 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
To view this page at its best, adjust your screen width and zoom so that text and images align
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ON
THIS PAGE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CORNWALL REVIEWS INDEX and SITE CONTENTS
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oliver's Alternative Coast-to-Coast Mining Trail for Walkers - 16.24 miles
 |
The official Coast-to-Coast Trail is a superb route for cyclists, almost straight as an arrow for its 11½ miles from Portreath to Devoran, utilising the old Portreath Tramroad and part of the Redruth and Chacewater Railway. It has disadvantages for walkers. While the fascinating Wheal Busy, Unity Wood and Poldice can be included by using the Loops shown on the Mining Trail map, most will tend simply to use the direct route. It also omits some superb sites such as Wheal Peevor and much of Poldice Mine. The biggest disadvantages for walkers are the sheer volume of cycle traffic at holiday times and the tendency of too many cyclists to treat the trail as their personal race track. I have therefore devised an alternative Walkers Coast-to-Coast, following the official route overall but including both the Wheal Busy and Little Beside Loops and detouring elsewhere, wherever possible, to avoid the cyclists and to include some unmissable sites. A total of some 10.28 miles manages to avoid the direct cycle route. I have also extended the Walkers Route from Devoran to Point Quay, where the Redruth and Chacewater Railway actually terminated, and on to the head of Penpol Creek. The resulting route is a substantial 16.24 miles but, as the walking is easy, most will do it in one day. I also suggest a further low tide extension to Restronguet Point, making a total of 17.55 miles. |
|
|
Outline - Interest - Statistics - Useful Information - Route Directions |
| The route starts on the north side of the harbour at Portreath. Initially, for the first 2.10 miles, it follows the official cycle route as far as the beginning of Cambrose. Here my alternative route follows paths and tracks across country for 2.34 miles to the remarkable conserved site of Wheal Peevor mine, well worth spending time at. From here my alternative route continues for another 1.07 miles to Wheal Rose on the north side of the A30 at Scorrier. Here the official cycle route is signed through Scorrier but my route bears left and follows the Wheal Busy Loop for 2.90 miles to return to the official cycle route at the foot of Unity Wood. It then crosses the official route to follow the Little Beside Loop for 0.92 miles to Poldice Mine. From Poldice there is another variation for 0.50 miles to Bissa Pool. From here to Devoran, a further 4.86 miles, you have to mostly follow the cycle route but there are several minor cycle free variations around Twelveheads. At Devoran Quay the official trail ends but you can continue on my route which follows Restronguet Creek first to Point and then on to Penpol. Should you wish to continue, you then have a choice of route, depending on tides, all the way to Restronguet Point. From here you could get a seasonal ferry to the popular waterside Pandora Inn. Full directions, particularly for the unofficial variations, can be found on a separate .pdf file. |  |
| Interest - Statistics - Useful Information - Route Directions |
|
| UPDATE JUNE 2012: At the end of June, Jane and I walked Meg the Collie from Devoran Quay to Bissoe Cycle Hire and back, lunching at the cycle hire café. We were horrified to discover that almost all the land to the side of the trail there has been fenced off by the Environment Agency and plastered with garish warning notices about environmentally sensitive land and dangerous pools and unstable banks. Now, what had been an enjoyable walk, with the opportunity of getting off the cycle trail, feels quite different and relatively uninteresting. Shame on the EA and on Cornwall Council for allowing them to get away with it. |
 |
