Calstock

Mining

Cotehele Consols captain's house and wheel house, now holiday homes on the Cotehele Estate.

Mining was important in Calstock from Mediaeval times, with the Duchy mining silver. The industry was booming in the late 19th century, and the discovery of copper, coupled with nearby granite quarrying, made Calstock a busy port. The rapid population boom due to the growth of industry led, in 1849, to an outbreak of cholera. The industry declined in the early 20th century due to foreign competition, and now only the ruined pump houses that dot the landscape remain.

Calstock had much mining activity, such as;

• Cotehele Consol (Cu & As)
• Calstock Consol (Cu)
• Okeltor Consol (Cu, Sn & As), mined Silver and Copper up until 1877
• Wheal Trelawny (Cu), very close to Okeltor Consols
• Dansecombe Mines (Cu, Sn & As)
• Wheal Zion (Cu)
• Wheal Edward (Cu & As)
• Wheal Arthur (Cu & As), directly east of Wheal Edward

Transportation

Steamer Alexandra at Weir Head, upstream of Calstock

The Tamar is navigable to boats past Calstock some 3 miles (4.8 km) upstream to Morwellham Quay with some 10 feet (3.0 m) or even 20 feet (6.1 m) of water at extreme spring tides. Calstock Quay and Danescombe Quay were once important for transporting minerals from the various mines in the area. In the Victorian era when steamers brought tourists to the village, Calstock was visited by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1846. The river has it own unique two of boat design especially for the Tamar, The "Tamar Barge", There is only two left in the world, one being the "Shamrock" and the other being the "Lhyner" The importance of the river as a transport route declined with the construction of the 14 miles (23 km) Tamar Valley railway at the start of the 20th century. The village is still dominated by the railway's viaduct.

Boat building

Site of May's boatyard, on the River Tamar.

Calstock had two main boat builders, Goss's Yard, which built the Tamar sailing barge, Garlandstone, now moored at Morwellham Quay, and May's Yard, in the Danescombe Valley.

The Garlandstone

Lime production

Calstock's Lower Kelly lime kiln, opposite Calstock boatyard

There are four sets of lime kilns at Calstock and another at Cotehele Quay. The burning of lime was a major industry in the area in the 19th century. The limestone was delivered to the kilns by boat but the resulting lime shipped out to the various farms by horse and cart. It was used as a fertiliser, an ingredient in paint and as a mortar for bricklaying.^[11]

St. Annes, Gunnislake

The land was bought on the 29th January 1879. The total cost of the building was £2,400 of which the Duke of Bedford gave £500 and the Church building society gave £200. The foundations stone of the church were laid by the Dowager Countess of Mount Edgcumbe, at 3pm on Tuesday, 30th September 1879. The building was designed by Mr J Piers St Aubyn and was consecrated by Edward Benson, the Bishop of Truro in 1880. It was dedicated to St. Anne because of a ancient local Holy Well, close by the site of the church. The Church seats up to 225 worshippers In 1918 Gunnislake appealed to become its own separate parish, but fail to raise the necessary funds.

All Saints, Harrowbarrow

In 1870 a parishioner presented the rector a piece of land, near the Prince of Wales Mine, and then the church was again designed by Mr J. Piers St Aubyn and was built as a school and a mission chapel for £700. The church seats up to 80 worshippers.

Albaston Chapel

The graveyard in front was consecrated in 1888. Outside the chapel, just inside the main gate, there is a large granite memorial cross commemorating 132 men who made the supreme sacrifice in war. The cross bears the following inscription;

Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory. In glorious memory of the men from the parish of Calstock who fell in the Great War 1914–1918. Greater Love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Latchely Church

In 1879 the "foundation stone of our long wished for church was laid". Latchely church was designed by Piers St Aubyn, the same architect as Gunnislake. It was built three years later than Gunnislake at a cost of £1,147 as a chapel of Ease dedicated to St Micheal and All Angels. It was opened by the Bishop of Truro on the 20th July 1883. After a bad attack of wood worm to the chapel in August 1968 the chapel was closed to worshippers and in 1985 it was sold and used for a dwelling.

Cotehele's Chapels

Cotehele House Chapel

Chapel west window facing the courtyard

In Cotehele, on the west side of Hall Court is the vicarage and chapel. The chapel, dedicated to St. Katharine and St. Anne, is connected to the main building via a small passageway leading to the dining room. The chapel is one the oldest rooms in the house, along side the Great Hall. It still has the original clock, a rare example from the Tudor period, still in operation today.

East Cornwall Mineral Railway

Map of the East Cornwall Mineral Railway

The East Cornwall Mineral Railway was a 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge railway line, opened in 1872 to connect mines and quarries in the Callington and Gunnislake areas in east Cornwall with shipping at Calstock on the River Tamar. The line included a rope-worked incline to descend to the quay at Calstock. Wagons with goods from the mines around Gunnislake and Callington were brought down the hillside on a 0.4 miles (0.6 km) cable-worked incline with a gradient of 1 in 6 (17%).

Following the opening of a main line railway at nearby Bere Alston, a connecting line from there to Calstock was opened, and the existing line converted to standard gauge, opening throughout as a passenger line in 1908. When rural lines in the area were closed in the 1960s, a short section of the original ECMR line was retained to keep open a connection from Plymouth to Gunnislake, and that section remains open.

Calstock Viaduct

Calstock Viaduct

The viaduct is 120 feet (37 m) high with twelve 60 feet (18 m) wide arches, and a further small arch in the Calstock abutment. Three of the piers stand in the River Tamar, which is tidal at this point and has a minimum clearance at high tide of 110 feet (34 m).

It was built between 1904 and 1907 by John Lang of Liskeard using 11,148 concrete blocks. These were cast in a temporary yard on the Devon bank opposite the village. The engineers were Richard Church and WR Galbraith. The viaduct was first crossed by truck on 8 August 1907 and first used by passengers on 2 March 1908.

It is a Grade II* listed structure. ^[13]

Services

Calstock is served by trains on the Tamar Valley Line from Gunnislake to Plymouth. Connections with main line services can be made at Plymouth, although a small number of Tamar Valley services continue to or from Exeter St Davids.^[14]