Restronguet Creek, Cornwall – the Pandora Inn & a Creek with a Mining Past

RESTRONGUET CREEK

Restronguet Creek (locals say “Res-trong-it”) is one of the most beautiful of the creeks that branch off the Fal estuary. It winds for about two miles from the old port of Devoran down to the Carrick Roads, between the parish of Mylor on its southern shore and Feock on its northern shore, and at its widest it is about half a mile across.

Today it is a peaceful place of moorings, mudflats and wooded banks, loved by sailors, walkers and birdwatchers. It is best known for the thatched Pandora Inn at Restronguet Passage, where you can eat and drink on a pontoon out over the water and arrive by boat as well as by road.

It is hard to imagine now, but in the 19th century this was one of the busiest creeks in Cornwall. Ore from the great copper mines of Gwennap came down the Redruth and Chasewater Railway to the quays at Devoran and Point, and ships sailed in with coal for the mine engines and timber for the shafts. Mining waste washed down the Carnon Valley gradually silted the creek, and when the railway closed in 1915 the trade came to an end.

The creek makes a lovely day out from Falmouth, Truro or Mylor – walk the creekside paths, explore the old quays, and finish with lunch at the Pandora. For somewhere to stay, see Feock holiday cottages on the northern shore, or Flushing holiday cottages, close to Mylor.

Best Time to Visit Restronguet Creek

Spring and early summer are lovely for walks and lunch on the Pandora’s pontoon. On summer evenings the creek fills with sailing dinghies, gigs and working boats. Autumn and winter bring large numbers of wading birds and wildfowl to the mudflats at low tide – a good time for birdwatching.

Much of the creek dries out at low tide, so check the tide times if you are arriving by boat, or want to see the water at its fullest.

THE PANDORA INN

The Pandora Inn stands at the water’s edge at Restronguet Passage, on the Mylor side of the creek, where a ferry once crossed to Restronguet Point. With its thatched roof, flagstone floors and low-beamed ceilings, it is one of Cornwall’s best-loved waterside pubs, and its long pontoon, stretching out over the creek, is a wonderful place to eat and drink in summer. Many customers arrive by boat.

The inn says that parts of the building date back to the 13th century, when there was a farm on the site. Historic England, which lists the building at Grade II, dates the present inn to around the 17th century, mostly rebuilt in the 19th century and extended in the 20th. For many years it was known as the Passage Inn or Passage House, a stopping place between Truro and Falmouth, and it was renamed in the 19th century after HMS Pandora, the ship sent to capture the mutineers from Captain Bligh’s Bounty.

Local tradition says that the Pandora’s captain, Edward Edwards, bought the inn after he was court-martialled for the loss of his ship on the Great Barrier Reef – though the connection has never been proved. In March 2011 the thatched roof caught fire and the inn was badly damaged; it was carefully restored with traditional materials and re-thatched, and has since reopened under new owners after a further refurbishment.

• The Pandora Inn

RESTRONGUET POINT & POINT QUAY

At the mouth of the creek, Restronguet Point juts out into the Carrick Roads on the Feock side, and the creek empties into the Fal through a narrow channel known locally as “the gut”. The point still has the remains of two quays. Marble Head Quay, facing into the creek, was used to ship copper ore that had come down the railway to Devoran and been brought along the creek by horses; the ore went to South Wales for smelting, where coal was plentiful. A second quay, at the tip of the point, served a ferry across the creek to Weir Beach and the Pandora Inn.

Further up, at the mouth of Penpol Creek, Point Quay was built by the Truro merchant Thomas Daniell around 1760 and was long known as Daniell’s Point. In the 19th century it was a busy industrial landscape of quays, docks, a tramway and smelting works, where lead was smelted on a large scale; the extension of the Redruth and Chasewater Railway to Point was worked by horses rather than locomotives. Looking west from the quay at low tide, you can see the remains of the Restronguet Creek tin works, which mined the tin-rich silt of the creek bed between 1871 and 1874.

Today Point Quay is a quiet green spot, popular for launching small boats and as a vantage point for races on the creek. The old tram road from Point to Devoran is now a quiet lane, part of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site.

THE CREEK TODAY

The creek is fed by two rivers: the Carnon River, which flows down from the old mining district of Gwennap, and the River Kennall, whose headwaters rise on the Carnmenellis granite. Over the 19th and 20th centuries, waste from mining in the Carnon Valley silted the creek, and scientists studying it today have found that its mud still bears the traces of the metals mined upstream. In the middle of the creek, “Bubbling Island” marks the site of the Carnon Mine, which sank a shaft from the shore at Yard Point.

