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Porthtowan (Cornish Standard Written Form : Porth Tewyn, meaning landing place at the sand dunes) is a small village in Cornwall, England, UK, which is a popular summer tourist destination. Porthtowan is on Cornwall's north Atlantic coast about 3.5 km (2.2 mi) southwest of St Agnes, 6 km (3.7 mi) north of Redruth, 16 km (9.9 mi) west of Truro and 24 km (15 mi) southwest of Newquay in the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, a World Heritage Site.
Porthtowan is popular with surfers and industrial archaeologists; former mine stacks and engine houses dot the landscape. [1] It lies on the South West Coast Path.
Porthtowan lies along the 627-hectare (1,550-acre) Godrevy Head to St Agnes heritage coast, [2] which is located on the north Cornwall coast of the Celtic Sea in the Atlantic Ocean. It lies between Godrevy Head (with the Godrevy Towans) and St Agnes Head, north of the village of St Agnes. [3] [4] [5] The Godrevy to St Agnes Heritage Coast has been a nationally designated protected area since 1986. The marine site protects 40 species of mammals and amphibians. [6] [7]
Porthtowan is within walking distance of National Trust coastal and cliff-side walks. Between Porthtowan and Agnes Head is one of Cornwall's "largest remaining heathland[s]." Ironically, the heath survived – and was not turned into arable land – because of the soil contamination of previous mining activities. Few plants or species other than heathers and spiders can thrive in the area's environmental condition. [8] [nb 1]
Its name comes from the Cornish words "porth" and "tewynn" to mean landing place at the sand dunes. [1]
Porthtowan's history is associated with mining and one of its most prominent buildings is a former engine house converted for residential use. [10] [11] Allen's Corn Mill operated at Porthtowan between 1752 and 1816. [12]
Porthtowan owes much of its present-day character to its popularity as a local seaside resort in Victorian and Edwardian times when the local populace from Redruth and the surrounding areas went there, particularly on Bank Holidays. [13]
Coastal settlements in Cornwall between Perranporth and Porthtowan had copper, lead, iron, tin and zinc mines. Porthtowan mines mainly produced copper. [14]
The South Wheal Towan copper mine also operated in the area. Still visible is its Echo Corner mine stack. [1] The mine had a slide lode that intersected with the main lode, Hamptons and Downright lode. In addition to copper pyrites, brown iron ore was also found in the mine. [15]
The Tywarnhayle mine was opened in 1826 as United Hills Mine but the name was changed in 1848 to Tywarnhayle Mine. It was an important source of copper ore until about 1860. [16] Its engine house, Taylors Shaft, is visible in the hills surrounding the coastal village. [1]
The mine was located about 1 kilometre southeast of Porthtowan. It was the United Hills Mine on 3 February 1830 when an engine boiler exploded and killed nine people. [17] In 1906, money was invested to drain and work the Tywarnhayle mine. Water was piped out by Cornwall's first electrical centrifugal pumps, made by Worthington Simpson, at the rate of 1,000 gallons per minute. [1] The amount of copper ore mined between 1826 and 1906 was 86,800 tons. [18]
In Cornwall the mining industry had its own judicial system. Tywarnhayle was one of the four stannaries. There were three others: Blakemore, Foweymore and, lastly, Kerrier and Penwith. The Stannaries managed mining law, taxation, court proceedings and jails. [19]
The mine is renowned for its pseudomorphs, in this case tin oxide, or cassiterite, that takes on the shape of the feldspar crystals that it replaces within granite. [14]
Wheal Ellen was a 19th-century copper mine. Remains of the mine are visible. It operated primarily from 1826 to 1862. [1]
Wheal Lushington, also known as the New Wheal Towan, was a copper mine located on a hill overlooking the beach. The engine house that was built in 1872 was never used as an engine house and has since been converted for other uses. [20]
Wheal Towan was one of Cornwall's most prolific 18th century copper mines. [21] [22] In 1772, women and girls worked at the mines, earning 4 to 6 d per day. [23] In 1809 Wheal Towan had a cobbing shed which was a building used to break the ore up with a pointed hammer weighing up to four pounds. Teenage girls (bal maidens) sat on low benches and broke the ore to remove the rock and break the ore into small pieces. It was a loud and difficult task, but not as difficult as bucking which came next; this required the ore to be broken down into a powder or granules with a flat-ended cast iron hammer. [24]
Sometime before 1826 the mine resulted in £130,000 profit, having been mined to a depth of 150 fathoms. It was then closed until 1826. Two 80-inch cylinder steam engines called Wilson's engine from the engineer Samuel Grose (1791–1866) were used in 1826 to drain the mine. The monthly output between January 1827 and March 1828 from the engine ranged from 48.9 to 84.2 million 94 pound bushels. [21] [22]
It was also known as West Wheal Towan (1850–1867), Lelant Wheal Towan and West Wheal Lucy (1872). During the period he owned it, the mine provided Thomas Daniell (1715-1793) with an income estimated at the time as a "guinea a minute". His son Ralph Allen Daniell acquired the Trelissick estate, but in 1835 his son Thomas was declared bankrupt.
