Mining in Cornwall - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Mining in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

and Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

began in the early Bronze Age

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

approximately 2,150 BC and ended with the South Crofty

South Crofty

South Crofty is a metalliferous Tin and Copper mine located in the village of Pool, Cornwall, England UK. An ancient mine, it has seen production for over 400 years, and extends almost two and a half miles across and down and has mined over 40 lodes. Evidence of mining activity in South Crofty has...

tin mine in Cornwall closing in 1998. Tin and later also copper were the most productive of the metals extracted: some tin mining continued long after mining of other metals had become unprofitable.

Historically extensive tin

Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...

and copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

mining has occurred in Devon and Cornwall, as well as arsenic

Arsenic

Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...

, silver, zinc and a few other metals. there are no active metalliferous mines remaining. However, tin deposits still exist in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, and there is talk of reopening South Crofty

South Crofty

tin mine. Geological studies were made worthwhile due to the economic importance of mines and quarries: about forty distinct minerals have been identified from type localities

Type locality (geology)

Type locality , also called type area or type locale, is the where a particular rock type, stratigraphic unit, fossil or mineral species is first identified....

in Cornwall, e.g. endellionite from St Endellion

St Endellion

St Endellion is a civil parish and village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village and parish church are situated four miles north of Wadebridge....

. Quarrying of the igneous and metamorphic rocks has also been a significant industry: in recent times the extraction of kaolin has been the most important economically.

Geology

The intrusion of the granite into the surrounding sedimentary rocks gave rise to extensive metamorphism

Metamorphism

Metamorphism is the solid-state recrystallization of pre-existing rocks due to changes in physical and chemical conditions, primarily heat, pressure, and the introduction of chemically active fluids. Mineralogical, chemical and crystallographic changes can occur during this process...

and mineralisation

Mineralization (geology)

In geology, mineralization is the hydrothermal deposition of economically important metals in the formation of ore bodies or "lodes".The first scientific studies of this process took place in Cornwall, United Kingdom by J.W.Henwood FRS and later by R.W...

, and this led to Cornwall being one of the most important mining areas in Europe until the early 20th century. It is thought that tin ore (cassiterite

Cassiterite

Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem...

) was exploited in Cornwall as early as the Bronze Age

Bronze Age

. Over the years, many other metals such as copper

Copper

, lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

, zinc

Zinc

Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...

and silver

Silver

Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...

have all been mined in Cornwall

Mining in Cornwall

Mining in Cornwall and Devon began in the early Bronze Age approximately 2,150 BC and ended with the South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall closing in 1998...

History

Cornwall and Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

provided most of the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

's tin

Tin

, copper

Copper

and arsenic

Arsenic

until the 20th century. Originally the tin was found as alluvial deposits in the gravels of stream beds, but eventually underground working took place. Tin lode

Lode

In geology, a lode is a deposit of metalliferous ore that fills or is embedded in a fissure in a rock formation or a vein of ore that is deposited or embedded between layers of rock....

s outcropped on the cliffs and underground mines sprang up as early as the 16th century.

Stone Age and early Bronze Age

Tin

is one of the earliest metals to have been exploited in Britain. Chalcolithic metal workers discovered that by putting a small amount of tin (5 - 20%) in molten copper

Copper

an alloy called bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

was produced that was easier to work and harder than copper. The oldest production of tin-bronze is in Turkey about 3500 BC but exploitation of the tin resources in Britain is believed to have started before 2000 BC, with a thriving tin trade developing with the civilizations of the Mediterranean. The strategic importance of tin in forging bronze weapons brought the southwest of Britain into the Mediterranean economy at an early date. Later tin was also used in the production of pewter

Pewter

Pewter is a malleable metal alloy, traditionally 85–99% tin, with the remainder consisting of copper, antimony, bismuth and lead. Copper and antimony act as hardeners while lead is common in the lower grades of pewter, which have a bluish tint. It has a low melting point, around 170–230 °C ,...

