Putting industry on video - an archive for the future
O.S. Map 203 Map Notes
O.S. Map 203 Map Notes
This is an example of the I.A.Recordings Industrial Archaeology MapNotes for one British Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 series map.
We have produced these notes over the years for our own use as a concise digest of industrial sites in a given area.
Map 203 covers Land's End, the South-western extremity of the Cornish peninsula. As you would expect, most of the historic industry in Cornwall is tin or copper mining!
Each numbered entry has a National Grid Reference (NGR) code, such as SW 697 494. This code is the coordinate system of the British Ordnance Survey (OS) and may be used to locate a site on any map printed with an NGR grid. For more information on OS maps, see the Ordnance Survey web site.
Notes for Ordnance Survey 1:50 000 map Number 203 The default reference source for these notes is: Mining Sites in Cornwall & South-West Devon by Barry Atkinson. (Highly recommended) The following abbreviations are used in these notes to indicate other sources of information: ASAP= Around St. Agnes and Perranporth, B. Acton BM32= British Mining series No.32, N.M.R.Soc. BP= B.P. book of I.A., Neil Cossons CMDA= Cornish Mining Development Association annual report CPE= Cornish Pumping Engines, Trevithick Society DK= Dave Kinrade ECM = Exploring Cornish Mines, K. Brown EHA= Engine House Assessment, Mineral Tramways Project ET= Edwin Thorpe EX3= Exploring Cornish Mines Vol.3, K.Brown & B.Acton GIASB= Guide to IA sites in Britain, Minchinton HCMSAS= Historic Cornish Mining Scenes at Surface, J.Trounson IASOB= I.A. Sites of Britain, A. Burton KL= Kelvin Lake MICT= Mining in Cornwall Today, Cornish Chamber of mines MIC1= Mining in Cornwall Vol.1, J.Trounson MIC2= Mining in Cornwall Vol.2, J.Trounson MTP= Mineral Tramways Project leaflet NT= National Trust pamphlet on specific site OS = Information deduced from the O.S. map OU= Open University ROAR= Remains of a Revolution, Burton SCM= South Crofty Mine, Allen Buckley TTA= Richard Williams & Trevithick Trust Account YG= Yesterday’s Golcondas, R.H.Bird mmm = Featured in I.A.Recordings DVD compilation C.52 "'Mongst More Mines" mmme = Featured in I.A.Recordings 3-DVD set "'Mongst Mines and Mine Explorers" AE mmme = Aerial views in "'Mongst Mines and Mine Explorers" vis = Visited by I.A.Recordings Engine piston diameter measurement: 1" = one inch ~ 25mm Engine piston stroke measurement: 1' = one foot ~ 305mm CAUTION Most sites are visible from a public right of way. Some sites are on private property and permission to view should be obtained. Some sites are potentially dangerous, especially mines, even on the surface. Underground exploration must only be attempted with proper clothing and equipment in a group which includes trained and experienced explorers. 01) SW 700 501 St.Agnes Head; Wheal Coates mine, NT. Conserved 28" stamps engine house with cylinder bedstone, boiler house, 18" whim engine house, gas engine house, reverberatory? calciner, flue & stack. Cliff workings, level & opencuts, poss. waterwheel pit & stamps site. Car parks. [mmme+NT] SW 6886 5000 NT conserved Towanroath pumping engine house, site of boiler house & later horizontal pump, grilled shaft near cliff edge [mmme+NT] SW 697 494 Chapel Porth; NT car park on site of stamping mill is start of walk to: SW 698 501 Wheal Coates beach adit accessible at half tide (paddling). Waterfall from adit 2m above floor in end of cave. BEWARE fast incoming tide. [mmme+NT,DK] 02) SW 568 380 Copperhouse; Copper Smelting works, built in 1750’s to smelt in Cornwall rather than Swansea. Used ores from Camborne and Gwennap Mines. Only remains are walls of ‘canal’ dock wharf, made of blocks of slag (‘scoriae’) & parts of the lock gate. Large quantities of coal needed and powerful Welsh Smelters caused the demise of the works in the 19th century. N bank to be site of Co-op? Local church & other walls also made of slag blocks. [YG+mmme] 03) SW 699 420 Redruth; Mining exchange in Alma place near centre of town. Became Age Concern day centre. [YG,mmme] 04) SW 721 517 Trevaunance cove; St.Agnes harbour, wall damaged by storm in 1915 & never repaired, since reduced to pile of granite blocks. Above cliff are circles in grass lawn beside hotel which was formerly warehouse, showing where 2 horse gins worked winches to haul material from harbour below. Walls of ore storage 'hutches'. [YG, mmm] SW 7216 5155 St. Agnes, Trevaunance Cove: Polberro Mine adit entrance. Main drainage adit for Polberro mine. Gated entrance beside ramp from Quay Road to beach. Output from adit mixes with stream water flowing down combe beside beach ramp. Timbering, wooden launders & flooded winzes were visible underground. Shaft. [YG, mmme, mmm] SW 719 518 Polberro; concrete leat of 1937 contours round headland to take water from Polberro Tin Ltd. dressing mill (built near Turnavore shaft with equipment from Wheal Kitty) out over cliff edge. [mmme,mmm] SW 7192 5175 Wheal Luna; ancient openwork mining near and in cliff. Back-filled