Watch Croft is the highest point in West Penwith at 252 metres (827 feet) but is only 4 metres higher than the rocky crags of neighbouring Carn Galver. Cornish place names expert Craig Wetherhill has researched the name and found it to be from its use as a lookout during the Napoleonic Wars. Before this it was known as Carn an Vyth which derives from the Cornish for "little cairn".
During the 18th and 19th Centuries, tin was extracted from the slopes of Watch Croft both using underground shafts and via deep pits from the surface. Mines included Morvah Hill mine (from which the fragment of engine house remains) and Garden Mine (where the cottage is located) which was formerly known as Wheal Osborne. The cottage is thought to have originally been the Count House (mine office).
The settlement of Rosemergy was recorded in 1327 when it was possibly also known as "Tremergy". The name Rosemergy is likely to be from the Cornish words ros which can either mean "moorland" or "promontory" and merghik, meaning "pony". The latter might have been used in a compound word such as mergh-jy, meaning "stable".
Bracken is both poisonous and carcinogenic to many grazing animals which will avoid it if at all possible. Eating bracken is not recommended as it is thought that the carcinogenic properties may also apply to humans based on the circumstantial evidence that Japan, where young bracken fronds are a delicacy, has the highest levels of stomach cancer in the world.
The northwest-facing coastline of Penwith was particularly treacherous for shipping. The high cliffs along the coast prevented ships from being able to see the lighthouses at Trevose Head or the Longships. From Cape Cornwall, the wall of granite runs towards the rocks of the Wra, or Three Stone Oar, off Pendeen, some of which are just below the surface. The cliffs continue all the way to St Ives, and part-way along is the protruding Gurnard's Head which was another major hazard for shipping.
Shafts which are fenced and completely open are one of the favourite nesting places of bats and the Cornish chough. Therefore resist the temptation to drop stones down the shafts otherwise you may unknowingly be stoning bats or chough chicks to death.
Devil's bit scabious can easily be confused with sheep bit, so much so that sheep's bit is sometimes called "sheep's bit scabious", despite not being a member of the scabious family. Both plants have blue pom-pom-like flowers and although sheep's bit has its main flowering period in May and June before devil's bit gets going, their flowering periods do overlap in the late summer. Devil's bit is usually a taller plant and has pink-purple anthers protruding above the blue flowers. It also has quite big leaves whereas sheep's bit leaves are small and hairy.
The name "devil's bit" has come from the Middle English develesbite although the thinking behind the mediaeval name is not completely obvious. According to folklore, it's from the short black root, bitten off by the devil in a sulk. The scabious family of plants are said to be named for their treatment of skin ailments so "devil's bite" could have been a name for a particular condition.
During the breeding season (beginning of April to the end of June), chough eggs and chicks are very vulnerable to predators (including dogs) and many young birds die in their first 6 months. You can make a substantial difference to their chances of survival and to increasing Cornwall's chough population by keeping dogs on leads along the coast and also by avoiding naming exact locations if you post photos on social media during this period.
Common agrimony is a native plant and a member of the rose family. It prefers less acidic soils which limits its range in Cornwall but can be found in a few places along the coast. It is recognisable by yellow 5-petal flowers on a spike which gives rise to another of its common names: "church steeples". It is also known as sticklewort as the seeds have burs that stick to passers-by. The leaves have distinctive toothed edges rather like a saw blade.
Kestrels are easily spotted when hovering, watching their prey. Whilst hovering, kestrels have the extraordinary ability to keep their head totally still, even in strong winds.
Mining has been carried out in the area on a small scale since at least Tudor times. In 1507, "Whele Chapel Morveth" was mentioned as a "tinwork" and then there is a gap in documentation until the mid-19th Century, although it's thought that some of the remains of workings are likely to date from the period between the two.
Morvah Consols was known to be in operation in the 1850s and again in the 1870s. In the last year of its operation, an engine house contained a multipurpose engine that was used both for pumping water from the mine and for crushing the ore. A walled yard contained tin dressing floors and a smithy were also situated close by.
There was an attempt to re-open the mine in 1928 but this didn't succeed.
