Saint Breward: Camel Trail, Heritage and Hotels

Saint Breward can be considered from three perspectives when planning a trip: the Camel Trail as a multi-use trail, prehistoric monuments, and the parish landscape. These topics differ in scale and character. Before your trip, you can decide whether you would prefer to focus on a trail, archaeological features, or landscape and natural-history highlights.

Camel Trail and Wenfordbridge

The Camel Trail is 18 miles long, largely traffic-free, surfaced, and almost level. As a multi-use trail, it is suitable for walkers, cyclists, horse riders, and wheelchair users. It starts in Wenfordbridge, in the parish of Saint Breward. There is a small car park at the Wenfordbridge end. As facilities may change, check before travelling to see whether the car park is currently available for use.

Prehistoric Monuments and Churches

King Arthur’s Hall is a Scheduled Monument and a well-preserved rectangular enclosure. It is about 47 m long and 20 m wide. These dimensions illustrate the difference from Fernacre stone circle: here, the rectangular layout defines the site.

The “Fernacre stone circle and two outlying stones” complex is also a Scheduled Monument. Fernacre stone circle is well preserved and is one of the largest stone circles in Cornwall. It is visible as a ring of at least 63 granite slabs. In contrast to King Arthur’s Hall, the circular form is the main feature here.

An early prehistoric hillfort lies on the ridge of Rough Tor and Little Rough Tor. Its structures include several enclosure walls, eight prehistoric burial mounds, and a small chamber built from stone slabs.

St Breward Church stands about 700 feet above sea level and is the highest church in Cornwall. St. James’s Holy Well was used by pilgrims travelling to Compostela in Spain. This connection with pilgrimage adds a religious theme to the prehistoric sites.

Parish Landscape and Nature

The parish of Saint Breward lies on the western edge of Bodmin Moor and includes some of Cornwall’s highest areas. Roughtor is one of the two highest peaks that form the eastern edge of the parish. The western edge of the moor and the eastern peaks therefore describe different geographical reference points within the same parish.

The De Lank River rises in the parish and flows through it. The entire parish is protected for its landscape; its protected areas and designations include an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

Rare flora and fauna include carnivorous sundew, cross-leaved heath, and the pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly. These examples include plants as well as a butterfly, adding the parish’s biodiversity to its geographical features.

Discover more destinations: Menheniot, Constantine, Pentewan, Penhallow, Mount, Madron, Cawsand, Gerrans

For the main travel overview: Cornwall.