Mining in Cornwall has existed from the early Bronze Age

Bronze Age

around 2150 BC. Cornwall

Cornwall

was traditionally thought to have been visited by metal traders from the eastern Mediterranean. However, it is likely that the tin trade with the Mediterranean was controlled by the Veneti

Veneti (Gaul)

The Veneti were a seafaring Celtic people who lived in the Brittany peninsula , which in Roman times formed part of an area called Armorica...

. Britain

Prehistoric Britain

For the purposes of this article, Prehistoric Britain is that period of time between the first arrival of humans on the land mass now known as Great Britain and the start of recorded British history...

was one of the places proposed for the Cassiterides
Cassiterides
The Cassiterides, meaning Tin Islands , are an ancient geographical name of islands that were regarded as situated somewhere near the west coasts of Europe...

, that is Tin Islands.

As South-West Britain was one of the few parts of England to escape glaciation, tin ore was readily available on the surface. Originally it is likely that alluvial deposits in the gravels of streams were exploited but later underground working took place. Shallow cuttings were then used to extract ore.

Expansion of trade

As demand for bronze grew in the Middle East the local supplies of tin ore (casserite) became used up and searches were made over all the known world for new supplies, including Britain. Control of the tin trade seems to have been in Phoenicia

Phoenicia

Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...

n hands and they kept their sources secret. The Greeks understood that tin came from the Cassiterides

Cassiterides

The Cassiterides, meaning Tin Islands , are an ancient geographical name of islands that were regarded as situated somewhere near the west coasts of Europe...

, the "tin islands", of which the geographical identity is debated. By 500 BC Hecataeus

Hecataeus

Hecataeus of Miletus , named after the Greek goddess Hecate, was an early Greek historian of a wealthy family. He flourished during the time of the Persian invasion. After having travelled extensively, he settled in his native city, where he occupied a high position, and devoted his time to the...

knew of islands beyond Gaul where tin was obtained. Pytheas of Massalia travelled to Britain about 325 BC where he found a flourishing tin trade, according to the late report of his voyage. Posidonius

Posidonius

Posidonius "of Apameia" or "of Rhodes" , was a Greek Stoic philosopher, politician, astronomer, geographer, historian and teacher native to Apamea, Syria. He was acclaimed as the greatest polymath of his age...

referred to the tin trade with Britain around 90 BC but Strabo

Strabo

Strabo, also written Strabon was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher.-Life:Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus , a city which he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea...

in about 18 AD did not list tin as one of Britain's exports. This is likely to be because Rome was obtaining its tin from Spain at the time. Camden identified the Cassiterides with the Scilly Isles and gave first currency to the belief that the Phoenicians traded to Britain. However, there is no tin mining on the Scilly Isles apart from minor exploratory excavations. Timothy Champion found it likely that the trade of the Phoenicians with Britain was indirect and under the control of the Veneti

Veneti (Gaul)

The Veneti were a seafaring Celtic people who lived in the Brittany peninsula , which in Roman times formed part of an area called Armorica...

of Brittany

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

. The Rillaton Cup

Rillaton barrow

Rillaton barrow is a Bronze Age round barrow in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The site is on the eastern flank of Bodmin Moor in the parish of Linkinhorne approximately four miles north of Liskeard....

and the Pelynt Dagger are two artifacts that have been found in Cornwall that show contact with the Mycenaean Greek

Mycenaean Greece

Mycenaean Greece was a cultural period of Bronze Age Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...

world.

Diodorus Siculus's account

Diodorus Siculus

Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily . With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca...

around 1 BC described ancient tin mining in Britain. "They that inhabit the British promontory of Balerion by reason of their converse with strangers are more civilised and courteous to strangers than the rest are. These are the people that prepare the tin, which with a great deal of care and labour, they dig out of the ground, and that being done the metal is mixed with some veins of earth out of which they melt the metal and refine it. Then they cast it into regular blocks and carry it to a certain island near at hand called Ictis for at low tide, all being dry between there and the island, tin in large quantities is brought over in carts." Pliny, whose text has survived in eroded condition, quotes Timaeus of Taormina

Timaeus (historian)

Timaeus , ancient Greek historian, was born at Tauromenium in Sicily. Driven out of Sicily by Agathocles, he migrated to Athens, where he studied rhetoric under a pupil of Isocrates and lived for fifty years...

