The port of Charlestown was an enterprise of Charles Rashleigh, initially to export copper ore from the mines from around St Austell to the smelters in South Wales. The port town was planned in meticulous detail, including the wide road that could accommodate 6 carts abreast. Small cottages were built near the harbour for workers, a terrace of fashionable Georgian houses with decorative alcoves was constructed for merchants and an inn (The Pier House) was built right beside the harbour where business could be conducted.
At the beginning of the 19th Century, Charlestown became the main port for the export of China Clay from the St Austell area and enjoyed a monopoly until the 1820s when competing ports were built at Par and Pentewan. Despite this, the port prospered until the First World War then gradually declined through the remainder of the 20th Century as the design of the port was unable to accommodate large modern ships. The last commercial shipment was in 2000.
By 1907, a pipeline was in place from the pit at Carclaze to transport china clay as a slurry all the way to Charlestown. Two clay driers were built at Charlestown. These used coal-fired underfloor heating to evaporate the water. Tunnels were dug for tramways to transport the clay to chutes above the quayside. The pipeline was used until it was replaced by road transport in the 1960s. The remains of a loading chute is still present along one side of the dock and part of the tunnels is now open to the public as part of the Shipwreck Museum.
The walk continues uphill to the left but first you may wish to explore the harbour.
To continue the walk, follow the tarmac uphill to some metal railings with a Public Footpath sign.
Join the path and follow this to the top of the hill where a kissing gate leads ahead and the gravel path continues to the right.
The harbour itself was designed by the marine architect John Smeaton whose other achievements included the Eddystone Lighthouse now on Plymouth Hoe and the pier at St Ives. The outer wall is angled to protect the harbour from waves driven into St Austell Bay by southeasterly winds. The remains of capstans can still be seen on the ends of the piers which were used to haul ships into the harbour when there was no favourable wind to sail in. The inner harbour is gated so that ships could remain afloat at all states of the tide and be continuously unloaded and loaded, ready to set sail immediately on the next tide. Charles Rashleigh had plans for an ambitious extension to the harbour which would have added a further set of piers to the outside to create a large outer harbour beyond the tidal beach area but was never able to realise them as he was swindled out of his fortune by two of his employees.
The protected harbour at Charlestown is now used for sailing ships. The combination of the tall ships and undeveloped location has made it a popular Hollywood filming location which features in Pirates of the Caribbean and many others.
The lines of buoys out from Ropehaven were England's first offshore mussel farms. A line runs between two weights on the bottom and this is lifted to a couple of metres below the surface by the floats. The mussels are grown on ropes suspended from this which don't touch the seabed, ensuring they don't pick up grit and as many barnacles. They are naturally-occurring blue mussels which at their planktonic stage look for any suitable attachment to grow on, and attach themselves to the ropes. The ropes are initially coiled to suspend them in the top couple of metres of water where the mussel plankton (known as "spat") are most prevalent. Once the mussels begin to grow, the ropes are uncoiled to give them more space and to protect them from seabirds and other surface predation. EU restrictions on importing shellfish have reduced the size of the viable market for mussels so there is a pilot project to try growing seaweed on some of the ropes instead.
Charlestown Coastguard lookout was rediscovered as abandoned, derelict and overgrown with vegetation in 2001. It was restored by students at St Austell College and volunteers from the National Coastwatch Institution (NCI). It re-opened in 2003 and is operated by NCI volunteers. The lookout has a viewing deck open to the public with a bench overlooking the bay. There's also an information shed with posters about marine life etc.
Crinnis Mine was in operation before 1809 and by the 1830s it had produced tens of thousands of tons of copper ore from shallow depths. The mine was renamed a couple of times later in its life (Great Crinnis Mine, and Carlyon Consolidated Mine) but was less productive in these periods despite some lead ore and iron ore also being extracted. One of the main things that kept it going towards the end was the high level of silver content within its lead ore - for its last 3 years it was effectively a silver mine. It finally closed in 1881. The mine buildings included an engine house and blacksmith's and there was a reservoir to store water. Some of the mine adits exit onto the Carlyon Bay beaches.
Carlyon Bay Hotel was built in 1925 on the site of Great Crinnis and Carlyon Mine (an engine house was where the lawn is now) and originally named St Austell Bay Hotel. It was damaged by a fire in 1931 but some of the furniture was saved by throwing it out of the windows. The hotel was soon restored and became a favourite holiday destination of Edward VIII during the 1930s.
Before the 19th Century there were no beaches at high tide at Carlyon Bay. The beaches today were formed from the mineral waste washed down the (appropriately-named) Sandy River and consequently the "sand" is quite gritty. By the time the first edition OS map was recorded in the 1880s, the low water mark was roughly where it is now but the amount of beach at high tide has increased further since then. Climate change may reverse that.
