MINERAL TRAMWAYS Tracking Cornwall`s

Plus 29 km of new trails for 2008
The Mineral Tramways
Heritage Project (2005-8)
to enjoy the views or continue to Land’s End or Bude along the
Cornish Way if you’re keen on cycle routes. The trail also follows
part of the line of the Basset Mine Tramway, built to carry tin ore
for processing at Wheal Basset Stamps and West Basset
Stamps. A good parking area can be found at South Wheal
Frances, grid reference SW68078 39440.
This leaflet introduces the Mineral Tramways Heritage Project,
shows and describes the routes of current and proposed trails and
introduces some of the major heritage sites that can be explored
in the area. For news of the latest project developments and details
of an extensive range of events, visit:
Great Flat Lode Trail
The Coast to Coast Trail
Explore the
www.cornwall.gov.uk/mineral-tramways
Tracking Cornwall’s mining heritage in a
refreshingly different way
The Mineral Tramways Heritage Project (2005-8) is creating a
new 28.8km (around 18 mile) trail network to improve access to
the wonders of central Cornwall’s mining heritage.
Portreath Harbour 8
Whether you are a walker, cyclist or horse rider, the expanded
network will offer more opportunities to exercise the mind and
body, combining better access to the remarkable remains of the
area’s 19th century mining heyday with fresh air, good views and
healthy activity. If your mobility is impaired, you will also be able
to access some sections and sites on the new trails.
Trails already in use
By linking trails already in use, mine sites, heritage attractions,
historic settlements, public transport and visitor facilities, the
new trails should be good news if you’re looking for somewhere
safe to walk the dog, learn how to cycle, or treat the family to an
exhilarating day out. There will also be a much greater choice of
mainly traffic free routes to school or work.
The Coast to Coast Trail
(17.5km; 11 miles) links the
historic mining harbours of
Portreath in the North and
Devoran in the South, both
so important in the
transportation of Cornish
copper to Swansea for
smelting, and Welsh coal,
Scandinavian timber and
Carpet of heather near Wheal Fortune 27
many other supplies for use
in Cornish mines. Mostly traffic free, the trail passes through
ancient woodland, heathland important for wildlife and historic
mining sites now transformed by nature. It takes about five hours
to walk at a steady pace on mostly level ground. The best places
to park for this trail are at Portreath, Devoran and Bissoe
Tramways Cycle Hire (grid reference SW76975 41500).
Sites to treasure
At the same time, the Project
will carefully conserve twelve
important mining sites,
preventing them from
crumbling into oblivion,
enabling them to be enjoyed
by future generations and
boosting the number of
heritage sites and shafts it
has already made safe. A
total of 13 mining villages in
the Project area will be
At play in South Wheal Francis 7
improved and new
interpretation will help bring to life the exciting story of an area
that sparked pioneering developments and was once the
richest in the country.
A number of heritage sites link or will be linked to parking areas
and/or trails via footpaths and bridleways. OS maps show details
of these public rights of way but please note that they do not
feature Project trails.
Thanks to its geology, the RedruthCamborne-St Day area was the world’s largest
producer of tin and copper and ‘the richest
square mile to be found in the old world’
MINERAL
TRAMWAYS
Tracking Cornwall’s mining heritage
By 1862 there were 340 mines
employing 50,000 people
Fact:
Information, organisations and resources
Carn Brea Mining Society – the premier mining society in Cornwall.
www.carnbreaminingsociety.co.uk
The Cornish Mining Villages Historic Churchyards Project – a coming
together of the five mining villages of St. Day, Carharrack, Gwennap, Lanner
and Stithians to create a resource for genealogical and historical research.