adit at top of cliff path steps. [mmme,mmm] SW 7208 5137 St. Agnes, Driftwood Spar Public House, Quay Road: Now Public house and hotel. Parts are a former 19th Century stores for local mines and other industries in area. [vis, ASAP] SW 717 517 Polberro Cove; Shafts & tips of Polberro mine visible to South. [mmme,mmm] SW 719 515 St. Agnes; Polberro mine Turnavore shaft 60" pumping engine house of 1885. Gothic window arches. Still roofed but with asbestos, dating from its conversion into a miner's dry in 1837. Engine moved to Wheal Friendly. On private land, so can only be seen from a distance. [mmme] SW 714 513 St. Agnes; Polberro mine count house, now B&B 'Ten-re-Vras'. Adjacent to East are former blacksmith's shop & assay house. [mmme] SW 720 512 St. Agnes; Wheal Friendly 60" pumping engine house of 1902. Moved from Polberro Mine Turnavore shaft. Reputedly saved from demolition in WWII by locals. Nearby buttressed concrete walls of reservoir. [mmme] SW 720 513 St. Agnes; Wheal Friendly stone crusher loading. [mmme] SW 720 514 St. Agnes; Wheal Friendly mill: concrete walls with earthenware pipes for electricity cables. [mmme] SW 723 517 St. Agnes; Penhalls mine. [mmme] 05) SW 678 393 Treskillard; Basset Mines Ltd. West Wheal Frances & South Wheal Frances setts. Includes Marriott's shaft: [BM32,mmme,mmm] SW 6781 3936 Pascoe’s shaft, 80" pumping engine house. SW 6777 3930 Pascoe’s shaft; 36" whim engine house. SW 6745 3906 Daubuz whim/pump engine house. SW 6721 3912 West Wheal Frances; Smith's 24" whim engine house. SW 681 394 Marriott’s shaft area: Re-equipped to highest standards after fire in 1895. Smooth locked-coil steel winding rope used as fence. [BM32,mmme,mmm] SW 6802 3937 Marriott’s shaft; stone base for ore hopper & primary jaw crusher. Stone supplied by overhead railway from shaft. Crushed stone taken to stamps by tramway. Views west across Newton Moor of >=12 engine houses. [mmme,mmm] SW 6804 3937 Marriott’s shaft; granite compressor engine house housed Frazer & Chalmers cross-compound horizontal steam engine with Corliss valves, driving Riedler compressor with 2-stage air cylinders to drive 30 drills underground. 7 holes in base of external wall to reach holding-down bolts. Gap between concrete loadings for flywheel, condenser & probably air receiver. [mmme,mmm] SW 6805 3937 Marriott’s shaft; Hathorn Davey inverted vertical compound under-beam pumping engine house had 40" & 80" cylinders. Beam mounted below ground in SW slot. NE slot was for 2nd engine, never installed. 5m diameter brick-lined shaft had space to lower a complete Lancashire boiler to power underground hoists! [mmme] SW 6806 3937 House for 6 Lancashire boilers. [mmme,mmm] SW 6809 3938 Marriott’s shaft whim. Housed cross-compound Holman winder with bi-conical drum. [mmme,mmm] SW 6810 3934 Marriott’s shaft miner's dry - 'one of the largest in Cornwall'. [mmme,mmm] 06) SW 688 402 Carnkie; Basset Mines Ltd. Wheal Basset, West Wheal Basset & North Wheal Basset setts: Pumps, Whims, Stamps, buddle floors, vanner houses, Brunton calciners. Unusually complete. [BM32,mmme,mmm] SW 6815 3970 Thomas's 60" pumping engine house [mmm] SW 6880 4006 South Wheal Basset; Lyles 80" pumping engine house. [mmm] SW 6877 4006 Lyle's/Grace's winding engine house. [mmm] SW 6880 4020 Dressing floor water pumping engine house. SW 687 040 Wheal Basset count house; sometimes used as a restaurant. [mmme,mmm] SW 6876 4023 [North group] West Basset stamps: 1875 40" stamps engine house with 2ndry beam on thick rear wall for pump to re-circulate mill water. Drove 80 heads of stamps. Gable-ended 1906 vanner house to S ('best surviving in Cornwall') housed 20 Frue vanners driven by small horizontal steam engine in southern bay of building. Buddle floor to South: 16 concave & convex buddles ranging from 1.5m to 5.5m diameter, & concrete channels. Building for 2 Brunton calciners to West has firebricks & circular space for rotating hearths. No labyrinth visible. [mmme,mmm] SW 6912 3988 [South group] Wheal Basset stamps: 1868 Engine house for 2 side-by-side 30" rotative beam engines driving common flywheel. The cranks were apparently at 90°, which together with evidence of trunnion top bearing holding-down bolts, suggests engines were double-acting. Drove 96 heads of stamps. Evidence of oil stains on walls above both plug doors. From 1938 used as ore bin for Californian stamps, concrete loadings for which remain. To North, large gable-ended vanner house with loadings for ball mill, hydraulic classifiers, 14 James tables, 6 Isbell vanners and 8 Frue vanners; installed in 1938 when reprocessing dumps. [mmme,mmm] 07) SW 557 373 Hayle; Harvey’s foundry, ‘Slades of Hayle’ occupy buildings North of railway, to be demolished. [ROAR,mmme] {Update} Demolished. SW 558 371 Hayle; Harvey’s foundry buildings S of railway. [mmme] SW 558 369 Hayle; Harvey’s foundry pond. [mmme] SW 558 372 Hayle; railway viaduct. [vis] 08) SW 689 443 Illogan; Tolgus Tin Company; Tin streaming here since 1800's. In 1976 became museum of tin proccessing operated by Madam Tussaud’s, producing small