Carlyon Bay consists of three (now joined) beaches: Crinnis - where the path leads down from the road, Shorthorn - in the middle, and Polgaver - at the far end, which was Cornwall's first nudist beach but is a little too public for that now. The relatively chunky quartz particles within the sand, as well as being sharp to walk on in bare feet (and presumably uncomfortable for nudists), don't drift around like the more ancient fine sand found on most Cornish beaches so the sea can pile it up more easily, sometimes resulting in some steep drops in the beach gradient concealed beneath the water which can surprise paddlers.
Around the 1920s-30s, a recreation ground known as the "Cornish Riviera Club" was created at the top area of Crinnis Beach, initially as tennis courts and a lido swimming pool. At the end of the Second World War, an auditorium was built here, possibly by re-using the site of a wartime aircraft hangar. The concert hall went onto be known as Cornwall Colosseum and eventually closed in 2003 due to competition from other music venues. Whilst the venue was in decline in the late 1980s, planning permission was granted to redevelop the site into several hundred holiday homes. Development proposals have been altered over the years and one of the considerations now for new properties built on a beach is rising sea levels and storm surges driven by climate change.
Along this section of the coast path, the direction of play is from behind you so it's worth keeping a look out for golf balls over your left shoulder.
After Par Harbour was constructed there was concern that sediment washing down the river from Sandrycock and Porth mines would clog it. Therefore an adit was constructed in 1842 to divert the sediment to Shorthorn Beach.
On the First Edition OS map in the 1880s, a row of 8 mine shafts is marked along the line of the adit to Shorthorn Beach that runs beneath what's now the golf course. Some shafts correspond to locations of trees on the course (fencing can be seen beneath the one nearest to the coast path). Another shaft is now beneath a fairway and three others are beneath areas of rough grass on the course (these are visible as less verdant patches on aerial photographs). It's possible that the shafts were used to create the tunnel and maintain it to prevent blockages (as a very large amount of gritty sediment continued to wash down the river).
Golf developed in The Netherlands during the Middle Ages and was introduced into Scotland towards the end of this period where it evolved to its present form. The word golf is thought to be a Scots alteration of Dutch colf meaning "club". Golf is first documented in Scotland in a 1457 Act of the Scottish Parliament, prohibiting the playing of the games of gowf and futball as these were a distraction from archery practice.
The main line railway through Cornwall was originally conceived as a means to link the port of Falmouth to London. However, whilst funds were being raised for the railway, much of Falmouth's Packet trade was transferred to Southampton. The line was built to Truro instead but initially failed to make money and was bought up by Great Western. Once established, the new railway allowed rapid exports of perishables to London including fresh flowers and fish. It also made large-scale tourism possible and the term "Cornish Riviera" was coined.
East Crinnis was a copper and tin mine which was operating by 1820. By the mid 1820s it included a mineral railway. Work stopped in 1841 and it was combined with Pembroke Mine in 1852 to form South Par Mine. It worked again for roughly a couple of years in the 1860s but was idle by 1864.
Lamellyn was originally called Nansmellyn, recorded in 1296, which means "valley mill" in Cornish. It's one of several place names including Lanteglos church at Camelford where the initial "N" in nans has been replaced by an "L" once understanding of the meaning of the original Cornish words began to fade.
There are over 280 species of hoverflies in Britain. As the name of the family implies, they are very good at hovering completely stationary in flight and can switch from very fast flight to a perfect hover in the blink of an eye.
Extracts from ivy were used in herbal remedies and still form the basis of some modern-day cough medicines. It is said to have both antibacterial and antiviral properties. A study for English Heritage also found that roadside ivy absorbed particulates from the atmosphere which may lead to its use in improving air quality.
Ash trees can live for over 400 years and the life of the tree can be prolonged further by coppicing. Ash was traditionally coppiced to provide wood for firewood and charcoal. It is unusual in that it can be burnt green (without requiring seasoning first) as the living wood has a very low moisture content.
Young beech leaves can be used as a salad vegetable, which are described as being similar to a mild cabbage, though much softer in texture. Older leaves are a bit chewy, as you'd expect.
Magpies sometimes venture from the fields to bird tables in the residential area.
Since members of the crow family will eat the eggs and chicks of other birds, there has been concern that magpies might have an effect on the songbird population. However, an extensive study by the British Trust for Ornithology using 35 years of data found that the presence of magpies appeared to have no measurable effect on songbird numbers. It is thought that availability of food and suitable nesting sites are probably the main factors limiting songbird populations. Hedgerows are a particularly important habitat.
The first record of the settlement of Biscovey is from 1169 as Botscalvai. The name originally started with bos - the Cornish word for "dwelling". In 1210 this was more clearly recorded in Bosconevey and again in 1310 as Boskenvay. The remainder of the place name could possibly have been based on a personal name.
