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St Agnes Head

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Distance
2.4 mi
Elevation gain
427 ft
Technical difficulty
Easy
Elevation loss
427 ft
Max elevation
196 ft
TrailRank 
31
Min elevation
-51 ft
Trail type
Loop
Moving time
59 minutes
Time
one hour 20 minutes
Coordinates
637
Uploaded
November 18, 2023
Recorded
November 2023
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near Saint Agnes, England (United Kingdom)

Viewed 21 times, downloaded 2 times

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Photo ofSt Agnes Head Photo ofSt Agnes Head Photo ofSt Agnes Head

Itinerary description

St Agnes Head

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PictographWaypoint Altitude 279 ft
Photo of1 - St Agnes Head Photo of1 - St Agnes Head Photo of1 - St Agnes Head

1 - St Agnes Head

St Agnes (Standard Written Form: Breanek) is a civil parish and a large village on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is about five miles (8 km) north of Redruth and ten miles (16 km) southwest of Newquay. An electoral ward exists stretching as far south as Blackwater. The population at the 2011 census was 7,565. The village of St Agnes, a popular coastal tourist spot, lies on a main road between Redruth and Perranporth. It was a prehistoric and modern centre for mining of copper, tin and arsenic until the 1920s. Local industry has also included farming, fishing and quarrying, and more recently tourism. The St Agnes district has a heritage of industrial archaeology and much of the landscape is of considerable geological interest. There are also stone-age remains in the parish. The manor of Tywarnhaile was one of the 17 Antiqua maneria of the Duchy of Cornwall. St Agnes, on Cornwall's north coast along the Atlantic Ocean, is in the Pydar hundred and rural deanery. St Agnes is situated along the St Agnes Heritage Coast. The St Agnes Heritage Coast has been a nationally designated protected area since 1986. The marine site protects 40 species of mammals and amphibians. Interesting features along the coast include Trevaunance Cove, Trevellas Porth, Crams, Chapel Porth, Hanover Cove, and Porthtowan. Some of these have beaches, and there are also two beaches at Perranporth. The 627-hectare (1,550-acre) Godrevy Head to St Agnes site, is situated along the north Cornwall coast of the Celtic Sea in the Atlantic Ocean. It starts at Godrevy Head (with the Godrevy Towans) in the west and continues for 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the north east, through Portreath, Porthtowan and ends just past St Agnes Head, north of the village of St Agnes. St Agnes Beacon overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and is considered "the most prominent feature" of the Heritage coastline, with coastal and inland views that may be enjoyed during hillside walks. The National Trust landmark's name comes from the Cornish name "Bryanick". "Beacon" is a word of Anglo-Saxon origin referring to the use of a hill summit for a warning signal fire. During the Napoleonic Wars a guard was stationed on the hill to look out for French ships and light a warning fire on seeing any. St Agnes Beacon and the surrounding cliff tops are one of the last remnants of a huge tract of heathland which once spread across Cornwall. This rare and important habitat is internationally recognised for its wealth of wildlife and from late summer onwards comes alive with colour, forming a brilliant yellow and purple patchwork of gorse and heather. To the northwest foot of the St Agnes Beacon is Cameron Quarry and St Agnes Beacon Pits, Sites of Special Scientific Interest noted for their geological interest. Trevaunance Cove is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Geological Conservation Review site of national importance for "... the two principal ore-bearing mineral veins associated with the Hercynian St. Agnes-Cligga granite". The original name of St Agnes was "Bryanick", a Cornish name which may mean pointed hill (i.e. St Agnes Beacon). Craig Weatherhill suggests it was a compound of brea (hill) and Anek (Agnes) and gives the first recorded form as "Breanek" (1420–99). Neither Bryanick nor St Agnes, though, were established at the time of the Domesday Survey, 1086; the area was included in Perran Sand (Perranzabuloe). The St Agnes Chapel was named after the Roman martyr Agnes of Rome who refused to marry a son of Sempronius, a governor of Rome and member of the Sempronia family. She was killed in 304 AD. According to Arthur G. Langdon, writing in the 1890s, the inhabitants of St Agnes pronounced its name as if it were "St Anne's" to distinguish it from St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly.