Before the Portreath Tramroad was started in 1809 the only railways (plateways) in Cornwall were short stretches underground in a few mines. Portreath handled the copper trade with South Wales, copper out, coal back. Transport was by pack mule but the price of fodder had rocketed in the Napoleonic Wars. Between them, the big names in Cornish mining, shipping and banking – the Foxes of Falmouth, the Bassets of Tehidy and the Williams of Scorrier – financed construction of a tramroad which by 1819 had reached the major copper and tin mines of the St. Day, Gwennap and Scorrier area, terminating at Crofthandy Coalyard near Poldice Mine. For a few years, until the opening in 1830 of the Redruth and Chacewater Railway, Portreath had a virtual monopoly of the copper trade. Unlike the Redruth and Chacewater, the Portreath Tramroad was never converted to steam haulage and trade was lost to Devoran but the opening of the Portreath branchline to the Hayle Railway helped maintain Portreath’s prosperity. For more on the involvement of the Williams and Fox families, see the items below. The official Coast-to-Coast route, used by cyclists, follows the original tramroad line fairly faithfully, as it does the line of the Redruth and Chacewater. Major deviation comes in the Scorrier area where modern roads and urban development make that far more difficult. |
|
|
Interest - Statistics - Useful Information - Route Directions |
Redruth and Chacewater Railway
| While the Portreath Tramroad is followed more or less in its entirety by the Coast-to-Coast, only part of the Redruth and Chacewater is, that from Poldice, near where the Portreath Tramroad terminated, to the former port of Devoran. The full R & C is the subject of its own Trail. It originally ran from Wheal Buller near Lanner, later from Redruth, to Twelveheads and Devoran. The section between Poldice and Twelveheads was presumably part of the uncompleted branch to Chacewater (hence the name Redruth and Chacewater). In 1819 John Taylor acquired and started re-working mines in the Gwennap and St. Day area. In 1822 the world’s richest copper lode was discovered there. Transport was originally by packhorse to small wharves on the River Fal. Theoretically Taylor could have used the Portreath Tramroad but, unwilling to agree to their heavy terms and conditions, in 1824 Taylor obtained an Act of Parliament to construct the 4-foot gauge Redruth and Chacewater Railway with Devoran as its base with horse-drawn wagons carrying copper ore to Point Quay. By 1830 the railway was carrying 60,000 tons of copper a year downhill and coal uphill between the mines and Devoran. In 1854 steam locomotives were introduced, Miner and Smelter, a third Spitfire in 1859. The line remained horse-drawn between Devoran and Point. The company was wound up in 1918. The line never actually reached Chacewater and a planned branch to Wheal Busy was never built to the great disappointment of owner Lord Falmouth. |  |
| Interest - Statistics - Useful Information - Route Directions |
|
 |
Drainage was always a problem for Cornwall’s tin and copper mines. As shafts got deeper, adits (horizontal shafts) were driven from around 1700 onwards to help drainage. But, even after the introduction of the steam engine, major problems remained for the ever deeper mines sited well inland in the St. Day and Gwennap areas. The water drained needed to be directed to the sea. The Great County Adit, often known just as the County Adit, provided the solution. The brainchild of John Williams, owner of Poldice Mine, he and Sir William Lemon drove the project forward. Begun in 1748, by 1760 it was draining Poldice Mine into the Carnon River near Point Mills. By 1778 it had been extended to Wheal Busy and Wheal Peevor. Eventually it drained more than 40 mines in the Redruth and St. Day mining areas through 38 miles of tunnels, draining around 13 million gallons a day. These mines, thanks to the Redruth and Chacewater Railway, had been the making of Devoran as a port. Even so, the Great County Adit was the instrument of Devoran’s decline. Disastrous floods in 1876 caused the neglected County Adit to release thousands of tons of water, carrying rubbish and silt down-river to Devoran, blocking navigation to all but the lower quays. |
|
|
Interest - Statistics - Useful Information - Route Directions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| At a glance you would be hard put to guess at Portreath's great industrial history. Nowadays it is part dormitory for industrial Redruth and Camborne and part small beach and surf resort. Yet in the past it was one of Cornwall's most important ports. The clues are there: a long well constructed double harbour, mineral tramway trails, and the remains of an inclined plane heading up steeply south from near the harbour. Construction of the harbour began in 1760 and by 1800 it was busy with copper ore heading for South Wales and coal returning. By 1819 a tramway had been built to bring copper ore from the mines around Poldice and St. Day. In 1836 the Portreath Branchline was built, linking to the important Hayle Railway. By now ships were being built here, too, and fishing was also important. The 20th century saw gradual decline. Tin streaming ceased when the Red River was diverted in 1933. After WWII the railway closed and the harbour lost its industrial trade and became home to just a small fleet of crabbers and to pleasure boats. The formerly busy industrial area by the harbour was developed for housing. Few clear signs remain of Portreath's former importance except on the north side of the harbour and in the remains of the railway's inclined plane. Two Mining Trails, the Coast-to-Coast and the Portreath Branchline, start at the northern harbour corner . Nearby is an excellent storyboard about harbour, tramroad and incline. |  |
