Porthtowan ( kw, Porth Tewyn, meaning ''cove of sand dunes'') is a small village in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

, England which is a popular summer tourist destination. Porthtowan is on Cornwall's north

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

coast about west of St Agnes, north of

Redruth Redruth ( , kw, Resrudh) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England. The population of Redruth was 14,018 at the 2011 census. In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, which also includes Carn Brea, Illogan ...

, west of

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

and southwest of Newquay in the

Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is a World Heritage Site which includes select mining landscapes in Cornwall and West Devon in the south west of England. The site was added to the World Heritage List during the 30th Session of the U ...

, a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

. Porthtowan is popular with surfers and industrial archaeologists; former mine stacks and engine houses dot the landscape.

Geography

Porthtowan lies along the

Godrevy Head to St Agnes Godrevy Head to St Agnes is a coastal Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in north Cornwall, England], noted for both its Flora and fauna of Cornwall, biological and geological characteristics. A number of rare and scarce plant species ca ...

heritage coast, which is located on the north Cornwall coast of the

Celtic Sea The Celtic Sea ; cy, Y Môr Celtaidd ; kw, An Mor Keltek ; br, Ar Mor Keltiek ; french: La mer Celtique is the area of the Atlantic Ocean off the southern coast of Ireland bounded to the east by Saint George's Channel; other limits includ ...

in the Atlantic Ocean. It lies between Godrevy Head (with the Godrevy Towans) and St Agnes Head, north of the village of St Agnes.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' ''St Agnes Heritage Coast.''
British Express. Retrieved 18 September 2012. The Godrevy to St Agnes Heritage Coast has been a nationally designated

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

since 1986. The marine site protects 40 species of

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur ...

s and

amphibian Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbo ...

s. Porthtowan is within walking distance of

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

coastal and cliff-side walks. Between Porthtowan and Agnes Head is one of Cornwall's "largest remaining heathland " Ironically, the heath survived – and was not turned into arable land – because of the soil contamination of previous mining activities. Few plants or species other than heathers and spiders can thrive in the area's environmental condition.

Toponymy

Its name comes from the Cornish words "porth" and "tewynn" to mean landing place at the sand dunes.''Porthtowan, Banns Vale, Mount Hawke and Chapel Porth.''
St Agnes Forum. Retrieved 28 September 2012.

History

Porthtowan's history is associated with mining and one of its most prominent buildings is a former engine house converted for residential use. Allen's Corn Mill operated at Porthtowan between 1752 and 1816. Porthtowan owes much of its present-day character to its popularity as a local seaside resort in Victorian and

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

times when the local populace from Redruth and the surrounding areas went there, particularly on

Bank Holidays A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or held ...

Mining

Coastal settlements in Cornwall between Perranporth and Porthtowan had copper, lead, iron, tin and zinc mines. Porthtowan mines mainly produced copper.Simon Camm.
Cornish Rocks and Minerals
'. Alison Hodge Publishers; March 2010 ited 29 September 2012 . p. 50.

South Wheal Towan

The South Wheal Towan copper mine also operated in the area. Still visible is its Echo Corner mine stack. The mine had a slide lode that intersected with the main lode, Hamptons and Downright lode. In addition to copper pyrites, brown iron ore was also found in the mine.

Tywarnhayle Mine

The Tywarnhayle mine was opened in 1826 as United Hills Mine but the name was changed in 1848 to Tywarnhayle Mine. It was an important source of copper ore until about 1860. Its engine house, Taylors Shaft, is visible in the hills surrounding the coastal village. The mine was located about 1 kilometre southeast of Porthtowan. It was the United Hills Mine on 3 February 1830 when an engine boiler exploded and killed nine people. In 1906 money was invested to drain and work the Tywarnhayle mine. Water was piped out by Cornwall's first electrical centrifugal pumps, made by

Worthington Simpson Worthington-Simpson was a British pump manufacturer. Many of their pumps were used in municipal waterworks in Great Britain. The company has its roots in a steam engine workshop founded by Thomas Simpson around 1785. His sons took over the worksh ...

, at the rate of 1,000 gallons per minute. The amount of copper ore mined between 1826 and 1906 was 86,800 tons. File:Tywarnhayle mine, near Porthtowan - geograph.org.uk - 73824.jpg, Tywarnhayle mine. This disused mine and its extensive spoil tip is on the north valley side, about 1 km south east of Porthtowan. File:Footpath leading to Mount Hawke from Tywarnhayle Mine - geograph.org.uk - 1200063.jpg, Footpath leading to Mount Hawke from Tywarnhayle Mine

Tywarnhayle Stannary

In Cornwall the mining industry had its own judicial system. Tywarnhayle was one of the four

stannaries A stannary was an administrative division established under stannary law in the English counties of Cornwall and Devon to manage the collection of tin coinage, which was the duty payable on the metal tin smelted from the ore cassiterite mined ...

