Embedded Files
OLD LIZARD HEAD VIEWED FROM "YELLOW CARN", & HOLESTROW.
BELOW; FORGOTTEN ABOUT AS AN INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE, PENTREATH BEACH WAS THE SITE OF A NUMBER OF MID 18TH CENTURY QUARRIES. SOAPROCK WAS EXTRACTED FROM DEPOSITS IN THE SERPENTINE TO MANUFACTURE THE EARLIEST ENGLISH PORCELAIN IN LONDON AND LATER IN BRISTOL, WORCESTER AND LIVERPOOL. THE PICTURES BELOW SHOW THE LOCATION OF SEVERAL EARLY CLIFF QUARRIES BETWEEN CAERTHILLIAN AND KYNANCE.
HOLESTROW- DESCRIBED BY REV JOHNS IN THE 1840S -"THIS REMARKABLE SPOT APPARENTLY OWES ITS FORMATION TO THE SUDDEN FALLING AWAY OF AN IMMENSE MASS OF THE CLIFF, THE PERPENDICULAR SIDE OF WHICH IS TURNED TOWARDS THE SEA,BUT SEPERATED FROM IT BY A DEPRESSED PLATFORM OF TURF AND LOOSE STONES WHICH LATTER HAVE FALLEN FROM THE ROCKS ABOVE. THE BASE OF THE FALSE CLIFF... IS CONCEALED BY MASSES OF ROCK, WHICH FROM THEIR FRESH COLOUR, APPEAR TO HAVE RECENTLY FALLEN, AND THE WHOLE PLACE RESEMBLES A HUGE QUARRY." JOHNS DESCRIBES "CURIOUS VARIETIES OF VEINED SERPENTINE... OFTEN WORKED FOR CANDLESTICKS, INKSTANDS LETTER PRESSES ETC"
BELOW; LION ROCK AND HOLESTROW LOOKING FROM OLD LIZARD HEAD.
BELOW; THE REMAINS OF THE MAUD, A FLEETWOOD STEAM TRAWLER WHICH WAS BEING TOWED TO HULL FOR REPAIRS WITH A TUG ESCORT WENT AGROUND HERE IN 1912. THE CAPTAIN AND CREW BELIEVED HER TO BE TAKING ON WATER AND WAS ABOUT TO SINK, SO SHE WAS ABANDONED ABOUT 3 MILES OFF THE SHORE. HER CAPTAIN AND CREW WERE PICKED UP BY THE TUG. AT A SUBSEQUENT BOARD OF TRADE ENQUIRY EVENTS PROVED THAT SHE WAS NOT SINKING AND SHE WAS RUN AGROUND WITH HER HATCHES OPEN.
THERE HAVE BEEN NUMEROUS SHIPWRECKS ALONG THIS COAST INCLUDING IN 1935 WHEN THE GERMAN OIL TANKER D.L. HARPER, THEN THE 4TH LARGEST OIL TANKER IN THE WORLD, RAN ASHORE IN FOG WHERE SHE REMAINED FOR SEVERAL DAYS AND WAS IN DANGER OF BEING WRECKED UNTIL TOWED OFF. SHE SUFFERED MINOR DAMAGE, BUT IT COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH WORSE FOR THE LIZARD COASTLINE AND THE MOUNTS BAY, CORNWALL IF SHE HAD REMAINED THERE. LUCKILY,A DISASTER WAS AVERTED.
KYNANCE & THE RILL FROM CAERTHILLIAN/PENTREATH BEACH. VIEWS FROM THIS SECTION OF COAST WERE COMMONLY USED BY THE VICTORIAN WATERCOLORISTS SUCH AS CASLEY AND THE HART FAMILY.
CAERTHILLIAN- A SHORT DISTANCE FROM THE SEA, LOOKING INLAND UP THE STREAM VALLEY IS THE SITE OF CAERTHILLIAN MILL.
PENTREATH SOAPROCK QUARRIES*
MOST PEOPLE WILL NOT BE AWARE OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WEST COAST OF THE LIZARD PENINSULA IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE FIRST ENGLISH PORCELAIN. KYNANCE COVE AND GEW GRAZE WERE THE FIRST SITES WHERE THIS MINERAL WAS EXTRACTED IN THE 1730s AND 1740s, BUT IN 1751 PENTREATH BEACH BECAME AN IMPORTANT SITE FOR THE VAUXHALL PORCELAIN FACTORY. THE BEACH AND CLIFF UP TO THE SOUTH SIDE OF KYNANCE CONTINUED TO BE QUARRIED BY A NUMBER OF FACTORIES INCLUDING WORCESTER UNTIL THE 1820s. BELOW ARE PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE EARLY BEACH QUARRIES.
*For more information See Book "SOAPROCK COAST- THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH PORCELAIN". by Robert Felce, Publ. 2011
2010
Google Sites
Report abuse