Poltesco is one of those really beautiful hidden spots on the Lizard. A place that you only seem to get to if it was where you were heading for in the first place. But this now isolated cove was once a hive of industry, with men and machinery at work and ships coming and going, and all because of a particular rather special rock.

Royal Approval

On the 9th September 1846 Prince Albert stepped ashore at Penzance. The pier had been carpeted in red in anticipation of his arrival and the mayor and other dignitaries were there to greet him. The Queen and the Prince were visiting Cornwall on the Royal Yacht with their children and had already stopped at Falmouth and then paid a visit to St Michael’s Mount, but on that day the ever curious Albert was interested in seeing some of the industry of the area.

After observing the formation of a block of tin at the Chyandour Smelting Works and being presented with some samples of the precious Cornish ore, the Prince went on to visit the Geological Rooms on North Parade. He spent more than an hour examining the displays of rocks and minerals in this little museum and was particularly struck by the samples of serpentine from the Lizard.

When the Royal Yacht began making its way back up the coast again it seems that Albert requested that the party stop at Kynance Cove so that he could see the rock in its natural state.

He is said to have been so excited by what he saw that he insisted that the Queen came ashore to see the colours in the sea-worn stone for herself. The Royal visitors must have been something of a surprise for the inhabitants of the huddle of little cottages there as they marvelled at the beauty of the cove. These folks were employed in collecting serpentine samples, mostly sea-worn pebbles, and fashioning them into small objects for sale to tourists. Having a visit from the Royal family must have been a red letter day!

On that trip to Cornwall Prince Albert ordered several serpentine items for their residence on the Isle of Wight – Osborne House, and later championed the stone at the Great Exhibition in 1851.

And so began a craze for serpentine.

The Great Exhibition 1851

The exhibition that was held at Hyde Park in London inside the Crystal Palace from May to October 1851 brought together the finest examples of industry and craftsmanship from across the empire and its handbook, the official guide to the show, was compiled and written by Robert Hunt from Falmouth.

Hunt, a polymath who was secretary of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, made sure to include details of the various Cornish exhibitors – manufacturers of granite, copper, tin, china clay, arsenic and of course serpentine.

Exhibitor No 85 on the list was the ‘Cornish Serpentine Company’ from the Lizard and Hunt devoted a page and a half to the particulars of their stand with its “remarkable specimens” and details of the business. He spoke to the owner and quoted him in the guide as saying:

“The extent of the quarries we are now working is about one mile on the face of the cliffs. Our quarry for green and green and red serpentine is about three quarters of a mile east of the Lizard Lighthouse and for the red serpentine is about three miles east of the light on the eastern side of Kennack beach. The largest block of serpentine we have yet got out was 8 feet long, 3 feet wide and 2 1/2 feet thick and of superior quality.

In order to get this block we have quarried some hundreds of tons, out of which we have about 120 tons, small and large, fit for work. We clear away the top of the cliff until we get a floor down to the serpentine or reach a lode, and then we throw the blocks out at the joints and slide them carefully down the cliff ready to remove by wagons, if of large size, and if small we remove them by barges when the sea is smooth.

We have almost endless varieties, no two slabs are alike . . .”

It is said that during a visit to the exhibition Prince Albert again ordered more pieces of worked serpentine from the Serpentine Company securing the fashion for objects made from this stone.

Cornish Marble

“On the coast is the lovely Poltesco Valley where the stream from the high Goonhillies tumbles into Carleon Bay over a series of charming cascades. Once ‘serpentining’ was carried on here on a large scale. Old buildings and a water wheel mark the site.” – S. H. Burton, 1955.

Serpentine had been popular for years before the Royal visit, there had been quarries on the Lizard for centuries and many buildings in the local area are built from the stone, such as the church at Landewednack just along the coast .

We know that there are 18th century monuments in Westminster Abbey with serpentine elements and enterprising local craftsmen had made trinkets to sell to tourists for hundreds of years.

In Lizard village J. E. Drew had set up the first commercial enterprise in 1827, the Cornish Serpentine Marble Manufactory produced “cheap but ornamental articles”.

But in the second half of the 19th century things really began to change. The interest shown by the Queen and her husband in 1846 and followed by The Great Expedition in 1851 saw the industry expand enormously.

William Jose had taken the lease of some fish cellars at Poltesco in 1848 and quickly converted them into the first serpentine factory.

In 1853 the business called ‘The Lizard Serpentine Company’ was formed and run by Henry Cox. A reservoir was constructed to power a large waterwheel which in turn powered the machinery in the works.

The large raw blocks of serpentine from the nearby quarries were cut into slabs for use as mantlepieces, windowsills, pillars, shop fronts, pulpits, lectures, vases, obelisks, gravestones and much more.

