The quay at Mylor is thought to date from the 18th Century, initially built of slate and then rebuilt in granite. Just upstream at the head of the creek was a tidal mill. In the late 1760s, work began on a new a double-wheeled watermill behind the quay to replace the tidal mill. Water was supplied by a leat to power the waterwheels and the water exited from tail races through two arched openings in the front of the quay. The mill was in use until the early 20th Century.
Wild lilies grow in the shady areas of the track.
The wild arum (Arum Maculatum) is known by over 90 colourful folk names including "Lords and ladies", "Priest in the pulpit", "Devils and angels", "Cows and bulls" etc. Most of these have sexual connotations as the inflorescence (known as the "spadix") is obviously phallic, and is sheathed suggestively by the encircling, leaf-like spathe. Another name "Cuckoo Pint" alludes to the time of the flower's appearance being with the first cuckoos; "pint" stays on theme, being the Old English slang for penis (a contraction of "pintle").
All members of the lily family, including wild arum, are poisonous to dogs.
The association of holly with winter celebrations predates Christianity: druids were known to use holly wreaths which, it is likely with some discomfort, they wore on their heads.
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.
The settlement here is known as Restronguet Barton.
Despite the illusion of being a French word, Restronguet is pronounced as if it contained no "u" and it was like any other Cornish place name: "re-stron-get", with the emphasis on the middle syllable. The reason is that it was originally a Cornish name, starting with ros, meaning "promontory". The other part has been suggested as coming from tron (literally "throne", also used to mean "elevated") and koes (meaning "wooded"). Alternatively it could be from the less glamorous stronk, meaning "dirty water". It's possible that the spelling gained its French appearance after the Norman invasion.
During the Second World War, there were British and American army camps on the hill near Restronguet Barton. Between the two camps was a prisoner-of-war and refugee camp which housed over 100 men. Many of the refugees were Ukrainians who had fled the Communist regime and the men created a chapel from one of the Nissan huts in the camp. The prisoners of war were repatriated after the war but many of the refugees found work on the farms in the area and a number settled permanently. In 1948, the Nissan Hut chapel was blessed by three Roman Catholic priests, and a priest from Falmouth made a regular visit to take services. When the camp finally closed, an eight foot high cross was built on the site of an old guard house. A re-dedication took place near the start of the 21st Century with a number of the original refugees and their descendants attending.
Lantern Gardens is a valley garden that is open to visitors daily and welcomes dogs on leads. The garden includes a broad range of plants including shrubs, herbaceous perennials and greenhouse plants. Admission is by donation (which goes to Children's Hospice South West), and plants from the garden can also be purchased.
The Pandora Inn dates back to the 13th Century, when there was a farm on the site. Later it became an Inn and was known as the Passage House as a boat was kept there to link the post road from Truro to Falmouth, which cut across the creek. The Inn changed its name to The Ship and was finally renamed in memory of the HMS Pandora sent to Tahiti to capture the mutineers from the Bounty. The captain of the HMS Pandora was from Cornwall and is reputed to have bought the inn on his return. The HMS Pandora was ill-fated, sinking on the Great Barrier Reef with the loss of many of the crew and mutineers, and the pub also had its share of bad fortune in 2011 when a fire badly damaged the building. The proverbial silver lining was that fire had destroyed all the 1970s additions to the pub, and it has now been restored using traditional materials and building methods.
As you pass the Inn, note the gold postbox celebrating the 2012 Olympic medals for sailing.
Timber for the mines was unloaded on the wharfs of the Restronguet creek and stored in timber ponds on either side of Strangeweke Quay close to the Pandora Inn. The seawater brought in on the tide gradually saturated the wood with salt and prevented the timbers from rotting or warping.
During winter, from November to March, winter heliotrope is visible along the edges of roads and paths as carpets of rounded heart-shaped leaves.
The name of the plant is Greek for "sun direction" because the flowers turn to follow the winter sun.
