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    

The Tinner's Way - part 2

The Men-an-Tol

We must have been busy for it has taken us over a year to do the second part of the Tinner's Way (see previous posting). On a blustery but sunny day, we parked at the top of the Try valley, beneath Mulfra Quoit and headed off across Bosporthennis Common, supposedly following some boundary stones. All we could see were some posts planted by Cornwall Council warning us of some proposed designation. We  did not know whether to pity the man who had to walk out here and plant these notices, or envy him that he had a day out walking the moors and could call it work.

The path gave out as we approached Brook Cottage, surely one of the more remote dwellings in Cornwall, but we managed to re-join the correct route with a bit of help from a native and his charming dog, heading over the ridge into a familiar landscape under the shadow of Carn Galva with the Nine Maidens on our left, Men Scryfa on our right and the Ding Dong in the distance.

The Ding Dong mine

There could be only one place for lunch where one of us climbed through the hole to cure her back (before lunch): the Men-an-Tol.

From here, it is an easy walk up to the Ding Dong: surely one of the great positions for any engine house, rivalling the Crowns at Botallack and Wheal Coates at St Agnes. Experience reminds us that the path is non-existent going downhill but that is the well-known 'Penwithian disappearing track effect' which says that anything the OS says about Penwith should be taken with a pinch of Cornish salt.

A track leads past another wonderful engine house, through Tredinneck, towards Bodrifty where we discover that someone is trying to develop a Land Rover graveyard with several left out in the open at the mercy of the brambles: reminiscent of the character Landy from the children's book.

Memories of Landy

From here we dived into the undergrowth, emerging at the back of Mulfra Hill from where we could  rejoin our original trail.  

A great day out: three hours and 4.8 miles (without detours). Eventually we will reach Cape Cornwall.

There is a map here and pictures here.