amounts of concentrate to preserve machinery & skills. Taken over by Concord Minerals 1981 & museum closed. Stopped producing 1985. Buildings & machinery remained in neglected state. Still extant 8/87: Waterwheel operated 12 head Cornish stamps ('best in UK' & last to work in Europe), hydrocyclones, sand house shaking tables, slime plant settling pits, waterwheel operated scoop wheels, wooden launders, Cornish round frame driven by electric motor via Ford T10 gearbox, James & Holman shaking tables, Bartles cross-belt separator, Mozley concentrator, barrel pulverisor, ball mills, flotation cells, shanty-style buildings. Site taken over by ‘Cornwall Gold Centre’. Since '98 streaming plant managed by Trevithick Trust. [MTP,TTA,mmme,mmm] {Update} Trevithick Trust dissolved 2004. Another firm north of Tolgus had mobile screening plant & ex ball mill outdoors. [vis] SW 6902 4304 Tolgus Calciner. Scheduled. Said to be best surviving example. Rotating hearth, worm drive & fireboxes in situ. [MTP,mmme] 09) SW 377 341 Pendeen; in 1987 museum operated by Geevor Tin Mines plc. featured: Wethered shaft headframe, Locke waterwheel powered stamps moved from Nancledra, wheel but not stamps turned by motor. Main building contained models of shaft, stopes, man engine, miners, C19th. mine buildings & 3D view of levels. Another building housing Wethered electric winder had Trevithick collection inc. working models of stamps & Archer Productions evocative 16 minute video. Shop with minerals, books & refreshments. [mmme] Weekdays, gave tours of: SW 375 345 Pendeen; Geevor Tin Mines plc. Victory shaft sunk 1919: vertical to 460m then sub-decline to 610m. Steel headframe & British Thomson Houston electric winder installed 1954. [mmm] Primary jaw crusher, pumped water settling tank (9000 litres per minute pumped out of mine). Compressor house with 1.2MPa reciprocating compressors & air receiver. 1000T fine ore bin. Reject grave conveyors. Mill: 2 Symons cone crushers, screw densifier, vibrating sizing screens, Newall Dunford & Hardinge ball mills, shaking tables, froth flotation plant (floats = copper, arsenic & iron sulphates, sinks = tin oxide) magnetic separator removing iron & manganese, rotary drying kiln, bagging area (70% grade in 50kg bags). 8/87: only maintenance crew underground, mill processing stock pile of won ore until 11/9/87. [mmme] {Update} Mine closed 1990. Half of mill plant scrapped. Completely new museum in office building started by Cornwall County Council & Trevithick Trust. SW 377 347 Pendeen, Geevor Tin Mines plc. Boscaswell Downs mine Treweeks shaft 411m. Headframe removed? 10) SW 648 398 Camborne; Trevithick statue in front of Passmore Edwards library. [mmme] SW 647 401 Camborne, The Cross; Holman’s museum, once housed Rostowrack rotative pump, since moved to Wheal Martyn Museum? (& Trevithick collection?) Museum gone. [BP+vis] 11) SW 500 355 Nancledra, stamps in 1948 working onoriginal site, since moved to Geevor tin mine museum & extensively restored. [BP,vis] 12) SW 368 346 Pendeen; Levant Mine. Mined copper & tin from c.1820 until ‘knocked’ in 1930. Geevor took over in 1960's & plugged hole 200m out to sea where a stope from the 40 fathom (73m) level had got too close to the sea bed. Levant workings then connected underground with Geevor but results were poor. (Geevor later sank decline to >610m to work very good tin ore under Levant's old levels!) Levant levels extended 2.4km out to sea at depths of 325m, 618m, and 475m. In 1987 Skip shaft with wood-enclosed headframe for electric winder still in use as ventilation for Geevor Mine. [mmme] {Update} Geevor mining ended 1990. 1835 45" pumping engine house, one of oldest in Cornwall. 1840’s Michell whim Engine House preserved by the National Trust. Beam Engine, unusual in that both beam & flywheel are inside, possibly for shelter from Atlantic. Designed by Francis Michell. Built by Harveys of Hayle ~1840 (27" x 4'). Said to be oldest engine still operating in Cornwall. Cast iron beam may be from even earlier engine. Saved from scrapping 1935 by Cornish Engines Preservation Society which became Trevithick Society. Restoration begun 1985. Support column added under wooden cross- timber during restoration. Occasionally in steam. Winding drum outer bearing rusted solid in salty atmosphere, so now rotates with drum inside cover! Condenser cooling water in walled pond. Viewing used to be by arrangement with Geevor Tin Mines Plc. [mmme] {Update} Site now run by National Trust. Weaker rock of lode eroded by sea to form Levant Zawn. To East down miners path, adit in cliff had access to skip shaft (laddered) and other workings above sea level. [mmme, DK] SW 3699 3474 Calciner stack shortened to prevent collapse. [mmme] {Update} Shortened again. Only lower stone section survives. SW 3696 3460 Stamps: stack nearly complete, but only low walls of 32" engine house remain. Nearby are concrete flywheel loadings & slime settling tank. Settling pond walls have been used for house building, but the red slime mud & timbers of sluices remain. The sea here used to