Walking around Kennall Vale

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Greyson

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Today I went for a walk around another forest with ruins; the Kennall Vale south of Truro. I just thought I'd post for those of you interested in the outdoors.

I love ruins, but these are a lot more recent than the pictures I have posted before. These date from the 1600's until about 1910. The Kennall Vale became the largest manufacturer of gunpowder in Cornwall in the 1800s, however it was beset by several gruesome accidents and frequent fatalities of its workers. In the 1850's a series of accidents destroyed many of the buildings there: in one instance, five factory buildings exploded together, and they found the roof of one 2 miles distant! On that day, one of the killed workers was noted to have left behind a wife and ten children. It doesn't bear thinking about. Anyhow, it's an interesting place, now being reclaimed by the wood, and I think the ruined buildings are worth a look.




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I found some really vibrantly green moss covered rocks, figured it would be a nice contrast against the pipe I was carrying, and make for a unusual entry in the 'what are you smoking' thread :)


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Heavy stoneworks are scattered about, some were co-opted into manufacturing use


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The limestone quarry has now become a small lake

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It's difficult to have a bad day when you're faced with that kind of expression :)


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There are rickety bridges in place, but crossing some of the streams and rivers is not for the faint hearted!


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Many of the buildings still have the remains of their working equipment, these cogs were huge. Also, in this room I stupidly stepped on / in a mine shaft that I thought was solid mud, turned out... not so much, nearly went in to my waist. Good times.


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Lots of channelled streams are diverted between buildings to power what would have been water wheels


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Large millstones lie by many of the buildings in this part of the vale, my map tells me this was one of the gunpowder refining houses


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I lost track of the number of small streams I passed, most of them had been directed near the buildings


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The last two buildings merging into the wood. I stopped here to smoke a pipe, it was very peaceful. The Vale is now a nature reserve, and there is constant birdsong as you pass through it. With that and the sound of streams and waterfalls along the way, this is definitely a good place to take a pipe and enjoy a little nature.


Speaking of which, I was trying to get a good picture of Mishka, but she was too intent on finding a small creature to murder. You can never get them to look at you when you want!

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Anyhow, that's where I spent my day, if you got this far I hope you found the pictures interesting.
 
Excellent! Thanks for posting. Its so different over there compared to here. The oldest structure is 1850 or so up here.
 
Ocelot55":avdvd44d said:
Excellent! Thanks for posting. Its so different over there compared to here. The oldest structure is 1850 or so up here.
I was thinking the same thing as I rolled through the pictures. Of course, East Texas is pretty green, but not like that.
I spend a lot of time in NJ and that's about as close to these pics I've ever seen.... someday though.
 
Great post! Man, I miss walking in the woods. If I had woods like that, I'd want to be in them all the time. Beautiful dog too. My cousin has a dog with the same name.
Thanks for sharing.

Brian.
 
Looks like a great place to explore. Hope you took time to smoke that nice pipe. It didnt look to ruined. The old mill stone makes me remember a mill stone my dad and I retreived from the ruins of a griss mill that my great grandpa had. That was some hard work getting it out the edge of the creek and out the woods, and to the old home place. It was nice where it was.
 
Very cool/interesting pictures. Alot of history there. Thanks for sharing.
 
I had to come back and look at these pics again. I think every man has a place in his soul that yearns for the beauty, peace and simplicity of a setting like this. Again, thanks for posting.

(It would also be a moonshiner's dream. Undisturbed woods, clean, clear, cool water. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.)
 
The colors, rock types, and terrain remind me of my childhood backyard. Thanks for sharing. Being in the outdoors with dog(s) is one of the finest things in life.
 
Stunning photos!
Thank you for sharing these images.
I'm envious, to say the least.
I love how nature reclaims, slowly, patiently...
And the juxtaposition of the built, and the formed, is fascinating.
 
Thanks for the kind words guys, I'm glad you liked them! Cornwall doesn't really have much of anything except scenery and history, but it does have a lot of that. I'm trying to get out more regardless of the weather (which has been off the charts and diabolical lately), so if you guys think its interesting I'll try to put up more shots of my travels around.
 
Those are stunning pix! What a great place to wander thru. That stream looks like it might just hold some nice trout (but looks tough to fish).
 
That much green looks like some fairytale wonderland compared to my area's backyard. :lol:

Moss is fascinating to me...the best we have is craggy lichens that cling to rocks.

The pipe picture and husky-smiling picture are FTW. :cheers:

Great area, I'd be out from dawn until dusk pokin' 'round an spot like that, too.

8)
 
Thanks for the pics reminds me of my walks in the walks I had in the late 50's early 60's with my aunt in Vermont and New hampshire. MIKE
 
Very cool pics, thanks for taking the time to take them and post them to the forums. 8)
 

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