| Interest - Statistics - Useful Information - Route Directions |
|
 |
Conservation of Wheal Peevor, located at the hamlet of Radnor on the north side of the A30 near Redruth, was clearly one of the major enterprises of Cornwall Council's contribution to the World Mining Heritage Site. No expense was spared in consolidating the engine houses, and creating access around the site and a small car park. In September 2007, with work unfinished, we joined a guided preview of the site, ably led by mining historian Allen Buckley. Wheal Peevor, part of the great North Downs complex, is a particularly important site because of the three surviving engine houses. Not only that, it also has remains of an ore crusher, buddles and an arsenic calciner - and more that will probably remain hidden beneath 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. Some may feel that restoration has been a bit overdone and, while we understand the need for access, the paths looked too much like a cycle track. And it would be good if the money could run to clearing furze from the lower site. By 2010 work on the site was complete and links made to the Coast-to-Coast cycle route. Good storyboards and viewing platforms are located in key positions. In addition to the east entrance, there is also a west entrance, from a track from North Country. An impressive site. |
|
|
Interest - Statistics - Useful Information - Route Directions |
| Originally a tin mine, first recorded in 1512, rich deposits of copper were later worked in the 18th and 19th centuries. By 1685 Poldice was employing up to 1000 men, producing £20,000 of valuable metals a year (several millions in present terms). In 1702 it was recorded that Poldice was the deepest mine in Cornwall at 636 feet. William Lemon was the principal investor in Poldice and campaigned successfully in Parliament to have the duty on seaborne coal dropped in 1741. This made it immediately worth purchasing and installing steam engines and five Newcomen engines were ordered. Later new Watt engines were ordered and by 1864 at least nine were operating. The Portreath Tramroad effectively terminated here, initially providing transportation to Portreath but, when the Redruth and Chacewater Railway opened, that took over for transport to the more convenient port of Devoran. In 1867 Poldice closed for the first time in recorded history but soon re-opened for the production of arsenic from 1870 to 1873. The major remains that you see here are of that later arsenic working, using the spoil of previous copper mining. The arsenic was exported to America as insecticide to control the cotton boll weevil, to New Zealand as a sheep dip, and to Scandinavia to clarify glass. In 1900 all plant was sold for scrap but the site was still used occasionally in the early 20th century for mineral treatment. |  |
| Interest - Statistics - Useful Information - Route Directions |
|
 |
Cornwall’s best planned 19th century settlement, as mineral port, as trading village - and as a place for genteel and retired people. It survives as a charming commuter village. Port: In 1838 it was Cornwall’s busiest mineral port, 20 ships a week carrying copper ore to South Wales, others importing Scandinavian timber, Russian tallow, Indian jute and Welsh coal. Vessels of up to 130 tons were still being built on Restronguet Creek in the late 19th century. In 1850 regular steamers began to trade and in the 1890s there was a regular Swansea-Cornwall trade. The port continued in use until 1916. Streamworks and Submarine Mines: In 1785 embankments were built to create a tide free area, with navigation channels on either side, for tin and copper streaming, working material brought down by the County Adit. Eventually the stream works stretched for over a mile. Streaming ceased in 1811 but shafts were sunk in the silt and, while ships sailed overhead, miners worked 30 or 40 feet below. Ore Hutches: These walled enclosures were used to store the ore awaiting shipment. Four remain complete - as storage for small boats. Carnon Mine: The engine house was built in 1824 to drain a submarine mine in Restronguet Creek. The mine was profitable but closed in 1828 after Redruth and Chacewater Railway complained about obstruction of navigation. |
