- Distance:6.75 miles
- Walk grade:moderate
- Start from:Park Farm
- Recommended footwear:walking boots/shoes or trainers in dry weather
Highlights
- Rocky valley
- Cliff scenery around Trevalga
- Trevalga village and church
- St Piran's well and chapel at Trethevy
- St Nectan's Glen
Directions
- Walk up the lane signposted to Trenale to the left of the post box opposite Park Farm
- Walk straight along it passing by Tregeath Lane and Trenale Lane on your left, across a crossroads passing a wayside cross on your right and down the hill.
- At the bottom of the hill turn left and the entrance to Rocky Valley (Trevillet Mill) is immediately on your right on the opposite side of the road.
- Walk down the private road to Trevillet Mill (there is public access along here) - the route is well signposted at the bottom.
- Follow the path down through Rocky Valley.
- Near the bottom of Rocky Valley the coast path path that runs off the main path to the right over a bridge and up onto the cliffs. Take this.
- Follow the path along the cliffs past the caravan park and round the headland.
- On the other side of the headland the path goes past the manor house (up above you on the right) and meets a track. Take the track inland to Trevalga.
- Have a wander round Trevalga and have a look at the many old buildings then make your way back to the church.
- From the church, follow the public footpath signposts along the track and across a field until it comes out on the main road.
- Turn right onto the main road towards Trethevy.
- After a few yards, carefully cross the road turn left into the lane that runs parallel to the main road and walk along this.
- Where it comes out again on the main road, turn left and follow the signposts to the waterfall, walking up a track until you reach St Piran's chapel (in front of you) and well (on your left).
- Take the lane to the right passing the chapel on your left. The lane leads down into St Nectan's Glen.
- Follow the path upstream in St Nectans Glen until you reach a footbridge with a path leading off to the right signposted to Halgabron. Take this path.
- The path climbs out of the valley and comes out onto the lane that you first set out on. Turn left on the lane and follow it back across the crossroads and back into Trewarmett.
In the medieval period, stone crosses were sometimes placed by the road or path. There have been various reasons for erecting these: markers placed along routes used by Christian pilgrims, or as a shrine in reverence, perhaps to a saint who has some connection to the locality. Others mark burial sites, a disaster, a miracle, or some other event that should be remembered. In some cases they were erected to mark meeting places for Christian worship and later churches were built adjacent to the cross, resulting in the cross being within the churchyard or close by.
In Cornwall many of the wayside crosses are Celtic crosses. Scholars speculate that the Celtic Cross (a crucifix with a circular ring) developed from the sun cross (a cross inside a circle), a common symbol in artefacts of Prehistoric Europe, particularly during the Neolithic to Bronze Age periods. When Christianity came to the celtic regions, Christians extended the bottom spoke of this familiar symbol to remind them of the cross on which their new Savior was crucified. There are said to be 360 Wayside Crosses in Cornwall.
Rocky Valley has been formed by the Trevillet river carving its way through the slate bedrock and was mentioned in travel books as a place of exceptional beauty as early as 1897. The river cascades through woodland before opening out into a canyon which meets the coast.
About half way along the path there is the ruin of a mill and monastery next to which are some labyrinthine stone carvings the age of which are unknown (some historians think they could be as early as bronze age, others think they are much more recent).
The coastline around Trevalga is particularly spectacular with a number of rock stacks which provide homes for seabird colonies, including Long Island which is one of the last remaining atlantic puffin nesting places in Cornwall. On a headland next to coast path there is a rock arch known as The Lady's Window which you can walk through.
The entire village of Trevalga is owned by Marlborough College - a public school in Wiltshire. It was left in trust so that the village and parish would remain unspoiled for future generations. There are a number of original old slate buildings that have remained unchanged for many decades.
The Norman church (St Petroc's) is made of a stone known as Elvan or Greenstone which occurs in small pockets in North Cornwall and was highly valued by local stonemasons as it can be finely carved. The church tower was built a little later in the 13th Century and reworked in the 15th Century. The wheel-headed wayside cross next to the south door could be as old as 8th Century (just before Celtic Cornwall was conquered by the Anglo-Saxons).
St Nectan's Glen is an area of verdant woodland upstream of Rocky Valley along the Trevillet river. At the top of St Nectan's Glen is a 60ft waterfall known as St Nectan's Kieve (or basin) (there is an admission fee to the waterfall). Pilgrims visiting St. Nectan's Shrine have used the Glen path since 500AD. St Nectan is supposed to be buried under the waterfall, along with the treasure he collected, according to local legend. There used to be a church dedicated to him where there is now a Hermitage (with tea gardens during the summer). Once, it was said, a couple of witches lived in the chapel, and locals blamed every disaster on their evil ways.