Rocky Valley

Rocky Valley is a small yet spectacular valley carved by the Trevillet River in Trethevy, North Cornwall, around one mile east of Tintagel. At their highest point the slate canyon walls tower over seventy feet above the river below. The Valley is owned by the National Trust and is home to 161 different species of moss. [http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-coastal_walk-tintagel.pdf accessed 26 June 2007 ] The South West Coast Path descends into and out of the valley a little way inland due to the sheer cliffs. Rocky Valley was mentioned in travel books as a place of exceptional beauty as early as 1897. [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uPMBAAAAMAAJ&dq=Highways+and+Byways+in+Devon+and+Cornwall&q=rocky+valley&pgis=1#search] While Rocky Valley is a place of outstanding natural beauty, the rocks at the seaward end of the valley are dangerous and there have been deaths of people swept off by freak waves. [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-23037692_ITM] In 2007 some of the bridges over the river were washed away during flash floods caused by heavy rains. These have since been replaced.

Prehistory

Rock carvings discovered in 1948 are believed by some to be from the early Bronze Age (1800-1400BC). The two carvings take the form of circular labyrinths. 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. [http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/2774 accessed 19 December 2006] .In 2005 it was claimed another carving can be seen, much fainter that the other two, leading to speculation that the two well defined carvings are copies of ones that date back much longer. This has yet to be proven. [http://www.forteantimes.com/strangedays/archaeology/346/new_labyrinth_found.html]

The area around the carving has today become somewhat of a focus for Neopaganism and new agers. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2005/jun/18/unitedkingdom.guardiansaturdaytravelsection]

Buildings

Rocky Valley is home to two mills. Trevillet Mill is now a private residence and was made famous by an 1851 painting by Thomas Creswick. The second, 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. [http://www.labyrinthos.net/rockyvalley.htm]

References