Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape

"The more mechanical you are, the freer you are." --- Robert Wilson

For this occasion to visit the UK, I decided to finish up the remaining WHSs in the UK except some islands. As such, it was my first time to travelled to the south-western England: Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. If I am going to this part of England, I thought, I'd better go all the way to Land's End and thus chose St. Just as the place to visit among the 8 locations of this WHS.

There was an incredibly knowledgeable woman at the Penzance tourist office. She had good answers to just about everything I asked her and was passionate about the area she served. While asking her these questions, I revealed to her my plan in minute detail in the St. Just area, including the departure and arrival times of several buses I was going to take, and she was sort of excited, saying, "I have never met any tourists as organized as you are." Well, a plan doesn't always go as planned. 

I stayed for one night at a YHA Land's End in St. Just, with my main reason being the price: 23 GBP for a single room. My plan was to walk from the hostel through Cape Cornwall to the Botallack / Levant Mines in the morning, catch a bus to Land's End in the afternoon, return to Penzance by bus and then to Exeter by train in the evening. But …

Cornwall voted for Brexit. This is somewhat surprising as Cornwall receives plenty of EU funding, being one of the poorest regions in the UK and qualifying for EU regional funds as a consequence. When visiting, I ran into plenty of "Funded by the EU" signs.

One part of the answer are myths about fishing rights. But I think parts of the answer are related to this world heritage site.

I had been to Cornwall as a kid and I had very fond memories of the place: It has great beaches and the weather tends to be better than in the rest of the UK. You can even find palm trees.

We did not pay attention to the decaying industrial heritage of the region, so I had to come again. I started my visit in the St. Just mining district, coming in by bus from Penzance where I had stayed for the night. The coast line around St. Just is dotted with very scenic abandoned mines on cliffs. Simply spectacular. I walked along the coast line and took picture after picture.

From there, I went to Hayle and found myself downloading the official Unesco map to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Hayle was an important town and harbour during industrialization. During it's heyday, the town was home to two major foundries, the Cornish Copper Company and Harvey & Co. You can still see their buildings in the town center. The town is now …

I visited this WHS in May 2019. Even though I was short of time, I was determined to drive on from Durdle Door to visit the rather remote mining landscape around St Agnes. I will surely be revisiting this WHS in the near future and next time I'll focus on other sites closer to St Just.

This time round I made the most of a gorgeous bright Spring day (although chilly and windy) to hike from St Agnes Beacon to Tubby's Head. Obviously my primary focus weren't the military remains along the Cornwall and West Devon Coast but the industrial remains of this rather complete and unique mining landscape.

Even though I'm certainly not a fan of industrial heritage, this WHS is one of the best examples of a huge mining landscape - where nature has been exploited and the landscape has been shaped into a once productive industrial landscape which is still aesthetically pleasing to see and discover. The surface remains around the Wheal Coates area include a boiler pond, stamp and whim engine houses, the Towan Roath shaft pumping engine house, a stack serving flues from whim engine houses and calciners, gas engine foundations, dressing floors, an exposed section of flue from a calciner which was used for roasting tin ore (the shaft is so deep that if you throw a rock down the hole, you won't hear a sound!), a double-bayed calciner, etc.

Nature is taking over once again and several sea birds, passerines …

The scope of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape can seem rather daunting, with its multiple components, but after my visit last May, I felt I had a better understanding of its role in the Industrial Revolution. I appreciated the recommendations of other reviewers on this site to help focus my travels, and used the quaint town of Tavistock as a base for my two day tour. From Tavistock, which is well described already, I followed its canal south to the Victorian river port of Morwellham Quay. This open air museum includes a copper mine, a village with a large water wheel used to crush manganese, and a quay once famed for the amount of copper transiting through it. Similar to Morwellham was the atmospheric port of Charlestown, where fog was rolling in over tall ship replicas when I arrived. This coastal harbor in southern Cornwall was also used to transport the region's copper out to the world. Some of this copper ore was shipped north to the Welsh port of Swansea, which, thanks to its nearby coal reserves, became famous as a copper smelting city in the 18th and 19th centuries. One can easily enjoy touring Cornwall and Devon with no knowledge of this World Heritage Site, but I really appreciated learning about the region's mining history.

Logistics: I found it easiest to visit sites via a rental car, since there are so many sites spread out across the region. In addition to Tavistock, Morwellham Quay, and …

This site is hard to grasp since it is so wide spread, perhaps too wide. When I was traveling SW England this summer I wanted to see a representable part of it and decided to visit the two nearest areas: The Tamar Valley and the Cartoon Mining District. The Tamar Valley has a lot to offer: The lively town of Tavistock has evolved architectonically nicely from medival origin to its peak time in the 19th century. It has a impressive church where as often in England friendly elderly people drank and offered tea! You can walk along the quite natural river Tavi and parallel along the historically important straight Tavistock Canal. Have also a short look at the neogothic Mount Kelly College and if you like English cemeteries (as I do) there is a beautiful one right south of Dolvin Road. I can recommend the B&B The Cornish Arms, also for great Dinner and Breakfast. The nearby Tamar Valley is a lovely lush river valley, taken back by nature. There is a the interesting and historically important industrial site of Morwellam Quay. Also in this area are the Calstock Aqueduct and the estate of Cotehele: This is the mansion of a family that was closely linked with the industrialization of the area and includes an old mill and an industrial site at the river. I felt that this combination of nearby sites gave me quite a good overview of this WHS but I wanted to see at least one of …

March 2018 - Cornwall was very high on our list. Not because of the industrial heritage, but we wanted to see the beautiful gardens and rhododendrons.