. There were three others: Blackmore, Foweymore and, lastly, Kerrier and Penwith. The Stannaries managed mining law, taxation, court proceedings and jails.

Wheal Coates

The mine is renowned for its

pseudomorph In mineralogy, a pseudomorph is a mineral or mineral compound that appears in an atypical form (crystal system), resulting from a substitution process in which the appearance and dimensions remain constant, but the original mineral is replaced by ...

s, in this case tin oxide, or

cassiterite Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem. Cassiterite was the chief tin ore throughout ancient history and remains t ...

, that takes on the shape of the

feldspar Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) feldsp ...

crystals that it replaces within granite. File:Tin mine near St Agnes 2.JPG, Wheal Coates File:Tin mine near St Agnes.JPG, Wheal Coates File:Road Junction - geograph.org.uk - 182403.jpg, Road Junction. One road leads down into the steep valley which reaches the sea at Porthtowan. On the hillside in the distance is a lone engine house from an old mine.

Wheal Ellen

Wheal Ellen was a 19th-century copper mine. Remains of the mine are visible. It operated primarily from 1826 to 1862.

Wheal Lushington

Wheal Lushington, also known as the New Wheal Towan, was a copper mine located on a hill overlooking the beach. The engine house that was built in 1872 was never used as an engine house and has since been converted for other uses. File:Wheal Lushington, Porthtowan.jpg, The former Wheal Lushington engine house which has been converted into a café File:Engine house behind Porthtowan beach - geograph.org.uk - 1198692.jpg, Engine house behind Porthtowan beach now converted into a dwelling house

Wheal Towan

Wheal Towan was one of Cornwall's most prolific 18th century copper mines. In 1772, women and girls worked at the mines, earning 4 to 6 d per day. In 1809 Wheal Towan had a cobbing shed which was a building used to break the ore up with a pointed hammer weighing up to 4 pounds. Teenage girls (

bal maiden A bal maiden, from the Cornish language , a mine, and the English "maiden", a young or unmarried woman, was a female manual labourer working in the mining industries of Cornwall and western Devon, at the south-western extremity of Great Britai ...

s) sat on low benches and broke the ore to remove the rock and break the ore into small pieces. It was a loud and difficult task, but not as difficult as bucking which came next; this required the ore to be broken down into a powder or granules with a flat-ended cast iron hammer. Some time before 1826 the mine resulted in £130,000 profit, having been mined to a depth of 150

fathom A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an International Standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally-accepted non-SI unit. Hi ...

s. It was then closed until 1826. Two 80-inch cylinder steam engines called Wilson's engine from the engineer Samuel Grose (1791–1866) were used in 1826 to drain the mine. The monthly output between January 1827 and March 1828 from the engine ranged from 48.9 to 84.2 million 94 pound bushels.Samuel Lewis.
A Topographical Dictionary of England: With Historical and Statistical Descriptions
'. Lewis; 1833. p. PT 68.William Jory Henwood.
Address Delivered at the Spring Meeting of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, on the 23rd of May 1871
'. 1871 ited 29 September 2012 pp. 51–52. It was also known as West Wheal Towan (1850–1867), Lelant Wheal Towan and West Wheal Lucy (1872). During the period he owned it, the mine provided Thomas Daniell (1715-1793) with an income estimated at the time as a "guinea a minute". His son Ralph Allen Daniell acquired the Trelissick estate, but in 1835 his son Thomas was declared bankrupt. The first underground steam engine was built in Wheal Towan in 1785. It was reopened in 1872 as West Wheal Lucy and abandoned soon after. The only remains on the surface are burrows created from the mine's operations. The burrows head in the direction of Towan Cross. File:Kites Shaft, Mineshaft Cover - geograph.org.uk - 187191.jpg, Kites Shaft mineshaft cover, West Wheal Towan mine File:Kites Shaft (Disused) - geograph.org.uk - 23513.jpg, Kites Shaft (disused), a typical old Cornish mine shaft; it has been boxed and had new fittings round the top for public safety

Religion

Porthtowan has a Wesleyan chapel.''Church History.''
Mount Hawke. GENUKI. Retrieved 28 September 2012. Also se

. File:The Chapel on the Hill - geograph.org.uk - 186605.jpg, The Chapel on the Hill, Methodist Church, Porthtowan

Culture and activities

Beaches

Porthtowan beach is a family and surfing

Blue Flag beach The Blue Flag is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that a beach, marina, or sustainable boating tourism operator meets its standards. The Blue Flag is a trademark owned by FEE, which is a not-for-profit non-gov ...

