Interactive Heritage MapWorld Heritage Sites South West

Feedback

China Clay Country Park – Cornwall and Devon Mining

Site 13 China Clay Country Park waterwheel

set in 10 hectares of woodland nestling in the historic Ruddle Valley on the outskirts of St Austell, the China Clay Country Park provides a fascinating day out for all the family. The China Clay Country Park is set in the grounds of two former working China Clay pits and provides visitors with a fascinating insight into China Clay - how it was mined, what it was used for and what it meant for local communities.

www.chinaclaycountry.co.uk 01726 850362

Cornwall and Devon Mining

Wheal Trewavas

The landscapes of Cornwall and west Devon were radically reshaped during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by deep-lode mining for predominantly copper and tin. The mines, engine houses, foundries, new towns, smallholdings, ports, harbours, and ancillary industries so created, together reflect prolific industrial innovation which was to have a significant influence on the development of our modern industrial society.

The best surviving of these metal mining landscapes are recognised within the newly designated Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, or ‘Cornish Mining’, as inscribed by UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation) in July 2006. This places the historic mining landscapes on a par with such international treasures as Stonehenge, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China.

The Cornish Mining World Heritage Site is a serial inscription comprising ten principal Areas from St Just in the far west of Cornwall to Tavistock in west Devon. Together these total 19,700 hectares making this the largest World Heritage Site in the UK.