National Character Area 155 - Carnmenellis : Key Characteristics

Carnmenellis is an area of exposed granite hill tops offering long views over the surrounding landscape, rising to a maximum elevation of 252 m at Carnmenellis hill and the prominent Carn Brea monument overlooking Redruth.

The acidic soils are of poor quality and predominantly gravelly and peaty but with patches of brown earths in the lower-lying parts of the area.

Small streams radiate in all directions from the highest points of granite. The centre of the granite mass is an irregular plateau with poor surface drainage where water collects in bogs and mires. Stithians Reservoir and a number of smaller reservoirs are distinctive features in the landscape.

Granite quarrying has influenced the landscape in the south and east, leaving a legacy of rock, waste tips and sheer rock faces.

Woodland is generally uncommon in the area. The hill tops are treeless but there are small patches of willow carr in damp valleys and deciduous woodlands occur on the deeper valley sides on the western and eastern fringes of the NCA.

Livestock rearing and dairy are the most common farm types. A large portion of the agricultural land is turned to grazing/uncropped land. There are small amounts of cereal and root crop growing in the NCA. Horticulture focuses on the richer soils and gentler slopes in the south and west.

The central open moorland is surrounded by patterns of irregular ancient fields and very distinct regular 18th- and 19th-century enclosures dominated by Cornish hedges constructed from moorland boulders. Prominent remains of prehistoric field patterns are present.

A network of narrow lanes criss-crosses the area, often along the valley bottoms, and there are few main roads.

Fragments of treeless heathland, wet moorland and mires punctuated by exposed granite outcrops are common on the bleak uplands.

Cornish hedges form wildlife corridors and are an important habitat in their own right.

The landscape is rich in historical assets such as the Neolithic settlement at Carn Brea. Granite walls, crosses, standing stones and stone stiles are other characteristic landscape features.

Remnants of the 19th-century mining industry abound. Engine houses and mining warehouses, processing buildings, terraced houses and Methodist chapels are major characteristics of the industrial areas. Large areas of bare spoil heaps and surface working dominate, some slowly being colonised by heathland and some supporting internationally rare bryophytes. Hundreds of former mine shafts occur throughout the area. This mining landscape is now recognised as internationally important, reflected by the designation of the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape as a World Heritage Site.

The NCA has a dispersed settlement pattern of hamlets and farmsteads of medieval origin, with villages mainly of recent, industrial origin. The scattered farmhouses, hamlets and village centres normally consist of granite-built houses with slate roofs, whereas newer dwellings from the 1970s and 1980s are often covered with pebbledash.