Wheal Coates and Chapel Porth

On screen

How Wheal Coates and Chapel Porth appears

Wheal Coates is not Ross's main mine on screen, which was filmed at Botallack in Penwith. The National Trust says it was used later in the run as a derelict Wheal Leisure, and the cliffs above Chapel Porth beach were used for clifftop gallops. The Towanroath engine house, standing on a ledge halfway down the cliff, is one of the most photographed mine buildings in Cornwall and fits the show's look closely. In the story, the mines lie near Nampara on the north coast, which this site matches better than Botallack does.

The real place

What you can visit

Wheal Coates is a National Trust site with three engine houses on the cliffs between St Agnes and Chapel Porth, part of the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. Footpaths link the ruins with the coast path and with Chapel Porth, a small sandy cove with a National Trust car park and a seasonal beach café. At low tide the beach opens out towards Porthtowan; at high tide it almost vanishes. The engine houses are fenced ruins and cannot be entered.

Stay on the marked paths: old mine shafts, open adits and crumbling walls are scattered across this coast, cliff edges are unfenced and can be undercut, and dogs and children need keeping close. At Chapel Porth, check tide times before walking along the beach.