The Project will record and publish on the internet details and photographs
of the villages' memorials and known graves. It will also identify, record and
protect wildlife and fauna and create a trail between the churchyards. 01209
860123 churchyards@stythian.org
Cornish Mining World Heritage Site Bid Office – campaigning for the
preservation of Cornwall’s mining heritage. 01872 323603
www.cornish-mining.org
The Cornwall Centre and Tourist Information Centre, Redruth –
for information on all aspects of Cornish history, geography, industry, art
and more. 01209 216760 www.cornwall.gov.uk/CornwallCentre
The Cornwall Industrial Archaeology Advisory Group – acts in an advisory
capacity to Cornwall County Council and the District Councils of Cornwall
on matters of mining and engineering history. 01209 716177; 01209 821488
County Record Office, Old County Hall, Cornwall County Council, Truro –
local history archives including archaeological and industrial sites, historic
buildings and landscapes. 01872 32127
The Trounson – Bullen Mining
Collection – the largest privately owned
archive of Cornwall’s industrial
archaeology. 01209 714245
(George Henwood, Cornwall’s Mines and Miners)
The origins of Cornwall’s first
railway to use wrought-iron rails
and wagons with flanged wheels
can be traced back to 1818. In
Brunton calciner at Tolgus 25
1825 it was completed, with a
horse drawing each wagon, to
run from the mining centre in Gwennap to the port of Devoran.
The line was successful and in 1854 it was converted for
locomotive traction. The decline in Cornish mining led to its
closure in 1915.
Buddles at Betty Adit 20
The Tresavean Trail (3km; 1.9 miles) follows the Tresavean
branch of the Hayle Railway from the top of Buller Hill. It offers an
abundance of wildlife and great views as far as the clay tips at St
Austell.
Opened as part of the Hayle Railway, the branch originally hauled
Welsh coal and Tresavean copper along its entirely horse-drawn
section from the top of Buller Hill. A series of granite setts for its
4ft 8.5 inch gauge rails can still be seen in places along the
former track bed. The line closed in 1936.
Marshall’s Shaft 22
Most historic mining settlements in the Project area developed as
a result of the booming mining industry in the early 1800s. The
construction of the Great County Adit, a deep system that
drained mines in five parishes from 1748, dramatically cut the
costs of mining, while tramway and railway construction eased
transport problems on the surface. Cottages, shops, Methodist
chapels, schools and businesses mushroomed to service an
influx of mining families. Grand houses, like Scorrier House, were
built by mining magnates, and ancillary industries such as
quarrying and brick manufacture sprang up. But by the middle of
the 19th century foreign competition began to make its mark.
Some Cornish mines started to decline, people left their villages
to migrate overseas, and between the wars there was great
depression. With today’s developing interest in Cornwall’s mining
heritage and the Project’s village enhancement work, the area’s
historic mining settlements promise to flourish again as attractive
and interesting places to visit.
Tracking nature
Mine sites provide good homes for a diverse range of common
and unusual wildlife including plants, insects, reptiles, mammals
and birds. Colourful heathers, rare species of mosses and
liverworts can thrive in these special habitats with their high
mineral concentrations and acid soils. If you find them on or
near trails, look but please leave
untouched. Bats (on the decline
Skylark
in the UK) are particularly
partial to mine shafts because
they offer warmth and
protection and are close to
good sources of food. You
may be able to spot them at
dusk flying round shafts
that are being specially
capped by the Project to
allow them access.
Public transport
• www.traveline.org.uk 0870 608 2 608
• Cornwall County Council Highways
01872 222000
• Cornwall Passenger Transport Unit
01872 322142 www.cornwall.gov.uk/buses
(information regarding bus services and
public transport)
• First 01209 719988 (message service
giving numbers to call for different enquires)
0870 608 2608 (time table enquiries)
• Truronian 01872 273453
Trail cycling –
exercising body and mind
• Train enquiries 08457 484950 (Camborne,
Redruth and Truro are on the main line. Perranwell Station is on the Falmouth to
Truro branch line)
Maps
• Ordnance Survey Explorer map 104 Redruth & St Agnes scale 1:25,000
• The Cornish Way map (Sustrans 0117 929 0888 www.sustrans.org.uk)
Cycling
• www.cyclecornwall.com • www.nationalcyclenetwork.org.uk
• www.sustrans.org.uk
Bike hire
• Aldridge Cycles, 38 Cross Street,Camborne 01209 714970
aldridgecycles@tiscali.co.uk
“Mr Basset’s party had made good sport last
week. On Tuesday they killed 703 pheasants, on
Wednesday 785 and on Thursday 1,109.”
