St Just Tregeseal, Carn Kenidjack
Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2023
Starting from Market Square, in St Just town centre, walk eastwards towards The St Just Church, along Church Street. Follow through keeping the church to your left, into “Venton East Square”.
From here, walk straight across the square, ignoring the footpath sign on the right, down the path between the houses towards the fields.
When you reach the road, turn left and walk 100m along the road, and look for a granite stile in the hedge on your right SW 373 316. Note that this footpath is not currently signposted. Go over the stile and follow the public footpath along the back of the houses. You come out into the Tregeseal valley, cross a bridge over the stream and out onto the road.
Once out onto the road, turn right and follow the road as it heads up the valley, ignoring any side roads.
Here, you come to a fork, and the road becomes two gravel tracks SW 380 319. Take the left-hand track (signposted for Lower Hailglower), following the line of the public footpath. After a short way, as the drive bends sharply round to the left, look for the footpath off to the right, and a granite step-stile into the field beyond. The footpath crosses diagonally up the field towards Hailglower Farm and through the gate into the track.
In front of Hailglower Farm, turn left, (noticing the massive stone banked wall on your right) and head past the farm and into the narrow lane beyond.
Here the lane opens out onto the Common. Go through the gate to the right and follow up the track.
A short distance up the track, Tregeseal Stone Circle will appear on your right, accessed by a small spur off the main track, marked by a CASPN tablets SW 386 324. Go and have a look! When done, return to the track you were on, and continue uphill.
At this point, a secondary path forks off to the right of the main track (look for the road less ‘gravelled’). Take this path to the right.
The path passes between a pair of round “barrows” – one to the right, followed by another to the left. There are a number of others nearby, but these are the best preserved.
Here you come to the Tregeseal Holed Stones, on your left. Have a good look at the fantastic lichens on the stones. From this point, you have a good view back down the valley to St Just.
The path bears downhill slightly towards the easterly corner of the common. Look for a second path climbing off sharply to the left that heads directly up the hill SW 391 326. Follow this path uphill towards Carn Kenidjack.
Re-join the main path, now heading north west up to the summit of the hill. At the top, small paths branch off left to give access to Carn Kenidjack itself – well worth stopping off for panoramic views in both directions.
Rejoin the main track SW 387 330. (Note a number of different routes intersect here). You are now walking on the line of the Tinners Way for a short while. The path passes round the bottom of Carn Bean, the hill with the radio transmitter
Here there is a track heading off the common, heading towards the property marked ‘Higher Botallack’ on the map. Ignore this, looking for an old wooden waymarker on the left; take the path down to the left beside the waymarker, following along the edge of the common, to the top of another lane.
This is the top of Devil’s Lane SW 382 326, an ancient green hollow-way, and considered to be part of The Tinners’ Way. You can use this route to walk down towards Botallack and Truthwall. To finish the circuit, turn left and across the field to an opening on the opposite side.
Follow through the gate and onto the track that goes around the pond back towards where you came onto the common. Retrace your steps back to St Just.