The first underground steam engine was built in Wheal Towan in 1785. It was reopened in 1872 as West Wheal Lucy and abandoned soon after. [25]
The only remains on the surface are burrows created from the mine's operations. The burrows head in the direction of Towan Cross. [26]
Porthtowan has a Wesleyan chapel. [27]
Porthtowan beach is a family and surfing Blue Flag beach. Designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), along the coast are Gullyn Rock, Diamond Rock and sandstone and slate cliffs. [28] [29] It has more recently become well known as a surf resort and the surf club building. This is where the judges can be found for the annual SAS Rip Curl Cornish and Open Longboard Championship. The beach is kept under the constant scrutiny of the St Agnes based charity Surfers Against Sewage, [30] which was founded in 1990 to improve water quality in Chapel Porth, Porthtowan, and Trevaunance beaches. [31]
Porthtowan also has a hidden tidal pool in the rocks and nestled up against the cliff. It is only accessible at low tide since the steps on the east cliff have fallen into disrepair. [32]
The Unicorn pub is a beachside bar, eaterie, hotel and hostel, which offers live music, dj's and panoramic sunset views.
Overlooking the Porthtowan Beach is the Blue Bar, which has live music or disc jockeys on the weekend. [33]
Porthtowan Beach Cafe is located on Beach Road, and serves breakfast and lunch, as well as evening feast nights. The cafe was opened in 2012 by Heather Anne Jones. [34]
Moomaid of Zennor has an parlour serving ice cream made locally at Tremedda Farm near Zennor. [35]
An amateur theatre group, Porthtowan Players, formed in 1968, [36] operates from a permanent stage facility within Porthtowan Village Hall. The group puts on a pantomime, musical theatre show, short plays and a youth production each year.
There is a bus service within Cornwall by a number of operators. The major operators in the Cornwall area are First South West and Hopleys Coaches. [37] [38] Service runs through the village of St Agnes and other towns. [39] [40] Rail service is offered out of Newquay railway station, Redruth railway station, Truro railway station and other western Cornwall municipalities, which is connected with bus service through the Ride Cornwall and Plusbus programs. [41]
Ferry service is available to the Isles of Scilly from Penzance; Padstow to Rock; and other locations. [42] Air travel is available through Newquay Cornwall Airport [43] and private jets, charters and helicopters are served by Perranporth Airfield. [44]
Perranporth is a seaside resort town on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is 2.1 miles east of the St Agnes Heritage Coastline, and around 7 miles south-west of Newquay. Perranporth and its 2 miles (3 km) long beach face the Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 3,066, and is the largest settlement in the civil parish of Perranzabuloe. It has an electoral ward in its own name whose population was 4,270 in the 2011 census.
Hayle is a port town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River and is approximately seven miles (11 km) northeast of Penzance.
Alfred Kenneth Hamilton Jenkin was a Cornish bard and historian with a particular interest in Cornish mining, publishing The Cornish Miner, now a classic, in 1927.
St Day is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is positioned between the village of Chacewater and the town of Redruth. The electoral ward St Day and Lanner had a population of 4,473 according to the 2011 census.