The Restronguet Sailing Club (RSC) was founded in 1933 and had its first Olympic gold medallist in 1948. By 1965, it had become so popular that it outgrew its location on Restronguet Creek and was relocated to its current position near Mylor Harbour. More recently, Ben Ainslie learned to sail here and went on to win a number of Olympic medals and receive a knighthood.
In the 19th Century, Restronguet Creek played an important part in the mining industry. Minerals were exported and coal was imported from wharves along the creek from Devoran to Point. Waste water from the mines caused gradual silting of the creek and this accelerated during the 19th Century, eventually leading to the complete silting of Devoran harbour.
The Redruth and Chasewater Railway was an early industrial line which evolved from John Taylor's tramway and eventually served many of the mines in the Camborne-Redruth area. The line ran to Devoran and Point Quay on Restronguet Creek and initially used horse traction. Later, steam locomotives were used but these terminated at Devoran. For shunting at Devoran and for the extension to Point Quay, trains were still hauled by horses. It was a single railway line all the way from Redruth with passing places. If two trains met between passing places, the drivers drew lots to determine who had to reverse.
Greatwood House was built in 1840 as a private residence by the family who owned Trelissick. It has been put to a number of uses over the years including a market gardening estate and a hotel. In the 1970s it became derelict and was subsequently converted into flats. It has since gone full circle and been restored into a single large residence.
There are oyster beds nearby in the creeks.
Oysters feed by filtering plankton from seawater and a single oyster can filter around 100 litres of water per day. As with mussels, during the warmer months (May-Aug, remembered as not containing the letter "r"), plankton species which are poisonous to humans are around which can accumulate in shellfish and cause tummy upsets. Consequently the Falmouth Oyster Festival is in October.
During Victorian times, the building of railways allowed primrose flowers picked in the Westcountry to be on sale in London the next day. Picking was done on a large scale but eventually became unfashionable, being seen as environmentally destructive. However all the evidence gathered suggests as long as the flowers were picked and the plants were not dug up, the practice was sustainable.
Greatwood Quay was built in the 18th Century, mostly from slate, with granite used for the outer face. It provided a landing stage for Greatwood House, accessed via the public footpath.
From the quay, you may be able to see the sailing boats of the local oyster fishermen.
The Fal estuary is home to a native species of oyster known as the "flat" or "edible" oyster. These are fished sustainably by the last commercial fleet in Europe to use only sails and oars. The fishermen, known as "oyster dredgers" or "dregemen", work the oyster beds with triangular iron dredges which drag along the riverbed as the boat is allowed to drift. The use of non-powered boats is a local bye-law to guarantee the stocks. This has proven effective: the Carrick Roads stocks are as good both in quantity and quality as they were 50 years ago, whilst the Oyster fishing industry has died out on the East coast of England due to overfishing.
Gorse is present as two species along the Atlantic coast and size is the easiest way to tell them apart: Common Gorse bushes are up to 10ft tall whereas Western Gorse is more of a mat - less than 1ft tall. Common Gorse flowers in spring whereas Western Gorse flowers in late summer - early autumn.
The grey heron is an unmistakably massive bird with a 6ft wingspan and yet weighs in at only 1-2kg. The call of the heron is equally unsubtle - a loud croaking "fraaank" noise that is more like grating metal than the sound of birdsong. Herons are most commonly seen in or near freshwater where they hunt for fish. The number of breeding herons has been steadily growing in the UK due to mild winters as they struggle to feed during cold weather when ice forms a barrier on the surface of water.
During the last Ice Age, up to about 12,000 years ago, ice sheets up to 2 miles thick lay over the northern half of Britain. The weight of this ice was immense and it pressed down onto the Earth's mantle which is a treacle-like liquid rock. The mantle was slowly squished away from beneath the Earth's crust beneath heavy ice. When the ice melted, the pressure was released and the mantle began to flow back creating a super-slow motion rebound effect which will take thousands of years to level out. The result is that the north-western edge of Britain is rising and the south-eastern part is sinking. As South Cornwall has been slowly sinking into the sea over the past few thousand years, this has compounded the rise in sea levels, creating creeks from flooded river valleys.
Blackthorn and hawthorn trees both grow in similar places but in each season there are different ways to tell them apart.
