Holmbush Mine

Walk away from the road to find a field gate and information board, which details the fascinating history of Holmbush Mine. Pass between the two and immediately turn right over a low bank. Turn sharp right; cross the next low bank and turn left.

At the next junction of paths bear right on the broadest path. The path initially passes through mature conifers and parallels the Stoke Climsland road. Reach a path T-junction.

Turn left, flanked by bright rosebay willowherb in summer, and a mix of deciduous saplings – birch, oak, sweet chestnut, sycamore, beech, mountain ash – as well as patches of conifers.

Reach a T-junction in a more open area.

Turn right. The path bears left under tall beech trees on reaching the northern end of the wood, bounded by a hedgebank (there are good views across the fields to Stoke Climsland). At a fork – an old banked track heads straight on – bear left along the northern boundary.

The path is narrow and rough, and passes a bench. Reach a path junction on the edge of a stand of conifers and keep ahead through the trees, passing through a gap in an old field bank, to reach a T-junction.

Turn right on a broad track; before reaching a gate (onto the A388) bear left through a glade of mature beech trees. Pass through a gap in a bank, then bear slightly right, alongside a hedgebank, to reach the old mine buildings on the southern edge of the wood.

Unless you’re walking in winter you won’t see the chimney, or the ruined winding engine house, until you’re just about level with the structures.

Cross a bank by the chimney, then pass the engine house (a little path on the right winds into the interior of the building, accessed via a ladder).

Pick up and follow a narrow path that bears right and threads through the mining site, passing under and between remnants of hard-to-distinguish mine buildings: fenced-off shafts, water wheel and crank pits, a copper crushing house and spoil heaps.

Lead and silver were first mined here in the 17th century; copper ore was produced in the late 18th century and through much of the 19th century. Single specimens of silver lead ore and copper ore, each weighing 1–1½ tons, were exhibited by Holmbush Mine at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Between 1877 and 1886 Holmbush ranked alongside other well-known Tamar Valley mines as a prolific arsenic producer; mining ceased for good in 1923.

The output of the mine was impressive, particularly considering that prior to its establishment of this area was known as Kilbury, and simply a junction of moorland paths. The path winds on, passing a second chimney and the ivy-covered castle-like ruin of Hitchen’s pumping engine house.

Just past the engine house bear left at a junction on a narrow path, overgrown in summer, that leads back to the lower end of the broad beech avenue leading to the mine. Turn right for the car park.