The name Carn Galver (sometimes written Carn Galva) is from the Cornish words karn (rock pile or tor) and gwelva (view-point), referring to the rocky crags at the top of the moor that overlook the coast.
There are folk tales of a giant called Holiburn who was said to live amongst the rocks of Carn Galva. He was depicted as a very amiable and somewhat sociable gentleman and even married a farmers daughter resulting in somewhat tall offspring. He was also said to have had a human friend from Choone who used to visit to play quoits but the giant one day patted his friend farewell slightly too firmly and accidentally killed him.
Granite is pretty hard stuff. It ranks at 7 out of 10 on the Mohs hardness scale. It's harder than normal steel but not quite as hard as hardened steel (which is 7-8). Cutting on granite worktops is therefore not a good idea as knife blades become blunt quickly.
Heathers and heaths are members of the Ericaceae family. The formal definition of a heather is a member of the Calluna genus within this family whereas heaths are members of the Erica genus. Bell heather is actually an Erica and therefore technically not a heather but a heath.
Closer to the horizon, the sky fades to a lighter blue. The scattered blue reaching you from the horizon has to pass through even more air than the blue reaching you from directly overhead. The molecules of gas have more chance to intercept and re-scatter the blue light in different directions so that less blue light reaches you.
The small blue pom-pom-like flowers have common names which include blue bonnets, blue buttons, blue daisy and Iron Flower but it is best known as sheep's bit. The name is said to originate because sheep enjoy eating it. Confusingly, it is sometimes known as "sheeps bit scabious", yet it is not at all closely related to the group of plants normally known as "scabious".
Sheep's bit flowers are rich in nectar and are a favourite with bees and butterflies. The flowers are highly reflective to ultraviolet which is thought helps to attract insects. The reason that insects can see UV but we can't is that insects' eyes have colour receptors that are tuned to different wavelengths than ours but also the lens of the human eye blocks UV light.
Stonechats are robin-sized birds with a black head and orange breast that are common along the Cornish coast all year round.
The name "stonechat" comes from the sound of their call which resembles stones being knocked together.
Tin mining has been carried out on the moors here since ancient times.
Some of the earliest mining remains are shallow pits dug to home in on and then mine lodes (mineral veins) at the surface of the bedrock. These are known as shode workings as pits were initially dug to locate displaced fragments of ore within the soil known as shodes. Further pits were then dug to follow these fragments back to the main lode that they had broken off. Once the lode was located, it was worked using a line of pits along it.
The adjective "shoddy" is thought to have been derived from shode, initially via the textile industry for recycling fragments of usable cloth from rubbish. Later, when garments made from this material were found to disintegrate, it came to mean "inferior quality".
The boulder is known as the Four Parish Stone and marked the boundary between the parishes of Morvah, Zennor, Madron and Gulva. The rock was originally known as Meane Crouse, meaning "The Cross Stone", recorded in 1613. There is a faint cross (representing the meeting of the four parishes) carved into the surface.
As you approach the stone circle, the square building on the skyline to the left is Rogers' Tower.
Rogers' Tower is a folly built in the late 1700s as a destination for family outings by the Rogers family who owned nearby Treassowe Manor. It quickly fell into disuse: by 1817 was already in a state of decay and it was a ruin by the end of the 19th Century. Some repair work was done in 1960 and further restoration was carried out in 2002-3.
No-one is quite sure how many stones were originally in the Bronze Age circle known as the Nine Maidens of Boskednan - certainly more than nine: estimates vary from 19 to 22. In 1754, 18 stones were documented, 13 of which were still standing. By 1825, 5 of these had fallen and 3 had disappeared. 11 stones remain.
It's quite easy to get confused as there are four unrelated prehistoric stone structures in Cornwall known by the name Nine Maidens:
The theme also extends onto Dartmoor with a Nine Maidens stone circle on Belstone Tor.
The association of standing stones with "maiden" (including the "Merry Maidens") may well stem from medn. Although the original Cornish word for stone was maen, in late Cornish this became medn. This is similar to pen becoming pedn in coastal place names in West Cornwall where Cornish was last spoken (names in East Cornwall were frozen earlier in time when Cornish stopped being spoken).
Many of the folk names for standing stones such as the Hurlers, Pipers and Nine Maidens are based on petrification legends, which generally involve punishment for some form of Pagan fun such as dancing on a Sunday. It is thought that the early Christian Church encouraged such myths in an attempt to prevent old Pagan practices occurring at these sites.
There is thought to have been a mine on the site from ancient times but the visible remains including the engine house are from the 19th Century. The engine house - known as Greenburrow pumping house - was built in 1865. By the 1870s the mine was employing over 200 people. The tin price crashed in the mid 1870s and after failing to be sold at auction, the mine closed in 1877. In 1911, following a rise in the price of tin, pieces of ore from the mine dumps were re-worked and over 50 tons of tin concentrate were recovered by 1915.
As well as attracting insects, the brightly coloured foxglove flowers serve as a warning for animals that the plants contain toxins. All parts of the plant can cause a range of ill-effects in humans from nausea to heart and kidney problems which can be fatal.
