There has been a bridge spanning the River Camel at Hellandbridge for many centuries (the Patent Rolls of 1381 refer to "Stephen Dyer of Hellond Brigge"). The current packhorse bridge was built in the early 15th century with relatively little alteration since then.
The River Camel runs for 30 miles from Bodmin Moor to Padstow Bay, making it the longest river in Cornwall after the Tamar.
The River Camel has been fished for salmon and sea trout for centuries and the first royal charter was granted in 1199. In 1750, there are records of rights available on payment of a fee to the Duke of Cornwall to take salmon by use of barbed spears. Needless to say, these rights have now been revoked although even as recently as the 1980s, there are stories of salmon poachers with barbed garden forks beneath bridges along the Camel.
Salmon fishing is still popular and there is a salmon hatchery, where locally-caught salmon are bred. The resulting eggs are hatched and grown for a year in a protected environment before being released to boost the wild salmon population in the River Camel and Fowey.
Stoats and weasels are related to badgers and to otters, which they more closely resemble. The stoat is roughly twice the size of a weasel but can be distinguished without the need to measure it by its black-tipped tail. The weasel preys mostly on voles, but the stoat will take on prey much larger than itself including birds and even full-grown rabbits. During the winter, the coat of the stoat (and also some populations of weasel) changes colour from brown to white to camouflage it in the snow.
The soft, silky winter fur of the stoat is known as ermine and garments made from this were a luxury associated with royalty and high status. Given that stoats mark their territory using pungent anal scent glands, it’s likely a fair amount of washing of the furs occurred before being draped over royalty.
Although primroses flower most intensely in March and April, some primroses can begin flowering in late December. The name "primrose" from the Latin for "first" (as in "primary"), alluding to their early flowering.
The rate at which a tree grows varies through the year depending on the amount of light and moisture available. This is visible in a sawn tree trunk as a ring where the wider lighter area wood is laid down more quickly in spring-early summer and then the narrow darker area more slowly in late summer-autumn. Each ring corresponds to a year and so the age of the tree can be worked out by counting the rings.
Common honeysuckle is a native plant also known as woodbine because it wraps itself around other plants and can cause distortions in their growth also called woodbines. Honeysuckle might be regarded as having plant OCD in that it only ever entwines in a clockwise direction.
There are six species of the tit family of birds found in the UK but the blue, great and coal tits are the most common. Coal tits are the least colourful (grey with a black and white head). Both blue tits and great tits have green backs but great tits are larger with a black and white head, whist blue tits have a blue top to their head.
The farm to the left is Trescowe.
The settlement of Trescowe dates from early mediaeval times and the first record is from the 13th Century. The name is thought to be based on the Cornish word scawen meaning elder trees.
In fields with crops where the footpath doesn't run along the edge, if there is a well-trodden path then follow this to avoid trampling any more of the crops. If there appears to be no path through the crops then you do have a right to walk through the crop but stick as close as possible to the line of the path to avoid damaging any more of the crop than strictly necessary. Alternatively, you can follow around the edges of the field to avoid trudging through the crop.
Crop rotation schemes are designed using crops with different nutrient demands so the soil can recover from depletion of a particular nutrient. Some crops can even reverse the impact of others, for example bean crops and clover impart nitrogen into the soil and are therefore a key part of modern rotation schemes. Alternating between deep-rooted and shallow-rooted crops can also help to prevent erosion and improve soil structure.
A crop of oil seed rape has been traditionally used in crop rotation schemes as a "break" between cereal crops to suppress weeds and improve soil quality, but the increasing demand for rapeseed oil is making it profitable enough to be grown as a primary crop. Rape seeds are 45% oil and the remaining 55% can be used as a high protein animal feed. Originally rapeseed oil contained bitter-tasting and harmful chemical compounds that meant it was not used for human or even animal consumption and instead used to lubricate steam engines. Varieties have now been bred with very little of these chemicals and rapeseed oil is now one of the highest quality vegetable oils, low in saturated fat and high in omega-3. Consequently cold-pressed rapeseed oil is becoming increasingly popular in gourmet food. The plant requires quite a lot of nitrogen from the soil so is sometimes rotated with a nitrogen-fixing crop such as clover.
Almost 90% of plants depend on pollinating insects. In the UK it has been estimated that honeybees pollinate crops worth about £200 million a year, and their total contribution to the economy may be as high as £1 billion.
In the distance you can see the tower of St Mabyn church.
The village of St Mabyn takes its name from St Mabena to whom the church is dedicated. She was daughter of the 5th Century Celtic king, Brychan and is depicted on the sign of the St Mabyn Inn as well as in the stained glass in the church.
Brychan was a legendary Celtic king (originally born in Ireland) who ruled over Breconshire in South Wales and was viewed as the father of the Celtic saints.
Most of his children were reported to have evangelised Cornwall and North Devon, with many of the churches dedicated to them. Consequently, many of the place names in North Cornwall (St Teath, St Mabyn, St Endellion, St Minver, St Clether, Egloshayle, Egloskerry, Advent, Morwenstow, Lelant etc) are associated with the names of his children.
The large fields here are used for arable crops such as cereals.
