Calstock

Cotehele Consols captain's house and wheel house, now holiday homes on the Cotehele Estate.

Mining was important in Calstock from Mediaeval times, with the Duchy mining silver. The industry was booming in the late 19th century, and the discovery of copper, coupled with nearby granite quarrying, made Calstock a busy port. The rapid population boom due to the growth of industry led, in 1849, to an outbreak of cholera. The industry declined in the early 20th century due to foreign competition, and now only the ruined pump houses that dot the landscape remain.

Calstock had much mining activity, principally;

• Cotehele Consol - copper and arsenic
• Calstock Consol - copper
• Okeltor Consol - copper, tin and arsenic, mined silver and copper up until 1877
• Wheal Trelawny - copper, very close to Okeltor Consols
• Danescombe Mines - copper, tin and arsenic
• Wheal Zion - copper
• Wheal Edward - copper and arsenic
• Wheal Arthur - copper and arsenic, directly east of Wheal Edward

PS Alexandra at Weir Head, upstream of Calstock, in 1906

The Tamar is navigable to boats past Calstock some 3 miles (4.8 km) upstream to Morwellham Quay with some 10 feet (3.0 m) or even 20 feet (6.1 m) of water at extreme spring tides. Calstock Quay and Danescombe Quay were once important for transporting minerals from the various mines in the area. In the Victorian era when steamers brought tourists to the village, Calstock was visited by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1846. Tourist boats still operate from Plymouth as far as Cotehele in the summer months. The importance of the river as a transport route declined with the construction of the 14 miles (23 km) Tamar Valley railway at the start of the 20th century. The village is still dominated by the railway's viaduct.

The river has its own unique design of craft, The Tamar barge. Calstock had two main boat builders, Goss's Yard, which built the West Country Ketch Garlandstone, now at Morwellham Quay industrial museum, and May's Yard, in the Danescombe Valley. Garlandstone was, unusually, built as a speculative venture by James Goss to keep his men employed at a period of diminishing repair work following the run down and closure of Morwellham Quay.[14] A surviving Tamar barge, Shamrock, is preserved by the National Trust and National Maritime Museum at Cotehele Quay. A second barge, Lynher, also built by James Goss, is privately owned at Cremyll

Calstock's Lower Kelly lime kiln, opposite Calstock boatyard

There are four sets of lime kilns at Calstock and more at Cotehele Quay. Further kilns were located at various points along the river. The burning of lime was a major industry in the area in the 19th century. The limestone was delivered to the kilns by boat but the resulting lime was shipped out to the various farms by horse and cart. It was used as a fertiliser, an ingredient in paint and as a mortar for bricklaying.[15]

St Andrew's Church, after the grave stones were moved in 1967

The church is said to have been consecrated about 1290. Nothing obvious remains of this period, but the pillars and arches to the north of the centre aisle of the present building are early 14th century. About 1420 the south aisle was added, and the whole church re-roofed. In 1861 an architectural survey of the diocese of Exeter noted that the whole church was in a sad state. This resulted in the thorough restoration of 1867, the floor levels were altered, the existing tiles relaid, the chancel given its present roof, and the building furnished with plain pitched-pine benches. Although the restoration was severe, many of the interesting features of the church were preserved. In addition, three chapels-of-ease were built at Gunnislake, Harrowbarrow and Latchley; these chapels were needed because of the increase in population for the mines of the parish.[16]

The arms of the Diocese of Truro, to which the Parish of Calstock belongs

The land was bought on 29 January 1879. The total cost of the building was £2,400 of which the Duke of Bedford gave £500 and the Church building society gave £200. The foundation stone of the church was laid by the Dowager Countess of Mount Edgcumbe, at 3pm on Tuesday, 30 September 1879. The building was designed by J. Piers St Aubyn and was consecrated by Edward Benson, the Bishop of Truro, in 1880. It was dedicated to St. Anne because of an ancient local holy well, close to the site of the church. The church seats up to 225 worshippers. In 1918 Gunnislake made an appeal to become its own separate parish but failed to raise the necessary funds.

