Railway And Local History
It was not until 7 July 1873 that an Act for the purpose of building a railway line to St Ives was finally passed. Construction of the railway was undertaken by a consortium of the Great Western, Bristol & Exeter and West Cornwall Railways.
The contract for building the railway was obtained by Thomas Lang of Liskeard and by September 1874 250 navvies were at work. The route chosen ran from St Ives Road (re-named St Erth) station on the West Cornwall Railway, along the western side of Hayle Estuary to Lelant, and thence across the sand dunes and around the cliffs to Carbis Valley and on to St Ives - a short but wonderfully varied and beautiful line.
It was thus that Carbis Bay inherited it's name, the valley was known as Carbis Valley and Carbis Water was further up at the main road, so the railway decided upon the name Carbis Bay for their station. On 24 February 1877 the first steam engine passed over the entire length of the line and it was officially opened on 24 March 1877.
As a result of the expansion of the railway, there was a boom in seaside holidays and in 1894 the Carbis Bay Hotel was built by the famous Cornish architect, Sylvanus Trevail
Picture Postcard
This is a cache with a twist!
Many visitors to the cache will be holiday makers so we thought it would be fun to send and receive a postcard from a fellow cacher once they get back home or whilst sightseeing around Cornwall.
If you would like to receive a postcard, please leave your name and address inside the cache.
If you would like to send a postcard please take a name and address.
Simples!
