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FROM YOUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS

Updates from Cornwall Archaeological Society’s Area Representatives

MAY 2020

Issue 42

THIS MONTH’S FEATURES

MEMORIES OF A MILESTONE MONITOR

‘WE SHALL MEET IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY’

RAMBLING AROUND TREGAVETHAN

LOO ROLLS

BASE INSTINCTS

A VISIT TO HELMAN TOR

MEMORIES OF A MILESTONE MONITOR

Susan Boggis has sent in this illustrated account of her monitoring of historic milestones in

east Cornwall:

MILESTONES In December 2018 I answered a request from the Milestone

Society to help monitor Milestones in my local area.

Easy Peasy! What can go wrong? Just look out for a few lumps

of stone by the road as I'm driving past!

Well, this has taken me on a journey of discovery which has

ensured that I now drive with my eyes on the hedgerow and not

on the road, nearly caused emergency stops, and has given me a new

saying , D o D ( Danger of Death), as I'm ignored on the verge side by

haulage lorries totally oblivious to my need to photograph the Stone from its best side.

With the enthusiasm and knowledge of Ian Thompson, my "Guidestone" on my quest, I

managed

Any opinions or errors in these articles are those of the authors and must not be assumed to be those of Cornwall Archaeological Society.

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to seek out, catalogue, photograph and report on the 24 stones in my care.

It wasn't all plain sailing. I had to take out an extra pair of eyes for spotting. My system

of balancing a margarine tub with the stones reference for photographic identification was

flawed.

I could identify the stone at home but was left with a blot on the landscape.

Best trowel was left at furthest stone location and had to do a u-turn to retrieve.

Quiet roads suddenly became rush hour status with log jams of lorries glaring at me to finish

and get out of the way. I was here first (in my hi-vis vest of course), tough!

Reports were confusing. Is it damaged or worn from age?

Is it atmospherically moss covered or choked in greenery?

Luckily my guide, IT, answered every question I threw at him, however mundane or stupid.

So after three months of work I had a list of catalogued stones, most reported to HER to

update their site re the current status.

I liaised with agencies and met new friends. I developed new computer skills and found

interesting heritage sites with a wealth of local information I didn't know existed. I enlisted my

local friends in a network to report to me any damage they notice on their walks, jogs, cycles

and litter picks.

So now all that is left is to monitor them, visually as I drive past, most of them weekly as I go

about my daily routine. Three-monthly visits for a bit of maintenance with some clearance.

It has been extremely satisfying. I recommend anyone to take care of a few stones in their

vicinity. It's not hard and it's very rewarding. I now regard them as special (MY stones!) when

I pass each one

and feel satisfied that it's visible and in good condition for

everyone to see.

Anyone can take part. Get out in your community

and see if you can help keep this part of our heritage

in

good condition, visible and protected for future

generations to enjoy. We may even have fewer

lost tourists if they could see which way to go!

Susan Boggis

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‘WE SHALL MEET IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY’

Adrian Rodda describes a recent visit to a site once thought to have been devastated for ever

by mining activity but he discovered that nature is making a comeback:

Now that we are allowed to meet with one friend, socially distanced in a park and even

drive to do it, where better to meet than the Red River Valley, famed in song and dance.

(Though I suspect it refers to somewhere in USA.) Part of the valley, once described as the

most visible derelict land in West Cornwall, a dump which had grown over the remains of

mines and tin stream works has been reinvented as the Tuckingmill Valley Park. It is visible

from the A30 and accessible from the Redruth to Camborne road (A3047) at the bottom of

East Hill where Tolgarrick Road ends with the Tuckingmill Hotel (SW 66039 41261). I

remember what an eyesore it all was in the 1950s. Now tidied up by Kerrier District Council,

it is part of the World Heritage Site for Cornish mines and very close to Heartlands, Pool.

The HER Cornwall Council Interactive Map references stream works along the river but

these are invisible and completely overgrown. Strangely, the two most obvious monuments

to the activities are not included in the map or apparently on the HER. The place to read

about them is www.cornwall.gov.uk The Tuckingmill Valley Park Management Plan page 21.

The most obvious is the Tolgarrick Road Arsenic Calciner, built in 1905. There is nothing to

explain what it is on the site itself and my queries to socially distanced walkers showed

them to be totally mystified. Arsenic had to be burned off the tin ore before it could be sent

for smelting. So it had to stay in Camborne, but it had a value as a poison and in medicine in

very small doses or in the production of green or yellow paint. The gas given off from the

calciner, where the ore was roasted, was drawn through convoluted stone flues, known as

labyrinths, where it cooled and deposited crystals on the surface which were scraped off by

hand. Some flues included a scrubber building just before the smoke and gas entered the

high chimney. Only the foundations of the Tolgarrick Calciner remain and they are

completely overgrown. However the remains of the last section of the flue can be seen

leading into the scrubber. Here the gas was passed through a shower of water drawn from

the river and over limestone blocks. This was supposed to reduce the acidity of the gases

which then floated up the chimney and over the valley and surrounding homes. The

chimney is mapped at SW 65981 41398. The structure sits on an island in the river.