be stained red by water pumped from the mines. [mmme] SW 3695 3448 Ornate stack & walls of compressor house built 1901 for Holman Bros 18m long 4 cylinder cross triple compound steam engine (16.5" HP, 26" IP and 2x 30.75" LP), probably the largest Holman ever built. Used to power rock drills and underground haulage. Replaced with generators & motor-driven compressors in 1920. Stack has 4 rings of light coloured brick. [mmme] SW 3682 3435 Short but very ornate stack with 5 rings of lighter coloured brick served infamous man engine. In 1919 a wrought-iron strap broke here and the wooden rod with a full load of men fell to the bottom of the shaft killing 31 and injuring 19 more. Low walls of boiler house & concrete floor of miner's dry nearby. [mmme] {Update} Spiral stairs & tunnel to man engine shaft now excavated. 13) SW 592 272 Breage; Wheal Prosper; NT preserved engine house overlooking Rinsey Cove. Adits in nearby cliff accessible. [GIASB,DK,mmm] SW 600 265 Trewavas Mine, New & Old engine houses on cliff edge. Back wall has large slot enabling beam to be fitted from rear. Worked copper under sea bed. Most active 1836-46. [YG,mmm] 14) SW 683 316 Wendron; ‘Poldark Mine’ formerly Wendron Forge Museum; 30" Greensplat pump (c 1850 and last commercial worked beam engine in Cornwall), moved from Holman Museum & erected on pillar. Worked by hydraulic piston. Other engines, underground exhibit, playground. [GIASB] 15) SW 637 389 Penponds; Trevithick’s cottage. NT, viewing by arrangement with occupants. [NT] 16) SW 3619 3352 Botallack; Crowns Mine; Famous engine houses perched on cliff edge. Lower one was 36" pump on Crowns engine shaft with chimney built inside house to save space. The narrow one was Pearce's winder for Boscawen ‘Diagonal shaft’, 797m long at an angle of 32.5 degrees, 415m below sea level & 786m beyond cliffs. Queen Victoria visited and a prince & princess went underground. [MIC2+mmme+DK] {Update} Crowns engine houses conserved by Carn Brea Mining Society 1985. [mmm] SW 3648 3333 Botallack; Allen's shaft: Geevor started refurbishing in 1980. Headframe girders on-site 1983. [mmme,mmm] SW 3640 3325 Botallack arsenic labyrinth remains include bridge over course of tramway, stack & walls of Brunton calciner. [mmme] {Update} Labyrinth excavated & tidied-up. Area now described as "The world's best preserved arsenic works." [mmm] SW 3643 3328 Botallack; 1908 dressing mill: concrete foundations of vanner floor, table floor & Californian stamps. [mmme,mmm] SW 362 329 Botallack; Wheal Edward. Mined for Tin, Copper, Bismuth, Uranium, Pitchblende and Arsenic. 2 engine houses here. Workings were linked to Wheal Drea and Wheal Owles (SW 364 343). Former caused the mine to flood when holed in 1893, resulting in the mines closure. Had 30" engines (heavy pumping unnecessary), 2 inclined shafts with a gradient of 1 in 3. The shaft a little way from the engine houses is still visible. [YG+vis,mmm] 17) SW 6724 4155 Pool; East Pool Mine Michell shaft whim, NT preserved & operated. Last rotative beam engine built in Cornwall (1887). Also only one of the type made by Holman Bros. (Camborne foundry). 30" x 9' (unusually long stroke for a whim) ~17rpm, 40psi (275kPa). Wound miners & ore from 500m deep Michells shaft. Fall of ground in 1921 destroyed shaft so whim redundant. 1922 East Pool mine closed. Whim left derelict & saved from WWII scrap drive in 1941 by Arthur Treve Holman, managing director of Holman Bros. Whim now driven by electric motor. Hornsby Cornish boiler (rescued from old workhouse laundry in Truro) in rebuilt boiler house used as NT centre selling books & minerals. Views of Taylor's shaft from bob plat & South Crofty from window. [NT+mmme,mmm] SW 6744 4189 Pool; East Pool Mine Taylor’s shaft pump, NT preserved & open. Harvey & Co. Hayle 1892, 90" x 10', 53T bob, moved from Carn Brea Mines 1922 & thus last Cornish engine to be assembled anywhere in the world. Granite engine house last built in Cornwall. Pumped for South Crofty until 1954. Rectangular shaft currently ventilating South Crofty (upcast) 730m below, together with Roskear shaft to west. Surface balance bob was beam of last complete Cornish engine built - 36" pump built by Charlestown Foundry 1911 for North Goonbarrow china clay works. Engine bought by Cornish Engines Preservation Trust whilst still working thanks to donation from American engineering historian Grenville Bath. [NT+mmme,mmm] {Update} South Crofty closed 1998. SW 6745 4188 Outbuildings: Walls of boiler house with settings for 5 Cornish boilers - 4 in steam & one on standby. Pressure 50psi (345kPa). 33m chimney with legend 'EPAL' in lighter bricks to advertise the popular East Pool & Agar Ltd. arsenic brand. Boiler house for winder: elegant building with random stone walls pierced with large redbrick-lined arches & clerestory ventilator in corrugated asbestos roof. Winder house with loadings for fast horizontal 22" x 4' 2-cylinder steam winder with Cornish valves & disc cranks. Compressor house with loadings for Holman air compressors driven by electric motors with multiple rope drives. [NT+mmme] {Update} Buildings re-used for Cornwall Industrial Discovery centre. [mmm] 18) SW 6676 4129 Camborne; South Crofty Ltd. Robinson’s shaft pump. NT preserved. Viewing by arrangement with S.C.Ltd. 80" Sandys Vivian & Co. Copperhouse foundry 1854 cast in outdoor end of beam. Moved 1924 & worked until 1955. ‘Mothballed’ in grease. 