|
|
Interest - Statistics - Useful Information - Route Directions |
| Strategically placed
along the Coast-to-Coast are informative storyboards:
At the start, on the northern side of Portreath Harbour, a storyboard covers Portreath Harbour, the Portreath Tramroad and the Portreath Incline. Wheal Peevor, at the entrance and dotted round the site, helpful storyboards. In a small car park at 72178/44495, in the lane approaching Rodda's Creamery, Portreath Tramroad storyboard. Wheal Busy, just after crossing the road at 73805/44688, a good storyboard about Newcomen and James Watt engines and the Hornblower family. Approaching Unity Wood, storyboard about Unity Wood and Killifreth Mine. Also about William Bickford and safety fuses and about Michael Williams of Scorrier. Little Beside Loop, at 73794/42893, a board about Williams and Fox families. At Todpool, at 74146/43070, excellent storyboard about Poldice Mine. At Carnon Viaduct: A storyboard includes info about gold found locally. At Devoran Village Hall, an easy to miss storyboard, with considerable information about Devoran Port, streamworks and submarine mines. This one might be better placed further on at Devoran Quay. |
 |
| Interest - Statistics - Useful Information - Route Directions |
|
Other Locations and Lesser Interest
| Wheal Rose: Little remains of this former copper mine, except an engine house, visible from the direct cycle route, that has been converted to a home. Close to the Wheal Rose granite trail marker, and passed on both cycle and walking routes is Rodda’s Creamery producing one of Cornwall’s best known exports, Cornish Clotted Cream. Hallenbeagle Mine: A highly successful copper mine during its relatively short life, Hallenbeagle was at its peak between 1835 and 1867, producing 2,879 tons of 6% copper ore in 1845 which sold for £10,478.18.0. On the Wheal Busy Loop you pass remains of an engine house and a chimney. Wheal Busy: Also known as Great Wheal Busy but originally called Chacewater Mine, Wheal Busy was worked for around 220 years until the 1920s. It used Newcomen engines, replaced in 1777 by Cornwall’s first Boulton and Watt engine. Over the years Wheal Busy produced 100 thousand tons of copper ore and 27 thousand tons of arsenic. Remains to be seen today date from Victorian times and include engine house, boiler house, arsenic calciner, and carpenter’s and smith’s workshops. Killifreth Mine: Shortly before you enter Unity Wood you pass right by the great pumping engine house of Hawke’s Shaft, said to possess Cornwall’s tallest existing mine chimney. Despite the latest efficient machinery, Killifreth was never a very successful tin mine. From 1897 it was used by Truro School of Mines for training but mining restarted briefly in 1912. In 1920 Killifreth took over Wheal Busy to mine arsenic but even that only lasted a couple of years. Unity Wood: You don’t pass any engine houses as the trail passes through Unity Wood but the real interest for the walker is the wood itself, absolutely riddled with evidence of pre-industrial revolution mining and blanketed with bluebells in May. Todpool: On the cycle trail, close to Poldice Mine, Todpool was once busy enough to support a pub (now a private house) and a church, but is now a quiet backwater of former miners' cottages, some of them very attractive. Note particularly the unusual chimneys on a couple of the cottages, external, roughly built of stone and looking much like ancient engine house chimneys. Point Mills Arsenic Refinery: The British Arsenic Company, later the Cornwall Arsenic Company, operated works at Bissoe for a century ending in 1914. Its refined arsenic was famed for its high quality throughout Europe and beyond. A plaque on the remaining chimney records this. Carnon Valley Nature Reserve: Following the closure of nearby Wheal Jane, and because of major pollution of the Carnon River and Falmouth Bay, in 1992 an experimental mine water treatment plant was built in this valley, the largest facility of its kind in Europe. It provided invaluable information on mine water treatment. Over 9000 tons of spoil was removed and 7000 tons of inert material was imported., creating more than 30 ponds in what is now a nature reserve. At the north end, as you enter the area, a stone circle known as