St Erth

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Template:GBmap St Erth (Cornish: Lannudhno/Praze Pras) stands at the old crossing point of the river Hayle, in the west of Cornwall. It gives its name to St Erth railway station whence departs the branch line to St Ives, from the main line to Penzance, though in fact the station is ¾ mile distant.

St Erth is an old parish, the church having been built around 1215, though an older church is said to have stood on St Erth Hill overlooking the village. The village takes its name from St Ercus, one of the many Irish saints who brought Christianity to Cornwall during the Dark Ages.

The old coaching road once led through the village, before the building of the Causeway along the edge of the Hayle Estuary between the wars. The Star Inn, in the village centre, is a fine coaching inn dating from the fourteenth/fifteenth centuries. It was along this route that tin was carried upcountry from the stannaries of Penwith.

St Erth Pits was the site of choice for the extraction of clay for the fixing of candles to the helmets of miners. It also was the site of significant fossil finds and to this day is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). However, the main use of the sand in this location was for the metal foundries throughout Cornwall and beyond. The sand grains are found coated with a thin film of clay. With gentle pressure and the correct percentage of water the sand grains will bind together and can be used for making a sand mold into which molten metals can be poured from making engineering castings. A good source of clay for the fixing of candles to the helmets of miners is St Agnes Beacon. Template:Cornwall-geo-stub