Journey 7
John Leland
Lostwithiel
Do any signs of the tin industry remain?
Lostwithiel was the tin capital of Cornwall, and seat of the county’s own parliament.
Nick looks for signs of that industry. In Tudor times it was booming, and nearby Bodmin Moor would have resembled, say, the Victorian coal mines of Durham. Nick splashes across the muddy moor to find traces of ancient workings, including parallel streams dug for the kind of low-tech, low-cost mining typical of Leland’s day. But even 50 years after Leland such techniques were replaced by underground mining – which continued until the late 1800s, when it became cheaper to buy tin from abroad.
Leland also describes a bridge over the River Foy. In his day the arches were close to the surface, but now the river is significantly lower. It’s evidence that silt and sand – once waste products of the tin industry – have now washed away for good.