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Ancient Environment

Goss Moor today is a haven for rare moorland wildlife species, but scientific analysis of pollen preserved in waterlogged conditions in bogs and stream channels has shown that climate change and unsustainable economic activity are not new problems for the upland areas of Cornwall: As the last Ice Age ended, around 9,500 BC, sub-arctic tundra conditions gave way to woodland, which spread over much of Cornwall. Much later, about 3000 BC, farmers began to clear the woodland to make way for agriculture. By the early Bronze Age (about 1800 BC) there were extensive settlements on Bodmin Moor and Dartmoor.

In the late Bronze Age (about 1000 BC) the climate became cooler and wetter, making the uplands less attractive for settlement. At the same time, the thin soil was eroded and exhausted as prehistoric farmers brought ever larger areas into cultivation.

These developments, and wider changes in society, led to permanent settlements on Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor being abandoned by the end of the Bronze Age. The A30 excavations suggest a similar pattern on Goss Moor and the surrounding area, although we did find evidence for short-lived or seasonal settlement in the Late Iron Age and Roman periods (about 200 BC - AD 100).

Thereafter the landscape of Goss Moor became damp, open moorland which, by around AD 1300, was used as pasture, and as a source of tin ore and also peat for fuel.

The area around Belowda and Tregoss seems to have remained quite attractive for settlement, as permanent hamlets were established by the early medieval period (about AD 1000 - 1350) surrounded by isolated pockets of open arable strip fields. The pattern of these ancient strip fields was preserved when they were converted into pasture in the late medieval period (about AD 1350 - 1600). They were enclosed with Cornish hedges, which have survived to the present day, providing cover and habitats for wild animals such as dormice and adders.

Rich natural deposits of 'stream tin' on Goss Moor certainly attracted settlers to the area from the 12th century onwards, and may have done so in earlier periods, allowing people to supplement a meagre living from farming by panning or streaming for tin. During the Industrial Revolution, from the late 1700s, the extraction of surface deposits of 'stream tin' and deep mining both became big business. The tin-workings once formed dramatic scars on the landscape, but today the overgrown spoil heaps and settling ponds alongside the old A30 are ideal habitats for a wide range of plant and animal species, particularly reptiles.

In the early 1800s, large expanses of moorland were enclosed by landlords to provide small-holdings for a growing population of miners and agricultural workers. Many of these farmsteads were abandoned by the late 19th century, following the decline of the Cornish tin industry and some of the fields have returned to rough pasture.