Belowda ( kw, Boslowsa) is a village in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, England, UK. The village is just north of the A30 trunk road, about seven miles west-southwest of

Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordere ...

. The village also gives its name to the nearby Belowda Beacon. It is in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX S ...

Mines

There are two mineral lodes on Belowda beacon, Wheal Dora Lode, and Webbs Lode. Both lodes converge to meet at the summit of the hill (744 ft) where they were worked open cast. A shaft 500yds NE of Belowda village, on Wheal Dora is near the southern margin of the granite outcrop; and another, 140 yds SSW of the former, is in killas. The main shaft on Webb's Lode is on the granite margin, 550 yds N by W of Lane End farm and there are two others at 80yds SSE, respectively of the main shaft. Though the mine was active until 1902. There are no plans of the underground workings.

Belowda Beacon

Belowda Beacon was designated a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

(SSSI) in 1996. The description and reasons given by English Nature are as follows: ''This site shows superb development of minerals formed by late granitic fractionation and

boron Boron is a chemical element with the symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the ''boron group'' it has th ...

fluorine Fluorine is a chemical element with the symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at standard conditions as a highly toxic, pale yellow diatomic gas. As the most electronegative reactive element, it is extremely reacti ...

metasomatism in a differentiate of the Belowda coarse

megacryst In geology, a megacryst is a crystal or grain that is considerably larger than the encircling matrix. They are found in igneous and metamorphic rocks. Megacrysts can be further classified based on the nature of their origin, either as:Chapman, Carle ...

biotite Biotite is a common group of phyllosilicate minerals within the mica group, with the approximate chemical formula . It is primarily a solid-solution series between the iron-endmember annite, and the magnesium-endmember phlogopite; more alumino ...

granite boss. A short shallow adit driven westward as part of a larger stockwork tin mine exposes in its walls a

topaz Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al Si O( F, OH). It is used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments. Common topaz in its natural state is colorless, though trace element impurities can mak ...

tourmaline Tourmaline ( ) is a crystalline silicate mineral group in which boron is compounded with elements such as aluminium, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. Tourmaline is a gemstone and can be found in a wide variety of colors. The ...

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

rock. The level is now collapsed, but exposes are still visible. Small overgrown dumps at the mouth of the adit also contains large pieces of the topaz and quartz with nests of finely developed tourmaline crystals. Topaz may form up to 80% of the rock. Rarely, small yellowish

euhedral Euhedral crystals (also known as idiomorphic or automorphic crystals) are those that are well-formed, with sharp, easily recognised faces. The opposite is anhedral (also known as ''xenomorphic'' or ''allotriomorphic''): a rock with an anhedral ...

topaz crystals are present in cavities, the maximum size being 1 cm (the largest recorded in England) The occurrence is very unusual and considerable mineralogical interest.'' The downs around the beacon, as well as the downs around Tregonetha form the Tregonetha & Belowda Downs SSSI, noted for its

biological Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary in ...

interest and biodiversity.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Cornwall Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Cornwall Mines in Cornwall