Plant nutrients like phosphates and nitrates are used to improve the fertility of soils to make crops grow well. These chemicals dissolve easily in water and can wash into rivers where they stimulate the growth of algae. This uses up the oxygen in the water, suffocating the other aquatic life.
Phosphates are also used in many laundry and dishwashing powders. These cannot be fully removed by the sewage treatment process and the remainder is discharged into rivers, causing serious damage. You can help to reduce this by switching to low or phosphate-free dishwashing and laundry detergents (Ecover brand is particularly good and their dishwasher tablets seem to work amazingly well). Other things to be on the lookout for around the home are waste pipes that go into drains instead of sewers (these don't get any sewage treatment so any phosphates go straight into rivers). It's worth ensuring cesspits/septic tanks are emptied regularly otherwise all kinds of nasty things including phosphates will seep from these through groundwater into rivers.
When a cereal grain germinates, enzymes are released which break down the starch into sugars to feed the new plant. By allowing grains to germinate and then quickly stopping this by heating and drying them before sugars in the grains are consumed by the plant, the sugars can then be extracted. This process is known as malting and the sugary syrup (malt extract) that is produced is used for brewing beer and to sweeten the honeycomb in Maltesers. The sticky syrup also gives malt loaf its squishy quality.
The Ramblers Association and National Farmers Union suggest some "dos and don'ts" for walkers which we've collated with some info from the local Countryside Access Team.
Do
Don't
The current church building in St Mabyn dates from the 15th Century. Before this, there was another church on the same site. It's possible that the churchyard dates back to Celtic times as it is of an approximately circular shape that is typical of Celtic churchyards.
Unlike St Mabena, Cecilia (also celebrated in St Mabyn church) is not a Celtic saint. She is celebrated with a feast day in many branches of the Christian church including both Roman Catholic and Anglican and thought to be of Roman origin. She is patroness of church music because she is supposed to have sung to god when dying.
St Mabyn Inn was built in the 17th century originally as a farmhouse. It later became a church alehouse and then finally an inn. The pub sign depicts St Mabena.
Church Ales were celebrations held within the church calendar, particularly at Whitsuntide and May Day, when ales were brewed and sold in order to raise funds for the Church or for good causes in the parish. With the growth of Puritanism in the late 17th century, drinking was seen as sinful. Church Ales were considered to be nothing but drunken disorders and were suppressed. Church houses were gradually abandoned, demolished or put to other uses.
Oats were originally a grassy weed that occurred amongst wheat and barley crops. They were eventually domesticated as a crop in their own right in Bronze Age Europe as they are more tolerant of cool, wet summers than wheat and barley. This is also likely to be the origin of their popularity in Scottish cuisine. Nowadays, the highest levels of oat production take place in southern Britain and at similar latitudes including Canada, Poland and Russia.
During mediaeval times, young boys were employed as bird shooers, patrolling wheat fields with bags of stones to scare away birds. The Great Plague of 1348 wiped out so much of the population that there weren't sufficient children to patrol the fields and so human figures fashioned out of straw began to be used to bolster the numbers. There was still a human workforce of bird scarers until the early 1800s when children could be found better paid jobs in factories or mines.
Barley is a fundamental part of the rural culture - the word "barn" literally means "barley house". During mediaeval times, only the ruling classes had bread made from wheat; the peasants' bread was made from barley and rye.
The top of the stile is an old stone roller. Rollers were used to flatten the loose soil created by ploughing and harrowing. This suggests that the fields nearby have been used for arable crops for some time.
Their two sets of wings beat out of phase, and the frequency, amplitude and the angles of each set of wings can be controlled. This allows dragonflies to hover in a completely stationary position for over a minute, perform extravagant aerobatic manoeuvres and even fly backwards.
To discourage herbivores from eating them, nettles leaves have tiny spikes which inject a stinging venom. The myth that nettle stings are caused by acid is one that needs debunking as the formic acid in nettle venom is at a concentration that is too low to cause a sting. It is actually a combination of neurotransmitters (histamine, serotonin and acetylcholine) in the venom which causes skin irritation. The most effective relief is likely to be from an antihistamine cream but only if applied quickly enough.
On a clear day, there are views ahead of Brown Willy.
Brown Willy is a tor on the north-west area of Bodmin Moor. The name "Brown Willy" is actually a distortion of the Cornish Bronn Wennili which means "hill of swallows". The summit of Brown Willy is the highest point in Cornwall, at 420m above sea level, but only 20m taller than Rough Tor.
Swallows face a major weather forecasting challenge: to know when to migrate, they need to know what the temperature will be like 7,000 miles away. It is thought that swallows solve this problem by choosing locations at each end where the respective dipping and rising temperatures correlate well, so the temperature when leaving is what they can expect when they arrive.
Although it's obvious that you should ensure any gates that you open, you also close, what about gates you find that are already open?
If the gate is fully open then leave it alone as it may well be providing livestock access to a water supply, and by closing it you could end up killing them.
If the gate is ajar or swinging loose and not wedged or tied open then it's likely that the gate was left open by accident (possibly by another group of walkers). Properly closing the offending gate behind you will not only bring joy to the landowner but you can feel good about saving lives in a car swerving to avoid a cow in the road.
