Quay to the Past
On a very warm, sunny Sunday morning, I took a stroll along a quiet, wooded part of the coast path between Mt. Edgecumbe and Millbrook in S.E. Cornwall.
As you walk along the path to Empacombe Quay there is evidence that there have been many thriving industries from medieval times onwards: a windmill built of granite in 1769; a limekiln where limestone was burnt to make lime for fertiliser and mortar; and a quarry thought to be the source of the limestone;
In 1709 Empacombe also served as a workyard for Rudyerd to base his workforce, when building the second Eddystone lighthouse that protected shipping from the treacherous rocks 9 miles offshore. From the tiny harbour he could send barges and open boats full of building materials out to the rock.
Along the quayside he built a row of cottages. One was for his family, who had moved from their home in London to be with him. The others were occupied by senior members of his work party, as the Quay’s proximity to the nearby inn was extremely convenient!
Empacombe House, built in 1684, is the Cornish residence of the eighth Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, Robert Charles Edgcumbe, who succeeded to the title in 1982. Before that he was an estate manager in New Zealand.
Quay to the Past
On a very warm, sunny Sunday morning, I took a stroll along a quiet, wooded part of the coast path between Mt. Edgecumbe and Millbrook in S.E. Cornwall.
As you walk along the path to Empacombe Quay there is evidence that there have been many thriving industries from medieval times onwards: a windmill built of granite in 1769; a limekiln where limestone was burnt to make lime for fertiliser and mortar; and a quarry thought to be the source of the limestone;
In 1709 Empacombe also served as a workyard for Rudyerd to base his workforce, when building the second Eddystone lighthouse that protected shipping from the treacherous rocks 9 miles offshore. From the tiny harbour he could send barges and open boats full of building materials out to the rock.
Along the quayside he built a row of cottages. One was for his family, who had moved from their home in London to be with him. The others were occupied by senior members of his work party, as the Quay’s proximity to the nearby inn was extremely convenient!
Empacombe House, built in 1684, is the Cornish residence of the eighth Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, Robert Charles Edgcumbe, who succeeded to the title in 1982. Before that he was an estate manager in New Zealand.