Ertach Kernow - Godrevy to Hayle along the Cornish coastal path

Godrevy Lighthouse with Stones Reef in background

The Cornish Coastal Path is roughly 300 miles long and covers views of wonderful land and seascapes along its track. A wide range of Cornish environments and areas of Cornwall’s industrial history are passed through much of which is within Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and containing Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI’s). This article covers the area from Godrevy Point past Gwithian and Phillack down to the mouth of the River Hayle.

As one stands on at Godrevy Point the view is immediately drawn to the island on which Godrevy Lighthouse is located. The lighthouse was completed in 1855 as a warning to shipping of the hidden rocks which lie just below the surface at high tide known as The Stones, about a mile from Godrevy Island. Although many ships had been lost on this reef it was the loss of the SS Nile owned by the British & Irish Steam Packet Company which sailed between Liverpool and London. The Nile was a modern 700-ton iron steamship completed in 1849, which like most vessels of the time also had sails. Leaving Liverpool on 28th November she met a north-westerly gale but was seen battling the storm but on the correct course to round Land’s End by another vessel. Wreckage strewn on the shoreline attested to the loss of the Nile, with around 24 crew and upwards of 100 passengers drowned. There were no survivors. Cornish wreckers had a field day as the cargo of food, cloth and other goods were washed ashore. This tragic loss finally led to the construction of the lighthouse on Godrevy Island. Today The Stones visible at low tide have become an attraction for extreme surfers as they produce a large wave under certain conditions.

SS Nile (1850)
Tom Butler towed by Adam Griffiths take on The Stones, a mythical bombie out the back of Godrevy - Carvemag.com

As always click the images for larger view

CAS Journal No'46

The coastal path crosses parts of National Trust land passing through an area known as Godrevy Towans then Gwithian in the parish of Gwinear-Gwithian onto Gwithian Towans. Towans is a name derived from the Cornish word tewes meaning sand and tewyn sand, dune found in many coastal places throughout Cornwall. Buried beneath these dunes are remains of Bronze Age settlements, which have been extensively studies since the 1950’s. The earliest occupation took place around 1800 BCE and there is evidence of field systems with earthen boundaries later remade as stone hedges. Cremated burial remains have been uncovered and ancient sand blows have created layers of human activity. These discoveries include burials, including below the floor of huts, field systems and enclosures evidencing the types of food eaten by these ancient occupants. Pottery is always a good indication of occupation and time spans and there was evidence of Treviskar style pottery made with gabbro clay from the Lizard some 20 kilometres away. Links to more information in Jacque Nowakowski’s ‘Living in the Sands – Bronze Age Gwithian, Cornwall, Revisited’ on the website.

There has also been some archaeological research carried out on the early medieval oratory at Gwithian by Professor Charles Thomas. Charles Henderson mentions it in 1925 and one of our Ertach Kernow tourists of Cornwall Lewis Hind also writes about it as he sought for it in 1907. A storm in 1827 shifted the sands exposing this small oratory measuring some forty-eight feet by twelve feet with a priests doorway and small window. It had been used until the 13th century but abandoned due to encroachment of the sands. Following the rediscovery it was reroofed and used as a cowshed before once again being lost. C Lewis Hind with the help of a coastguard man was guided to the site of the oratory finding a oblong sandpit with few stones protruding from the ground.

St Gothians Oratory plan
Upton Downs - Pyramidal Orchid
Upton Downs - Cinnabar moth caterpillar

Besides the history and seascapes this is an area of valuable ecological interest. The area around Godrevy lies within one of Cornwall’s AONB’s but is also designated an SSSI. A short distance further along the Cornish coastal path one enters an area, although not within an AONB is designated an SSSI. Work is being done to make this area part of the wider SSSI as it contains numerous species of flora and fauna needing protection from developers. The SSSI protected area carries along the coast almost to Phillack and Hayle continuing around the River Hayle estuary. This three-mile stretch known as the Towans is split with each area having its own identity. Gwithian Towans the first protected SSSI area leads into Upton Towans, Phillack Towans, Common Towans and Mexico Towans. The dunes and grasslands include an area managed by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust with a rich diverse selection of butterflies, birds, reptiles and mammals living there.

https://www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/dynamicdunescapes

Perhaps lesser known to those outside the area is the industrial story of Upton Towans. During the late 19th century the Cornish mining industry, although in decline, remained active and needing explosives to better extract the mineral ore. The National Explosives Works at Upton Towans began production in 1889 continuing through to 1920. Black gunpowder was becoming obsolete for mining purposes with newer more powerful explosives being developed, including dynamite and gelignite. Becoming one of the most successful independent manufacturers of chemical explosives in the late 19th century the ruins of this booming business can still be seen amongst the dunes. The works were built in 1888 by Kennall Gunpowder Company, who needed to evolve to remain competitive in the expanding explosives industry. Upton Towans near Hayle was chosen as the area was well served with a local railway line and coastal shipping which allowing easy import and export of raw materials and finished products.

