Redruth to the Luxulyan Valley

Wheelpit Mill, Luxulyan Valley

February 2025

Sunny bright day. One to savour as they have been quite rare this winter. I arrived at the train station quite early which gave me time to pop into the station café where, to my delight, Caroline was back behind the counter. Last time I saw her, she was about to start cancer treatment. This time she has come out the other side and has 'rung the bell' in the hospital. It has been a rough ride but she is here to tell the tale and rustle up her famed bacon sandwiches for the hungry traveller. I have mentioned before that she has plaques to Jenny Agutter OBE and Sir Tim Rice who are fond frequenters of the café. They are now joined by TV presenter of Amazing Spaces, George Clarke. May there be a space in the future for a less than famous blogwriter ...?

Redruth Station cafe

My friend Deborah met me at St Austell Station and once we were reunited, having been waiting on either side of the track, we set off for Luxulyan. The joy of a day out like this is the serendipitous encounter and the memory jog. My parents used to live in the nearby Prideaux Woods so it is not an unknown spot. It came to me, as we drove through the village that Silvanus Trevail, the famous nineteenth century Cornish architect is buried in Luxulyan churchyard. So we duly paid homage after a few three point turns. Trevail was a most prolific architect; at one time he had 300 projects on the go. And he finished them too. And so designed some of our most beautiful civic and private buildings such as the Headland Hotel in Newquay, Truro Library and innumerable chapels and schools as well as private houses. Born in Luxulyan parish, his practice was in Truro where he became mayor and also president of the Society of Architects. He collaborated significantly with the philanthropist Passmore Edwards. Tragically, he suffered from acute depression and shot himself in a train toilet just outside Bodmin, having left a wonderful legacy in our towns and villages.

Luxulyan church is very pretty and has a beautiful Norman font. It is a stopping point on the Saint's Way trail which runs from Padstow to Fowey.

My sense of direction, as my walking companions well know, is not as good as I think it is. Mainly because I tend to navigate by instinct, not consulting the many maps and apps at our disposal. Deborah and I have got lost before but she gamely followed my directions to the Luxulyan Valley and drove down, and up, and round the narrowest, greenest of lanes. Thank you to the toothless postman who put us right as we were heading in completely the wrong direction.

The Luxulyan Valley is a very striking wooded valley with the River Par racing through it and numerous streams galloping downhill to join it. Peppered with nineteeth century remnants of its industrial past, like the mills in Kennall Vale in our village, these granite structures are now being re-incorporated into their natural surroundings. That is apart from the magnificent Treffry Viaduct which now also spans the current branchline from Par to Newquay and a few others that have been restored. Industrialist and mine owner Joseph Treffry needed to join the ports of Par and Newquay and so began construction of a railway from Ponts Mill as well as a horse drawn tramway. We were drawn to the Checkers Hut at the top of the Carnmears Inclined Plane. This vitally important job was to ensure there weren't two trams moving in opposite directions on the Plane at the same time; chaos could so easily ensue. It was good to see that there was a fireplace in the small hut; small comfort in the down times.

We had such a great walk, with interests at every turn and even found our way back to the car park along the Velvet Path. It is a place that will reward over multiple visits. In need of refreshments we gobbled the chocolate contents of Deborah's glove compartment and then made our way to the Pinetum in St Austell for a much needed cuppa.

Couple of plugs:

Tickets for White Horse from February 28th to March 8th at The Regal in Redruth are now available https://o-region.co.uk/theatre/white-horse/. It is based on a story by Michael Morpurgo, adapted and directed by Simon Harvey with a great cast. I have been involved in the outreach project, led by Anna and Simon, and podcasts of the stories from Bude, Launceston, Redruth, Penzance and Scilly are now being released twice a week. They are really good and worth a listen https://o-region.co.uk/podcast/from-the-horses-mouth-podcast/.

Also keep an eye out for a Helston branchline story event coming up at The Old Chapel in Helston in early April ...