Once rendered into a powder, the tin ore was separated from fragments of less useful rock, usually using water and taking advantage of the heavier tin ore sinking more quickly out of a suspension than the other minerals. The slurry was sometimes run slowly down an inclined wooden board: the heavier tin fragments would settle near the top and could be scraped off whereas the fragments of lighter rock could be discarded from the bottom, and the material in the middle could be recycled into the next batch. Conical structures (known as "buddles") with rotating brushes were also used. It's possible that the Cornish mining word for the waste sludge of rock fragments - gange - is the origin of the English slang word "gunge".
Rosebay willowherb is a tall plant with a spike of pink flowers in late summer which can often be seen beside paths and tracks. Their long leaves have a distinctive thin, white vein along the centre.
The name "rosebay" dates from at least Tudor times and is thought to be based on loose resemblances of the leaves to bay leaves and the flowers to wild roses. The overall family are also known as "willowherbs" due to the resemblance of the leaves to willow leaves. The two names have since been brought together resulting in the slightly confusing duplicate description of the leaf shape.
It is not fully understood what function the stone circles served, although excavation of some monuments has shown an association with burials. Some circles also appear to have been used to mark the passage of time and seasons, which is indicated by the alignment of stones with landmarks, to mark important solar or lunar events such as the sunrise and sunset at the winter or summer solstice. Where excavated, they have been found to date from the Late Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age (2400-1000 BC).
Mên-an-Tol is Cornish for "the hole stone" and is thought to date from the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age. The accent on the "e" is for a long drawn-out vowel sound along the lines of "mehn" (do a sheep impression and add an "n").
The overall arrangement with the two standing stones either side of the holed stone has been described as a three-dimensional 101 but this wasn't the case until one of the standing stones was moved in Victorian times to line them up.
Local legend claims that at full moon, if a woman passes through the holed stone seven times backwards, she will soon become pregnant. The hole is not generous in size so the legend may have its roots in the preliminary slimming required to perform the ritual!
When you reach the metal gate on the left, the standing stone in the field is Men Scryfa. There is a stile into the field if you want to have a look but the rest of the field is surrounded by barbed-wire fences so you must return here to continue the route.
The name Mên Scryfa means literally "stone with writing". This is a standing stone that is not prehistoric, dating from the early mediaeval period. It is inscribed in Latin with Roman capitals and reads "Rialobrani Cunovali fili" (Rialobranus son of Cunovalus). Rialobran is not known elsewhere but he may have been a Cornish tribal leader with a name based on the Cornish for "royal raven".
Large upright standing stones are known as menhirs due to the Celtic words men meaning stone and hir meaning long. The reason for their construction is unknown; currently the most popular theories are ceremonial. Excavations at some of the menhir sites in Cornwall have found evidence of postholes and pits, and areas of quartz paving. Also beneath some of the stones, charcoal and cremated human bone have been found.
These charcoal deposits have been radiocarbon dated and found to be between the Late Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age and, until recently, menhirs were thought to be associated principally with the people who inhabited Europe during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze age (4-5 thousand years ago), known as the "Beaker people" due to the pottery artefacts they left behind. Some recent research has suggested an older origin (perhaps 6-7 thousand years ago, at the very start of the Neolithic period in Britain). There is also evidence that some stones continued to be erected, or re-used, much later in the post-Roman "Dark Ages" (early mediaeval) period when some were also inscribed.
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".
There are two very similar looking members of the daisy family that are both known as "chamomile". English chamomile (also known as Roman chamomile) has hairy stems and is the one used for chamomile tea. German chamomile has smooth stems and higher levels of essential oils so this one is used for chamomile-scented pharmaceuticals (shampoos etc). Pineapple weed is related and is sometimes known as "false chamomile" or more confusingly as "wild chamomile" (even though it isn't chamomile and normal chamomile is also wild!).
English chamomile was once common in Britain but it has declined (due to land clearance and changes to farming practices) to now being classified as Vulnerable. The Southwest is now one if its last strongholds.
Five hills in Cornwall are designated as Marilyn hills (coined to contrast with Munro - another geological term) which are local highest points, protruding above the surrounding land by at least 150 metres. They are: Brown Willy, Kit Hill, Watch Croft, Carnmenellis and Hensbarrow Beacon.
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.
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.
You may encounter choughs along this stretch of coast.
The name "chough" is from the bird's call although this is not that accurate as "chough" is more like the sound a jackdaw makes (a very short "chu"). Locally, choughs were known as "chaws" which is a better representation of their (much longer) sound.
The old Cornish name for the bird is Palores, meaning digger, which is thought to be a description of it rooting for invertebrates.
The scientific name (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) means "fire crow" which is likely to be an allusion to its red bill and legs. This possibly also relates to the birds' mischievous reputation during the Tudor and Elizabethan periods for stealing lighted candles or embers and dropping these onto roofs, which were generally thatched in Cornwall at this time.
