Heatwave reveals ‘Lost Valley’ as reservoirs dries up exposing roads and buildings of community submerged 60 years ago
The people of Nanquitho were forced to leave to make way for the Drift Reservoir, completed in 1961
A LOST valley submerged underwater for decades has been uncovered by the summer heatwave.
Old stone walls, outlines of buildings, gate posts and even roads now stand in the open air once again on the dried-up bed of Drift Reservoir.
The resurrected ruins were once home to a community that was forced to leave when construction on the reservoir began.
Margaret Pengelly still remembers living in the Lost Valley - the name given to the flooded area by locals who still remember the community was ever there.
Margaret moved to Trewidden Vean, a substantial farm, and the smallholding at Nanquitho near Penzance.
Nanquitho existed for hundreds of years and at one time was home to 14 residents.
Margaret said: "Of course, the war held it up. On Friday, February 3, 1961, the reservoir overflowed down the spill for the very first time. I remember that day well."
She was brought up there from the age of 4 to 13, an only child, with her mother, father and a succession of cats and other animals.
The traditional cottage and cow barn were built from granite quarried on the site itself.
They were beautiful buildings in a remote wooded valley bottom surrounded by wildlife and a wildflower-filled meadow.
Margaret said: "It was very beautiful - I can't emphasise that enough: absolutely lovely.
But when Margaret was 13, she and her parents moved to her grandparents' house at nearby Sancreed where she still lives today.
Soon after, Nanquitho was compulsorily purchased and demolished to create a supply of drinking water for the local area.
From planning to completion, the dam at Drift took 23 years to build, and between 1938 and 1961 a number of families moved out.
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Margaret can still see where the Lost Valley once stood from her bedroom window.
She remembers the waters drawing back to reveal the skeleton of her old home in the 1970s, the 1990s, and once again, this summer.
She said: "It was strange to see the ruins: not eerie, but very interesting."
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