• Bissoe Tramways Cycle Hire, Bissoe 01872 870341
www.cornwallcyclehire.com
West Briton 1899
• Foxhole Farm Riding Stables, Chacewater 01209 820162
The Tolgus Trail will connect the centre of Redruth and its rail
station with the important Tolgus calciner heritage site and the
Coast to Coast Trail at Cambrose. At its most northerly point you
will cross farm land before reaching the former Tolgus streams
site, an English Nature Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
From here you can easily visit Tolgus Tin before continuing along
a quiet rural lane to the Tolgus calciner site. From the centre of
Redruth, you can join the Redruth & Chasewater Railway Trail and
visit the central mining villages of Lanner, Carharrack and St Day.
Redruth and Chasewater Trail
Useful information
• Bike Chain, 82 Mount Ambrose, Redruth 01209 215270
This trail will follow the floor of the Portreath Valley where tin ore
lost from the dressing floors upstream was trapped and previously
‘streamed’ from alluvial gravels below the valley floor. The process
was recorded in the valley from as early as 1602 and an estate
plan of the Manor of Tolgus from 1818 shows multiple waterpowered stream works along this valley floor.
• Elm Farm Cycle Hire, Nancekuke, near Cambrose 01209 891498
Riding stables and attractions
• Shire Horse Farm & Carriage Museum, Lower Gryllis Treskillard, Redruth –
horses, wagons, guided tours and cream teas. 01209 713606
• Wheal Buller Riding School, Carnkie 01209 211852
Facilities on or near the Great Flat Lode trail and nearby villages
• The Beacon Inn, Beacon 01209 717950 • The Brea Inn & Restaurant 01209
713706 • The Countryman Inn, Piece 01209 215960 • The Grenville Arms,
Troon, 01209 712541 • Plume of Feathers, Pool 01209 713513 • Sportsman
Arms, Pencoys 01209 313724 • The Victoria Inn, Four Lanes 01209 216416
Facilities on or near the Coast to Coast trail and nearby villages
• The Basset Arms, Portreath 01209 842077 • Bissoe Tramways Cycle Hire café
and parking (£2 a day; free to cycle hire customers), Bissoe 01872 870341
• The Bridge Inn, Bridge 01209 842532 • Caharrack Stars, Caharrack 01209
820295 • Crossroads Lodge, Scorrier 01209 820551 • The Fox and Hounds,
Comford 01209 820251 • The Fox and Hounds, Scorrier 01209 820205
• The King’s Head Inn, Chacewater 01872 560652 • The Old Quay Inn, Devoran
01872 863142 • Plume of Feathers, Scorrier 01209 822002 • The Railway Inn,
Illogan Highway 01209 216382 • The Rambling Miner, Chacewater 01872
560238 • The Star Inn, Vogue 01209 820242 • The Waterfront Inn,
Portreath 01209 842777
Facilities on or near Tehidy Country Park and nearby villages
The Tehidy Trail will be based on the
existing network of tracks and trails
through Tehidy Country Park, former
home of Sir Francis Basset whose De
Dunstanville memorial crowns Carn Brea
(see item 9 on map). This new multi-use
trail will link with the North coast.
The mining villages
Unity Wood Mine 26
Trevithick Society – aims to encourage an
interest in Industrial Archaeology and the
preservation of industrial buildings of worth
as a significant part of Cornwall's heritage.
www.trevithick-society.org.uk
“The mighty steam-engine, the handmaid of
science, the friend of labour, … if not born,
has been nurtured, cherished and perfected…
within view of this spot [Carn Brea]”
Fact:
There’s nowhere better to discover the crucial part played by
Cornish mining than the Minerals Tramways Heritage Project
area. By 2008, a total of 60km (37 miles) of integrated trails in
the Camborne, Redruth, Gwennap and St. Day area will follow
as closely as possible the original mineral tramway and railway
routes which conveyed ore from mines to the ports of Devoran
and Portreath. Use them to transport yourself through one of the
world’s greatest concentrations of historic mine buildings in a
refreshingly different way.
Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro – Cornwall’s
oldest and most prestigious museum, famed for
its internationally important collections
including an extensive minerals collection.
01872 272205
www.royalcornwallmuseum.org.uk
In the 1870s, when many copper mines were closing, a ‘lode’ of
tin ore was discovered below previously worked copper deposits
to the south of Carn Brea. This lode produced over 90,000 tons
of high quality tin concentrate and was worked by some of the
greatest mines in Cornwall. It was also flatter than most, lying at
an angle of 30 degrees instead of the usual 70 degrees from the
horizontal – hence its name, the ‘Great Flat Lode’. Fortunately the
area south of Carn Brea has remained relatively undisturbed,
which explains why it now contains some of Cornwall's finest
remains of engine houses, tin dressing floors and other mining
structures. The Great Flat Lode trail is so called for continuity of
signposting. It not only runs south of Carn Brea where the lode
was discovered, but also to the north of the hill, where more tin
and other minerals were produced.
The Redruth and
Chasewater Railway Trail
will start at Twelveheads,
connecting with the existing
Coast to Coast Trail. It will
follow a route south to the
historic mining village of
Carharrack, then continue north
of Lanner, to connect with the
Great Flat Lode Trail and the
centre of Redruth, following as
closely as possible the original
railway route.
• The Basset Arms, Portreath 01209 842077 • The New Inn, Park Bottom,
Redruth 01209 216262 • The Retreat Café, Sea Front, Portreath 01209 84349
• The Robartes Arms, Illogan, 01209 842280 • Tehidy Café, Tehidy
01209 610094 • The Waterfront, Portreath, 01209 842777
For amazing atmosphere, visit the Mineral Tramways at dawn
Guidebooks
A selection of ‘Kibbles’.
These were used for
bringing up the ore and
rubbish from underground
Dolcoath Mine around 1910 5
The ‘winning’ of tin throughout Cornwall began from before the
Roman period, and from as early as the 1690s up to 1,000 people
were employed in the Poldice Valley tin workings. In the late 19th
and early 20th centuries, arsenic works in the Bissoe Valley
flourished, and mining waste in the lower Carnon Valley was
reworked by large tin streaming works, the last mine closing in
1991. The trail closely follows the line of an early horse-worked
tramroad, the Portreath Tramroad (the first surface tramroad in
Cornwall, opened in 1812) and the Redruth and Chasewater
Railway. This was built from 1825 to serve mines in the Redruth
area and take copper ore from Gwennap, then the richest copper
producing area in the
old world known as ‘the
Copper Kingdom’, to
Devoran, a village that
grew up around the
many wharves built by
the railway company.
The circular Great Flat
Lode Trail (12 km; 7.5
miles), takes about 3-4
hours to walk on land
which has some steep
sections. It is mostly
traffic free, taking you
through a mixture of
farmland, heathland
and industrial
areas, and you
can deviate up
onto Carn Brea
Wheal Basset Stamps 12
The De Dunstanville memorial, Carn Brea 2
Tracking history
Fact: The total yield of metallic tin from
Cornwall and Devon is estimated to be in
excess of 2,000,000 tons.
Trails to be opened in 2008
The Portreath Branchline Trail will connect the coastal village of
Portreath with Illogan and Pool along the historically important
Portreath Incline and former Portreath railway bed.
It will offer a safe traffic free route, also linking Cornwall College
at Camborne and Tuckingmill Valley Park with the popular
Great Flat Lode Trail.
In 1809 the Portreath to Poldice Tramroad became the first
tramway (strictly a three foot gauge horse-drawn plateway) to
be laid above ground in Cornwall, replacing several miles of
unmade roads used by mules and horses to transport minerals.
In 1834 a railway was constructed between the engineering
works and harbour quays at Hayle and the copper mines of
Redruth and Camborne to carry ore to the port and coal to the
mines. It was modified in 1836 to incorporate four ropeoperated incline planes on the steep sections. The line was
designed for steam locomotives and used the standard gauge.