Hart's tongue ferns thrive in shady places and are tolerant of the lime used in mortar so are sometimes found growing in old walls. It's an evergreen so leaves can be seen all year round but there's usually a flurry of new growth in mid March when new leaves can be seen gradually unfurling over a number of days.
Blackberries are closely related to raspberries and technically neither is a berry but an aggregate of many individual tiny fruits, each containing a tiny stone like a miniature cherry.
Hazel has evolved to be pollinated by the wind. The catkins give the wind access to the pollen and the pollen grains themselves repel each other so they do not clump together and are individually carried on air currents. Insect-pollinated plants have instead involved sticky pollen that bees can collect more easily.
Fungi are often most noticeable when fruiting, either as mushrooms or as moulds but their main part is a network made up of thin branching threads that can run through soil, leaf litter, wood and even living plant tissue.
Pembroke Mine was known to be working in 1792 and is recorded as extracting copper from 1815-1839 and operating under the name North Pembroke Mine in 1840. In the 1850s it was combined with East Crinnis Mine to form South Par Mine. Then in 1863, Wheal Edgcumbe and Pembroke Mine were combined and reopened as New Pembroke Mine. This had two engine houses and was still operating in 1901.
Lady's thumb, also known as "redshank", grows on moist, disturbed ground often along field edges and tracks. It is related to water pepper and has similar long leaves but the lady's thumb leaves have a dark blotch (hence the thumbprint basis of the name). Its flowers are also in bigger clusters of pink rather than the puny white strand that water pepper produces. It is edible but without the chilli-like heat of water pepper (which provides a more memorable way to tell them apart).
The plant has a plethora of local names in different parts of the UK but East Anglia deserves a mention for its baffling "saucy alice" and - an alternative suggestion for how the leaves got their markings - "devil's arse-wipe".
Three tin streamworks were located along the Sandy River before it went into the adit under the railway. These each included an array of slime tanks to capture small particles of tin ore washed down the river from the mining operations further upstream. A further streamworks was located on Shorthorn beach after the stream exited the cliff through an adit.
The bicycle was invented in the 19th Century, initially without any form of propulsion - pushed along with feet and free-wheeled downhill.
By the 1840s, pedals had been fixed to one of the wheels resulting in propulsion albeit difficult to control - in 1842 a gentleman in Scotland "bestride a velocipede... of ingenious design" was fined five shillings for knocking over a young girl.
By 1885, bicycles with a chain drive and pneumatic tyres resembling modern bicycles were being manufactured in England. These were known initially as "safety bicycles".
More than a billion bicycles have since been produced and since the 1970s the production of bicycles has increased substantially above that of cars - there are now more than double the number of bicycles produced than cars each year.
Like most trees, conifers produce resin to heal wounds. However, conifers also have resin ducts which routinely release it to reduce insect and fungal attacks. As well as including insecticide and fungicide compounds, the resins can also chemically disguise the tree from insects, attract their predators and even emulate hormones to disrupt insect development.
Wheal Regent was a copper mine which was later included as part of West Crinnis. It is not known when they operated but they were recorded as disused in the 1880s. It is possible that they might have already closed down before the start of Victorian times as quite a lot of documentation remains from this period. One author suggests that they may have closed before 1823.
Crinnis Mine, also known as Appletree Mine was situated on the opposite side of the road from Wheal Regent. It was a copper mine that was known to be operating in the 1840s-60s. By the 1880s is was recorded as disused.
Holly has separate male and female plants, so not all holly bushes produce berries - only female plants. In less biologically-enlightened Pagan times, holly was thought to be a male plant (the spikes symbolising aggression) whereas ivy was regarded as a female plant (symbolising attachment). The Christmas Carol "The Holly and the Ivy" is thought originally to derive from Pagan fertility myths onto which Christian symbolism has subsequently been added.
Young squirrels suffer a high mortality rate in the wild and less than one in three make it to adulthood. The ones that do, live on average for about 6 years, although a lucky one can live to about 12 years old. In captivity, where there are neither predators, cars nor cold winters to contend with, they can reach 20 years old.
The tall chimney was part of a large china clay pan kiln opened in 1906 and was the lower of two built by the Lovering company. China clay was piped from the pit at Carclaze into an array of settling tanks at the rear of the building. The clay was then dried in the building and then moved on wagons through underground tunnels to the harbour via the building that is now the Shipwreck and Heritage Centre. It closed in 1968 and the main building burned down in 2005.
Before the Industrial Revolution, there was no Charlestown and no harbour. In its place was West Polmear (polmear means "large cove" in Cornish) - a small fishing village, launching boats from the beach. Other than a handful of houses, there were just a couple of buildings associated with fishing such as fish cellars.
