Excavation is really underway now. The trenches need to be shuttered to ensure the builders can get the concrete in without the sides collapsing. And the rain doesn’t help. I feel like I’m back on the beach with the kids building sandcastles in the face of the incoming tide. But it has been exciting to see what the guys uncover with each dig. Old engine parts, a car door …. and what looked to be a Victorian lemon squeezer until Rob pointed out it says “A present from Land’s End”.☹
The first pour went in this week – at last! We’re finally getting some stability into the ground and the outline of the main walls is now clearly visible!
Our energy assessment survey showed that “Delamere” is going to be not just ‘carbon neutral’ but ‘carbon negative’. Or at least she was – before we started pouring in nearly 80 tonnes of ready mix concrete! Reassuring to know we’ll be on very firm ground – “bomb proof”, Rob says, but we won’t test that theory!
So, was our site really the local tip? Did the locals simply chuck away all their old rubbish in our “garden”? It did seem so.
But NO!! Turns out the ground had been a boggy marshland up till 1967. The guy delivering the concrete last week remembered that, when the Torrey Canyon ran aground off Land’s End in March 1967, the marsh was drained and filled with anything the locals could find to create a makeshift car park for all the salvage teams! (1967 also happens to be the first year Clive’s family first holidayed in Sennen Cove. He recalls how his Mum covered them all in Swarfega to help remove the oily grease from their skin after swimming.)
The Torrey Canyon disaster was, at the time, the world’s worst oil spillage and the salvage operation included the RAF bombing the ship to try and burn off the oil Today, a life ring from the ship still hangs in the lifeboat station in the Cove.
And so, it turns out, the rubbish buried deep under our future bedroom did in fact have a purpose and our lovely house will sit on top of an area of historical significance (at least in our eyes anyway!!)
June 4 2021
Building 'Delamere' 