In 1843 a passenger carrying service was introduced and the
Portreath branch continued as a successful freight line until its
closure in 1936. The inclined plane will be restored by the
Project to create a bridleway joining the village with the new
tramway network.
... Below were caverns grim with greedy gloom,
And levels drunk with darkness; chambers huge
Where Fear sat silent ...
(from ‘The Mine’ by John Harris (1820-84) miner, poet and
Methodist preacher of Troon)
Today’s peaceful landscape was very different in the 18th and
19th centuries. The smoke of the chimneys, heat of furnaces and
thunderous noise of the stamps (iron hammers to pound and
shatter ore into a sand-like consistency), were to be seen, heard
and smelt everywhere. Night and day row upon row of buddles
(used to concentrate the tin) and wagons (carrying equipment and
coal) were in operation. Women and girls worked
above ground as ‘bal (mine) maidens’,
breaking up the ore. But they were only the
tip of the iceberg. Down below,
thousands of men worked in
dangerous conditions underground.
In 1836 the Consolidated Mines
used 11,817 tons of coal, nearly
114,000 candles and 64,000 lbs of
gunpowder. By 1838, over 3,000 people
were employed and from 1819-40,
nearly 300,000 tons of ore were raised.
• Exploring Cornwall’s Tramway Trails Volume 1: The Great Flat Lode Trail and
Volume 2: The Coast to Coast Trail by Bob Acton, Landfall Publications.
• Exploring Cornwall’s Mines Volumes 1 & 2 by Kenneth Brown and Bob Acton,
Landfall Publications. • Mining in Cornwall Volumes 1 & 2: The Central District and
The County Explored by J H Trounson and L J Bullen, Tempus Publishing Ltd
• Mining in Cornwall Volume 7 South Crofty and East Pool by L J Bullen,
Tempus Publishing • Mining in Cornwall Volume 8 Camborne to Redruth by L J
Bullen, Landmark Publishing
Trail safety
Go green! Please take
litter home with you and
use public transport when
you can.
Take extra care at road
crossings where trails are
no longer traffic free and
stay on the waymarked
paths (granite stones with
an engine house symbol)
to avoid potentially
dangerous mine workings.
Be considerate to others
and other land
management industries.
Cyclists – give way to
walkers and horses, warn
Mineral Tramways trails – a horse-riders’ paradise
other users of your
approach and if in doubt, slow down.
Dog owners – take a bag with you, use dog bins and keep your dog
under control.
Photo and copyright credits
Colin Bradbury
The Cornwall Centre
Cornwall County Council/Adam Sharpe
Cornwall County Council/Barry Gamble
Camborne's statue of Richard Trevithick, the
man whose high pressure steam engine and
other inventions revolutionised mining and
other industries world-wide.
Cornwall County Council/Mineral Tramways Project team
Cornwall County Council/Steve Hartgroves
RSPB
The Trevithick Society
MINERAL
TRAMWAYS
Tracking Cornwall’s mining heritage
South Crofty 17
Gwennap Pit 15
Marriot’s Shaft, South Wheal Frances 7
Mitchell’s Shaft, East Pool
Taylor’s pumping engine 13
See this round frame and other equipment in action at King Edward Mine 16
Heritage & scenic sites on or near trails
A3
A3
8
B
Portreath
e
B3
P O R T R E AT
TH
BRANCHLINE TRAIL
1
30
33
25
1
A30
22 Marshall’s Shaft, South Condurrow Mine
(later Grenville United Mines) – a rare, compact and well
preserved example of pumping engine house and beam
winding engine house dating from the late 19th century.
8
REDRUTH
B329
COAST TO COAST TRAIL
27
21
23 Penhallick Leats – part of a rare 17th century mine leat,
together with a 20th century iron aqueduct which carried
water to the mines north of the railway.
15
13
10
Carn
arn
rn
n Brea
B
Carharrack
a
k
17
CAM BORNE
Carnkie
Brea
B
e
20
24 Thomas’s Shaft, Basset Mines – remains of the oldest
19th century engine house (1854) on the Great Flat Lode,
now with only its bob wall remaining but clearly revealing
expert craftsmanship in its finely cut granite blocks.