The best example of a calciner and flue can be found at Botallack NT site, near St Just in

Penwith, but that does not have a scrubber, possibly because the smoke is discharged so

close to the sea.

Another tall chimney is not marked on the map or the HER. It is in the woodland at aprox

SW65973 41472. I can’t find what this was used for, but an old picture of the valley in its

working days has a large stamps, where ore is crushed, which needed a chimney. This is odd

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as usually the stamps were worked by water power, so I might be completely wrong. When

Kresen Kernow opens again I have a mission to solve the mysteries of its use.

Arsenic Scrubber with remains of the labyrinth along the bank Photo: Adrian Rodda

The scrubber and base of the chimney Photo: Adrian Rodda

Photo: Adrian Rodda

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This woodland chimney may be a mystery to me, but is still a target for graffiti tags.

Photo: Adrian Rodda

Text and photos: Adrian Rodda

RAMBLING AROUND TREGAVETHAN

Ann Preston-Jones and Andrew Langdon have been exploring the quiet countryside near

Truro and have come up with some remarkable findings:

One of our longer walks took us through Tregavethan, a small hamlet only a mile from

Threemilestone but in remarkably beautiful and peaceful countryside. To the east of the

road, just after entering the hamlet, is a small enclosure about 7m square with a 1.9m high,

ivy-clad stone wall, a 1.4m wide entrance facing onto the road and every sign of having been

recently tidied up. However there was no-one around to tell us anything about it. This

curious little enclosure is not in the HER and is marked but not named on the 1880 OS map.

The 1907 map provides the only clue, labelling it ‘Pound’.

The entrance to the pound, facing onto the road

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Second edition 25 inch map, c 1907, from Cornwall Council’s HER mapping

Although it is now a sleepy, remote-seeming hamlet, Tregavethan was once a place of

importance. The manor is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086, when it was held by Hamelin

from the Count of Mortain. It was once an extra-parochial chapelry linked to Kea parish and

even as late as c 1730 Tonkin records that they had a constable to themselves, maintained

their own poor and paid no church rates. So the Tregavethan Pound may have been the

manorial pound, in which cattle that strayed onto others’ land were held, to be released

only on payment of a fine. Up the hill above the hamlet, the HER records the site of a chapel

and cemetery. Charles Henderson notes that the chapel was first recorded in 1270 and that

just over one hundred years later, in 1390, ‘Ranulphe Nevylle and Isabella his wife had

license for the chapel of St Mary at Tregamedene …. It was desecrated at the Reformation

and the ruins were entirely removed in 1861 when the site was ploughed up’. There is

certainly no evidence of it now and the field in which it once stood is now occupied by a

solar farm, although the chapel site itself appears not to have been developed.

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The site of the chapel at Tregavethan Photo: Ann Preston-Jones

Nor is there any sign of the old manor house, which like the chapel has long since disappeared. The

building that the OS now calls Tregavethan Manor is a large modern building, hidden behind

electronically-operated gates. A few carved stones are recorded from the site and some medieval

pottery has been found there, but no in situ fabric. So perhaps this small pound is the only visible

remnant of this once important manor. (Although a large oval shape in the field pattern a mile to

the west was possibly a deer park, and perhaps associated with Tregavethan. See HER

https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MCO25184&resourceID=10

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Tregavethan Boundary Stones

For many years when driving from the A30 onto the B2284 road leading to Truro through

Shortlanesend, we have noticed a boundary stone with a letter T clearly carved on it, quite

close to the junction of the B2284 at SW 7785 4876. It is a stone which has been repeatedly

hit by vehicles, and even today it is leaning over at an angle. A little bit of delving reveals

that the stone is on a boundary of the extra-parochial parish of Tregavethan, a detached

part of Kea parish within Kenwyn. A number of boundary stones formerly marked the

meeting of parishes along this stretch of the A30, including Perranzabuloe, Kea and Kenwyn.

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Map above: Ordnance Survey 25in 1907 map showing the road junction and boundary stones. The

newly identified Tregavethan Stones are identified with red circles.

When passing along the B2284 by car we recently noticed a second bound stone with a T,

one field closer to Truro at SW 7810 4875. This stone does not appear to be in its original

position according to the OS maps and is at the entrance to a field. Further examples may

survive in the fields around beside the A30 and B2284, but these have yet to be explored.

