Tresayes Quarry

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Tresayes Quarry
Tresayes Signage (geograph 7405677).jpg
Cornwall UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location in Cornwall
Locationnear Roche
Nearest cityTruro
OS grid SW 995585
Coordinates 50°23′32″N4°49′20″W / 50.39211°N 4.82215°W / 50.39211; -4.82215
Area1 hectare (2.5 acres)
Operated by Cornwall Wildlife Trust
Website www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-reserves/Tresayes

Tresayes Quarry is a nature reserve near Roche in Cornwall. It is also a geological nature reserve of Cornwall Wildlife Trust and is designated as a (non-statutory) County Geology Site. [1] The entrance to the reserve has a small car park with a gate at ///graver.brimmed.caveman There is a geology trail [2] linking Roche Rock to Tresayes Quarry.

Contents

Geology

The quarry is notable for a granitic pegmatite intruding hornfels, originally a sedimentary rock thermally metamorphosed by the St Austell granite intrusion. The pegmatite is composed of orthoclase feldspar, quartz, mica, and minor tourmaline and cordierite. [3] Associated with the pegmatites, rare elements, such as niobium, cerium and beryllium also occur. [4]

History

When the quarry was first opened in the late 19th century, it was a source of pure feldspar, which was used in the glass making industry. The site was known locally as the Glass Mine or Polpuff. It closed for several years but reopened in 1917, during the First World War, to provide feldspar for electrical porcelain with at least 50 bal maidens separating the feldspar. [5] The bal maidens were laid off in 1921 but some of the survivors were interviewed in 1980 by John Tonkin, who lived in Roche. [6]

Since 2011 the quarry has been an EarthCache, visited by the geocaching community. [7]

References

  1. ↑ "County Geology Sites". Cornwall Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  2. ↑ "Roche Rock and the Tresayes Trail" . Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  3. ↑ "Tresayes Quarry (Polpuff Quarry)". mindat.org. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  4. ↑ "Tresayes". Cornwall Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  5. ↑ Mayers, Lynne (2008). Bal Maidens: Women and Girls of the Cornwall and Devon Mines (2nd ed.). Cinderford: Blaize Bailey Books. pp. 126–129. ISBN   978-0-9556896-1-1. OCLC   663435621.
  6. ↑ Mayers, Lynne (2009). Voices from the Dressing Floors, 1773-1950. Cinderford: Blaize Bailey Books. pp. 92–98. ISBN   978-0-9556896-2-8.
  7. ↑ "Tresayes Quarry - Roche Glass Mine" . Retrieved 7 April 2023.


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