R E D R U T H & C H A S E W AT E R
RAIL
LW AY T R A I L
Lanner
n
11
12
24
D o
Devo
oran
8
7
A3
93
B3
29
T R E S AV E A N T R A I L
A3
B eacon
5 Dolcoath Mine – Cornwall’s greatest and longest worked
mine, at the forefront of technical developments, and of
copper production for much of the 18th century, with a
workforce of over 1,300 in the 19th century. By 1758 it housed
one of the earliest Newcomen engines and, working at 917
metres (3,030 feet), was the deepest metal mine in Britain. It
finally closed in 1921.
19
23
5
A30
3
2
4
16
9 Tehidy Country Park – 250 acre recreational country park,
once part of the estate owned by the wealthy Basset mining
family who held the estate from around 1150. The Bassets
resided here until 1916 but the grand house was largely
destroyed by fire when it became the Cornwall Sanatorium for
the treatment of tuberculosis. In 1983 the grounds were
purchased by Cornwall County Council and developed as a
Country Park to provide over three miles of woodland trails,
bridleways and a range of outdoor amenities, events and
training. There are four access points to join the trail including
North Cliff Car Park, and South Drive Car Park. 01872 222000
www.cornwall.gov.uk
21 Cusvey, Consolidated Mines – two of the oldest
surviving 19th century engine houses, later incorporated into
the great group of Consolidated copper mines which in the
19th century included 21 engine houses and employed over
3,000 men, women and children.
Stt Day
30
8 Portreath Harbour – developed as a mining port from 1760
when most of Cornwall’s copper ore production was sent to
Swansea for smelting. Much of the historic harbour remains –
its 1800 and 1846 granite basins, jetties, Pilot’s Lookout and
cast iron capstans. (See the Portreath Branchline Trail).
6
26
TEHIDY TRAIL
Piece
c
7 Marriot’s Shaft, South Wheal Frances, Basset Mines Ltd
– a magnificent group of cathedral-like structures, awesome
in terms of both their scale and impact. The remains include
engine houses for pumping, winding, compressor and
crusher engines and the miners’ ‘dry’ (changing house).
Constructed in 1899, the pumping engine house contained
an inverted vertical beam engine (unique to Cornwall) with
compound 40 inch and 80 inch cylinders. This shaft and
Pascoe’s shaft (which was near Treskillard) worked until the
closure of Basset Mines Ltd 1918.
20 Betty Adit tin streaming works – the best preserved
remains of one of 40 tailings processing works on the Red
River, an amazingly productive area between the late 19th
and early 20th centuries. Surviving features include settling
tanks and circular buddles that used water to concentrate
the tin ore.
Chacewater
TOLGUS TRAIL
18
Illogan
a
3 Carn Marth (‘Carn of Horses’), near Lanner – area of great
landscape value offering coast to coast views from its highest
point (235 metres, 757 ft) and an open air amphitheatre.
Ancient barrows have been excavated and the ‘Swiss cheese’
effect on the rock face was created by pneumatic drills when
tested by the famous engineering company, Holman Bros.
6 Hawke’s Shaft, Killifreth Mine – Killifreth worked at various
times, for tin and copper, between 1826 and 1928. The engine
house here has the tallest surviving stack in Cornwall. It was
originally built in 1891 for an 80 inch engine, but was doubled
in height in 1913 to create sufficient draught to operate the
boilers for a new 85 inch engine. The shaft was linked to the
County Adit, a deep drainage outlet constructed from 1748
which became 31 miles long and served over 60 mines.
90
00
29
9
19 Ale and Cakes, United Mines – Clifford Amalgamated
engine house is one of the last surviving engine houses of
United Mines, located above 80 miles of underground
workings owned by one of the world’s richest 19th century
copper mines.
0
COAST TO COAST TRAIL
2 Carn Brea – prominent granite hill with important
archaeological remains from neolithic to medieval times and
great views over the former mining area. The summit (250
metres, 740 ft) is crowned by the imposing De Dunstanville
Memorial (30 metres 98ft tall), built in1836 in memory of the
district’s leading mine owner, Sir Francis Basset of Tehidy
(1757-1835), and Carn Brea Castle (his former hunting lodge,
now a restaurant). In the 19th century the writer George
Henwood spotted over 100 engine houses and 130 vessels at
sea from here.