In 1870 a parishioner presented the rector with a piece of land, near the Prince of Wales Mine, and then the church was again designed by J. Piers St Aubyn and was built as a school and a mission chapel for £700. The church seats up to 80 worshippers.

The graveyard in front was consecrated in 1888. Outside the chapel, just inside the main gate, there is a large granite memorial cross commemorating 132 men who made the supreme sacrifice in war. The cross bears the following inscription;

Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory. In glorious memory of the men from the parish of Calstock who fell in the Great War 1914–1918. Greater Love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.

In 1879 the "foundation stone of our long wished for church was laid". Latchley church was designed by Piers St Aubyn, the same architect as Gunnislake. It was built three years later than Gunnislake at a cost of £1,147 as a chapel-of-ease dedicated to St Michael and All Angels. It was dedicated by the Bishop of Truro on 20 July 1883. After a bad attack of woodworm to the building in August 1968 it was closed to worshippers and in 1985 it was sold and used for a dwelling.

Chapel west window facing the courtyard

In Cotehele, on the west side of Hall Court is the vicarage and chapel. The chapel, dedicated to St. Katharine and St. Anne, is connected to the main building via a small passageway leading to the dining room. The chapel is one of the oldest rooms in the house, alongside the Great Hall. It still has the original clock, a rare example from the Tudor period, still in operation today.

In the grounds of Cotehele, directly East of the House close to the River Tamar, lies a peaceful basic chapel. inside there are pews going around the walls, two minister's benches and a very ornate table. the patron saint of the chapel is St. Thomas Becket.

Map of the East Cornwall Mineral Railway

The East Cornwall Mineral Railway was a 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge railway line, opened in 1872 to connect mines and quarries in the Callington and Gunnislake areas in east Cornwall with shipping at Calstock on the River Tamar. The line included a rope-worked incline to descend to the quay at Calstock. Wagons with goods from the mines around Gunnislake and Callington were brought down the hillside on a 0.4 miles (0.6 km) cable-worked incline with a gradient of 1 in 6 (17%).

Following the opening of the LSWR mainline railway at nearby Bere Alston, a connecting line from there to Calstock was opened, and the existing line converted to standard gauge, opening throughout as a passenger line in 1908. When rural lines in the area were closed in the 1960s under the Beeching Axe, a short section of the original ECMR line was retained to keep open a connection from Plymouth to Gunnislake, and that section remains open.

Calstock Viaduct

The viaduct is 120 feet (37 m) high with twelve 60 feet (18 m) wide arches, and a further small arch in the Calstock abutment. Three of the piers stand in the River Tamar, which is tidal at this point and has a minimum clearance at high tide of 110 feet (34 m).

It was built between 1904 and 1907 by John Lang of Liskeard using 11,148 concrete blocks. These were cast in a temporary yard on the Devon bank opposite the village. The engineers were Richard Church and W. R. Galbraith. The viaduct was first crossed by truck on 8 August 1907 and first used by passengers on 2 March 1908.

It is a Grade II* listed structure.[23]

Calstock is served by trains on the Tamar Valley Line from Gunnislake to Plymouth. Connections with main line services can be made at Plymouth, although a small number of Tamar Valley services continue to or from Exeter St Davids.[24]

Calstock Parish Council forms the lowest tier of local government. The parish council was established in 1934, after Calstock Rural District was amalgamated the parish with the Rural District of St Germans.[28]

Eighteen councillors are elected or co-opted from the five wards of the parish - Calstock, Chilsworthy, Delaware, Gunnislake and Harrowbarrow.[29] The council meets at the Tamar Valley Centre in Drakewalls.

The 2017 Cornwall Council election was held on 4 May 2017 as part of the 2017 local elections in the United Kingdom 122 councilors were elected from the 121 electoral divisions of Cornwall Council.