An Iron Age fort was situated on the headland of Bosigran. A wall roughly 100 metres in length has been built across the promontory, linking the cliffs, to enclose it. The size and the way it is constructed varies along its length from simple large stones in a line to drystone wall backfilled with rubble, indicating it has been repaired or modified since it was originally built. It's possible that it was later used to contain livestock to separate the two grazing areas either side of the wall running inland.
The areas along the streams are good spots for dragonflies.
Their two sets of wings beat out of phase, and the frequency, amplitude and the angles of each set of wings can be controlled. This allows dragonflies to hover in a completely stationary position for over a minute, perform extravagant aerobatic manoeuvres and even fly backwards.
The remains of the building near the stream was originally a tin stamping (ore crushing) mill, powered by a waterwheel. The large, high wall alongside the wheel was built to create a splash shield so that water blown out of the wheel buckets by the wind would not disturb the settling tanks used to separate out the fragments of pulverised ore.
The wildflowers in the fields such as catsear provide nectar for bumblebees.
During flight, bumblebees beat their wings around 200 times every second. However, the buzzing sound they make is not from the beating wings but from the bee's vibrating flight muscles. On cold days, by using their flight muscles, the bees are able to warm up their bodies to temperatures as high as 30 Celcius.
During the 1830s, one of the largest waterwheels ever built in Cornwall was constructed in the valley. It had a diameter of 60ft (roughly the height of a 4-storey building) and mechanical power was transferred from the wheel to a nearby mineshaft via an arrangement of flat rods for which a course over the ground was created. Water was delivered to the wheel along a leat from a reservoir created by damming the stream.
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 grassy paths are grazed by rabbits as well as cattle.
The first record of slang word "bunny" being applied to rabbits is from the late 17th Century. Prior to this it was in use as a term of endearment, recorded in a 1606 love letter as "my honey, my bunny...". The origin of this pet name is thought to be a dialect word "bun" which was a general term for small furry creatures which did include rabbits but also applied to squirrels. The use of the word "rabbit" for chattering is from the Cockney rhyming slang for "talk" (rabbit and pork).
Carn Galver Mine operated until the late 19th Century extracting tin ore. The mine was very wet and was drained by an adit running down to Porthmoina Cove and from below this level, the engine house on which a chimney still remains was used to pump water from the mine. The other engine house was used for hauling up the ore and crushing it. The cottage beside the engine houses was formerly the Count House where miners would be paid. The mine didn't turn out to be very productive and became uneconomical, partly due to the cost of draining it.
The little yellow flowers with four petals all over the moor in July are tormentil (Potentilla erecta). Its common names include Bloodroot and Flesh and Blood because roots yield a red dye which is still used as an ingredient for artists' colours (tormentil red). The roots also have very a high tannin content and have even been used to tan leather. Extracts from the plant have been widely used in folk medicine and is it still used as a remedy for diarrhoea and as a lotion for skin sores.
The dandelion-like flowers along the coast are most likely to be catsear, also known as false dandelion. Catsear is very salt tolerant, not only growing along the coast but actually in sand dunes. The easiest way to recognise it is by the hairy leaves, hence the name. If you can cope with the texture, the leaves are edible and are much less bitter than dandelion leaves.
Another way to tell them apart is when they are flowering. Although dandelion flowers over quite a long period, the most profuse flowering is in April and May whereas catsear's intense flowering period is in late June and through July. Catsear has neater flowers than dandelion with squarer edges to the petals (but still toothed). The stems supporting the flowers are also solid, in contrast with the hollow stem of the dandelion.
Betony is a grassland herb, common on the coast, with pretty purple anthers that stick out from the plant. The name is derived from the ancient Celtic words bew (meaning head) and ton (meaning good) as it was used as a cure for headaches. From Roman times onward, it was believed to be a cure for a number of things (the Romans listed 47!) including drunkenness. Even as late as the 1800s, Richard E. Banks stated that you should "Eat betony or the powder thereof and you cannot be drunken that day" and John Gerard (1597) said that "It maketh a man to pisse well". Betony was also used to ward away evil spirits (hence it is planted in a number of churchyards) and also to make a dark yellow dye for wool.
Before Christianity, the Pagan Celtic people of Cornwall worshipped wonders of the natural world. Where clean, drinkable water welled up from the ground in a spring, this was seen as pretty awesome. The sites were seen as portals to another world, and is why fairies are often associated with springs. Where the springwater dissolved minerals, for specific conditions (e.g. deficiency in a mineral) or where the minerals present had antibacterial/fungal properties, the water appeared to have healing powers.
In order to be processed, ore-bearing rock mined from mineral veins needed to be crushed to a powder. In earlier times, millstones were used to grind down lumps of ore but later it was done using a process known as "stamping" where the ore was crushed by dropping heavy granite or metal weights to pound it against another hard surface (often a piece of granite known as a mortar stone - as in "pestle and mortar"). The crushing was automated first with waterwheels and later with steam engines. The process was far from quiet and could often be heard from a number of miles away.
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