The factory was laid out by Oscar Guttman, a leading chemist of the period, in a modern and safe way splitting various parts of the production into buildings built into sand dunes and using mass concrete for the magazine stores. As the Cornish mining industry declined there was a rise in the need for military explosives due to the naval race with Germany prior to World War I. The original primary production of dynamite gave way to that of cordite and nitro-glycerine. At the end of the 19th century some two hundred people were employed in buildings covering 300 acres. Production was ramped up towards WWI with some 1800 workers later employed. However, in 1920 the factory closed as Britain reduced its military requirements and the Cornish mining industry continued its gradual terminal decline.

National Explosives Works at Upton Towans, Hayle
Cordite Drys at Upton Downs courtesy of Andrew Westcott
The works of the National Explosives Company Limited at Upton Towans, c.1910s
Pearces Cottage at Upton Downs, now overgrown with trees, courtesy of Andrew Westcott

There were during its thirty-two-year history some unfortunate and tragic incidents resulting in death of workers. On 4th September 1894 an explosion killed two men Samuel Pick Craze and James Perry. The story of their last few minutes was witnessed by the foreman of the works Elisha Trewartha who gave evidence at the inquiry. It would appear that this was the first major incident and Trewartha answered all the questions put to him by Colonel Ford, H.M. Inspector of Explosives, satisfactorily. It was Trewartha who also identified Craze, but there was too little left of Perry to properly identify him. Colonel Ford also advised the coroner he had inspected the works on a number of occasions and found the workings favourable. The jury gave a verdict of accidental death with no blame attached.

Nearly ten years later on 5th January 1904 another vast explosion took place, this time killing five men. At that time there were some 700 people employed at the works. Two huts had been totally obliterated and four men who worked there ‘blown to atoms’ as the newspapers reported. The fifth man was in an adjacent hut and thrown so violently by the explosion his back was broken from which he later died. The two almost simultaneous explosions were heard over ten miles away with windows smashed in St Ives and Penzance through the power of the blast including destruction of a historic stained-glass window in St Ives church.

The site was partially used by ICI to store certain explosives for a number of years until around the 1970’s after which the site fell into industrial disuse. Many buildings were destroyed, but some ruins remain and the earthen separations indicate where buildings once stood. Not only is this site of special scientific significance, but also one of great historic value as a Cornish industrial site somewhat rarer than the many mining remains throughout Cornwall. Its relatively short-lived existence of just 32 years helped support the Cornish mining industry for a while. Later with cordite production, so important for the firing of larger guns during WWI, the works were a major contributor to Britain’s war effort. Just as a matter of interest it was the cordite exploding in the magazines of three battlecruisers at the battle of Jutland in 1916 and HMS Hood in 1941 that caused the loss of these large warships with nearly all their crews. A further example of how dangerous and volatile these explosives were.

HMS Invincible was about 20,000 tons fully loaded. Also lost at Jutland was the slightly larger HMS Indefatigable and larger more modern HMS Queen Mary. HMS Hood weighed in at about 47,000 tons fully loaded. The effect of exploding magazines full of cordite was devastating resulting in the loss of virtually all their crews.

HMS Invincible at Jutland 1916 - The point of the explosion
HMS Invincible at Jutland 1916 - The vessel sinking

The natural world can be dangerous as well. Storms can destroy sand dunes and also make large movement of sand possible overnight. The occupants of Upton Barton farm on Great Towans, as Upton Towans was then known, had a fortunate escape sometime after 1650 when a large sand dune moved causing their farmhouse to be enveloped. They managed to escape through the upstairs windows before the house was totally buried. The remains were uncovered in 1808 but since lost again. There was small scale mining taking place on the Towans, but the small number of mine workings saw relatively low returns and evidence of some of their locations are lost to the sands.

Within this area lies a huge amount of history from the Bronze Age through Medieval times and Cornwall’s industrial age. Now largely covered it still offers walkers and those interested in Cornish environmental topics much to see and appreciate.

Godrevy to Hayle along the Cornish coastal path
Godrevy to Hayle along the Cornish coastal path

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Ertach Kernow shared in VOICE, Cornish Times, Cornish & Devon Post newspapers
Ertach Kernow shared in VOICE, Cornish Times, Cornish & Devon Post newspapers