In 1896 a chapel and holy well was recorded in a field at Tregaminion near the coast. By the 1960s just two stones were found which might have been all that was left of the chapel. In the 1970s the well was also thought to have been destroyed. However in 1999, volunteers from Morvah cleared the vegetation, rediscovered the well and restored it.
In May 1895 the steamship "Paknam" was transporting a cargo of coal and pig iron from Glasgow to France. As she approached Cape Cornwall the pilot was asleep after a long spell on watch and the captain was on the bridge. The ship ran ashore under Morvah cliffs in thick fog and began to fill with water. The crew declined to be rescued with rocket apparatus and instead rowed ashore to Portheras Cove (described at the time as "Botheras Sand") in one of the ship's boats whilst the captain and a skeleton crew remained onboard the grounded ship overnight. The boat capsized the as it reached the shore (likely due to a groundswell on the steeply sloping beach) and one of the crew suffered a bad leg injury. The cargo and materials were eventually salvaged.
Two butterflies commonly found in fields and on the coast are the Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper (also known as the "Hedge Brown"). These are both orange and brown and have a black-and-white spot on each wingtip. Gatekeepers normally have a double white dot on each black spot whereas meadow brown usually just have the one.
Another common brown butterfly found in both woodland and along hedgerows is the Speckled Wood. It also has a black-and-white spot on the wingtips but the wings are also patterned with lighter dots (as in the photo) and there are more spots on the rear of the wings.
The spots are there to confuse predators such as birds who at a quick glance might see them as a pair of eyes. The location of the rings at the wingtips give the impression that a creature with eyes that far apart must be quite big and may eat birds!
The magpie is a member of the crow family and like other crows is omnivorous, feeding on pretty much anything it can find although it prefers high energy foods. Magpies spend most of their life in a 6 mile radius of where they were born and live in loose social groups. They will form gangs and use complex social strategies for hunting and tackling predators. Names for a group of magpies include a "tiding", "charm" and "chatter" (the latter reflecting their social communication).
During the 19th century, Trinity House became increasingly concerned at the number of ships being lost along the West Penwith coast and in 1891 decided that both a lighthouse and foghorn was needed here. The construction was a large-scale engineering project that involved levelling the top of the headland by creating a huge retaining sea wall, and consequently took a number of years. Pendeen Lighthouse was finally lit in 1900 and was manned until 1995. As well as the 17 metre tower to support the lamp, residential accommodation was built for the lighthouse keepers which even included enclosed gardens, although in the harsh maritime climate these didn’t turn out to be a huge success. Drinking water was collected on the flat roof of the accommodation block and stored in an underground tank. The original oil-fired lamp is on display in the Trinity House National Lighthouse Centre in Penzance. Although the optic weighed 2.5 tonnes, it was floated on a bath of mercury so it could be set in motion by the slightest touch.
During Victorian times, two corn mills - known as Chypraze Mills - were located beside the stream at Portheras Cove, above and below where the coast path footbridge is now. In the 1920s, one of the buildings was re-used as a tin streaming plant.
Portheras Cove is composed of fine, white sand mostly from seashells with areas of boulders either side.
For decades, sharp fragments of metal from a shipwreck were buried in the sand but this was finally cleared in 2004 although it's possible that an odd fragment may still be buried deeply and could be excavated by a violent winter storm.
There's a small beach at high tide which expands by up to five times at low tide which includes rocks to the left side of the beach joining it to Boat Cove. The cliffs are unstable and prone to dropping rocks onto the beach so staying clear of them when choosing a spot to sit is extremely wise.
Rip currents and beach breaks are common so this combined with the remote location and no lifeguard cover makes it not a very safe beach for swimming, particularly if there is any surf.
Turn left and follow the winding path through the bracken to reach a gap in a fence (possibly with a string across - duck/lift this if so).
Continue on the path until, just after passing along the top of a wall in a marshy area, a rough earth path leads up the bank to the right.