In spring, blackthorn is one of the first trees to flower. The white blossom appears before the leaves in April. In warm weather, the leaves may quickly catch up and this is when it can get mistaken for hawthorn, which produces leaves before flowers. However, there are a few other ways to distinguish the flowers: blackthorn pollen is orange whereas hawthorn is pink, fading to black. Hawthorn petals overlap each other whereas blackthorn is more "gappy".
In summer, the leaf shape can be used to tell them apart. Blackthorn leaves are a classic leaf shape with slightly serrated edges. Hawthorn leaves have deep notches dividing the leaf into several lobes a bit like oak.
In autumn, pretty much all hawthorn trees have small red berries, even the windswept specimens on the coast. Blackthorn trees may have purple sloes, but not all the trees fruit each year. Some years seem to result in a lot more sloes than others.
Hawthorn trees are often a little bigger than blackthorn, especially in harsh environments such as on the coast. Blackthorn tends to form thickets whereas hawthorn are typically distinct trees. Hawthorn bark is usually shiny whereas blackthorn is dull. The thorns on hawthorn tend to be shorter (less then 2cm) and point slightly forwards on the stem. Blackthorn has longer spikes that stick out at right angles.
The little egret - a white member of the heron family - can be seen on many of the creeks in Cornwall and yet is only a very recent settler in Britain. The birds first appeared in Britain in any number in 1989 and the first to breed was in 1996 in Dorset.
Mylor is the name of the parish but there is not as such a village of Mylor. The closest thing to this are the separate villages of Mylor Bridge, which is the largest in the parish, and Mylor Churchtown which includes the harbour as well as the church.
The name "Carrick Roads" is thought to be a mangling of the Cornish Karrek Reun meaning "seal rock". It is now known as "Black Rock" and located in the centre of the harbour entrance, between Pendennis Point and Carricknath Point, and marked with a large conical beacon. It is still used at low tide as a haul-out spot by seals.
After the pumps at the Wheal Jane mine were finally switched off in 1991, the rising water flooded the former working areas and exposed ore, picking up waste and dissolving the minerals. It turned out that Wheal Jane is connected to a number of unsurveyed 18th century workings, into which the rising water also flooded. In 1992, the acid mine drainage escaped through surface water systems into the Carnon Valley, and an orange plume of pollution flowed down Restronguet Creek into Carrick Roads, killing fish. Remedial measures were fairly quickly put in place to stop the pollution which have now been replaced by longer-term measures.
Lichens are a partnership of two different organisms: a fungus providing the "accommodation" and an alga or cyanobacterium providing the "food" through photosynthesis. The fungal partner provides a cosy, sheltered environment for the alga and tends it with mineral nutrients. However, the alga partner is more than simply an imprisoned food-slave: it is such a closely-evolved alliance that the fungus is dependant on the alga for its structure. If the fungal partner is isolated and grown on an agar plate, it forms a shapeless, infertile blob.
One in five of all known fungi form lichens. Studies suggest that many species of fungi that form lichens started out from ancestors that lived on organic waste. Fossils have also revealed that the symbiosis between algae and fungi dates back more than 400 million years roughly to the time when plants first evolved from green algae.
Lichens often grow on sick or dying trees so some gardeners assume that the lichen might be harming the tree. In fact, it's purely because these trees have fewer leaves so there is more light available for the algae inside the fungus to photosynthesise. It's too dark under many healthy trees for the lichen to grow.
You'll notice that there is lichen growing on many of the headstones in the churchyard. Of the 2,000 British species, over a third have been found in churchyards and more than 600 have been found growing on churchyard stone in lowland England. Almost half the species are rare and some seldom, if ever, occur in other habitats. Many churchyards are found to have well over 100 species.
Lichens obtain nearly all their nutrients from the atmosphere and therefore can be very sensitive to air pollution. As a general rule of thumb, healthy lichens means clean air, but more specifically, different species have been found to be sensitive to different pollutants. By identifying common species that exhibits change for a particular pollutant, lichens can be used as an early warning dashboard showing not only how much air pollution there is but also what kind.
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