
Rocky Valley ( kw, Glynn Duwy, meaning ''deep valley of the river Duwy'') is a small valley in the parish of Tintagel, north
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,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
The valley has been carved by the Trevillet River ( kw, Duwy, meaning ''dark river'') in
Trethevy
Trethevy ( kw, Tredhewi) is a hamlet in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
It is midway between the villages of Tintagel and Boscastle in the civil parish of Tintagel. Trethevy has a number of historic buildings and is an early Christian ...
around one mile east of
Tintagel
Tintagel () or Trevena ( kw, Tre war Venydh, meaning ''Village on a Mountain'') is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England. The village and nearby Tintagel Castle are associated with the legends surroundin ...
. At their highest point the slate canyon walls tower over seventy feet above the river below. Rocky Valley was mentioned in travel books as a place of exceptional beauty as early as 1897. The valley is owned by the
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 ...
and is home to 161 different species of moss.
Saint Nectan's Glen is an area of woodland stretching for around one mile along both banks of the Trevillet River; its most prominent feature is St Nectan's Kieve.
The
South West Coast Path
The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises a ...
descends into and out of the valley a little way inland due to the sheer cliffs on the coast; the rocks at the seaward end of the valley are dangerous and people have been swept off by freak waves.
In 2007 some of the bridges over the Trevillet River were washed away during
flash floods
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...
caused by heavy rains. These have since been replaced.
Buildings
Mills
There are three mills on the Trevillet River: Trethevy or Trewethett Mill, Trevillet Mill and
Halgabron Mill. Trevillet Mill is now a private residence and was made famous by an 1851 painting by
Thomas Creswick
Thomas Creswick (5 February 181128 December 1869) was a British landscapist and illustrator, and one of the best-known members of the Birmingham School of landscapists.
Biography
Creswick was born in Sheffield (at the time it was within Der ...
. The lowest, Trethevy Mill, is derelict and was used in the eighteenth century to manufacture woollen textiles.
There are a number of dates carved into the stonework of the derelict Trethevy Mill.
*W. T. 1779 - William Taylor; the earliest date identified so far
*D. R. 1794 - D. Rogers
*T. B. 1797 - Thomas Brown
*G. B. 1813 - G. Blewett; this date marks the extension of the mill
Maze carvings
Rock carvings discovered in 1948 are believed by some to be from the early
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
(1800-1400 BC). The two carvings take the form of circular
labyrinth
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (, ) was an elaborate, confusing structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, the monster eventually killed by the ...
s. Modern scholars believe that, as the labyrinths were carved on a quarried wall with a metal tool, they are likely to be less than three hundred years old. In 2005 it was claimed that another carving can be seen, much fainter than the first two, leading to speculation that the two well-defined carvings are copies of ones that are much earlier: this has yet to be proved.
The area around these carvings has become somewhat of a focus for
Neopaganism
Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism and neopaganism, is a term for a religion or family of religions influenced by the various Paganism, historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of No ...
and
New Age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...
beliefs.
References and bibliography
* Madge, Sidney J. (1950) ''The "Chapel", Kieve and Gorge of "Saint Nectan", Trevillet Millcombe, Tintagel''. (82 pp.; illus.) Bodmin: Liddell and Son
*Canner, A. C. (1982) ''The Parish of Tintagel''. Camelford: A. C. Canner; sections 2 & 87; appendix I
External links
{{authority control
Valleys of Cornwall
Rivers of Cornwall
Tintagel