PictographWaypoint Altitude 296 ft
Photo of2 - St Agnes Head Photo of2 - St Agnes Head Photo of2 - St Agnes Head

2 - St Agnes Head

There are a number of ancient archaeological sites in the St Agnes parish. The earliest found to date are mesolithic fragments which are dated from 10,000 to 4,000 BC. They were found near New Downs and West Polberro. During the Bronze Age, barrows were created in many places in the area, which was probably because its rich supply of bronze-making raw materials: copper and tin. During the Iron Age there were more forts and evidence of mining. A noteworthy Iron Age site is the Caer Dane hillfort, 2.2 mi southeast of Perranporth. It had three concentric defensive walls surrounding the inner, topmost ring. St Piran's enclosed round was 660 feet (200 m) wide and may have been a "playing place" (performance area). During the Middle Ages it was converted to a "Plain-an-gwarry (theatre)". It is still used sometimes as a theatre. There are other prehistoric geographic features, but the specific age or time period is unclear. The Bolster Bank, or Bolster & Chapel Bulwark, at Porth, is an univallate earthen boundary about 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) long. It was likely used for defensive purposes, protecting the heath and valuable tin resources. Located on the "land side" of St Agnes Beacon, evidence of the bulwark can be seen sporadically from Bolster Farm to Goonvrea Farm, down to Wheal Freedom and then to Chapel Coombes. Although much of the boundary has been levelled, it is presently at its highest by Bolster Farm and Goonvrea where it is about 3.3 metres (11 ft) high. It could have been constructed as early as the Iron Age or some time in the Dark Ages. The first chapel or church in St Agnes was believed to have been built as an early Celtic church sometime between 410 and 1066 AD; At that time it also had an enclosure. The Church of St Agnes was built on the same location around 1482. A medieval chapel with an enclosure stood at Chapel Porth, about 570 metres north west of Wheal Freedom. There was a holy well and a post-medieval (1540 to 1901) storehouse or shelter on the site. The chapel was destroyed in 1780, and the holy well remained until 1820. There still remains some ruins of the medieval enclosure and the small building. During the Middle Ages there was tin working at a St Agnes Head tin works site with an extractive pit for openworks and lode back workings. There are also ancient signs of tin works at Wheal Coates, near the Chapel Porth area cliffs. The site includes an adit, which is a tunnel or access to the mine; dam; dressing floor where the ore was processed for smelting; and an open cut where excavation occurred in a ravine on the surface. There were also prospecting pits to locate ore below the surface and a wheel pit for a water wheel. A bothy provided lodging for the miners. A manor was built in St Agnes during the Middle Ages. Between 1700 and 1800 a house was built on the site of the previous manor. It is now a convalescent home. A Trevellas country house was built during this period. Sometime between 1540 and 1901 a new house was erected where the country house once stood. A chapel created between 1540 and the 1800s was located just north of Mawla. In its latter years the building was a shed for cows. By 1847 it was in ruins. The St John the Baptist church in Mount Hawke received the font from this church, although its original "Medieval" carvings were lost when the font was resculpted. It was during this period that the Gill family were first recorded to be living in the area. The Gill family have traced their origins to St Agnes from as early as 1565, where it is believed that they were one of the more influential yeoman families. The area saw an emergence of a variety of industries, such as public houses. The Miners Arms Public House was constructed in Mithian in the 17th century. It saw additions and renovations in the following two centuries. The building exterior is made of granite, killas rubble, brick and elvan. It is roofed in Delabole slate. Trevaunance Cove had a post medieval lime kiln that operated sometime between 1540 and 1901. Medieval mining locations began to take on modern methods of mining in the 19th century, like that at Wheal Coates. Wheal Lushington is thought to have been the biggest tin mining operation in the area. Operational by 1808, smelting was also performed at Wheal Lushington. Modern mining practices were employed at Blue Hills Mine about 1810 and until 1897. There had been prior mining activities in that area before 1780. A number of copper, tin and arsenic mines operated during the 18th, 19th and some into the 20th century. Allen's Corn Mill operated at Porthtowan between 1752 and 1816. From 1903 until 1963 a railway station on the Perranporth line operated in St Agnes. After the railway station closed, the dismantled railway was used for the mining industry. Between 1939 and 1940, Cameron Camp, also known as the 10th Light Anti-Aircraft Practice Camp, Royal Artillery, was built on the site of a Napoleonic Wars target. The camp was named after an area landowner and served as an army camp, slit trench and anti-aircraft battery. After the war the camp was used for housing. It was levelled in 1971.

PictographWaypoint Altitude 301 ft
Photo of3 - Wheal Coates Photo of3 - Wheal Coates Photo of3 - Wheal Coates

3 - Wheal Coates

Wheal Coates is a former tin mine situated on the north coast of Cornwall, UK, on the cliff tops between Porthtowan and St Agnes. It is preserved and maintained by the National Trust.