Poldice mine is a former metalliferous mine located in Poldice Valley in southwest Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated near the hamlet of Todpool, between the villages of Twelveheads and St Day, three miles (5 km) east of Redruth. Since the early 2000’s the area has been adopted by the local mountain biking community known as the Dice Rollers. The area is now nationally famous as the best location to ride MTB in the south west attracting attention from youtube superstars such as Ben Deakin and his friend Matt Edgie. This is a popular location for mountain bicycling
Mining in Cornwall and Devon, in the southwest of Britain, is thought to have begun in the early-middle Bronze Age with the exploitation of cassiterite. Tin, and later copper, were the most commonly extracted metals. Some tin mining continued long after the mining of other metals had become unprofitable, but ended in the late 20th century. In 2021, it was announced that a new mine was extracting battery-grade lithium carbonate, more than 20 years after the closure of the last South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall in 1998.
St Agnes is a civil parish and town on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is about five miles (8 km) north of Redruth and ten miles (16 km) southwest of Newquay. An electoral ward exists stretching as far south as Blackwater. The population at the 2011 census was 7,565.
Gwennap is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is about five miles (8 km) southeast of Redruth. Hamlets of Burncoose, Comford, Coombe, Crofthandy, Cusgarne, Fernsplatt, Frogpool, Hick's Mill, Tresamble and United Downs lie in the parish, as does Little Beside country house.
Towan is found in many placenames in Cornwall. However, The Towans usually refers to the three-mile (5 km) stretch of coastal dunes which extends north-east from the estuary of the River Hayle to Gwithian beach with a midpoint near Upton. The South West Coast Path crosses the towans.
The Truro and Newquay Railway was a Great Western Railway line in Cornwall, England, designed to keep the rival London and South Western Railway (LSWR) out of the west of the county. The line was completed in 1905 and closed in 1963.
Banns is a hamlet in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom situated between Mount Hawke and Porthtowan at grid reference SW 710 480 in the civil parish of St Agnes. The South West Coast Path is 2 km (1.2 mi) to the west of the hamlet. Banns is included in the Mount Hawke and Portreath division of Cornwall Council.
Wheal Busy, sometimes called Great Wheal Busy and in its early years known as Chacewater Mine, was a metalliferous mine halfway between Redruth and Truro in the Gwennap mining area of Cornwall, England. During the 18th century the mine produced enormous amounts of copper ore and was very wealthy, but from the later 19th century onwards was not profitable. Today the site of the mine is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
East Pool mine, was a metalliferous mine in the Camborne and Redruth mining area, just east of the village of Pool in Cornwall. Worked from the early 18th century until 1945, first for copper and later tin, it was very profitable for much of its life. Today the site has two preserved beam engines and is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. It is owned by the National Trust.
Consolidated Mines, also known as Great Consolidated mine, but most commonly called Consols or Great Consols was a metalliferous mine about a mile ESE of the village of St Day, Cornwall, England. Mainly active during the first half of the 19th century, its mining sett was about 600 yards north–south; and 2,700 yards east–west, to the east of Carharrack. Although always much troubled by underground water, the mine was at times highly profitable, and it was the largest single producer of copper ore in Cornwall. Today the mine is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site.
Wheal Coates is a former tin mine situated on the north coast of Cornwall, UK, on the cliff tops between Porthtowan and St Agnes. It is preserved and maintained by the National Trust.
The Portreath Tramroad, or alternatively the Portreath Tramway, was opened in 1815, providing a wagonway route from mines near Scorrier in Cornwall, England, to a port at Portreath. From there, it could be transported to market by coastal shipping. It was later extended to serve the Poldice mine near St Day and became known as the Poldice Tramroad, or Poldice Tramway.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Cornwall: Cornwall – ceremonial county and unitary authority area of England within the United Kingdom. Cornwall is a peninsula bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall is also a royal duchy of the United Kingdom. It has an estimated population of half a million and it has its own distinctive history and culture.
Presented below is an alphabetical index of articles related to Cornwall:
Great Wheal Charlotte, also known as Wheal Charlotte, is an abandoned copper and tin mine lying between St Agnes and Porthtowan in Cornwall, England. All that is left of the mine now is the wall and door arch of an engine house and an adjacent fenced-off mine shaft. The surviving wall is surrounded by rock debris and the extensive remains of spoil tips, mostly of bare rock fragments crisscrossed by paths that link the South West Coast Path with surrounding land owned by the National Trust. Predominantly a copper producer, in its heyday, in the 1830s, the mine extracted ore containing 7.25% copper. It may have partially closed around 1840. However, ore production was high in this year, and records of output extend at least to 1856, and possibly to 1863.