If you encounter a gate doubly-secured with twine that can be untied or a chain that can be unfastened, it's normally there because naughty animals have managed to undo the gate themselves at some point (e.g. by rubbing against the bolt), so retie/fasten it afterwards.
The settlement of Tregaddock was documented in 1201 as Tregadek and is thought to date from the early mediaeval period. It's thought that the name might be based on a personal name from Celtic times i.e. "Gadek's farm".
Longstone is a small settlement around a crossroads on the Camelford to Bodmin road. Longstone was named after St Mabyn's standing stone that stood for centuries until it was broken up in 1850 to be used as gateposts. Only the shattered stump now stands at the crossroads near the ancient Penwine wayside cross.
Large upright standing stones are known as menhirs due to the Celtic words men meaning stone and hir meaning long. The reason for their construction is unknown; currently the most popular theories are ceremonial. Excavations at some of the menhir sites in Cornwall have found evidence of postholes and pits, and areas of quartz paving. Also beneath some of the stones, charcoal and cremated human bone have been found.
These charcoal deposits have been radiocarbon dated and found to be between the Late Neolithic and Middle Bronze Age and, until recently, menhirs were thought to be associated principally with the people who inhabited Europe during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze age (4-5 thousand years ago), known as the "Beaker people" due to the pottery artefacts they left behind. Some recent research has suggested an older origin (perhaps 6-7 thousand years ago, at the very start of the Neolithic period in Britain). There is also evidence that some stones continued to be erected, or re-used, much later in the post-Roman "Dark Ages" (early mediaeval) period when some were also inscribed.
The fields in this area undergo crop rotation between different arable crops and pasture to maintain the fertility of the soil. If there is a crop in the field and no path to the gate then follow along the hedges.
The buildings are part of the tiny settlement of Trequites.
Trequites was recorded in 1329 as Tregoed which is thought to be from the Cornish word cos, meaning wood, with the "c" mutated to a harder "g" sound. A farmhouse, recorded as a mansion, existed here from the 17th Century but fell into ruin during the 20th Century.
Damselfly eggs hatch not into damselflies but water-living nymphs which look a bit like a dull-coloured damselfly with a 3-forked tail instead of wings. The tail is actually a set of gills used to breath underwater. When the larva is fully developed, it climbs out of the water on a stem or rock. Its skin then splits open and a damselfly emerges with wings which need to be inflated and dry before it can fly.
Foam on the surface of a river can look like pollution but, as with sea foam, it's normally a natural phenomenon. When water plants such as algae die and decompose, organic matter is released into the water. If the water is agitated, proteins in the water can form a froth, just like whisking egg whites. Plant nutrients entering the water will increase the amount of algae, making foam more likely or prolific so a very foamy river can be an indicator of nitrate or phosphate pollution.
Some of the Public Rights of Way originating from mediaeval times appear as sunken paths, also known as holloways from the Old English hola weg, a sunken road. There are different reasons for the lane being lower than the surrounding land. In some cases it was simply erosion caused by horses, carts and rainwater over hundreds of years. There are also examples where ditches formed between banks as a boundary between estates and then later adopted as a convenient location for travel or droving animals.
Tredethy House, together with the farm and cottages, make up the small settlement of Tredethy.
Tredethy is thought to date from early mediaeval times; the first record is from 1350. The present house was built in 1868 but is reported as being an extension of a 17th Century house. Sections of mediaeval window tracery and carved stone window frames were found during digging to create a swimming pool; these may either be from an earlier house or chapel on the site.
Prince Chula Chakrabongse was born in 1908 at the palace in Bangkok and was sent to England for his education. In 1932, a revolution ended the Siamese monarchy and the country was renamed as Thailand in 1939. Chula returned to England and married an English woman. They lived at Tredethy near Hellandbridge during the 1940s and 50s. The prince was a generous benefactor in the Bodmin area but perhaps his most well-known donation is the granite dog drinking bowl at the entrance to Priory Park given to Bodmin town in memory of his dogs.
The Camel Trail is a recreational walking and cycling track along the track bed of an old railway running from Wenfordbridge to Padstow. The railway, where the Camel Trail now runs, was originally built in 1831 by local landowner, Sir William Molesworth of Pencarrow. The line from Wadebridge to Wenfordbridge, with a branch to Bodmin, was intended to carry sand from the Camel estuary to inland farms for use as fertiliser. Later, the railway was used to ship slate and china clay from inland quarries to ships in Padstow and also transport fish, landed in Padstow, to London and other cities. The last passenger train was in 1967 and freight finally ceased in 1983, when a need to invest in new track forced closure of the line.
The Bray family have been farming at Haywood for over a century and the farm's granite cider press dates back much further than this. In 2003, Tom Bray revived the press and began making cider with friends. This has grown into a family business making traditional farmhouse cider which has involved propagating old varieties of cider apple tree and planting 14 acres of orchards. The cider is available for sale in flagons at the farm and community shop or to drink at the St Mabyn Inn. Tom also runs tours of the orchards (pre-booking required).
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