PictographWaypoint Altitude 278 ft
Photo of4 - Wheal Coates Photo of4 - Wheal Coates Photo of4 - Wheal Coates

4 - Wheal Coates

Earliest records indicate a mine at the site since 1692. The present mine opened in 1802 and was closed in 1889 when the price of tin fell. It came into full production in 1815. Flooding and bringing ore to the surface were the main problems of the mine until steam-driven equipment was available, as the mine's underground operations extended for some distance under the sea. The mine was sold in 1844 and thereafter allowed to flood. A new owner reopened the mine in 1872 but work was sporadic until its 1889 closure. For some years, the yield was 20lb of tin per ton of ore. In 1906, new ownership hoped to work the mine for both tin and copper. Wheal Coates had produced a small amount of copper ore, more than a century earlier. At the height of its production, 140 people were employed at the site to mine a seam of tin just below sea level but this and a subsequent period of operation from 1911-1913 were not very successful because tin production was sporadic. The mine was closed permanently in 1914.

PictographWaypoint Altitude 112 ft
Photo of5 - Chapel Porth Photo of5 - Chapel Porth

5 - Chapel Porth

Chapel Porth Beach is a small but popular bay at the bottom of a narrow valley on the St Agnes Heritage Coast. Arriving at Chapel Porth early in the morning and simply walking along the large expanse of golden sand will make you feel glad to be alive. With the constant roar of the waves breaking on the sand, the breeze from the Atlantic and sea spray in your face, this is one of Cornwall’s natural assets at its best. When the tide’s out there are rock pools and caves to explore, and when conditions are right the surf here is fantastic. At high tide the rocky shore is a little cramped so head to the cafe just up from the beach where in winter sipping a hot chocolate and watching the ocean is a popular pastime, as is tucking in to the café’s legendary 'hedgehog' ice creams, a concoction of Cornish ice cream, covered in clotted cream and topped with crushed hazelnuts. The dramatic ruins of the old Wheal Coates tin mine are perched on the cliffs above the beach, and the walk from there around the coast to the village of St Agnes gives stunning views. Chapel Porth is owned and looked after by the National Trust and is able to care and conserve areas like this, thanks to their members, volunteers and donors.

PictographWaypoint Altitude 157 ft
Photo of6 - Towanroath Pumping Engine House Photo of6 - Towanroath Pumping Engine House Photo of6 - Towanroath Pumping Engine House

6 - Towanroath Pumping Engine House

The surviving buildings date from the 1870s when deep underground mining began at the site and were stabilised and preserved in 1986. There are three engine houses that formerly housed Cornish engines. Towanroath Pumping Engine House (1872) was used to pump water from the adjacent 600 ft Towanroath shaft. There are two Whim engine houses which were used to crush ore for processing. "Old Whim" was built in the mid 19th century, while "New Whim" was built in the late 19th century. A calciner dating from 1910–1913 when the mine was reopened, roasted the tin to remove impurities such as arsenic. The surviving structures were all listed as Grade II buildings on 31 October 1988: The Stamps House, the chimney east of the New Whim engine house, the Old Whim and New Whim engine houses, the Towanroath engine house, and the calciner. Wheal Coates is part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site.

PictographWaypoint Altitude 320 ft
Photo of7 - St Agnes Head Photo of7 - St Agnes Head Photo of7 - St Agnes Head

7 - St Agnes Head

We all need a bit of peace and quiet from time to time. And few places in Cornwall are as remotely tranquil as St Agnes Head, which is just a few miles down the coast from Perranporth and not far up from Portreath either. Set high up on the north Cornish coast clifftops, this ruggedly majestic area is perfect for walkers and those who just want to be surrounded by nature and history. At the right time of year, you’re greeted by a lush carpet of gorse and heather at St Agnes Head alongside the drone of insects and the sounds of birds in the skies, particularly choughs if you’re lucky enough to spot these crow-like creatures. Take in all the nature and then look to the beacon as St Agnes Head is in the shadow of the famous St Agnes Beacon, a hill with a trig mark on its summit that offers some of the most impressive vistas in Cornwall. From the beacon or the head, the sea views can be magnificent. The main pastime here is walking, particularly on the South West Coast Path that runs around the head or down to the nearby coastguard lookout station. But stargazing at night is also recommended, as is checking out the historic sites that pepper the area. Firstly, the area was once a rifle range back in the Napoleonic Wars period in the early 19th century and, later, it was used as an anti-aircraft artillery range during the Second World War. Secondly, there was a thriving tin and copper mining community here for more than 400 years. You can still see some of the ruined engine houses on the edge of the clifftops. St Agnes Head isn’t an ‘attraction’ in the strictest sense of the word but we at Proper Cornwall are big fans of this area because it ticks so many boxes: peaceful walking, history, nature, awesome vistas and one of the best spots in the county for stargazing. Head to this head and surround yourself in that trademark Cornish tranquillity.

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