Dansen Maen (dancing stones) incorporates two seats. At Wheal Jane mine water is still treated and more than 500 million litres of contaminated water are handled every month. Carnon Viaduct: Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway branch line from Truro to Falmouth was competed in 1863, four years after his death. It incorporated two tunnels and eight viaducts. That over the Carnon Valley was the most impressive at 96 feet high and 756 feet long with 11 stone piers topped by timber track supports. This remained in use until replaced by the present 13 pier viaduct in the 1930s. Brunel’s piers still stand. Storyboard includes … "Largest gold nugget ever found in Cornwall came from the head of Restronguett Creek, nearby, in 1801, 2¼ inches long, weighing 1/5 ounce, now in the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro. In the 18th century about £100 worth of gold was found each year by tin streamers. It was kept by them as a perk and occasionally enough was found to make a wedding ring". In the 17th century what is now the Carnon River, but was then a much longer Restronguet Creek, was navigable to a small port at Bissoe. Construction of the County Adit in the 1740s brought ever increasing amounts of silt down the river so that eventually even the ports at Devoran and Point became almost unusable. Carnon Stream Mine: The Engine House, one of the oldest in Cornwall, was built in 1824 to drain a submarine mine, streaming alluvial tin, in Restronguet Creek. The mine was profitable but closed in 1828 after Redruth and Chacewater Railway complained about obstruction of navigation. Three boat rudders here were conserved by Ralph Bird - there is an interesting information board. Penpol: The Quay and storehouses at Penpol were built in 1817 by Sir William Lemon to export copper and import coal. A lead smelter was built in 1829 and a dam built for a tide mill (a Bone Mill producing fertiliser) complete with sluices for scouring the channel in front of the wharves. A Corn Mill was further upstream, beyond the road bridge. |
| Distance:
Portreath to Penpol Bridge 16.24 miles.
Intermediate Distances: Cambrose 2.10 miles. Wheal Peevor CP 4.44 miles. Wheal Rose marker 5.51 miles. Poldice Mine marker 9.33 miles. Bissoe Bike Hire 11.90 miles. Devoran Quay 14.69 miles. Ascent/Descent: Gradual ascent up to 360 feet at Wheal Peevor. Undulates between 250 feet and 400 feet to the Poldice Mine chimney stack. Very gradual down from Poldice chimney stack to sea level at Devoran and Penpol Bridge. |
| Parking:
Pay car park above the beach at Portreath. Free on the road to it,
if you can get a space.
Intermediate Parking: Bike Barn (pay) near Cambrose. Wheal Peevor. Wheal Rose, small CP with MT Map Board on lane towards Rodda's Creamery. Little Beside (on the Loop). Two small CPs at Twelveheads. Large pay CP at Bissoe Cycle Hire. Large CP at Old Dunstan’s Bridge on the Carnon Downs to Frogpool road. Devoran, by Village Hall. Refreshments: 2 pubs, 2 cafés, Portreath. Bridge Inn, Bridge. Bike Barn at Elm Farm near Cambrose. Smokey Joe’s at Scorrier (before A30 crossing). Plume (food all day), Crossroads Hotel and Fox & Hounds (all day F & S only) at Scorrier (all a little off trail, but on the cycle route). Bissoe Cycle Hire, Point Mills. Old Quay Inn, Devoran. Public Transport. None useful. Map: OS 104 Redruth and St. Agnes. Also Cornwall Council Mining Trails leaflet, covering all Mining Trails, from TICs; downloadable. |
| The Route in Outline above may be sufficient for the more experienced walkers, in conjunction with judicious use of Ordnance Survey Explorer sheet 104, to follow my Alternative Walkers Coast-to-Coast Mining Trail route from Portreath to Devoran and Penpol. Others may prefer to have more detailed and explicit route directions. I have therefore prepared a .pdf file of full route directions. This includes many intermediate distances. It also includes GPS grid references for interest along the way and for significant points where, for instance, my route diverges from the official cycle route or rejoins it. For these full Detailed Route Directions click here. Please note that these directions include the shortest and fastest route from Wheal Peevor to the Wheal Rose Farm marker stone. There are two alternative routes: one across Radnor Golf Course adds about 100 yards, a much longer one, curving north on bridleways and byways to Wheal Rose hamlet, adds just under a mile. To see these alternatives, please look at the route directions for my Inland Scorrier walk. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|