Now picturesque, the engine houses and smelting furnace chimneys that dot the Cornish landscape were once busy, noisy, dangerous industrial sites. Botallack, five miles from Land's End at the western tip of the peninsula, particularly captures the imagination because the mine stretched half a mile under the sea at a depth of 1360 feet. During storms, the men could hear the shingle shifting on the ocean floor above their heads. Dramatic in its placement, Botallack is indeed as lonely a location as it appears here. When you visit, imagine the lines of men walking from villages like St Just, one to five miles away, in the cold mist of the dark morning to work 10-12 hour days. Mind where you step: a misplaced foot can plummet you off the precarious cliff onto unforgiving rocks.