Rocky Valley is a small valley with spectacular scenery in north Cornwall, United Kingdom (in the parish of Tintagel).
The valley is carved by the Trevillet River in Trethevy around one mile east of Tintagel.
At their highest point the slate canyon walls tower over seventy feet above the river below. Rocky Valley was mentioned in travel books as a place of exceptional beauty as early as 1897. The valley is owned by the National Trust and is home to 161 different species of moss.
The South West Coast Path descends into and out of the valley a little way inland due to the sheer cliffs on the coast; the rocks at the seaward end of the valley are dangerous and people have been swept off by freak waves. If you do visit these cliffs beware!
Spray from the crashing waves make the rocks extremely slippery. The whole time I was there taking photographs I was extremely careful. It’s all too easy to get caught up in getting the photographs just right that you forget about your personal safety.
Now this is where we get to the peaceful bit. In 2007 some of the bridges over the Trevillet River were washed away during flash floods caused by heavy rains. These have since been replaced and I’m glad they have. You need the bridge to cross over to the site of the now ruined and abandoned Trevethy Mill.
Rocky Valley is home to two mills. Trevillet Mill is now a private residence and was made famous by an 1851 painting by Thomas Creswick. The second, Trethevy Mill, is derelict and was used in the eighteenth century to manufacture woollen textiles.
There are a number of dates carved into the stonework of the derelict Trethevy Mill
- W. T. 1779 – William Taylor; the earliest date identified so far.
- D. R. 1794 – D. Rogers.
- T. B. 1797 – Thomas Brown.
- G. B. 1813 – G. Blewett; this date marks the extension of the mill.
Rock carvings discovered in 1948 are believed by some to be from the early Bronze Age (1800-1400 BC). The two carvings take the form of circular labyrinths and you can see them in the bottom right of the image below. Modern scholars believe that, as the labyrinths were carved on a quarried wall with a metal tool, they are likely to be less than three hundred years old. In 2005 it was claimed that another carving can be seen, much fainter than the first two, leading to speculation that the two well-defined carvings are copies of ones that are much earlier: this has yet to be proved.
The area around these carvings has become somewhat of a focus for Neopaganism and new agers
All HDR images in this post were processed with Machinery HDR Effects 2.1. Want to know more? Visit the web-site of Machinery 2 here
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very nice photos
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The third one is the photo that says peaceful to me most clearly.
I find old wallsteads quite sad places.
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Beautiful photos. I love Cornwall. I intend to get to know the area much better.
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What an interesting and beautiful place.
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Thank you Mike for happy, peaceful memories. You are so clever with your photos, love them all!
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Wonderful photos! I can almost imagine the water rushing into a peaceful environment. Thanks for sharing.
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Beautiful photos. These really portray peacefulness.
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Looks like a calendar, waiting to be published!
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Great pictures! thanks for pingback! 🙂
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Always quiet and peaceful in such places Mike – nice set of shots 🙂
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Wow, these are amazing! 🙂
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I enjoyed your blog..those photos are great!
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WOW – that second shot had me looking twice…it felt like the water was moving
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Beautiful HDR photography! Gorgeous entry!
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I especially like the waterfall photo with all of its undulations.
~Anne
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Thank you. L.
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Fascinating. Informative & beautiful.
A great take on the challenge. Thanks for sharing!
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Please bring me here, Mike!!! I was kidding of course. I’m from the far east so that’s not supposedly possible. However, with these vivid photos of yours, it feels as if I’m in a movie or I was actually at this beautiful, peaceful place. Safe to say, “it’s my most favorite for this week’s photo challenge”.
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Whew, I felt like I was transported to another place of wonder, beauty and bliss. Each photo, just beautiful beyond words. A true treasure of mother nature. Thanks for today’s inspiration.
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Excellent post for this week topic Mike
…. great interpretation of Peace 🙂
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These are absolutely stunning.
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This is in the UK? I have to go visit it sometime. Every country has its treasures, so it seems 🙂 Fantastic images!
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Peaceful, yes, definitely 🙂 I love your interpretation. Thanks for the share!
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Nature seems to have been on everyones mind when it comes to “Peaceful”.
You have captured a wonderful babbling brook. The sounds emited, definitely,
can be extremely peaceful.
Nice entry ..
Isadora
http://insidethemindofisadora.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/weekly-photo-challenge-peaceful/
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Would love to sit and listen to the water trickle down the rocks.
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Very nice photos. I like the way you bring the viewer right into the scene. Colors are rich and vivid. Well done.
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