689m shaft in use for men & materials (downcast). Nearby are offices, medical centre, ‘tin bonus’ sign, water tank, timber impregnation vessel. [NT+MICT+mmme+SCM] {Update} Robinson's shaft closed 1994. Pumping engine house door boarded- up to prevent access. Winder house badly damaged by fire. Proposed re-use as visitor centre and to run the engine on compressed air. SW 669 413 South Wheal Crofty's Bickford shaft, Palmer’s Shaft & count house. In 1950s Bickford's winder adapted to wind Palmer's by using inclined pulley to turn rope through 90°. Concrete pulley base remains. [mmme] SW 6644 4099 Camborne; South Crofty Ltd. New Cook’s Kitchen shaft; headframe, winding engine house & disused processing mill plant including heavy media separation plant & Carnon Aggregates plant. Fine ore bins built 1969. All ore now taken by road to Wheal Jane as mill there more modern. Parts of this mill taken as spares. All ore hoisted in this shaft: rectangular 730m deep, ore skips 7T, 1.1MW electric winder. South Crofty Ltd. is now part of Carnon Consolidated (RTZ). The mine includes the old workings of New Dolcoath, Cook’s Kitchen, Tincroft, East Pool & Agar etc. It is probably the oldest tin mine in Cornwall, as it was working in 1670 as Penhellick Vean, and probably 100 years before that. Other buildings include 1906 electrical sub-station, old & new compressor houses, generator house, blacksmith's shop & corrugated steel storage shed with steel flying buttresses. [MICT+mmme+SCM] {Update} Mine closed 1998. SW 6650 4060 Tuckingmill; Cook’s Kitchen mine: Chapple's 55" pumping engine house beside track to Carnon Aggregates. [mmme] SW 6654 4062 Tuckingmill; Cook’s Kitchen mine: Chapple's 26" whim engine house. [mmme] SW 6692 4071 Tuckingmill; South Tincroft mine; elegant compressor house & stack (Harvey 1890) [mmme] SW 6687 4067 Tuckingmill; South Tincroft mine; whim engine house (26" 1863) with cast iron cylinder mounting lug still bolted to stone cylinder base. Whim also drove man engine via 2nd crank, gearing & flat-rod. Another bolt & bracket in place. Man rod reputedly broke due to dry rot! Now the only surviving man-engine house in Cornwall. [YG+mmme] 19) SW 658 368 Copper Hill, Troon; 'Experimental mine' was Holman Bros. test mine, now owned by Camborne School of Mines (CSM). Walls of passages are pock-marked with drill-test holes! [OS, mmme,mmm] 20) SW 664 389 Higher Condurrow; Grenville United South Condurrow mine, taken over 1897 as Camborne School of Mines training mine & renamed King Edward mine, flooded 1920 when Grenville United closed. CSM kept surface plant & moved underground training to Great Condurrow. Now noted as most complete set of mine buildings from 1900 period. Sheet metal & wooden buildings contain tin dressing plant including Frazer & Chalmers jaw crusher & 5 head Californian stamps shown at 1900 Paris Exhibition, driven by a horizontal engine; Cornish round frame, ball mill, dipper wheel, convex buddle, rare early wooden flotation cell. To be developed as visitor facility. Engine Shaft whim engine house conserved. [mmme] {Update} King Edward Mine now open to visitors. [mmm] SW 662 393 Great Condurrow CSM training mine: 2 vertical shafts sunk 27m in 1920s. Both shafts laddered. East shaft had skips wound by electric winder & upcast ventilation with fan drift & Woods axial- flow ventilation fan. [mmme] SW 6606 3850 Marshall’s 60" pumping engine house. [EHA] SW 6600 3847 Marshall’s 26" whim engine house. [EHA] SW 6630 3888 Stamps engine house on King Edward’s Mine site. [EHA] SW 6615 3930 Great Condurrow mine, Neame’s 80" pumping engine house on Woolf’s shaft. [EHA] 21) SW 646 384 Killivose; Wheal Pendarves mine, Simms shaft 330m; sinking commenced 1968, in production 1971, became part of South Crofty Ltd. 1973. Very wet & bad ground. Stopped 1987, but site still occupied in '93. [MICT+vis] 22) SW 667 415 Camborne; Camborne School of Mines; geological museum contains one of Britain’s best mineral specimen collections including polished vein sections & fluorescence displays. Small book shop. [vis] 23) SW 664 402 Brea; telephone wires by chapel have corks for birds? & views of South Crofty Ltd. [mmme] SW 665 401 Brea; stepped convex circular buddles & views of South Crofty Ltd. [mmme] {Update} Excavations have revealed more dressing plant but stepped buddles seem to be damaged. [mmm] SW 665 400 Brea; Medway Tin recovery plant treating old mine dumps within 32km radius, then restoring sites. Gravity separation with electronic control. 