Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WORTH A TRIP
MINING SITES
Tin mining was once the staple industry in West Cornwall, and deserted engine houses still punctuate the crag-
backed coastline.
Geevor Tin Mine
( 01736-788662;
www.geevor.com
;
adult/child £10.50/6.50;
9am-5pm Sun-Fri Mar-Oct, to 4pm Nov-Feb) was the last mine in West Cornwall to close (in 1990), and has
since been resurrected as a fascinating museum. Above ground you can wander around the old machinery where
the tin ore was extracted, while below ground you can take a guided tour into the mine itself - a maze of dank
shafts and tunnels where miners worked for hours at a stretch, enduring ever-present dangers of rockfalls, air pol-
lution and underground explosions. The mine is easy to spot on the B3306, just before you reach the village of
Pendeen.
More mining heritage comes to life at the
Levant Mine & Beam Engine
( 01736-786156;
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/levant-mine
;
adult/child £6.50/3.20; 11am-5pm Sun-Fri), one of the world's only
working Cornish beam engines. These pioneering steam-powered engines were used to pump floodwater from the
deep underground shafts and bring ore back to the surface, and transformed the Cornish mining industry into a
world leader; the engine design was later exported across the world. It's in Trewellard, just past Pendeen; look out
for the brown signs.
Clinging to the sea-battered cliffs nearby are the evocative remains of
Botallack Mine
. Sitting at the base of a
rugged cliff and regularly battered by waves, it's perhaps the most picturesque of Penwith's crumbling mines-
tacks. It's also renowned as one of Penwith's deepest mines; some of the shafts extend right out beneath the ra-
ging Atlantic waves, and it's said that the miners could sometimes hear the rumble of rocks overhead being
moved around by the ocean currents. Various trails wind around the site; it's just along the coast from Levant
Mine, so park there and walk.
Further west along the B3306 is the old minestack of
Carn Galver
, situated near the mining ruins of the Porth-
meor Valley, while
Ding Dong Mine
, perched on the hilltops near the Mên-an-tol, is reputed to be Cornwall's
oldest mine. Official records date back to the 17th century, although legend has it the mine has been working for
over 2000 years, and was once visited by Jesus and Joseph of Arimathea. It's tricky to find; just before you reach
Morvah, turn off the coast road towards Madron, drive past Lanyon Quoit and turn left when you see the sign to
Bosiliack.
Penwith's Ancient Sites
Penwith is littered with archaeological remains, built by Neolithic settlers sometime
between 4000 BC and 2500 BC. They offer a fascinating insight into our ancestors' past,
but some are very tricky to find; a detailed map such as the
Ordnance Survey Explorer
102
will come in very handy.
QUOITS & STONES
Most dramatic are the
quoits
(known elsewhere as dolmens): three or more upright stones
topped by a capstone, built on top of a chamber tomb. Most were probably once covered
by a barrow of earth or stones, but over the centuries the stones have been plundered or
worn away to reveal the supporting structure.
