Tregew and Roundwood quay

TREGEW & ROUNDWOOD QUAY National Trust, Trelissick

View from the old quayside

This is one of the walks that tie in with Trelissick Gardens and is quite a hike with some steep climbs. The scenery is classic Cornwall, or indeed, classic England, with rolling hills and fields, copious forest, and stunning estuary views. Listed as a Scheduled Monument, the quay has Multiple enclosure forts comprising an inner and one or more outer enclosed areas, together measuring up to c.10ha, and defined by sub-circular or sub-rectangular earthworks spaced at intervals that exceed 15m. The inner enclosure is usually entirely surrounded by a bank and ditch. The forts date mainly to the Late Iron Age (350 BC-c.AD 50) and in England usually occur in the southwest. Most are sited on hillslopes overlooked by higher ground near a water supply, and many were apparently used for periods of up to 250 years. The outer enclosures of the forts are usually interpreted as areas set aside for the containment of livestock, whilst the inner enclosures are generally thought to have been the focus of occupation.

We arrived when the tide was out and will re-visit, hopefully, to catch the tide a full height. You can often see deer swimming across the creeks at full tide and from the look of it, they do so regularly. There is no sand in these estuaries and all of the beds are filled with deep mud so walking there is not an option unless of course, you happen to be a Mudlark?

Area map
Map showing the walk to the quay

We accessed the walk from Trelissick Gardens as we are National Trust members and we started at number 1 on the map below. We only wished to do the quay walk that day as time was limited so we passed number 8 and onto the Old Lodge, crossed the road and took the long drop down to number 6. Crossing the creek we then headed to 5 and the quay itself taking many photos along the way. There was a P&O ferry lying in the estuary which did look a little surreal lying on the mud. As a merchant sailor, I spent a lot of time on P&O ships so know my way around them.

we tend to take very leisurely walks as we like to take in the ambiance as we go, and of course, many photos for our website as you can see here. There are no places to buy refreshments along the way so pack some water at the very least, especially on those hot summer days. The walk is fairly even but there are a few places where it can get quite steep although the paths are well kept.

Arial view of the area