Sancreed Beacon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sancreed Beacon |
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| Geography | |
| Location | West Penwith, Cornwall |
| OS grid | SW414295 |
| Topo map | OS Landranger 203, Explorer 102 |
Sancreed Beacon is an ancient place in Cornwall, England. It is a hill with a lot of history, especially from the Bronze Age. This was a time long, long ago when people used bronze tools.
Archaeologists have found many interesting things here. These include burial mounds and the remains of an old hut. The Cornwall Heritage Trust helps look after this special site. It is located near the village of Sancreed in the Penwith area.
Discovering Ancient Times
Sancreed Beacon is a very old archaeological site. It dates back to the Bronze Age. This period was about 4,500 to 3,200 years ago.
On top of the hill, you can see several stone boxes called cists. These were used for burials. There are also burial mounds, which are small hills built over graves. On the western side of the hill, archaeologists found what is left of a Bronze Age hut. This shows people lived here a very long time ago.
Nearby Ancient Sites
The area around Sancreed Beacon is full of history. You can find many other ancient sites nearby. These sites come from different time periods. They include the Neolithic (New Stone Age), the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age.
- Carn Euny: This is an Iron Age village about one mile southwest.
- Caer Bran: This is a hill fort about half a mile southwest.
- Sancreed Holy Well: This is a special ancient well to the southeast.
- Bartinney Castle: This site is about one mile to the west.
Mining History
Sancreed Beacon was also a place where people mined for tin. Long ago, people dug up tin from the ground here. These mining activities left behind large ditches. These ditches are between 10 and 16 meters wide. They cover an area of about three hectares. These are the remains of medieval, or even later, open-pit tin mines.
In 1985, a survey found an eight-meter-wide shaft. This was a deep hole dug into the ground for mining.
Wheal Argus Mine
A mine called Wheal Argus worked here between 1873 and 1875. They dug up 20 tons of black tin. An old map from 1875 shows the unused engine house of Wheal Argus. It also shows four shafts, a windlass (a machine for lifting things), and a smithy (a place where metal was worked).
By April 1885, the engine from the Sancreed Beacon mine was moved. It had not been used for many years. The engine was taken to the East Blue Hills Mine in St Agnes. A map from 1908 calls the mine Beacon Hill Mine. It still shows the four shafts, but the mine buildings had disappeared by then.
