hen Liz Toth and her husband moved into a cottage in Cornwall, the gentle sound of the stream running around it added to their enjoyment of the tranquil garden. It was a revelation to discover that, until the start of the 20th century, it had been a noisy waterway used by the thriving tin mining industry. ‘Now that we know the history of our cottage, it makes the personal connection almost tangible. I imagine people over the past 230 years sitting by the 18th-century inglenook fireplace with its granite lintel,
