Gillow Slate Quarry

Overview

Gillow is a small disused slate quarry at the foot of a steep coastal slope just north of St Materiana's Church at Tintagel, and the northernmost of the string of quarries worked into the cliffs between Tintagel and Trebarwith. Its workings run from sea level up some forty metres to the clifftop. It possibly dates back to the seventeenth century, was still operational in 1884, and had gone from the Ordnance Survey by 1896.

History

Slate quarrying on the coast between Tintagel Church and Trebarwith Strand began probably in the late fifteenth century, and Gillow may go back to the seventeenth. It is the northernmost of the group, lying just north of Long Grass Quarry — which was the last of them all to close, in 1937 — and just west of what is now the South West Coast Path. Its own end came much earlier and is dated by the maps rather than by any record of the working. The quarry was still operational in 1884; by 1896 it was no longer listed on Ordnance Survey maps, and the 1907 edition marks it as disused. Nothing read for this record names an owner, a workforce or an output. Getting slate off this coast was the hard part of the business. A boat would be moored below the cliffs and a derrick perched on the cliff edge used to load it, and at Penhallic Point a wharf was made by cutting the cliff edge back into a hundred-foot vertical face, against which ships could lie in the natural deep water while the slate was lowered to them by crane.

Geology

The quarry provided a source of Upper Devonian slate and Lower Carboniferous slates of a greyish-green colour, used predominantly for roofing — the same stone as the rest of this coastal group. These are marine mudstones of the north Cornish slate belt, compressed and recrystallised so that they split along a cleavage that cuts across the original bedding, which is what allows a block to be riven into sheets thin enough to roof a house.

Geological setting: Slate and Regional Metamorphism (well documented example)

Workings

The workings extend from sea level up to about forty metres at the top of the cliff, cut into a steep coastal slope. The terracing where the slate was worked can still be seen, together with some platforms for whims — the horse- or donkey-driven winding gear these cliff quarries depended on — and the remains of what might have been tool sheds.

Closure

The quarry was still operational in 1884, had disappeared from the Ordnance Survey by 1896 and was marked disused on the 1907 map, so it was abandoned by the turn of the twentieth century. No source read here gives a reason. The whole coastal group was in decline by then against Welsh slate carried cheaply by rail, and the last of these quarries, Long Grass, held on only until 1937.

What remains

Disused, with the shape of the working still legible on the slope: the terracing where the slate was taken, platforms for the whims, and the remains of what may have been tool sheds. The South West Coast Path runs immediately to the east.

Terracing across the worked face, platforms for whims, and the remains of what might have been tool sheds.

Related mines

• Bagalow Quarry — Two of the same string of coastal slate quarries worked into the cliffs between Tintagel and Trebarwith, both getting the same greyish-green Upper Devonian and Lower Carboniferous roofing slate, both worked by whim from the clifftop, and both surveyed together for the National Trust by Adam Sharpe in 1990.

Nearby mines

• Tintagel Slate Quarries — 1.6 km S
• Bowithick Quarry — 1.7 km S
• Bagalow Quarry — 2.5 km S
• Delabole Slate Quarry — 5.3 km SE
• De Lank Quarries — 14.2 km SE

Straight-line distance, within 15 km. Show on the map.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Gillow Slate Quarry is at the foot of a steep coastal slope just north of St Materiana's Church in Tintagel and just west of the South West Coast Path; the workings extend from sea level around 40 m to the top of the cliff, and the terracing where the slate has been worked can still be seen, as well as some platforms for whims and the remains of what might have been tool sheds. ¹
• The quarry possibly dates back to the 17th century; it was still operational in 1884 but by 1896 was no longer listed on Ordnance Survey maps, and the 1907 OS map lists it as disused. ¹
• The quarry provided a source of Upper Devonian slate and Lower Carboniferous slates of a greyish green colour used predominantly for roofing. ¹
• Gillow Quarry is just north of Long Grass Quarry and is the northernmost of the quarries that lie between Tintagel and Trebarwith. ¹
• Slate was taken to Tintagel Cove, where a boat would be moored below the cliffs and a derrick perched on the cliff edge used to load it; a wharf was also constructed at Penhallic Point where the cliff edge was cut back to form a 100 ft vertical face, against which ships would lie in the natural deep-water berth while slate was lowered by crane. ²

Photographs & further reading

Sources

1. (secondary) Gillow Slate Quarry — Wikipedia
2. (secondary) Tintagel Slate Quarries, Cornwall — Cornwall Calling

Record created: 4 September 2026 · Last researched: 5 September 2026