Sands of Time ...

Would you buy a golden sandy beach, without any rights other than ownership, except perhaps to raise income by authorising donkey rides, or sell ice-cream from a van? Thirty hectares of English property, consisting of 71 acres of sands and 5 acres of dunes, has recently been sold for £80,000.

This beautiful area of beach is where, as children ,we used to picnic and play in the sand-dunes, the rock-pools, jumping across the rocks at low tide, splashing as kids will in the surf (surfing was not an option then). Those days of freedom with the amazing views across to St Ives, and the other beaches we used to frequent dependent on the weather and winds; or we would drive south across the Peninsula to more sheltered coves in the vicinity of Penzance.

Godrevy Lighthouse has become synonymous with Virginia Woolf’s book “To the Lighthouse”; as it is believed, that although the novel is set in the Hebrides in Scotland, the lighthouse described is based on Godrevy, seen from across the bay when she was holidaying in St Ives as a child, or latterly with other members and artists of the Bloomsbury Group.

The colours would have been more amazing at Upton Towans, the beach sold, in the early part of the 20th century, before the cleanup of the mines started to take place. The little Red River runs out here, and when we used to visit there were still shells on the beach and in the water, the sea ran red, with the shells having taken on some of the colour (rather like the autumn leaves I described in the previous post).

Someone with Cornish connections is the purchaser, who is obviously philanthropic as the beach must remain open to the public, so those literary pilgrims may wander imbibing Woolf’s depictions, together with beach lovers there for the surf, that special light of the bay and the magical atmosphere that comes with being by the sea.

The shifting sands of time – the area was settled in medieval times, then tin mining and copper mining were possible in the early industrial days, before the revolution and its new developments took over, leaving numerous tiny backwaters of life around the country – however the sand dunes (known as ‘towans’) claimed a once prominent village – now buried and lost until the dunes move on and release their secret treasures.

Time moves on and as we learn more and more – we are able to find hidden ancient treasures beneath the rising seas (estimated 7.5” (190mm) per 100 years), to bring new knowledge of our world 2,000, 10,000 or more years ago .. so the creeping sands release their artefacts, the cliffs crumble spilling their fossil skeletal and shell remains out for us to find.

Will Gwithian beach be here in 1,000 years .. as Canterbury Cathedral withstands that test of time. The limestone used in its creation was brought over from Caen in northern France by the Norman craftsmen, who understood their stone and the need for longevity. The sedimentation process occurred millennia ago, compacting down to form various types of stone used by man as building materials, once they acquired the tools to work this earth.

Sand from Pismo Beach, California. Components are primarily quartz, chert, igneous rock and shell fragments. Scale bar is 1.0 mm.

The Norman craftsmen were renowned for their magnificent Abbey and Monastic buildings, so when the Saxon cathedral at Canterbury burnt down in 1070, William the Conqueror, as King of England, put their skills to good use to rebuild the Cathedral as a testament to one of the great holy places in Christendom, as well as cementing this first place of pilgrimage for those arriving in England from the continent.

The Caen stone, these craftsmen had used and loved for its ease of working, which over time hardens with its exposure to the air. The grain is fine, it is what is called ‘a live stone’, which means it can be sawn, or squared up in any direction – the crystal structure does not restrict the directions in which it can be worked: making it ideal for the intricate stone carvings that surround the structural elements.

Canterbury Cathedral from the city entrance

The missionary Augustine was sent over to England in 597 AD from Rome to found a place of worship, which is now encompassed beneath the current nave, but which would become the stunning Norman Cathedral that stands today, exuding wealth and splendour to all who have visited over the past one thousand years.

Repairs in the 20th century have been urgently required due to the erosion caused by the atmosphere and acid rains; much has been learnt however by the stonemasons of recent times. Relatively cheap stone was used, until it was realised that it stained too easily, and it did not weather well, as repairs made in the earlier years of the 20th century are now already shown to be disintegrating.

Église Saint-Pierre, Caen. The restoration of the 'chevet' shows the real colour of the stone.

So once again a similar limestone is being imported in massive blocks, weighing about two tons, to be worked on in the stonemasons’ yards before being assembled within the Cathedral structure to stand against the elements for another millennium.

This land of ours offers so much that perhaps we do not realise, the common sedimentary rock, cut and worked, still standing proud above the earth, once man realised its benefits, while nature’s sea sands erode and mould our coastline, laying down new layers for future generations to find.

Dear Mr Postman – I see your strike goes on .. but I’m pleased you’re able to deliver my letters; my mother has been asleep a lot recently, chatty and cheerful with the staff – as she says a laugh makes everyone happy – but then very sleepy when I’ve been around.

Perhaps the effects of my uncle’s death have yet to seep through, though Janice, our healing touch therapist – who is more!) talks to Mum about Derek, as do I when the occasion arises, and I asked the vicar to spend a little extra time with us immediately after Derek’s death – these things all help I think.

However apart from remarking on my cold hands – unusual for me – ‘don’t put them near me’!, she’s always asking about the blog! We have yet to ‘do’ all her birthday letters and cards properly – but she will have another period of wakefulness soon I expect.

Hilary Melton-Butcher
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