Holidays in St Just

You are literally surrounded by sea on three sides in Penwith. It will be immediately apparent to all visitors that the main industry in the area used to be tin mining and you can see the ruins of old engine houses everywhere you look. Most mineshafts have been located and covered with clid caps, so as to let birds and bats travel in and out of them unhindered.

The land below your feet is honeycombed with hundreds of miles of tunnels, some of which even extend a few miles under the sea bed. Models of the complete tunnel network can be seen at the Geevor mining museum. One historian made a 3D route map out of colour code coated wire of all the tunnels, adits and shafts in the St Just area. It’s a staggering labour of love and an important visualisation of the scale of industry in this part of Cornwall. Levant is owned and managed by the National Trust and has one of the last operational beam engines left. Between Levant and the neighbouring Geevor Mines you certainly get a taste of how the day to day processes of such places went together. You can do virtually everything at the museums except go far below the surface for safety reasons, but everything else is still in situ as if the mine had only closed for business yesterday.

A comprehensive set of ruins can be found a short distance along the coast at Botallack, when you can see engine houses and other brick structures perched on cliff tops and on promontories that would even give a seagull vertigo. There’s a great circular walk from Botallack mines to Cape Cornwall to the south. Cape Cornwall is the true cape, unlike Land’s End and it was purchased by the food brand Heinz, who restored the mine head chimney at the head of the hill. On a clear day you can see Land’s End lighthouse and the Scilly Isles.

Within driving distance is the pleasant pub called The Tinner Arms at Zennor, where the author HG Wells spent some time in exile. Legends of a mermaid draw in visitors too, as does the very peculiar circular walled churchyard. Some ancient stones and earthworks populate the empty centre of Penwith. There are very few stone circles in Cornwall but this is the place to find them, so seek out Boskedwan-un, Merry Maidens and Treseagal East too. It’s a wonderful part of Cornwall where you can really get the most out of the open spaces.

“You will be shocked at the scale of mining activity that once dominated the area…”

All in all St Just is the perfect location to have an authentic Cornish holiday. The town has a handful of useful shops and a library. It’s a reasonable drive to Penzance or St Ives for a wider range of shops, but as a getaway St Just is ‘just’ perfect.

We have some lovely cottages in and around St Just. Why not take a look at our collection to feel inspired?