A selection of Cornish mining tools manufactured
at the famous Williams’ Perran Foundry Co.
Cornish Tin Mine engraving c.1858
Heritage sites being conserved 2005 –2008
1 Arsenic works at Poldice – ‘moon landscape’ area with
many walled shafts and an arsenic calciner dating from the
mid-19th century. The chambers collected and condensed the
arsenic fumes, and the crystals of arsenic were then gathered,
bagged and sold to the Americas as an insecticide to control
the cotton boll weevil, to New Zealand as an ingredient for
sheep dip, and to Scandinavia to clarify glass.
4 Cook’s Kitchen Mine – a very old mine, probably dating
back to the 17th century and described in 1796 as ‘one of the
most remarkable mines for copper perhaps in the world’,
although from the 1850s it used four steam engines and four
waterwheels to mainly produce tin. It was also one of the
deepest mines.
Gorse on the Great Flat Lode Trail
9
G R E AT F L AT
A LODE TRAIL
22
28
30
3
26 Unity Wood Mine – prominent remains of Magor’s pumping
engine and a winding engine house, both with attached
chimneys, used in the 19th century to extract copper.
The structures are set in an important ancient woodland and
mining landscape dating back to medieval tin working.
B3
Troon
HERITAGE & SCENIC SITES ON OR NEAR TRAILS
KEY
4 Km
3
2
HERITAGE ATTRACTIONS
HERITAGE SITES BEING CONSERVED 2005-8
Existing Mineral Tramways Trails
1
Arsenic Works at Poldice
13 Cornish Mines and Engines (NT)
19 Ale and Cakes, United Mines
On road trail section
2
Carn Brea
14 The Cornwall Centre
20 Betty Adit tin streaming works
Trails open from 2008
3
Carn Marth
15 Gwennap Pit
21 Cusvey, Consolidated Mines
Villages to be enhanced
4
Cook's Kitchen Mine
16 King Edward Mine Museum
22 Marshall's Shaft, South Condurrow Mine
The Cornish Way
(National Cycle Route)
5
Dolcoath Mine
17 South Crofty Mine
23 Penhallick Leats
6
Hawke's Shaft, Killifreth Mine
18 Tolgus Tin
24 Thomas's Shaft, West Basset Mine
Class A Roads
7
Marriott's Shaft, South Wheal Frances
25 Tolgus Calciner
Class B Roads
8
Portreath Harbour
26 Unity Wood Mine
Minor Roads
9
Tehidy Country Park
27 Wheal Fortune, Consolidated Mines
Railway Line
10 Tuckingmill Valley Park
28 Wheal Grenville
Parking
11 West Basset Stamps
29 Wheal Peevor
Main Trail Car Parks
12 Wheal Basset
30 Woolf's Shaft, Great Condurrow Mine
27 Wheal Fortune, Consolidated Mines – rare and
important example of a 1760-1860 copper mining site
unaltered since its closure. Although today no obvious
structures remain beyond ground level, the site contains
evidence of features shown on the 1821 mine plan.
28 Wheal Grenville – well preserved remains of the large
late 19th century mine including pumping, winding and
stamps engine houses and dressing floors. These structures
used water to separate small pieces of ore from waste
material and to concentrate crushed ore. Following Wheal
Grenville’s initial unsuccessful search for copper, the
discovery and exploitation of the Great Flat Lode in the
1870s enabled it to became one of Cornwall’s larger tin
producers for the next 40 years. The New Stamps site will
be conserved as part of the Project.
A394
Access for people with impaired mobility
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Mineral Tramways Project Area
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FA LMOUTH
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10 Tuckingmill Valley Park – valley shaped by centuries of
industrial activity including tin and copper mining, and now a
thriving habitat for wildlife, pondlife and some rare plants. The
chimney stack, scrubber building and collapsed flues on the small
island in the centre of the Red River were associated with an
arsenic treatment works built around 1905.