There were workshops in the valley where skilled workers stood at lathes and turned and polished the stone into everything from urns to candlesticks. These items were then packed into wooden cases and transported, often by boat from Carleon Cove, to buyers around the country.

Orders for the company in 1871 had reached £10,000 (around £630,000 in today’s money) and the business was sold, becoming the ‘Poltesco Serpentine Marble Company’.

A visit to the factory was recorded for the Cornishman newspaper in February 1884:

“A VISIT THE POLTESCO SERPENTINE-FACTORY. Leaving the quaint old village of Ruan Minor by a circuitous road, a walk of some little distance brings us to the beautiful valley of Poltesco. Crossing the winding brook which runs through the whole length of the valley and which ultimately joins the waters of the “Blue lone sea,” we are ushered into a building where through the of the kindness of the manager, Mr. John Nankervis, we are shown, and have explained to as, the many processes through which the serpentine of the district is used such good effect and beauty.

It is almost surprising to see to what a high state polish this stone can be worked ; but, when seen, we can readily understand its value and with what effect can be used in architecture. It is quite evident from first view that no expense has been spared the enterprising and worthy proprietor, Mr. Jabez Druitt, of London. Everything is placed the advantage manager and workmen and is of the best material.

The works are of considerable size, and consists of sawing, turning, and polishing-departments, together with very large show-room, where all articles manufactured are exhibited to the best advantage. These works are well worth a visit by all who resort to the neighbourhood of the Lizard and Cadgwith, for not only will they be treated with the greatest courtesy Mr. Nankervis, the manager, but will be able to judge for themselves of the value and beauty of serpentine. At these works there has just been completed a spacious pilaster, &c., for a shop-front for the Haymarket, which consist of red and green serpentine; and said to be one of the handsomest shop-fronts the metropolis; and the credit of manager and men, it has given entire satisfaction. There is now also in course of completion beautiful communion-rail, of dark-and-red, green-and-red, and very light green stone.

There is, too, in hand a massive monument in one stone. This huge slab has been cut from a block of over 10 tons in weight, and is to be elaborately carved throughout by skilful Cornish workmen, under the superintendence of Mr. Nankervis. It difficult to form an accurate estimate of the amount of labour and expense such work necessarily entails without a visit to this or similar factory. The whole routine of this one is entrusted to Mr. Nankervis, and proves himself well worthy of the trust and confidence placed in him the proprietor.”

Sensational Serpentine

Serpentine is essentially a marble and it is not particularly rare – it can be found in other parts of Cornwall and in Wales and Scotland, further afield there are deposits in Canada, Australia, Spain, France and Portugal. But the serpentine deposits on the Lizard are very special, in fact nowhere else is there the same richness and variety of colour that can be found in this area, making articles made from this stone all the more beautiful and exciting.

Add to this the Royal stamp of approval and for a while serpentine was the must-have material in every fashionable Victorian home.

However, towards the end of the 19th century that popularity of the stone began to wane. There were several the reasons for this, for a start the novelty had worn off and despite its beauty and durability against the elements in temperate Cornwall, architects further up country came to realise that serpentine was not well suited to extremes in temperature found there.

Freezing winters and hard frosts were rare in Cornwall but common in other parts of the UK and caused the stone to crack and flake. Those London shopfronts mentioned above began to look a little rough around the edges! In addition to this cheap imported marbles began flooding the market. In 1893 the then owner of the Poltesco factory, Jabez Druitt, finally decided to bring the business to an end after loosing an expensive cargo of uninsured, finished items in a storm. The buildings and machinery in the cove were put up for auction and advertised for sale in the newspapers in May 1893.

The end of the works at Poltesco did not bring the serpentine industry as a whole to an end entirely of course, a piece of this polished stone continued to be a popular souvenir for visitors to the Lizard for many decades to come (as the video below from the 1960s shows) and some manufacturers still survive today.

Poltesco today . . .

Poltesco and Carleon Cove are now cared for by the National Trust and is the most complete surviving example of a serpentine factory to be found anywhere. There are information boards and a small carpark from where a track leads to the cove and the sea.

The ruins of the factory buildings and the old capstan house, that was once used to drag boats up the beach, still remain and help the visitor to imagine what this pretty valley and cove would once have been like when all around you was activity, noise and dust.

And anywhere on the Lizard remember to keep your eyes peeled for polished serpentine underfoot, it was used for many stiles and of course can be found worn by the sea on the beaches. It really is magical stuff . . .

Further Reading:

The Lizard Windmill & the notorious Windmill Gang

Terence Coventry’s clifftop Sculpture Park – a hidden treasure on the Lizard

If you are interested in finding out more about the serpentine industry or Poltesco as a whole then there are a couple of really good books on Cornish Serpentine that really helped me putting this post together:

Serpentine by Michael Sagar-Fenton

Once Twas Serpentine & Fish by Michael Tangye

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