Geography St Columb Major

1 geography

1.1 town
1.2 settlements
1.3 rivers
1.4 protected areas
1.5 transport

geography

map of st columb major , surrounding area, robert k. dawson, 1810

st columb situated in mid-cornwall, 5 miles (8 km) inland north coast.

the parish covers area of 12,884 acres (5,214 ha) or 20.1 square miles (52 km). highest point, @ 709 ft (216 m), castle dinas, site of iron age hill fort 2 miles (3.2 km) east of st columb. of land in parish used farming (both arable , pastoral), small areas of woodland.

there moorland in higher northern , eastern parts of parish, notably part of goss moor in southeast, castle downs below castle dinas (east) , area of moorland adjoining rosenannon downs (northeast). vale of lanherne, valley of river menalhyl (see below) famed beauty , occupies area west of town, connecting st columb , st mawgan churchtown.

town

st columb occupies plateau @ 300 ft (90 m) elevation. north part of town (known bridge ) descends vale of lanherne, having minimum elevation of approximately 165 ft (50 m). linear settlement built on main road running north-east south-west, modern estates have since been built, extending town south , east. in older part of settlement there high-density housing relatively narrow streets, , number of retail outlets , public houses; more modern estates have housing lower in density. south there industrial estate.

settlements

besides town, there numerous villages , hamlets in parish, including talskiddy , gluvian in north, ruthvoes (southeast), trebudannon (south), tregaswith (southwest), tregatillian (east) , large number of smaller farming settlements , isolated dwellings. there halloon, lanhizey, rosedinnick, tregamere, trekenning, trevarron, trevolgas , trugo.

rivers

a number of small rivers , streams flow through st columb parish, rising in eastern part , flowing west. 1 of sources of river fal lies within boundary on goss moor; flows southwest south coast. river menalhyl, flows through north part of st columb (bridge), has 3 branches confluence @ gilbert’s water, east of town. longest of these rises next 9 maidens standing stones in north part of parish. menalhyl historically important in area, powering number of mills along course. smaller river rises near winnard s perch (north of talskiddy), later joining menalhyl near mouth @ mawgan porth. other main river of parish unnamed 1 (often called river porth) rises east of ruthvoes, , in latter course fills porth reservoir , enters sea @ st columb porth. river that, according legend, begun blood of murdered saint columba running down valley.

protected areas

borlasevath , retallack moor (sssi), noted biological characteristics, located south of 9 maidens , north of resort of retallack.

transport

the a39 main road runs north south through parish. until late 1970s went through town bypass carries traffic east of st columb. a30 dual carriageway runs through southeastern part of parish north of goss moor. par-newquay railway line not enter st columb parish forms part of southern boundary. small part of parish occupied corner of newquay airport, cornwall’s principal civil airport.