After lunch the sky looked a pleasant shade of blue for a change so I decided I'd head for Roche Rock - as above. But Cornwall being Cornwall the weather often has a mind of its own.
After parking the car, all seemed well though the ground was very sodden from days of rain.
There were pleasant views across the countryside.
As I have often mentioned I like stones and rocks. This area is a mixture of grey quartz and black tourmaline. They have been around for quite a while, as they were created some 270 million years ago which is quite mind boggling.
As for the heathland, this has probably remained the same for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.
The main attraction though is the old chapel or hermitage built high on the rocks - but first three photos leading to the chapel.
There is yellow gorse everywhere at this time of year, it even seems to grow on the rocks themselves.
The weather began to change rapidly, there was a chill in the air or maybe it was the ghost of an old miner said to frequent these parts.
In the middle of the photo below there is what looks like a hole high in the rocks. This is the Roche Rock chapel.
The chapel can now be seen much clearer in the three photos below.
It's often called a chapel but may well have been an hermitage. In 1584, for example, a John Norden wrote of a high rock on which is a cell or hermitage and stands upon the wild moors far from society.
The next photo is of the rocks leading up to the chapel. At the time I thought it looked like a rabbit or a face - but not so sure now!
I have previously published two posts on Roche Rock and the photo below was taken at that time - a day of brilliant sunshine. The links are at the end of this post and include stories and a little history of the chapel.
By the time I left on this visit it was very different as can be seen by my final photo for today. All looked quite creepy, not sure why there is a green flash in the picture - but I arrived home safely!
Previous Roche Rock Posts:
Roche Rock Stories
The Mysterious Roche Rock, Cornwall
This is a really wild area, the rock formations are fascinating. In photo's 6,7 & 8 I can see faces. The chapel appears to have been built right into the rocks. Hope you got back to the car before the rain.
ReplyDeleteI'm always fascinated by the rock formations and the various stories about the chapel / hermitage. I have been up inside the building and from the top can see Roche Church - but that was a while back. I missed the rain fortunately. Thanks David.
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