The interaction of granitic rock with meteoric fluid is instrumental in determining the chemistry of pore fluids and alteration mineralogy in downflow portions of convective groundwater circulation cells associated with many hydrothermal systems in the continental crust. Hydrothermal experiments and a detailed mineralogical study have been carried out to investigate the hydrothermal alteration of the Carnmenellis Granite, Cornwall, UK. Samples of drill chippings from a borehole 2 km deep in the Carnmenellis Granite have been reacted with a dilute Na-HCO3-Cl fluid in hydrothermal solution equipment at temperatures of 80°, 150° and 250° C and a pressure of 50 MPa, with a water/rock mass ratio of 10, for experiment durations up to 200 days. Fluid samples were analysed for seventeen different chemical components, and solids were examined prior to, and after reaction using SEM, electron microprobe and conventional light optic techniques. Experimental fluids were mildly alkaline (pH 7–8.5) and of low salinity (TDS <800 mgl−1). Mineral-fluid reaction was dominated by the dissolution of plagioclase and the growth of smectite, calcite (at all temperatures), laumontite (at 150° C), wairakite and anhydrite (at 250° C). Final fluids were saturated with respect to quartz and fluorite. Certain trace elements (Li, B, Sr) were either incorporated into solids precipitated during the experiments or sorbed onto mineral surfaces and cannot be considered as ‘conservative’ (partitioned into the fluid phase) elements. Concentrations of all analysed chemical components showed net increases during the experiments except for Ca (at 250° C) and Mg (at all temperatures). A comparison of the alteration mineralogy observed in the experiments with that present as natural fracture infills in drillcore from the Carnmenellis Granite reveals that the solid products from the experiments correspond closely to mineral assemblages identified as occurring during the later stages of hydrothermal circulation associated with the emplacement of the granite.