Morwellham Quay Part One

Tuesday 10 August 1993. Morwellham is a village on the north side of the River Tamar, which places it in Devon not far from the town of Tavistock. Its livelihood and the reason for its existence was a copper mine, The George and Charlotte, named after the King and Queen who were on the throne at the time of its sinking. Er... that's the sinking of the mine shaft, meaning the digging of it, not that it sunk into the river...

Anyway at some point the copper in the mine ran out and the villagers ran out not long afterwards. Morwellham became a ghost town and the weeds took over until they in turn were taken over by thicker shrubbery and bracken. And that's how it stayed until the 1960s when the village was rediscovered and cleaned up. They found a young girl fast asleep on a bed next to a spinning wheel. She had been there so long that there was no-one who even knew her, let alone be in love with her, so sadly there was no true love's first kiss and instead she woke with a jolt and said "'Ere!!! Wot you all doin' in me bedroom?" The village became a living museum with actors and staff in period costume and a narrow-gauge train ride down into the copper mine and with a historic ship in the Great Dock and nature trails around the countryside.

The village was on the doorstep of the estate of the Duke of Bedford who, being fond of a turn in his horse-drawn carriage, had a carriage ride built through the countryside close to Morwellham.

We clambered into a waiting carriage and waited for the Duke to take us up and down his drive and perhaps a spot of tiffin and the chance to bag a couple of peasants. "We'll give you a chance - we'll count up to two and then here we come!"

The Duke had to go for a lie down with a bottle of port after his exertions and we found ourselves being driven by a young lady with a quoite gaaargeous aahccent! Here the gang are enjoying the gentle clip clop of the horse's hooves as the carriage makes it's way along his Grace's drive. We learned that the village name was pronounced almost as two words - "Morwell" with the accent on the first syllable, followed by a tiny pause before the "ham".

The River Tamar, seen from the pathway to the George and Charlotte Copper Mine. Once the mine was closed the villagers had to move elsewhere to look for work and the village died. The dock and houses were abandoned and became overgrown until the 1960s when work started on restoring the village as a living museum.

We had a peek in all the tradesmen workshops and all in all had a great day out! There's still a bit to see - the dock with a masted barque, a huge water wheel and other bits, so there will be a second article to come before we leave Morwellham.

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