I sit in the car park at trevornance st Agnes and look across the bay at the ruins up on the cliffs. There is a "water drain" or aqueduct above what looks like a quarry with some adits in it . I can find nothing on the net about it . Can anyone tell me what this aqueduct was used for ? Where does it drain ? Do the adits go anywhere ? - finally - are the lower levels of cliggy head doable by a non caving newbie ?

I'm not sure about the history of the aqueduct thingy, but the space it spans is the remains of Wheal Luna, and partly opencast tin work dating back to at least the 18th century.
Once a part of the larger Polberro Mine which itself included a host of smaller, more ancient workings from the mists of time.
The workings were active in the middle of the 18th century and a couple of dates chiselled into the rock at different locations, show 1770 & 1771.
Take a look at the history time line to see what was going on in the world at that time; it really is an eye opener and puts things in real perspective.
Captain Cook had just got to New Zealand, Beethoven was a year old, and America was still under British rule.
an interesting site but the Wheal Luna site is immensely unstable, and there have recently been some very large falls of ground.

As for exploring at Cligga Head mine, take someone that knows the place well, as there have been some recent collapses of ground in there too, one of them is now blocking the exit from the big stope which used to give a nice through trip.

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The concrete thingy was almost certainly a launder to take tailings during the last working of polberro to discharge over the cliff. The mill had been moved there from Wheal Kitty ca 1939; the mill foundations are visible on Google Earth.
There is currently a notice at the bottom way into Wheal Luna very strongly discouraging entry, probably a good thing in view of the instability & popularity of the area.

Thanks Roy , great to know the names of the workings as I can do more research now . Yes - it looks very unstable and won't be going in there any time soon but there looks like there's loads of leads in there and lots of potential .
Ref cligga head . I was looking for somewhere I could just wander in a few yards and have a look on an afternoon when I had a spare hour ( very few and far between ) the reports I've seen on cligga make it look like a walk in adit .
Don't worry , I'm not about to go climbing up or down anywhere . There's an adit on carbis bay beach that's harmless . Was wondering if there are any more .
When kids are older and I have more time. A I'd love to join you guys . Maybe one Sunday ill convince the missus to let me go !!

Thanks Roy , great to know the names of the workings as I can do more research now . Yes - it looks very unstable and won't be going in there any time soon but there looks like there's loads of leads in there and lots of potential .
Ref cligga head . I was looking for somewhere I could just wander in a few yards and have a look on an afternoon when I had a spare hour ( very few and far between ) the reports I've seen on cligga make it look like a walk in adit .
Don't worry , I'm not about to go climbing up or down anywhere . There's an adit on carbis bay beach that's harmless . Was wondering if there are any more .
When kids are older and I have more time. A I'd love to join you guys . Maybe one Sunday ill convince the missus to let me go !!

There is a lot of stuff up around the tamar valley that is walk in and walk out stuff if you are ever up this way I have some cool places I could show you.

I'm not sure how old the kids are but there are a couple of places they could be taken in to, if they are of an age to understand the risks etc and be supervised!

Ha ha you mis understand me - I meant when the kids are old enough so that I've got 5 minutes to go off by myself !! ( they're 5 and 2 .
I'm not thinking of taking them !!

Ha ha you mis understand me - I meant when the kids are old enough so that I've got 5 minutes to go off by myself !! ( they're 5 and 2 .
I'm not thinking of taking them !!

Haha no I wasn't sure if the kids would be old enough. But if you are up this way and want to come along when we go exploring just give me a shout. Lots of easy stuff to see up this way!

I'm well interested in seeing some tamar valley adits.