Afer spending the night in Exmoor NP, we continued our journey to Cornwall. We passed the City Tavistock, which apparently is part of the WHS. But we couldnt see anything really inetresting. We also passed St. Austell and the Wendron basin. Nothing out of the ordinary but surely important in history.

After spending the next night at Lands End, we entered the St. Just Mining Area.

That is quite impressive due to its position directly on the cliffs and the mysterious ruins. We took an 1h hike around the mines. The museums were closed that day, or at least that morning.

We still had a stop at the Port of Hayle after visiting some gardens and having Cornish Cream Tea, but again, i really didnt see the OUV. 

My parents live in Cornwall, so I often have the opportunity to see another of the 10 subsites. To date I have visited five of them.

St Just Mining District - in the far west of Cornwall you will find this is one of the most photogenic parts, with derelict mineshaft pumping stations clinging to the rocky coast. I suggest heading to the Count House at Botallack and walking from there.

The Port of Hayle - near to St Just, much less picturesque. This was an industrial centre, and you can see the remains of a foundry and millpond.

Gwennap Mining District with Devoran and Perran and Kennall Vale - a good way to see this subsite is to cycle the 11 mile miners' track. It takes you through quarry 'valleys'.

Tregonning and Gwinear Mining Districts with Trewavas - a split subsite: the main part is to an area of hilly heathland with good views from the top. Several miles away is also inscribed the village of Rinsey, where - like at St Just - you will find picturesque cliffside mine buildings.

Tamar Valley Mining District with Tavistock - this site is in the far east of Cornwall, where it borders Devon. Again, it is a split subsite, with one part featuring Kit Hill (very windy when I visited) and the other referring to the town of Tavistock (technically in Devon). It is a handsome mining town that was prettified by the 7th Duke of Bedford.

The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is one of the more remote sites on the UK mainland. The closest international airport I could fly into was Bristol, still a 2-hour and 45-minute drive away from my first destination. The WHS is spread out over 10 locations, most even much further at the tip of Cornwall and totally out of reach for my weekend trip. Together they form a partly relict and partly evolving cultural landscape, the result of 18th and early 19th-century copper and tin mining.

I had been advised to start at St. Agnes Mining District. St. Agnes is a coastal village with a mining history since prehistoric times. I had brought with me a print of a 9km circular walk along the coast, taking in some of the mining ruins. After parking the rental car in the town center, I started walking immediately. The signage isn't great, but somehow I found my way to the Trevaunance Cove. From here copper ore was shipped to Wales for smelting, and coal and other goods were unloaded for use at the mines. Already on this first stretch, I saw a couple of the characteristic chimneys from the former mines. It's a very pretty landscape.

After my lunch at the Driftwood Spars (a former warehouse), I started hiking the full loop along the coast. There were numerous people about, often walking their dogs or just enjoying the sunny weather as I did. The leaflet I brought pointed out several …

This was the site with which I finally 'completed' my home island of Britain so obviously I was always going to be happy with it, but it formed the basis of a lovely long weekend in the 'West Country'. It also enabled us to discover what “World Heritage” is in Cornish “Ertach an Bys” if you were wondering.

The idea of trotting around disused mines and remnant industrial wastelands may not instantly appeal; my wife wasn't necessarily so keen on the idea. But the reality of a trip can actually be very enjoyable, mostly due to the natural setting of the sites. This is best seen at the wonderful village of St Agnes. It sits above a quintessentially Cornish beach, where we sat and watched the coast guard rowers set off around the headland, before looking up at the looming chimney stacks of the former mine on the cliffs above, a more enjoyable way to spend a Saturday morning would be hard to find. Just outside the village are the stunningly situated industrial remains of Wheal Coates which to my eye were the highlight of the WHS, not just because of the impressive vistas, but because you can also comprehend the mines stretching out under the sea below.

Our weekend took us around every one of the inscribed locations, the other highlights were the unique open air auditorium of Gwennap pit, made famous by Methodist preacher John Wesley. The surrounding landscape was also frequented by the Heavyweights of the early …

I visited the Geevor Tin Mine in Cornwall. There is an informative website (how to get there, opening hours, etc.) at http://www.geevor.com/

I took bus no 17 from Penzance. There are a couple of buildings one can visit and a very interesting underground tour to a mine tunnel - highly recommended.

All the mines in the area were family businesses, with just 10-20 employees. The Geevor mine is about 300 years old and was just recently discovered.

If you stay in Penzance, there are lots of other great places to visit in the area: St Ives, Minack theater, Scilly island, etc.

Over a few days I managed to visit a number of the sites:

Hayle - port for exporting tin

Wendron mining district - the Poldark mine with its interesting museum and exhibits

Portreath harbour - port for importing coal and exporting tin; many old mine workingws in this area

St Agnes - many derilict mine wotkings

Luxulyan - a mining village and Treffrey viaduct

Tamar valley - several derilict smelters seen from the train to Gunnislake

I visited all of the above by train or bus from Truro