Luxulyan Tourist Information

The village of Luxulyan like so many in the West Country is often referred to as a "churchtown" in that it consists of houses clustered around the 15th century parish church.

Luxulyan is in an entirely rural area set among typically Cornish farmland although not far from the industrialised and commercialised towns such as St. Austell, Bodmin, St. Blazey and Fowey.

One very prominent feature just outside the village is the Treffry viaduct/aquaduct. This granite structure over the steep sided wooded valley, is 650ft long and nearly 100ft high and was completed in 1842 to enable wagons carrying china clay to reach the port of Par down on the coast some three miles away.

The water carried beneath the rail tracks served to drive a 34ft diameter water wheel, used to power a cable system which hauled the clay wagons back up the valley once emptied. To this day there are substantial remains of the massive cast iron hub and gears and parts of the narrow gauge track still to be found along the pathway which leads from the top of the viaduct and along the valley side.

A small car park is situated just a short way up the valley road beneath this very imposing viaduct.

Description by Peter Marks