Chestnut trees deciduous but when in leaf, are recognisable by their large, long leaves with serrated edges. In September and October they can also be recognised by the nut cases which are spiky all over (conkers have infrequent spikes with bald areas in between) and the spikes are sharp.
The chestnut tree originated in Sardinia and there is evidence of its cultivation by humans from around 2000 BC. It was introduced into Britain by the Romans who planted chestnut trees on their campaigns to provide an easily stored and transported source of food for their troops.
In England, the chestnut was originally known as the chesten nut. Both this and the modern French word châtaigne descend from the Old French word chastain.
Unlike many nuts which are designed to last through the winter and then germinate in the spring, chestnuts germinate in the autumn and waste no time putting down some roots. The leaves and stem follow in the spring and their established root system gives these a head start.
Since chestnuts don't need to hang around for a long time on the ground, they are nutritionally more similar to a cereal - containing principally starch and sugars - than a typical nut. They contain very little fat and are consequently much less calorific than other nuts: the kernels contain around a third of the calories of a similar weight of other nuts.
The size of the nuts from wild British chestnut trees is quite variable but the largest rival the nuts sold in supermarkets. Nuts that are very flat or less than the girth of your little finger are not worth harvesting; anything bigger is viable. A painless way to extract the nuts is to grip the husk between your feet and rub it between your boots or against the ground. This saves having to handle the spiky husks as the spikes are very sharp and tend to break off under the skin to leave behind splinters. Often the husks contain one (fairly round) large nut surrounded by several small, flat nuts, so it's worth squeezing out quite a few husks to get the larger nuts. Discard any nuts with holes in (as they will contain maggots) or that are very dark in colour - the fresher ones will be "chestnut" brown rather than dark brown.
To roast chestnuts, prick each of your chestnuts with a skewer or slit the shell with a knife - this is vital to stop them exploding (and disappearing into dust). Bake them in a hot oven for at least 10 minutes. Wild chestnuts are harder to shell than the shop-bought variety as the shells are much thinner and the nuts are often smaller. An easier way to separate the edible part from the shell is to simply slice the shell in half and then scoop out the contents with the point of a knife blade. Also this way, the bitter pith covering the outside of the nut is left behind in the shell. The contents of the nut should be fluffy and pale yellow; discard any that are brown. Separating the flesh from the shells is a fairly tedious process, but with a few friends armed with large cups of tea, a formidable amount of chestnut can be extracted which can be used to make stuffings, soups or whizzed into flour and added to bread recipes. It also freezes nicely so it can be stored up for Christmas recipes.
Mussels are filter feeders and their "foot" is used to generate threads which they use to anchor themselves to rocks. Mussels clump together both to create a more secure attachment to the rock and also to trap water at low tide.
Mussels are preyed on by dog whelks which dissolve a hole in their shell, through which they inject digestive enzymes which result in mussel soup. Mussels have evolved a defensive strategy whereby they lasso invading whelks with their threads and tether them to the rocks, where the whelks starve to death.
Fortunately, consumption of mussels by humans is a little less fraught with danger provided you don't harvest them between May and August: a species of plankton that is poisonous to humans can be hoovered up by the mussels in this period. Make sure you collect more mature mussels of at least 50mm in length as smaller ones are less good to eat. It's worth studying the tides to get the beach for a low spring tide as this is when you'll find the biggest, juiciest mussels. Ideally, take a bucket and bring your mussels home in clean seawater. Once harvested, soak them for a few hours somewhere cool in clean saltwater to allow them to purge any sand (don't submerge them in freshwater as this will kill them). Sort through them, tapping any that are open on a surface to see if they close shut. Discard any that remain open or any that are damaged (they have perished and are not safe to eat). Before cooking, mussels must be thoroughly cleaned and rinsed and the "beard" (threads that secure the mussel to the rock) should be removed.
A leat in the Luxulyan Valley was constructed in the late 1790s to supply water to Charlestown Harbour, 10km away. Its source is at the Cam Bridges on the River Par and the system included some large storage ponds in the valley just above Charlestown harbour. The water supply was used to keep ships afloat within the gated dock at low tide (which gradually leaked water) and to periodically flush out the harbour. Waterwheels on the leat provided a source of power for a number of industries in Charlestown including a china stone mill and a coal tar refinery.
The leat system was cleaned regularly to remove debris such as leaves and branches and re-tar the wooden boards which carried the leat. This work was often done in January and February once all the leaves had finished falling. The work also included crawling in the water through the underground tunnels to clear these which must have been chilly.
The National Coastwatch Institution was set up to restore visual watches along the UK coastline after two Cornish fishermen lost their lives within sight of an empty Coastguard lookout in 1994. The first station - at Bass Point on The Lizard, where the fishermen had died - opened in December 1994. The organisation, staffed by volunteers, now runs 50 lookout stations around England and Wales.
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