Bowithick Quarry is a disused nineteenth century open cast slate quarry situated in

Trebarwith Trebarwith (, meaning ''inner farmstead''), known locally as Trebarwith Village, is a hamlet in the parish of Tintagel, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Trebarwith Strand Trebarwith Strand (; locally sometimes shortened to ''The Strand'') is ...

Valley on the outskirts of

Tintagel Tintagel () or Trevena (, meaning ''Village on a Mountain'') is a civil parishes in England, civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village and nearby Tintagel Castle ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...

. The quarry ceased operations in 1913.

Location

The quarry site lies in Trebarwith valley between the hamlets of

Trewarmett Trewarmett () is a small hamlet in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It lies within the civil parish of Tintagel, 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Camelford. To the west of Trewarmett is Trebarwith Nature Reserve. Trewarmett lies within ...

and Penpethy and can be accessed from the B3263 road.

History

Bowithick quarry lies at the eastern end of the Prince of Wales Quarry and the two appear to have been worked in tandem. Slate from both quarries was dressed at Bowithick with the finished stone being hauled back across the valley using power from the

Woolf Compound Arthur Woolf (1766, Camborne, Cornwall – 16 October 1837, Guernsey) was a Cornish engineer, most famous for inventing a high-pressure compound steam engine. In this way he made an outstanding contribution to the development and perfection of ...

beam engine A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead Beam (structure), beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used b ...

located at the Prince of Wales quarry. The slate travelled across the road by bridges which are no longer standing. There are traces of a steam winding

engine house __NOTOC__ An engine house is a building or other structure that holds one or more engines. It is often practical to bring engines together for common maintenance, as when train locomotives are brought together. Types of engine houses include: * ...

at Bowithick. The quarry ceased operations in around 1913.John Macadam https://www.academia.edu/20588454/The_conservation_value_of_abandoned_pits_and_quarries_in_Cornwall

The quarry today

The quarry is now mostly obscured by a landfill site.

Footnotes

Quarries in Cornwall Quarries in England Tintagel {{coord missing, Cornwall