Dartington Glass to Cornish Tin

Day 5: Dartington to Penzance

for Lara Owens by DE

Following a brief morning meeting in the hostel farmhouse, to discuss plans for the forthcoming day, we were off.

We left the home of Dartington Glass for Dartmouth, the home of the British Navy. Dartmouth sits in the drowned river estuary, locally known as a "ria," of the River Dart. The Dart, not surprisingly drains Dartmoor, and the drowned mouth of the river forms a perfectly sheltered small harbour. On the day of our visit, there was a frigate anchored there, newly returned from the Gulf, and overlooked by the Naval Academy on the hillside above.

However, a visit to the home of the Royal Navy was not the object of our visit. Rather, we were to pay homage to the birthplace of Thomas Newcomen, inventor of the famed Newcomen Engine, arguably the pivotal invention that spurred the industrial revolution. In the driving rain, we sprinted to a replica engine that occupied the Dartmouth Tourist Information Center, present on the neatly cultivated quayside. This machine was certainly not the picture of efficiency, with a rated efficiency of the single-acting atmospheric engine clocking an impressive 0.1%. However, for the first time, it enabled the pumping of the ever deepening mines, and made feasible the access of deep reserves of coal - and later, Cornish tin.

After this spot of hero worship, it was off to a second stop for the morning - a biogas facility at the Salcombe wastewater treatment facility. At this facility, methane from the sewage digesters was recycled, and had been used as fuel for internal combustion generators that in turn supplied enough power to run the plant. Currently, the IC engines were out of commission, awaiting a small infusion of cash for their repair - meanwhile the methane was being used to heat the digesters to body temperature - 38 Centigrade, and promote the early release of methane for the continuing process.

We lunched in Totnes, cancelled our late afternoon appointment with CSM Associates in Penryn, which we new we would miss, and headed on our journey to Penzance. En route, we pulled up onto the bleak moorscape of Dartmoor, and found the Clapper Bridge we sought. After that, it was onward to Penzance, speeding past batteries of windmills on Bodmin Moor and beyond, before arriving in Penzance well before dark, and in good time for the planned festivities of that night.

Hoist the Jolly Roger! 

Lara Owens is a Graduate in Geosciences.

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Last updated: Wednesday December 03, 2003