A6 Gwennap Mining District with Devoran, Perran & Kennall Vale

Lannwenep, Glynn Kenyel ha Teudhla Peran

Great cycle trails through the Copper Kingdom

For a period in the 19th century Gwennap was described as the “richest square mile in the Old World”. Once the richest of all Cornwall’s mining districts, its fine houses, well-preserved industrial remains and dramatic, alien-looking mining landscapes combine to tell a compelling and colourful story of Cornish mining’s heyday.

It is a large and varied Area of fertile countryside, historic mining villages, pretty woods, tranquil river creeks and some of the most impressive industrial landscapes to be found anywhere in the Site. Gwennap is full of contrasts.

The open-air Methodist preaching place, Gwennap Pit, along with the Area’s many roadside chapels, give us a fascinating insight into mining communities and their spiritual beliefs. John Wesley the Methodist leader preached here and termed the pit “the most magnificent spectacle this side of heaven”. Gwennap can hold 1,500 people around its 12 ‘rings’. The pit is still an active place of worship today with a chapel on site.

Tramways – including two of Cornwall’s earliest and most important – thread through this Area, linking its mines the well-preserved ports at Devoran and Portreath. Whether cycling, walking or on horseback, these trails are a fantastic way to explore the mining heritage of the Area and the beautiful countryside.

At Kennall Vale, the remains of the mills and waterways of the historic gunpowder works have been reclaimed by the woodland and now form part of an important nature reserve managed by Cornwall Wildlife Trust. This beautiful valley, which is carpeted in bluebells in spring, shows the industrial past now re-claimed by nature, the mill wheels are an impressive sight nestled by the river.