Delabole

Welcome to Delabole

Delabole’s slate quarry growls with 2,000 years of grit, its blue-grey stone shaping history from Roman villa roofs to 1930s gramophone grooves. Romans prized its thin, durable slabs, unearthed in a nearby villa dig, while medieval ships hauled it to Breton shores. By 1284, this 425-foot-deep pit was Cornwall’s pulse, roofing castles and whispering resilience. In the 1930s, its powdered slate spun jazz and swing into gramophone records—a quirky spark in its industrial saga. Today, walk the quarry’s rim, where gulls soar over turquoise water and turbines hum, or join a tour to see slate split by hand, a craft unchanged for centuries. Just 15 minutes from Padstow, Delabole’s raw edge beckons—trace its scars, feel its stories, then unwind in our fisherman’s cottage, steps from the harbor’s glow. Scribble your chapter with slate dust on your boots and Cornwall’s wind in your hair.