Photo: Andrew Langdon

Photo: Andrew Langdon

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References

Henderson, C, 1958. Ecclesiastical Antiquities, JRIC new series 3.ii, 252-3

Wessex Archaeology, 2012, Tregavethan Manor, Tregavethan, Truro, Cornwall, Trial Trench

Evaluation Report

Wessex Archaeology 2010 Causilgey, Truro, Cornwall: Archaeological Desk Based Assessment (This couldn’t be found online but a report by Brannan, N. (2013). Solar PV Array, Causilgey, Tregavethan, Cornwall (Wessex Archaeology) can be found at https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/issue.xhtml?recordId=1155559&recordType=GreyLitSeries). Text and photos by Ann Preston-Jones and Andrew Langdon

LOO ROLLS

Area Rep Veronica Summers often scans the cliffs at Praa Sands, hoping to spot something

that will help archaeologists rewrite the history of the area. Her recent siting of a ceramic

toilet bowl near the cliff top left her flushed with success. It will justify a properly funded

investigation, to be followed by a pee-er reviewed article, written on… (Stop it now, Ed!).

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BASE INSTINCTS

In issue 41, there was a report of Amanda Burgon’s discovery of a miniature replica of

the Reperry Cross guidestone in her garden in Woking in Surrey. The instincts of the

cognoscenti were that the base might be discovered too; however, this seemed to be

very hopeful, to put it mildly. But, following in the footsteps of Howard Carter, a

wonderful thing, namely the base, has been unearthed by one of her team (actually her

husband but ‘team member’ sounds better) from a vast quantity of rubble:

Photo: Amanda Burgon

Photo: Amanda Burgon The Reperry Cross guidestone (Lanivet parish)

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A VISIT TO HELMAN TOR

In mid-Cornwall, it is hard to miss the looming presence of the Neolithic hilltop of

enclosure of Helman Tor (Lanlivery parish). For thousands of years it has acted as a

reference point in the landscape, as well as drawing people towards it for a multiplicity

of purposes. This Scheduled Monument was the subject of a limited excavation by Roger

Mercer, whose report can be read in Cornish Archaeology 36

(https://cornisharchaeology.org.uk/volume-36-1997/).

Looking after such a large and important site, especially keeping the vegetation under

control, is a massive undertaking and it is no great surprise that it is on the Heritage at Risk

register:

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The good news is that it has been improving thanks to the enlightened stewardship of

Cornwall Wildlife Trust, which manages the hilltop as part of its 217 hectare reserve, which

also includes the surrounding wetland.

The disruption inevitably following the pandemic has made site management even more

difficult, so what is the current condition of this nationally important archaeological site?

Controlled grazing by cattle is one method being employed by the Trust to keep on top of

scrub growth and here is one of the workers happily employed in this activity:

There has been a big increase in visits in the hot weather following the easing of the

lockdown and the worn turf is a sign of the increased footfall. Fortunately, very little litter

was seen.

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This is looking south along one section of rampart wall. At this time of year bracken growth

can be vigorous but without grazing it would be far more extensive.

This is the view south from the summit. The worn grass shows the route taken by the vast

majority of visitors. Bracken is quite dense on the left.

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Gorse is establishing itself in one section. Roche Rock and the Hensbarrow area were once

framed by these two stones (see lower picture from 2013 – admittedly not taken in

summer) but such a view is impossible at the moment:

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The next photograph is the view south from the northern extremity of the hilltop. Mercer’s

excavation was in the area to the left of the boulders in the background.

The letters ‘ILO’ can be seen carved on a boulder in the central part of the site but it is not

known what they signify.

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The panoramic views from the top are spectacular. This is looking north, with St Breock

Downs just visible in the background.

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Looking west over the scrubby wetland (streamed intensively for tin for centuries) towards

the late medieval enclosures around Trevillyn (a Domesday manor) and beyond. A sharp-

eyed viewer will be able to spot the beautifully restored Gunwen chapel on the left. This

was the homeland of William O’Bryan (originally Bryant), founder of the Bible Christians.

The slopes in the foreground contain many archaeological features including the remains of

a Bronze Age roundhouse; however, at this time of year bracken tends to obscure them in

spite of the dedicated munching by cattle.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust does a great job on this and its other reserves. Its Wilderness Trail is

highly recommended (https://www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-

11/helman_tor_nature_resrve_wilderness_trail_0.pdf). From Red Moor or Breney Common,

where nature has cloaked the industrial remains, it is possible to look up at the hilltop, and

maybe get some idea of how the approach might have looked to people making their way

there 5,000 years ago.

Area Representatives would love to hear from fellow CAS members, and the general public, about any

feature of the historic environment in their parishes, whether a new discovery, something causing concern,

or even just to answer queries. If you have any concerns, or new information, about any archaeological

feature, please contact the Area Representative for the parish. If you do not know who that is, just look at

the inside back cover of the latest journal, Cornish Archaeology 57, or send an email to

arearep@cornisharchaeology.org.uk .

Roger Smith, 10th June 2020