Rocky Valley
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Rocky Valley (, meaning ''deep valley of the river Duwy'') is a small valley in the parish of Tintagel, north
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, ...
, 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. The valley has been carved by the Trevillet River (, meaning ''dark river'') in
Trethevy Trethevy () 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 site. The ha ...
around one mile east 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 ...
. 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 () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
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. Rocky Valley is designated as a County Geology Site because of its geomorphological interest. The valley is within the Cornwall National Landscape, which is formally designated as the
Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty The Cornwall National Landscape (formerly the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) covers in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom; that is, about 27% of the total area of the county. It comprises 12 separate areas, designated under the Na ...
. The
South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked Long-distance footpaths in the UK, long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harb ...
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 and snow. Flash fl ...
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 landscape, landscapist and illustrator, and one of the best-known members of the Birmingham School (landscape artists), Birmingham School of landscapists. Biography Creswick was bo ...
. 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 () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
(1800-1400 BC). The two carvings take the form of circular
labyrinth In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth () is 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 h ...
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, spans a range of new religious movements variously influenced by the Paganism, beliefs of pre-modern peoples across Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Despite some comm ...
and
New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...
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