11 West Basset Stamps – one of the finest surviving 19th
century dressing floors where ore was broken down by stamps
(ore crushers), reduced to the consistency of a fine sand, treated
on Frue vanners and buddles to concentrate the heavy tin
particles from the waste, and finally calcined to remove the traces
of arsenic and other impurities prior to smelting. The stamps
engine (1875) was made by the Tuckingmill Foundry. The remains
show three different phases – settling and buddling (1875), an
additional buddle floor (1892) and the installation of Frue vanners
(1906). By the time it closed in 1918, around 11,500 tons of
refined tin ore had been produced here by Basset Mines Ltd.
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12 Wheal Basset – one of the most important mines of the Great
Flat Lode, producing over 128,000 tons of copper ore from 1832
to 1880. Later it also became a successful tin producer from the
Flat Lode. Unusually, the stamps engine house contained two
separate beam engines, side by side. Wheal Basset stands above
a prominent Frue vanner house (1908) and Brunton calciner
(1897). In 1896 it amalgamated with its neighbour, South Wheal
Frances, to form Basset Mines Ltd.
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9 Miles
Heritage attractions
13 Cornish Mines & Engines, Pool, (NT) – two impressive
Cornish beam engines and the story of steam in Cornish mining,
at the Industrial Heritage Discovery Centre. 01209 315027
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
14 The Cornwall Centre, Redruth – over 30,000 publications,
150,000 photographs, 50 Cornish newspaper files covering all
aspects of Cornish history, geography, industry and art – and
more. 01209 216760 www.cornwall.gov.uk/CornwallCentre
15 Gwennap Pit – open air amphitheatre in which John Wesley,
the founder of Methodism, preached 18 times between 1762 and
1789. Services still held. 01209 820013
www.gwennap-pit.co.uk
The 3 engine house arrangement at Wheal Peevor 29
25 Tolgus Calciner – Cornwall's best example of a
Brunton calciner. Tin concentrate requires roasting to
remove the arsenic. Prior to William Brunton's patent of
1829, calcination was an expensive and time-consuming
batch process, so his continuous process for arsenic
removal was welcome. Where the arsenic contamination of
the ore was high it became economic to recover the
arsenic as a by-product in sublimation chambers. The
remains of these chambers can be seen up the hillside.
16 King Edward Mine Museum, near Troon – oldest complete
mine in Cornwall and formerly the training mine for the world
famous Camborne School of Mines. Provides working machinery
in a restored tin processing plant, guided tours and displays
about the Mineral Tramways, mining and milling techniques, the
social history of mining and the Camborne School of Mines.
01209 614681 www.kingedwardmine.co.uk. From the A30 take
the Camborne / Pool A3047 turn and follow the brown signs.
(Located on the Great Flat Lode Trail).
17 South Crofty Mine, Dudnance Lane, Pool, Redruth – offering
the most extensive underground guided tour of a tin mine in the
UK. 01209 715777 www.southcrofty.co.uk
29 Wheal Peevor – only surviving example of the once
typical three engine house arrangement, with substantial
remains of a pumping engine house, winding engine house
(complete with its capstan base) and a stamps engine house
that drove a battery of stamps to crush the ore, together
with dressing floors and ancillary structures.
30 Woolf’s Shaft, Great Condurrow Mine – one of the
few engine houses to be constructed in the early 20th
century, made entirely of granite and visible from much of
west Cornwall.
The Mineral Tramways Heritage Project (2005-8) is a six million pound grantfunded scheme. It is managed by Cornwall County Council in partnership with
Kerrier District Council, and funded by both, with Objective One, South West
Regional Development Agency, Heritage Lottery Fund, Carrick District Council
and Parish and Town Councils in the Project area.
18 Tolgus Tin, Cornish Goldsmiths, New Portreath Road, near
Portreath (Cornish Gold site signed from the A30 near Redruth) –
one of two remaining tin streaming works in Cornwall containing a
range of machinery used to extract residue tin particles from the
river that runs through ‘Treasure Park’ at Cornish Goldsmiths.
01209 218198
Designed by Aukett Brockliss Guy Limited 2006