The Gunpowder Works at Kennall Vale, Ponsanooth

Kennall Vale, Ponsanooth

I knew about the National Explosive Works at Hayle but, until a visitor to my site told me about it, I had no idea that significant remains of its precursor stood in lovely Kennall Vale at Ponsanooth. A small works was started there in 1809 to supply gunpowder to Cornish mines but things really took off when the Fox family, owners of nearby Perran Foundry, set up the Kennall Vale Gunpowder Works. Nature provided its location - now a Nature Reserve - a great head of water from the tumbling River Kennall to power the waterwheels, a steep sided valley to make the site safely damp and beech woods to mitigate the effects of explosion. By 1860 the works employed more than 50 but the invention of dynamite forced its eventual closure in the early 20th century. It is astonishing how much of the site remains intact a century later, thanks to its granite constuction. The main leat is still intact, shutes tumbling from it to power massive overshot waterwheels, all sadly missing though the double mill buildings mostly still stand. Park in the village and walk past the shop and up the steep hill to the site to fully appreciate the tremendous head of water that made the site possible. This is a lovely place, enjoyed by nature enthusiasts, dog walkers and those, like us, who love old industrial sites.

Visited in September 2008.

Water tumbles down a shute from the leat

Some parking in Ponsanooth village near the shop

My thanks to the Cornish Mining World Heritage web site for the factual information I have used. My greatest thanks, however, go the Geoff Rogers of Penryn who put me on to this superb and important site in the first place.

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