50 employees. Stopped 1987 ? [mmme+MICT] 24) SW 6678 3890 Troon; Grenville United Mines Fortescue’s shaft pumping engine house (90" Harvey) [vis] SW 6681 3885 Grenville United Mines Fortescue’s shaft whim engine house. [vis] SW 6663 3858 Wheal Grenville mine New Stamps engine house, walls of Frue vanner house [mmm] SW 6632 3870 Grenville United Mines Goold’s/North shaft pumping engine house. [EHA] 25) SW 498 378 Penderleath; China clay works: tall elegant chimney with dressed granite base, rest mostly brick. Walls of large pan kiln, later used to house pigs. [mmme] 26) SW 659 415 Tuckingmill, Camborne; Red River North & downstream of South Crofty Ltd. is very red! Many dressing floors unfortunately buried beneath new bypass. [vis+DK,mmm] SW 658 416 South Crofty Ltd. mill & tailings heap; good views from A30(T) embankment & of 2 chimneys in valley. [mmme] SW 660 412 Cornish Tin & Engineering Ltd. Tin streaming company formed 1981 to recover South Crofty tailings from river & process in small gravity plant. Flotation section installed 1982, then pipes for fine & coarse tailings laid from South Crofty mill to bypass river. Computer assisted. 60% recovery. 25 employees. [vis+MICT, mmme] 27) SW 661 410 Tuckingmill, Camborne; miner’s houses. Several ‘rows’ of miners houses & Methodist chapel. South end of Pengellys Row has good views of South Crofty Ltd. tailings conveyor & heap. Whim Round shaft of South Crofty here has steel headframe & emerging pipes. [vis] SW 662 407 Tuckingmill valley, Camborne; mining site. Fenced ‘conservation area’ consists of tree saplings planted on cleared site of previously considerable I.A. interest. Good views of South Crofty Ltd. tailings. [vis] SW 663 405 Tuckingmill valley, Camborne; portal of South Crofty Ltd. Tuckingmill decline shaft started 1986. Viewing possible from ‘conservation area’ or road. [vis] SW 6618 4055 Tuckingmill Valley; approx. location of Dolcoath stamps, camera location for J.C.Burrows famous first photograph in 'Mongst Mines & Miners; looking North-East & including mines: New Cook's Kitchen, East Pool, Tincroft, Carn Brea, Cook's Kitchen & Dolcoath itself. [mmme] 28) SW 701 471 Porthtowan; Tywarnhale copper mine: started as Wheal Rock in 1750, renamed United Hills 1809, then Tywarnhayle ('House on the Estuary'). London's Royal School of Mines (RSM) training mine since 1907, specialising in surveying & timber preservation. [MICT, mmme] SW 6954 4749 South Wheal Towan mine: white chimney. [mmme] SW 6975 4726 Tywarnhale copper mine; Taylor's 58" pump. Small building with detached stack said to have had last wooden beam engine built in Cornwall. Plug doorway also cylinder door, as engine house cut into hillside & no access behind. Bob wall sides extend to roof level, which may have stabilised wing walls. Pumped James' shaft by 350m of flat rods. Shaft later had Cornwall's first submersible electric pump. Building below now used by RSM housed gas engine powered generator. Near it is short padlocked shaft for student access to main drainage adit. [IASOB,mmme] SW 6999 4722 Tywarnhale copper mine; John's 70" pumping engine house 1861. 12' piston stroke unusually long. Engine moved to Wheal Uny in 1864. Cylinder door arch & spring beam pockets brick-lined. Bob wall sole plate timber in place. Large balance-bob pit walled. Bank with retaining wall possibly for tipping ore down a chute. [IASOB,mmme] SW 7019 4730 Tywarnhale copper mine; James' shaft: 'Crib hut' & 150m deep shaft used by RSM students, so shaft-top boarded. Concrete foundation of electric winder moved & tilted. White- painted trig point for survey training. Shaft had been pumped by flat rods from Taylor's shaft 350m away. Cutting leading from day level once had tramway to incline. [ECM1, mmme] SW 7031 4730 Tywarnhale copper mine; Railway shaft: padlocked wooden boarding protects top of inclined? shaft. [mmme] SW 7033 4728 Tywarnhale copper mine; stack of crusher had brick section removed for safety of houses below. Can now look down on top of chimney from hillside. [mmme] SW 7015 4709 Tywarnhale copper mine; Elmore vacuum flotation plant building remains - world first commercial froth flotation plant, used when re-working dumps for copper in 1906. Concrete walls, loadings, tank & short stack stump. [mmme] SW 7034 4685 Wheal Ellen. Engine house has chimney with castellated top. Built 1866 for 70" pump but mine failed so engine never installed & went instead to Van lead mine in mid-Wales. [mmme] SW 7038 4703 'Navvy Pit' 1/2ha 45m deep open-work for copper <1833. Used as waste rock tip by Wheal Concord tin mine in 1980s! [ECM1] 29) SW 737 537 Perranporth, Cligga head: Many levels visible in cliff & good exposures of greissen veins. Gated level entrances: 'Cliff adit' on wolfram mine 200 level approached via miners path across cliff slope 30m above beach (once had handline for miners, now great care needed); 'Beach adit' on the 300 level, just above high tide. Miners path back up cliff. Sea stack with old workings. Inside mine are stulls, wooden ore chutes, shaft stations, false floors, collapses, kaolinised granite, slight mineralisation, huge stope. [YG, mmme] SW 743 536 Remains of British & Colonial gunpowder works? [CE] 30) SW 515 301 Marazion, St.Michaels mount; Many mineralised veins visible below castle