In 1963 the Alacrity, carrying a cargo of anthracite, ran aground and was wrecked at Portheras Cove. As the wreck began to break up, the large pieces of rusting iron became hazardous for swimmers. In 1981, the military attempted to remove the wreck. However this took the form of "overenthusiastic demolition work with explosives" and the result was a beach covered in razor-sharp fragments of shrapnel that were even more dangerous to beach-goers. Until 2004, areas of the beach were out of bounds due to the metal fragments in the sand but these have now been cleaned up. When the sand is shifted during winter storms, the remains of the wreck are sometimes exposed which beach-goers need to be wary of. However, when sand levels are high, the wreck is safely buried.
The male and female parts of a foxglove flower mature at different times to help avoid self-fertilisation. This also ties in with the flowers maturing at the bottom of the spike first as pollinators often start at the lowest flower and then work upwards. They land on the mature female flowers first with a cargo of pollen from another plant, and then leave via the mature male flowers with a new load of pollen.
Choughs nest in the area and if you are lucky you may see some along the coast.
The chough is a member of the crow family, with striking red legs and a red beak. They are also recognisable from feathers, spread like fingers, on their wing tips. It was known as the "Crow of Cornwall" and appears on the county coat of arms. The birds have a loud, distinctive "chee-ow" call which is perhaps best described as resembling a squeaky dog toy! Once you've heard it a couple of times, you'll be able to recognise them from the sound long before you can see them.
Silverweed is a creeping plant which is fairly easily recognised by its silver-green toothed leaves. The silver colour is caused by hairs on the leaves. Yellow flowers with 5 petals appear in late June. It is said that the Romans used it as insoles for their shoes on long marches.
In Celtic times, fields were small and surrounded by banks or stone walls. The fields were used both for growing crops such as oats, wheat or rye, and for keeping livestock. The field shape was round or square, rather than rectangular, so that the stones didn't have to be carried further than necessary. The small size was because they needed to be weeded by hand, in many ways similar to a modern-day allotment.
The name Portheras was documented in 1317 as Portheres. The "porth" is the Cornish for "cove" and the meaning of the "eras" is thought to be "plough land". During the Early Mediaeval period when the name was likely to have been coined, cultivated land would have been a little more useful as a landmark than it is today. Back then, much more of the land would have been uncultivated moorland so the cultivated fields near the cove would have stood out more as a recognisable feature.
The Ramblers Association and National Farmers Union suggest some "dos and don'ts" for walkers which we've collated with some info from the local Countryside Access Team.
Do
Don't
Every part of the dandelion plant is edible and is high in Vitamin A and higher still in Vitamin K. The leaves can be eaten in salads, though their bitterness is not to everyone's taste. However, the bitterness can be reduced by blanching: drop the leaves into boiling salted water and remove after a minute and quench in ice-cold water to prevent the leaves from cooking.
Gunnera looks like giant rhubarb but the leaves stems are spiky. It tends to favour damp places as quite a lot of water is needed to supply its huge leaves.
The plant has a symbiotic relationship with cyanobacteria which live between its cells. The cyanobacteria, also known as "blue-green algae", are photosynthetic and also supply the host plant with nitrogen which allows it to colonise poor soils.
Despite some similarity of the name to bowjy (the Cornish for cow shed), it's thought to be based on a personal name. It was recorded in 1302 as Bosuyan which is thought mean simply "Uyan's dwelling".
There are over 4,000 farms in Cornwall covering over a quarter of a million hectares. Over 70% of Cornwall's land is farmed.
The Jersey breed is thought to be descended from cattle brought to the Channel Islands from Normandy. They have become the second most popular dairy breed worldwide (after the ubiquitous Fresian). Jersey cows are quite small and the females are regarded as having a good temperament which results in efficiency advantages with automated milking. They also convert grass efficiently to milk and the milk itself has a particularly high butterfat, protein and calcium content.
The pair of engine houses on the right are from East Boscaswell Mine.
Wheal Hearle operated between 1853 and 1865 with two steam engines (a larger one for pumping and crushing ore, and a smaller one for winding ore up from the mine) and a workforce of 95 people. It closed due to a drop in tin prices despite significant mineral reserves remaining. The mine was reopened in 1871 as East Boscaswell and a new engine house was built for an engine used both to power ore crushing stamps and wind ore up from the mine. The original pumping engine from Wheal Hearle was used alongside this. The mine was covering its costs within the first couple of years but another period of depression caused its closure. The two engine houses used during the later period of operation remain but little is left of the smaller engine house from the earlier (Wheal Hearle) period.
