave
substantial numbers of paintings to Falmouth, he also paid for the Library
to be adapted and extended to house his gifts. Other donors include
the local Fox family, creators of many of Cornwall's finest gardens.
The permanent collection is mainly of 18th to 20th century works and tends to concentrate on British (including Cornish) artists and their landscapes, maritime paintings, other 'plein air' works and local topographical prints. Notable artists represented include late Newlyn School artist Henry Scott Tuke, Frank Brangwyn and Sir Alfred Munnings. There are some superb maritime battle paintings by Thomas Luny; Pre-Raphaelite paintings and drawings by Burne Jones and John William Waterhouse; local land and seascapes by William Martin. It is quite pleasing to find local topographical prints and engravings (including a couple by Turner) showing a very different Falmouth of bygone days. Amongst changing temporary exhibitions we especially enjoyed one on Portscatho artists; others may include ceramics, textiles and sculptures - but often occupy too many rooms.. |
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