THE ECHOES OF INDUSTRY

WALKING FROM COAST TO COAST IN CORNWALL, GAIL MULLER REVEALS HOW THE COUNTY’S MINING HERITAGE OFFERS AN APPEALING ALTERNATIVE TO ITS MORE TRADITIONAL SAND AND SEA ASSOCIATIONS.

The sea is close by; I can smell salt on the air. But the Cornwall I am gazing at isn’t the one you might think of. Here, I’m away from stunning coastline, beaches and secret swimming spots. I’m shouldering a pack and going back through time, into a multi-hued interior landscape steeped in history and lore. The paths I’m exploring are set along the veins and arteries that lead down into the very heart of this land: the Mining Trails. Walking routes that help visitors and locals alike make more sense of how and why this humble corner of the UK had a world-renowned name long before the Victorians tumbled en masse out of steam trains and its harbours.

Cornwall sits atop the Cornubian Orefield – deep, ancient and rich with the deposits of tin and copper that have been mined here since the Bronze Age. Mining brought the noise and ingenuity – not to mention wealth – of industry to Cornish shores, and by the 18th century the county was the very epicentre of global mining. Cornish mining expertise was exported globally, providing the know-how to grow international economies from Mexico and Canada to South Africa and South Australia, taking Cornish families, and their vernacular, traditions and skills, along with it. But in the late 1800s the market looked away from its Cornish origins to cheaper suppliers, leaving the mining industry here in collapse. Four thousand years of mining trade was decimated in one generation and the landscape left scarred and silent.