A group of grazing animals known as "ruminants" (which includes cows) have evolved a "pre-stomach" called a rumen where microbes break down cellulose into digestible materials. These microbes produce methane as a by-product. Cows emit around 250 to 500 litres of methane per day but contrary to urban myths, the vast majority is by burping rather than from the other end.
The length of swallows streamers has been found to be about 20% longer than the aerodynamic optimum, particularly in males which have longer tails than females. This is thought to be runaway sexual selection where a "size matters" preference of females selects for males with the longest streamers. During the period when streamers first evolved, length correlated with fitness of males. Now it has passed the optimum it has become a sexually-selected handicap like a peacock tail.
Gorse is present as two species along the Atlantic coast and size is the easiest way to tell them apart: Common Gorse bushes are up to 10ft tall whereas Western Gorse is more of a mat - less than 1ft tall. Common Gorse flowers in spring whereas Western Gorse flowers in late summer - early autumn.
Water pepper, as the name implies, grows on wet ground such as on the margins of lakes (it's also known as marsh pepper). It's relatively late to appear, not really getting going until June.
Another of water pepper's common names is "smartarse". As Emma Gunn points out in her foraging book "Never Mind the Burdocks", this is nothing to do with being clever: in the past, the dried leaves were added to bedding to drive away fleas etc. and the name comes from rolling over on a leaf in the wrong way.
Heather plants can live up to 40 years and over time they form woody stems. This provides them with a way of excreting heavy metals that they absorb by locking it up in the layers of dead wood (found by researchers as the areas in the plant with the highest concentrations). Their woody stems have also found many uses over the centuries including fuel, thatch and ropes. One other use has made it into the genus name for heather - kallune is Greek for "to brush".
Chûn Quoit is the remains of a neolithic tomb dating from around 3500 - 2500 BC (roughly the same age as the Egyptian pyramids). Opinions differ on whether it was originally entirely covered with an earth mound, or whether it was designed from the start to be free-standing.
The capstone has a line of cup-shaped marks which also feature on some other burial sites in Cornwall. Their significance is not understood - they could be symbolic or simply decorative.
The accent on the letter u is to indicate that it is pronounced "choon" (rather than "chun"). The "oo" sound appears in other Cornish language place names such as Carrick Lûz.
The heathland on the downs is thought to have been created by woodland clearance during the Iron Age. The land was purchased as a nature reserve in 1998. It's a good habitat for butterflies and over 50 species of birds have been recorded including nightjars, hen harriers and 4 different warbler species.
The walk continues on the path to the right but first you may want to have look at Chûn Castle via the left-hand path with standing stones, returning here afterwards.
Follow the path down the hill to reach a gateway into the parking area for a farm.
Chûn Castle was a walled settlement occupied during the Iron Age. Within the walls was a ring of buildings, a well and a furnace. Even as recently as the mid-19th Century, the ramparts were three times higher than they are today, reaching 15ft in places.
The remains of an Iron Age settlement known as Bosullow Trehyllys is situated beside a prehistoric trackway. Similarly to the settlements at Carn Euny and Chysauster, this included a number of courtyard houses and a fogou. Surveys during Victorian times identified more than 30 houses, possibly up to 48. Since then one half of the settlement appears to have been cleared, leaving 4 courtyard houses, 12 hut circles and the fogou remaining in an overgrown area.
Lanyon Quoit is situated along the road to the right, on the way towards Madron and Penzance. A stone stile leads from the road to the area of Access Land with the quoit.
Lanyon Quoit is an early Neolithic tomb that originally stood on four upright stones (similarly to Chûn Quoit) at one end of a large burial mound. It is thought that the bodies of the dead may have first been laid out so birds could strip away the flesh, leaving just the bones which could then be placed inside the chamber.
In a violent storm in 1815, the quoit structure collapsed and the capstone (which weighs more than 12 tonnes) damaged one of the uprights as it fell. The quoit was re-erected 9 years later on the remaining three uprights.
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