Cornish tin 'mine' cart emerges from cliff at Gwithian beach

As with many parts of Cornwall, Gwithian and Towans has a history heavily linked with tin production and extraction.

Sand from the beach was sifted and processed to extract the metals contained within it, with the practice still continuing as recently as between the First and Second World Wars.

Blasting through the rocks on the beach allowed horses and carts to continue along the sand as the tide came in, with men paid by the number of cart loads they brought in.

It is said the first blasting took place after a cart was lost trying to get around the rocks too late.

Blasting through the rocks on the beach allowed the horse and carts to continue along the beach. Picture: Kathy White

In later years tractors were also used, along with large buckets suspended on cables across the beach.

According to local historian David Oates on the website cornishstory.com, tin streamers of the 19th and early 20th centuries made a living searching for tin found in the waste from the nearby deep mines, or in tin that had “escaped” from the treatment works on the mine sites.

One of the most important areas for this was the appropriately named Red River, which ran from near the Wheal Grenville mine at Troon, through the mining areas adjacent to Camborne and Pool, until it emptied into the sea between Godrevy and Gwithian.

Gwithian and Towans is synonymous with tin production and extraction. Picture: Kathy White

The Gwithian Tin Sand Works shut down at the beginning of the Second World War and the area was left to grow over.

However, in recent years history has begun to emerge from nature.

The cliff has worn away to such an extent over the last three years that rails and the end of a cart used for moving the sand have begun to be exposed. After vegetation was cleared around it, together with further erosion in recent months, it is now more visible than ever before.

The sight has caused much interest for beachgoers and walkers spotting it high above the beach, and while people are advised not to investigate too closely due to the eroding cliffs its presence certainly gives an insight into when activity there went far beyond the sandcastles and sunbathing of today.