Cornish tin mine

After a digital detox, I am now going to attempt to catch up on backblips from our holiday. We are still away until Tuesday but I am eager to return to Blip.

We have had a wonderfully, relaxing time here in this Area of Outstanding Beauty & also World Heritage Site of St Agnes. We love the rugged and wild cliffs and the fact that there are few tourists here, mainly coastal path walkers and surfers down in the coves.

Today we visited this serene spot nestled in a beautiful coastal valley or coombe with its crystal clear stream running down to meet the sea at Trevellas Cove. At the Blue Hills Tin Mine, we learned how tin has been mined since medieval times. It's quite a process! It was so peaceful and quiet here, even with the old wooden stamping machine in action demonstrating how the rocks used to get crushed down to extract the tin. That would be the next stage in the process after the strong Bal Maidens had swung their hammers on the rock to separate the tin bearing lode from the non-tin bearing lode. See extra for old photos of these hard working women!

Today, the family here have a special licence from the Duchy of Cornwall, to collect rocks from the coast, usually after a storm, and to extract the tin using traditional methods. They then produce jewellery from the tin, which, as they say, is not just made in Cornwall but is actually a piece of Cornwall itself! I couldn't resist a pendant of the iconic engine house on the cliffs at St Agnes (see below) and also some hammered heart earrings for our daughters. If you are interested in something a little different, they sell online:
https://www.cornishtin.com/visitor-centre/