A3 Tregonning & Gwinear Mining Districts with Trewavas
Ranndiryow Balweyth Tregonan ha Gwynnyer
Diverse landscapes and great houses
The largest of the ten Areas, Tregonning and Gwinear contains diverse landscapes ranging from the idyllic pastoral charms of the rural farmland in the west of the Area to the atmospheric cliffscapes at Rinsey, with silent woods, exposed hills and subtropical gardens in between.
With the largest section of the Area containing Godolphin House, smallholdings and mining settlements, the separate smaller section of the Area holds Wheal Trewavas and Wheal Prosper, cliff-top engine houses, perched high above the south coast.
Godolphin House provides a valuable insight into the wealth of some of Cornwall’s most successful industrialists and mine owners. The woods on the estate provide a great walking spot and the on-site mine workings are a fascinating find.
To the south of the Area, two of the best-known undersea mines – Wheal Trewavas and Wheal Prosper – offer a unique glimpse into how treacherous mining could be. Trewavas, which seems to burst out of the cliff edge, is particularly inspiring and, together with its neighbour Wheal Prosper, which sits a little further along the cliff. Wheal Prosper has now been conserved as part of a CMWHS supported project.
Many other reminders of the Area’s mining history can be found here, from the terraces of minerworkers’ cottages in villages such as Praze-an-Beeble and Leedstown, to the vast number of mine shafts dotted through the countryside. The Area is also thought to have seen the installation of one of the world’s earliest practical steam pumping engines at Wheal Vor, in around 1710.
Godolphin House provides a valuable insight into the wealth of some of Cornwall’s most successful industrialists and mine owners.
Godolphin Estate
Great Work Mine
Wheal Trewavas and Wheal Prosper
Sorry - there are no Audio Trail guides available for this Area of the World Heritage Site at this time.
