Sandplace ( kw, Tewesva) is a small village in the parish of Morval, two miles north of Looe in Cornwall, Great Britain. It is situated on the B3254, the old Liskeard to Looe road which joins the A387 to the south. The village is alongside the East Looe river and has been served by

Sandplace railway station Sandplace railway station ( kw, Tewesva) is an intermediate station on the scenic Looe Valley Line in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The station serves the hamlet of Sandplace and is south of Liskeard. The single platform is on the left ...

, on the Looe Valley Line since 1881.

History

Sandplace gets its name from a wharf on the river bank where sea-sand was stored, which together with lime (imported from Plymouth and burnt in nearby kilns) was used to improve the acid soils of the area. The fertiliser was transported north out of the village on the

Liskeard and Looe Union Canal The Liskeard and Looe Union Canal was a broad canal between Liskeard and Looe in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It was almost long and had 24 locks, and it opened progressively from 1827. The engineer was Robert Coad. Its primary purpose originall ...

which was completed in 1828. With the exploitation of copper and tin ores in the Caradon area from 1836 onwards, and the opening of the

Liskeard and Caradon Railway The Liskeard and Caradon Railway was a mineral railway in Cornwall, in the United Kingdom, which opened in 1844. It was built to carry the ores of copper and tin, and also granite, from their sources on Caradon Hill down to Moorswater for onwar ...

in 1844, the canal was not able to cope with the traffic and congestion meant that trade was being lost to competing routes via

Calstock Calstock ( kw, Kalstok) is a civil parish and a large village in south east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the border with Devon. The village is situated on the River Tamar south west of Tavistock and north of Plymouth. The parish had ...

and St Germans. A railway line was opened for goods between Moorswater and Looe on 27 December 1860 and the canal went into gradual decline finally closing in 1910. Within the village is a coaching inn which was built in around 1740 and is now the Polraen Country House Hotel. It was formerly owned by the Morval Estate which sold it to Peter Bessell the Liberal MP for the Bodmin constituency. Bessell fled abroad in 1970 to avoid debts from a number of unsuccessful companies.

References

{{authority control Villages in Cornwall Ports and harbours of Cornwall Lime kilns in the United Kingdom