because mining & even hammering for rock samples not allowed. [OU, AE mmme] 31) SW 729 514 St.Agnes, Trevallas combe; Blue Hills. Remains of waterwheel-powered Cornish stamps in undergrowth in valley. [DK, ET, mmme] {Update} Stamps restored to form 'Blue Hills Tin Streams', together with buddle, shaking table, ball mill & assay hearth. Open to visitors. [mmm] 32) SW 351 315 Cape Cornwall, Priest’s Cove; mine adits. Adits in cliff accessible. [DK, mmme] 33) SW 584 316 Godolphin Hill; Extensive surface remains. Godolphin Bal, or Great Work in saddle between this hill & Tregonning hill working 1825 to 1902. Leeds 60" pump. [DK+HCMSAS, AE mmme] 34) SW 654 403 Camborne; CompAir Holman Ltd. (Holman Bros.) Established 1801. Own rail sidings at construction & mining works. Other works in Pool; CompAir Maxam Ltd. [MICT,mmm] 35) SW 570 420? Gwithian; alluvial tin working. Single-mooring buoy, 1km pipeline storage lagoon & mill for Marine Mining (Cornwall) Ltd. Floating dredge recovered tin-bearing sands from sea bed e.g. off Porthtowan, using trailing suction pipe, & screens coarse waste. When loaded with 2600T, sailed to buoy. Unique flotation process to remove sea shells! Mining restricted by weather to 6 months per year. [MICT, CMDA, AE, mmme] 36) SW 687 324? Porkellis Moor; alluvial tin prospect. In 1980 the Malaysian tin mining firm, Gopeng Consolidated Ltd. had planning permission to investigate alluvials here. [CMDA] 37) SW 6556 4099 Roskear Croft; Dolcoath Roskear shaft, became South Crofty Ltd. New Roskear shaft; circular, 610m. Old headframe had been dismantled for WWII scrap. Shaft used as upcast for Crofty together with Taylor’s shaft. [HCMSAS] {Update} Refurbished 1994 with electric winder & became South Crofty 2nd egress when Robinson's shaft closed 1996. [mmme,mmm] SW 6613 3995 Dolcoath mine; Williams shaft 2 cylinder horizontal traversing winding engine house. SW 6578 4012 Dolcoath mine; Harriet shaft 65" pumping engine house. SW 6608 4043 Dolcoath mine; New East beam whim engine house (also pumped water for dressing floors, using auxiliary beam). Converted to electrical substation. [ECM 1] SW 6542 3991 Stray Park mine; 65" pumping engine house. 38) SW 702 445 North Country; Wheal Peevor. engine houses for pump, winder & stamps. 2 sets of dressing floors & a calciner.[mmme,mmm] SW 7050 4407 West Wheal Peevor 22" stamps engine house. SW 7054 4402 West Wheal Peevor 18" winding engine house. SW 7064 4403 West Wheal Peevor 50" pumping engine house, Michell's shaft. SW 7060 4420 Calciners SW 7074 4422 Wheal Peevor 32" stamps engine house. Adapted in 1912 to house gas engine driving Californian stamps. Bob wall opening supported by 2 cast-iron water pipes, badly cracked. [mmme] {Update} Pipes replaced with steel columns & broken-up when site conserved. Undergrowth removed from dressing floor, revealing 3 convex buddles. [mmm] SW 7081 4422 Wheal Peevor 70" pumping engine house, George's shaft. Balance bob mountings and brick arch of boiler house survive. SW 7084 4421 Wheal Peevor 22" winding engine house. 39) SW 655 420 ? Tolvaddon Downs; Tolvaddon Stamps. [MTP] 40) SW 655 455 Portreath; Mining port served by Poldice plateway & later the WCR Portreath branch. The Poldice tramway was the first mineral railway in Cornwall, 1820-60, always horse drawn. Route is now mostly a right of way. [MTP,mmme] 41) SW 7193 5043 St. Agnes, Trelawney Road; Library: Town library and car park built on the site of Polbreen Mine's Dorcas shaft - the large tree-covered mound with a folly on is part of the waste tip (Cornish term: Burrow) from the shaft. This was the main winding shaft for the mine and tapped a very rich lode known as Dorcas lode. 'Dorcas' is reputed to be the name of a girl who committed suicide by jumping into the shaft (by the pub) after her fiancee died in a mining accident. [vis, ASAP, EX3] SW 7202 5052 St. Agnes, Vicarage road; Miners' and Mechanics' Institute, now used as a Community Centre. Foundation stone laid in 1893 by John Passmore Edwards (responsible for many public buildings around Cornwall, especially libraries - see 10), commemorated in the date stone "JPE, 1893". Has collection of old photos of working mines. [IASOB, vis, ASAP] SW 7201 5044 St. Agnes, Vicarage Road; Railway Inn: A 17th Century public house, originally called "The Smith's Arms" (a smithy was sited behind it), name changed to "The Smith's Arms and Railway Hotel" in 1904 when the railway line reached the outskirts of St. Agnes. One of the Polbreen tin mine shafts (on the Dorcas lode) is under the car park at the rear of the pub. [vis, ASAP] 42) SW 650 415 Roskear Croft; West Wheal Seton. Very successful copper mine, later tin working failed due to poor dressing plant. [YG] 43) SW 6950 4078 Wheal Uny; Hind's 70" pumping engine house. Large deep rectangular open shaft.[vis] {Update} Engine houses conserved, plaques added and shaft grilled. SW 6951 4073 Hind's whim engine house. [vis] Nearby is fenced entrance to inclined shaft in the Great Flat lode, 30 degrees 50m, slippery slope to blind end. Another entrance leads via 3 short fixed ladders to another 30 degree inclined shaft. 