The Harbour That Would Have Turned Towan Head Into an Island
Meet the man behind Newquay’s unfinished harbour, follow the cargoes that made it worth attempting, and imagine the town that might have grown around it.
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Mines And Moving Goods
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Before the Railway: How Perran's Iron Ore Reached the Sea
Gravel Hill’s ore had the Atlantic at its feet. Reaching a ship still meant going up a cliff, along a road and into somebody else’s working day.
When Ships Sailed Up the Gannel
The families who built ships, the merchant who fought the mud, and a working river with very little interest in anyone's timetable.
From Waterwheel to Railway: The Industrial Landscape Hidden Around Holywell
Behind the beach were people managing water, grinding grain and moving heavy loads. Follow their work through a landscape that kept changing jobs.
The Smelter on the Other Side of the Gannel
Ore from Newquay crossed the Gannel to be processed near Crantock. A forgotten works connects the town’s mines to the opposite bank.
Before the Beach: Perranporth Was a Mining Town
The car-park name remembers a copper mine. A carpenter’s workshop, a chapel commission and changing mineral fortunes help put people back into the town around it.
The Strange Holes in the Rock at Fern Pit — A Gannel Mystery Since 1890
The hollows beside Fern Pit have attracted explanations for more than a century. Their history is easier to establish than their purpose.
Watergate Bay: The Hotel Waiting for a Railway That Never Came
Watergate Bay’s hotel was built for an expected railway arrival. The railway failed to turn up; the building found several other futures.
The Mine Beneath Mount Wise: Putting Newquay’s Lead and Silver Back on the Map
A mine beneath a familiar view, children whose wages went straight home, and a hillside that kept finding new jobs after the digging stopped.
The Railway to Holywell Bay That Never Was
I grew up walking this coast with a surfboard. A Victorian railway and harbour scheme makes me wonder whether I might have caught the train instead—and what would have been waiting when I got there.