Bowithick and Buttern Hill

 The weekend weather forecast was not brilliant so we took advantage of a clear spell for a Saturday afternoon jaunt. But where to go? Somewhere new and we headed for one of those hidden parts of Bodmin Moor where you would almost have to be lost in order to find. Bowithick was our destination on the West Moor, just a touch to the east of our last walk in these parts. And a first for us was following a route using the i-Walk Cornwall app. Normally we use my GPS but this walk seemed worth a trial of the phone app.

We started at the base of Bray Down by a ford and took a circular route up and over Buttern Hill. There is a lot of water in these parts as it encompasses the sources of both the Fowey (flowing due south as indicated) and the Inny (flowing due east). Our route took us between (blue dot) the source marshes of both and ensured that we did not end up wading through blanket bog. At 4.3 miles, and not particularly strenuous, it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. And we did not see anyone else all the way around. 

From where we left the car, we headed up through areas of large granite boulders. I couldn't see any signs of the boulders being ever worked so it must be a natural distribution.

I don't think this Highland cow fully understands the rules of 'Hide and Seek'.

Our Highland cow guide taking us through some of the remains of the processing area of Buttern Hill Mine.

A leat is always a giveaway for some sort of industrial action - in this case, the Buttern Hill mine.

The phone app said to head for a large cuboid boulder on the edge of the mine. Not quite cuboid but this is it. Mrs P does not look convinced.

Buttern Hill was an open cast mine from which tin ores were extracted. It really is a big site and would, most probably, have been built over a place used for mediaeval tin streaming.  During both the 1st and 2nd World Wars the mine was worked by German Prisoners of War, with the nearby farm at Bowithick being the site of the P.O.W. Camp.

A satellite view gives a much better idea of the size of the mine - it's that half mile long enormous scar in the landscape. The dark lines on both sides are leats bringing vital water to power wheels etc. At the top right are the lighter roads which took material to the various processing areas - buddles, smelting etc.

To the north are the gleaming spires of the Davidstow Creamery, makers of Cathedral City cheese. Bodmin Moor has neither a cathedral nor anything that vaguely resembles a city - or town, for that matter.

As we headed up the rather featureless side of Buttern Hill, Brown Willy loomed larger and larger.

As we approach the summit, the first of a linear grouping of reasonably well defined cairns comes into view. The first one was about 12 ft across and had the typical 'robbed out' appearance. Not bad at all. From this cairn it was a short walk to the larger cairn that crowns the summit. Even from this close all we expected to find is a low pile of stones, albeit larger than the previous cairn. 

How wrong could we be! We were not prepared for the 'contents' of the primary cairn. Its low bank, about 30 to 35ft across, surrounds a cist with all four walls intact and the capstone perched over it. The cist is about 6ft long and 3 ft wide with a solid granite floor. How come we have not read about it before? This is one of the best preserved cists we have found on the moor, and Dartmoor for that matter. It's Bronze Age but is it a stone coffin or a burial chamber? Originally, it would undoubtedly be covered with stone and soil and would have appeared as a large mound, visible from all angles and for miles around.

This aerial view gives the relationships of the cairns on the top of Buttern Hill. Look very closely and you might just be able to make out the outline of a circular embankment that encompasses them all.

We are heading for that clump of trees in the distance but the direct route would take us right through the large marsh where the Inny begins. We have to keep to the high ground and loop around to the left.

We start by heading for the first dip from the left on the horizon and then dropping down to a track that becomes obvious once more height has been gained. This part was open moorland and we had to pick our own route for the direction we wanted.

The top of Brown Willy in the distance. We’ve realised that we’ve never actually been up there but we will rectify that omission in the near future.

Now, these are what I call fence posts! I couldn’t help but wonder why these were used instead of wooden ones. I’m presuming it was all down to the ready availability of the raw materials and cheap labour.

A 'sheep creep' that enables sheep to get from one field to the next. There was a time when the hedge posed a more formidable barrier that it does now.

A 'fish creep' that enables fish to get from one part of the nascent River Inny to the next. It is a very important way of maintaining valuable fish stocks.

Three ways of getting to the other side of the Inny - a ford, a rather modern footbridge and an older multi-arched stone bridge (originally designed to take wagons from the mine). Mrs P is wondering which one would be best to take. In the end, she cleared the Inny in a single leap. Impressive but ultimately a waste of energy as I drove through the ford in the car and met her on the other side.