. Designated

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of thei ...

(AONB), along the coast are Gullyn Rock, Diamond Rock and sandstone and slate cliffs. It has more recently become well known as a surf resort and the surf club building. This is where the judges can be found for the annual SAS Rip Curl Cornish and Open Longboard Championship. The beach is kept under the constant scrutiny of the St Agnes based charity

Surfers Against Sewage Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is a marine conservation charity working with communities to protect oceans, waves, beaches and marine life. It was created in 1990 by a group of Cornish surfers from the villages of St Agnes and Porthtowan on the nor ...

, which was founded in 1990 to improve water quality in Chapel Porth, Porthtowan, and Trevaunance beaches. Porthtowan17042017

Porthtowan also has a hidden tidal pool in the rocks and nestled up against the cliff. It is only accessible at low tide since the steps on the east cliff have fallen into disrepair.

Restaurants and pubs

The Unicorn pub is a beachside bar, eaterie, hotel and hostel, which offers live music, dj's and panoramic sunset views. Overlooking the Porthtowan Beach is the Blue Bar, which has live music or disc jockeys on the weekend. Porthtowan Beach Cafe is located on Beach Road, and serves breakfast and lunch, as well as evening feast nights. The cafe was opened in 2012 by Heather Anne Jones. Moomaid of Zennor has an parlour serving ice cream made locally at Tremedda Farm near

Zennor Zennor is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish includes the villages of Zennor, Boswednack and Porthmeor and the hamlet of Treen (Zennor), Treen. Zennor lies on the north coast, ...

Amateur dramatics

amateur theatre Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as f ...

group, Porthtowan Players, formed in 1968, operates from a permanent stage facility within Porthtowan Village Hall. The group puts on a

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

, musical theatre show, short plays and a youth production each year.

Transport

There is a bus service within Cornwall by a number of operators. The major operators in the Cornwall area are

First South West First South West is a bus company operating services in the English counties of Somerset and Cornwall. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. First South West includes the Kernow, Truronian, Adventures by Bus and Buses of Somerset brands. Histor ...

and Hopleys Coaches. Service runs through the village of St Agnes and other towns. Rail service is offered out of

Newquay railway station Newquay railway station serves the town and seaside resort of Newquay Newquay ( ; kw, Tewynblustri) is a town on the north coast in Cornwall, in the south west of England. It is a civil parish, seaside resort, regional centre for aerospac ...

Redruth railway station Redruth station serves the town of Redruth, Cornwall, United Kingdom, and is situated on the Cornish Main Line between Truro and Camborne. The station is from via . Great Western Railway manage the station and operate most of the trains, with ...

Truro railway station Truro railway station serves the city of Truro, Cornwall, England. The station is from via . It is situated on the Cornish Main Line and is the junction for the Maritime Line to Falmouth Docks railway station, Falmouth Docks. The station is ...

and other western Cornwall municipalities, which is connected with bus service through the Ride Cornwall and

Plusbus Plusbus is an add-on ticket, which can be purchased with National Rail train tickets in the United Kingdom. It allows unlimited travel on participating bus and tram operators' services in the whole urban area of rail-served towns and cities. ...

programs. Ferry service is available to the

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...

from

Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

;

Padstow Padstow (; kw, Lannwedhenek) is a town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and fishing port on the north coast of Cornwall, England. The town is situated on the west bank of the River Camel estuary approximately northwest of Wadebridge, ...

to Rock; and other locations. Air travel is available through

Newquay Cornwall Airport Cornwall Airport Newquay is the main commercial airport for Cornwall, United Kingdom, located at Mawgan in Pydar, northeast of the town of Newquay on Cornwall's north coast. Its runway was operated by RAF St Mawgan before 2008, and is now o ...

and private jets, charters and helicopters are served by Perranporth Airfield.

In culture

* Porthtowan was the inspiration for several paintings by G.E. Treweek entitled: ''A Glimpse of the Sea, Porthtowan; A Sketch of Porthtowan; and Looking up the Valley, Porthtowan''.Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society.
Annual report
'. 1892 ited 29 September 2012 p. 167.