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Coordinates | 50°39′29″N4°45′50″W / 50.658°N 4.764°W Coordinates: 50°39′29″N4°45′50″W / 50.658°N 4.764°W |
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Lambshouse and Gull Point Quarries are two disused slate quarries between Tintagel and Trebarwith at Lambshouse Cove on the north coast of Cornwall, South West England. The quarries were latterly worked jointly as one site and were abandoned by the turn of the 20th century. It is likely that Lambshouse Quarry originated at the cliffs at the north of the cove while Gull Point was to the south.
The quarry site cuts a deep "D" shape into the cliffs immediately due south of the Tintagel youth hostel building and is known as Lambshouse Cove. The near vertical cliffs around the cove are almost entirely artificial and the workihgs of drills can be seen in the rock wall. [1] The quarries are just south of Long Grass Quarry and just north of Dria Quarry.
The quarry provided a source of Upper Devonian slate and Lower Carboniferous slates of a greyish green colour used predominantly for roofing. A "box cave" at sea level produced a darker green slate considered to be of higher quality.
The quarries along this coastal stretch possibly date back to the 17th century. By 1896, Lambshouse Quarry employed 38 workers - 33 indoors and 5 outdoors. At the time, the site was operated by Harveys of Hayle. [1] It was still operational in 1907. According to OS maps, Gull Point was still in use in 1884 but had been abandoned by 1907.
Lambshouse and Gull Point quarries have some of the best preserved remains of all the quarries along this coast. There is a cluster of three horse or donkey whims where stone was hauled up in buckets at the end of ropes. The best preserved of these which served Gull Point quarry still has its intact mechanism pit and cable tunnels. One of the most striking features of Lambshouse Quarry is the giant spoil tip cascading down the cliffs to the sea. Just to the north of this is the current youth hostel building. This originally housed the office, powerhouse and smithy for the quarry and dates back to at least 1884. The youth hostel doubled for the coastguard station in the 1981 BBC serial The Nightmare Man .
Tintagel or Trevena is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England. The village and nearby Tintagel Castle are associated with the legends surrounding King Arthur and in recent times has become a tourist attraction.
North Cornwall is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is also the name of a former local government district, which was administered from Bodmin and Wadebridge 50.516°N 4.835°W. Other towns in the area are Launceston, Bude, Padstow, and Camelford.
Treknow is a small village in Tintagel civil parish, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom: it is the second largest settlement, and is located between Trevena and Trebarwith. It is situated 19 miles (31 km) north of Bodmin, 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of Camelford, and 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Tintagel, grid reference SX056869
Mullion is a civil parish and village on the Lizard Peninsula in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The nearest town is Helston approximately 5 miles (8 km) to the north.
Bossiney Haven is a small cove in the civil parish of Tintagel. It is on the north coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom and a mile east of Tintagel and three miles west of Boscastle. The South West Coast Path closely follows the coast above the cove.
Trebarwith Strand is a section of coastline located near the coastal settlement of Trebarwith on the north coast of Cornwall, England, UK, 2+1⁄2 miles (4.0 km) south of Tintagel. It has 800m of sandy beach contained by cliffs in which natural caves are found. The beach can only be accessed at low tide. The strand was once used to land ships to export slate from the nearby quarries while sand from the beach was used for agricultural purposes. The view from the beach is dominated by rocks 300m offshore known as Gull Rock or Otterham Rocks.
The geology of Cornwall, England, is dominated by its granite backbone, part of the Cornubian batholith, formed during the Variscan orogeny. Around this is an extensive metamorphic aureole formed in the mainly Devonian slates that make up most of the rest of the county. There is an area of sandstone and shale of Carboniferous age in the north east, and the Lizard peninsula is formed of a rare section of uplifted oceanic crust.
Stepper Point is a headland on the Atlantic coast in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is at grid reference SW911781. Stepper Point and Pentire Point stand at either side of the mouth of the River Camel; Stepper to the south-west, Pentire to the north-east.
Gillow State Quarry is a small, disused slate quarry between Tintagel and Trebarwith on the north coast of Cornwall, South West England. The quarry was abandoned by the turn of the 20th century.
Long Grass Quarry is a small, disused slate quarry between Tintagel and Trebarwith on the north coast of Cornwall, South West England, which was worked up until 1937. It was the last of the slate quarries on this stretch of coast to be abandoned.
Bagalow Quarry is a disused slate quarry between Tintagel and Trebarwith at Bagalow Cove on the north coast of Cornwall, South West England. The quarry was worked from the 1830s into the early part of the twentieth century.
Tintagel Slate Quarries fall into two categories: the series of quarries lying between Tintagel Castle and Trebarwith Strand on the north coast of Cornwall, South West England and the open cast quarries further inland. There are around eight cliff-edge quarries as well as two wharfs, all of which are now disused as well as four inland sites, two of which are still in operation. The first quarry to be worked appears to have been Lanterdan at some point in the fifteenth century, while the last of the coastal quarries, Long Grass ceased operations in 1937. The remains of the coastal quarries occupy coastal land owned by the National Trust and most are easily accessible from the South West Coast Path. The Prince of Wales Quarry has been turned into a country park by North Cornwall District Council.
Hole Beach is a bathing and surf beach just north of Trebarwith Strand on the North Coast of Cornwall, South West England. The beach can be accessed from Trebarwith at low tide or by a zigzagging quarryman's track from the village of Treknow. The beach is sandy and the water is good for surfing. The sheer cliffs to the north of the beach form part of the now disused Caroline Slate Quarry and were created by quarrymen suspended by ropes attached to strongpoints some 75m on the clifftop above. A cave 15m above sea level is artificial and is also the result of quarrying- this is the "hole" that gives the beach its name. There is also a natural sea cave at the rear of the beach. One of the stone strong points still perches on top of the near vertical cliffs 75m above the beach, as does a second building which was possibly used as a toolshed.
Bowithick Quarry is a disused nineteenth century open cast slate quarry situated in Trebarwith Valley on the outskirts of Tintagel in Cornwall, South West England. The quarry ceased operations in 1913.
Lanterdan Quarry is a disused open cast slate quarry between Tintagel and Trebarwith on the north coast of Cornwall, South West England. The quarry is the oldest, largest and most spectacular of Tintagel’s coastal quarries and was worked from the fifteenth until the early twentieth century. A distinguishing feature of the quarry is a 25m high pinnacle of inferior slate.
Tintagel Haven also known as Castle Cove is a small beach on the north side of Tintagel Island on the north coast of Cornwall, South West England.
Penhallick Wharf is a disused coastal loading dock between Tintagel Castle and Trebarwith Strand on the north coast of Cornwall in South West England. The wharf served the Tintagel Slate Quarries, particularly those without easy access to the loading beach at Tintagel Haven. These include Caroline, Dria, Bagalow and possibly Lambshouse and Gull Point quarries.
West Quarry is a disused open cast slate quarry between Tintagel and Trebarwith on the north coast of Cornwall, South West England. The quarry ceased operations towards the end of the nineteenth century.
50.674°N 4.741°W