50m down slippery slope cross-cuts lead east & west. Another 20m descent leads to flooded stopes with blue copper-salt stains. [mmme] {Update} Blocked with domestic refuse. SW 696 412 St.Euny's church; Lych gate has plinth long enough to rest 2 or 3 coffins, said to be because of mining accidents, but may also have been needed during disease outbreaks. Gravestones commemorating mine captains, e.g. Charles Fredrick Bishop, Stephen Simmons, Benjamin Nicholls. Tin ingot stamps? [mmme] SW 691 406 Wheal Jowans(?) Tin Bounds sign. Private mine? [vis] 44) SW 6983 4035 Wheal Buller (Copper Hill); Copper Hill 40" pumping engine house. [EHA] 45) SW 7129 4056 Lanner; Pennance mine, 50" pumping engine house. Mine not very productive, local nick-name "Wheal Bloody Nose", due to fights with miners from other mines. [EHA, vis] {Update} Conserved as part of the WHS area. 46) SW 7172 4155 Buseval; Cathedral mine, Colonel's 60" pumping engine house. [EHA] 47) SW 7174 4228 Buseval; Grambler & St.Aubyn mine, 60" pumping engine house. [EHA] 48) SW 6564 4190 Tolvaddon; Tolvaddon stamps engine house. [EHA] 49) SW 6748 4089 Tregajorran; Carn Brea stamps engine house. [EHA] 50) SW 703 510? St Agnes; Wheal Bungay: Locked door in quarry with fault wall exposures, leads to shaft with fixed ladders. Underground levels partly flooded. [mmme] 51) SW 3568 3085 Cot Valley; Wheal Bellan mill: c.1914 concrete remains on North side of valley near car park include buddle yard with 1 convex buddle, table house, ore chutes, ore bins & loadings for Californian stamps. Equipment moved to Nenagh in Ireland (for Silvermines?). Opposite side of valley is foundation of Pelton wheel generating electricity for mill and line of stone support pillars for its water pipe. [mmme] Mine shafts were to NW. Opening in valley side leads to shaft with stemples. After SRT or Electron ladder descent, can find tall narrow kibble, tub, wire rope, etc. [KL, mmme] 52) SW 3540 3075 Cot Valley; Wheal Hermon; several levels in cliff. One leads to deep winzes crossed by dangerous planks. Beware! [mmme] 53) SW 7239 5046 St. Agnes; Gooninnis or Gooninis mine, sunk as a trial starting in 1873 with aim of reaching the rich West Kitty lode. In 1899 a 12" horizontal winding engine by Holman Bros. of Camborne was installed. This marked the start of the most active period at the mine. The short surviving chimney stack was for the whim engine boiler. By 1901 the large Cornish engine house (still standing today, with an adjoining stack) had been built and the 50" beam pumping engine was moved from Trevaunance mine to here. The shaft was sunk to 132m below adit without hitting the lode. Mine abandoned 1903. In 1910 the bob was removed to Castle-an-Dinas near St. Columb Major and the pumping engine moved to Goonvean China clay works, near St. Austell, where a new bob was added. (The engine is still there, derelict in a roofless engine house.) The engine house chimney was struck by lightning in the winter of 1992-3. Note: The buildings are on private property and part of a working farm. [vis, ASAP, EX3] 54) SW 7180 5168 St. Agnes, Trevaunance Point Miners path: An interesting path and steps, carved into the cliff edge leading to an iron chain [mmme] fixed to the cliff face - presumably a hand-line for miners to access cliff face adits. In the cliff face of the small cove to the west of this point there appears to be a large chamber with stulls bridging it. A large block of rock in the sea below here has 4 holes - level entrances in a piece of detached cliff? [mmm] 55) SW 724 513 St. Agnes; Wheal Kitty Sara's shaft 65" pumping engine house & boiler house. Other buildings unsympathetically re-used. [mmme,mmm] SW 724 514 St. Agnes; Wheal Kitty C20th dressing floor ('best C20th example in Cornwall'): Concrete loadings for Californian stamps & shaking tables. 2 Brunton calciners with flue to stack. Bungalow to East is rebuilt count house. Unusual riveted hemispherical-ended cylinder similar to boiler, but lined with fire bricks. [mmme] 56) SW 4582 3800 Zennor; Rosevale tin mine. The only underground mine restoration project of its kind in Cornwall. Run by the Rosevale Historical Mining Society. Open to visitors by arrangement. [mmme] 57) SW 421 364 Rosemergy; Carn Galver tin mine pump & whim engine houses restored 1984. [AE mmme] 58) SW 687 477 Porthtowan cliffs; old man's levels in cliff & extensive mineralisation. [mmme] 59) SW 629 298 Breage; Wheal Metal (New Wheal Vor): Strongly- built 85" pumping engine house amongst workings. [AE mmm] Mainly based on visits in 1993, with updates in curly brackets {} Whilst every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility is accepted by I.A.Recordings or its members for any errors in these notes, or for the actions of any person visiting any of the sites.
The I.A.Recordings 3-DVD Production "'Mongst Mines & Mine Explorers" features many of the above sites and more can be found in the Compilation C.52 "'Mongst More Mines"!
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