Читать книгу Made in Great Britain - Tom Quinn - Страница 8

This beautiful and historic stretch of coastline deserves to be far better known. It begins a little to the north of St Just at the village of Botallack, which was once an important tin-mining town. The machinery associated with the long-disused Crowns Mine remains clinging precariously to the cliffs below the village, but as the waves eat away at the rocks it is only a matter of time before the remaining structure vanishes into the sea. All along the coast here are similar echoes of the past in the form of old engine houses – the last visible remains of Cornwall’s most famous industry. Hidden beneath the cliffs, of course, are untold miles of forgotten and long-closed-up tunnels.

At Penberth Cove small fishing boats are still launched from the secluded beach – this is a glimpse of Cornwall as it might have been a century and more ago. The Penberth Valley is interesting for the remains of tiny meadows, or quillets as they were known locally – delicate flowers like violets were once grown commercially here.

Windswept and battered by gales, this stretch of coastline – taken as a whole – is an extraordinary mix of cliff, cove and headland; and wherever you walk the skies are filled with birds, including fulmar, cormorant, shag, kittiwake and guillemot.

For the archaeology enthusiast, the pattern of fields a little inland is a source of endless wonder, for many of the field patterns here are extremely ancient – certainly pre-Christian and in some places prehistoric.

SECRETS

While you’re there

Visit nearby BALLOWALL BARROW (CARN GLOOSE), where there is a Bronze Age tomb to investigate, and the ruins of Maen Castle cliff-top fort near Sennen Cove harbour, which dates back to the Iron Age.

Secret place to stay

THE SHIP INN, Mousehole (shipmousehole.co.uk). Twenty minutes’ drive from Botallack, overlooking one of Britain’s loveliest harbours.

The remains of the Crowns tin mine.