Yet the creek is now recognised as much for its beauty and wildlife as for its industrial heritage. The Carrick Roads and its creeks are a Special Area of Conservation, and at low tide the mudflats attract herons, egrets and other wading birds, especially in autumn and winter. The local Restronguet Creek Society has published a newsletter on its heritage and wildlife every year since 1984.

The creek has an even older story too. The Carnon Valley was famous for its alluvial tin and gold, and the Creek Society notes research linking gold in the Bronze Age Nebra Sky Disc, found in Germany, to the Carnon River.

• Restronguet Creek Society

HISTORY OF RESTRONGUET CREEK

For thousands of years, tin was streamed from the gravels of the Carnon Valley, which drains into the head of the creek. In the 18th century the creek became a gateway to the great copper mines of Gwennap, then among the richest in the world. Quays grew up along its shores at Point, Penpol, Pill and Restronguet, shipping ore to the smelters of South Wales and bringing in coal for the mine engines and timber for the shafts – timber that was stored in ponds on either side of Strangeweke Quay, near the Pandora Inn.

In 1826 the mining magnate John Taylor opened the Redruth and Chasewater Railway, which brought ore down the Carnon Valley to the new port of Devoran at the head of the creek, with an extension along the shore to Point Quay. For most of the 19th century the creek was crowded with ships, but the mining waste that washed down the valley steadily silted the channel, and the decline of the mines brought the trade to an end. The railway closed in September 1915, and the last coal ship sailed out of Restronguet in the summer of 1916.

Since then, the creek has returned to nature and to leisure sailing, with the old quays, tram road and engine houses as reminders of its industrial past.

Key Places

• The Pandora Inn, Restronguet Passage – the Grade II listed thatched inn and its pontoon. See The Pandora Inn above.
• Point Quay – the quay built by Thomas Daniell around 1760 at the mouth of Penpol Creek.
• Restronguet Point – Marble Head Quay and the old ferry quay at the mouth of the creek.
• The Old Tram Road – the horse-worked extension of the Redruth and Chasewater Railway from Devoran to Point, now a quiet lane.
• Devoran Quay – the old port at the head of the creek. See Devoran.

NOTABLE PEOPLE

• Thomas Daniell (1715–1793) – the Truro merchant and mine owner who built Point Quay around 1760, long known as Daniell’s Point.
• John Taylor (1779–1863) – the mining engineer who ran the Gwennap Consolidated Mines and masterminded the Redruth and Chasewater Railway, which brought ore to the creek from 1826.
• Captain Edward Edwards – commander of HMS Pandora, sent to capture the Bounty mutineers; local tradition links him with the inn renamed after his ship.

CREEKSIDE WALKS

A popular circular walk explores both Mylor and Restronguet creeks: from Mylor Bridge, take the lane signposted to Restronguet Passage down the hill to the Pandora Inn, then follow the shore of the Carrick Roads round to Mylor Churchtown and back up Mylor Creek.

On the Feock side, the Feock Trails include a walk from Point Quay along the Old Tram Road towards Devoran, past the remains of Carnon Mine and up through the woods to Penpol, and a circuit from Feock via Pill Creek to Carnon Yard with views across Restronguet Creek. From Devoran, the traffic-free Coast to Coast Trail follows the old railway up the Carnon Valley to Bissoe and on to Portreath on the north coast.

• Feock Parish Council – Feock Trails
• Mylor – Cornwall Online
• Devoran and the Coast to Coast Trail – Cornwall Online

THINGS TO DO ON RESTRONGUET CREEK

1. Have lunch on the pontoon at the Pandora Inn.
2. Walk the Mylor and Restronguet creeks circuit – Mylor.
3. Explore Point Quay and the Old Tram Road to Devoran.
4. Cycle the Coast to Coast Trail from Devoran – Devoran.
5. Watch the wading birds on the mudflats at low tide.
6. Paddle or sail on the creek at high water, launching from Point Quay or Loe Beach – Feock.
7. Visit Trelissick, the National Trust garden on the Fal – Trelissick.

LOCAL EVENTS

• Devoran Regatta (summer) – the annual regatta on the creek, with gig racing and sailing – see Devoran.
• Racing from Point Quay (summer) – sailing and rowing races start and finish close to the quay.
• Feock Regatta (summer) – working boats and sailing races off Feock – see Feock.

Dates change from year to year – check Feock Parish Council and the Restronguet Creek Society for this year’s events.

PLACES NEAR RESTRONGUET CREEK

• Mylor – Mylor Bridge and Mylor Churchtown on the southern shore.
• Feock – Restronguet Point, Penpol and Point on the northern shore, with Loe Beach nearby.
• Devoran – the old mining port at the head of the creek.
• Flushing – the waterside village opposite Falmouth.
• Falmouth and Truro – each a short drive away.