The Tinner's Way - interlude

A number of people - well, I am sure one of you did - have asked us what the Tinner's Way is. We found it in Belerion, the wonderful book by Craig Weatherill. Here he talks about the ancient trackways of West Penwith and, in particular, the Old Land's End Road (Vounder Gogglas) which goes from Penzance to Land's End; and the Old St Ives Road which joins St Just to St Ives and the coast near Marazion. The latter is the Tinner's Way.

We cannot better his description: No one can be sure just when Penwith's ancient trackways came into being. They were certainly in use during the Bronze Age, with the advent of tin production, and could well have been trading routes as far back as the neolithic period, to carry locally-made stone axes from their 'factories' to points of distribution. 

Both ... have important archaeological sites close by, and much of their routes were used later on when the parish boundaries were marked out. Talking of the Tinner's Way, he goes on: to travel this route ... is without doubt the finest way of seeing the spectacular and lonely Land's End moors.

The route passes by sites like Carn Kenidjack with its neighbouring stone circle and holed stones; Chun castle with its associated quoit; the Men-an-Tol, the Men Scryfa, Lanyon quoit and the Nine Ladies (Boskednan) stone circle; Mulfra quoit and Castle an Dinas. Could you ask for more?

We have also walked St Michael's Way which links St Ives and Lelant to Marazion, and which shares some of the Tinner's Way. The Old Land's End Road is on our list.

St Michael's Way map
Tinner's Way map