in referring to "insulam Mictim", "the island of Mictim" [sic], where the m of insulam has been repeated. Several locations for "Ictin" or "Ictis", signifying "tin port" have been suggested, including St. Michael's Mount, but, as a result of excavations, Barry Cunliffe has proposed that this was Mount Batten

Mount Batten

Mount Batten is a 24-metre-tall outcrop of rock on a 600-metre peninsula in Plymouth Sound, Devon, England.After some redevelopment which started with the area coming under the control of the Plymouth Development Corporation for five years from 1993, the peninsula now has a marina and centre for...

near Plymouth. A shipwreck site with ingots of tin was found at the mouth of the River Erme not far away, which may represent trade along this coast during the Bronze Age, although dating the site is very difficult. Strabo reported that British tin was shipped from Marseille.

Legend of Joseph of Arimathea

Ding Dong mine, reputedly one of the oldest in Cornwall, in the parish of Gulval

Gulval

Gulval is a village in the former Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. Although historically a parish in its own right, Gulval was incorporated into the parishes of Penzance, Madron and Ludgvan in 1934, and like Heamoor, is now considered to be a suburb of Penzance...

is said in local legend to have been visited by Joseph of Arimathea

Joseph of Arimathea

Joseph of Arimathea was, according to the Gospels, the man who donated his own prepared tomb for the burial of Jesus after Jesus' Crucifixion. He is mentioned in all four Gospels.-Gospel references:...

, a tin trader, and that he brought a young Jesus to address the miners, although there is no evidence to support this.

Iron Age archaeology

There are few remains of prehistoric tin mining in Devon or Cornwall, probably because later workings have destroyed early ones. However, shallow cuttings used for extracting ore can be seen in some places such as Challacombe Down, Dartmoor. There are a few stone hammers, such as those in the Zennor Wayside Museum. It may well be that mining was mostly undertaken with shovels, antler picks and wooden wedges. An excavation at Dean Moor on Dartmoor, at a site dated at 1400 - 900 BC from pottery, yielded a pebble of tin ore and tin slag. Rocks were used for crushing the ore and stones for this were found at Crift Farm. There have been finds of tin slag on the floors of Bronze Age houses, for example at Trevisker. Tin slag was found at Caerloges with a dagger of the Camerton-Snowhill type.

In the Iron Age

Iron Age

The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...

bronze continued to be used for ornaments though not for tools and weapons, so tin extraction seems to have continued. An ingot from Castle Dore is probably of Iron Age date.

Roman and Post-Roman periods

The tin resources are said to have been a reason why the Romans invaded Britain but they had control of mines in Spain and Brittany in the 1st and 2nd centuries. Later production in Spain was curtailed, probably by raiding. Production in Britain increased in the 3rd century, for use in coinage, and there was extensive use of tin in pewter manufacture, at Camerton in Somerset for example. West Devon and Cornwall are areas which are less Romanised than many other parts of England and it may be tin mining was in local hands with tin purchase by the imperial authority. A possible official stamp has been identified on the Carnington tin ingot. A number of tin ingots have been found in Roman contexts such as 42 found in a wreck at Bigbury Bay

Bigbury-on-Sea

Bigbury-on-Sea is a village located on the south coast of Devon approximately 250 metres from the tidal island of Burgh Island. It falls within the civil parish of Bigbury and the local governmental district of South Hams....

in 1991-92 .

A site in the Erme valley, Devon, shows sediment aggregation in late Roman and Post-Roman times due to tin mining on Dartmoor. There is a peak in activity between the 4th and 7th centuries. Tin slag at Week Ford in Devon has been dated to 570 - 890 AD.

St Piran (patron saint of tinners) is said to have landed at Perranporth

Perranporth

Perranporth is a small seaside resort on the north coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is southwest of Newquay and northwest of Truro. Perranporth and its long beach face the Atlantic Ocean....

from Ireland about 420 AD.

Middle Ages

There is no record of tin mining in Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

, possibly because the rights were Crown Property. For the first half of the 12th century Dartmoor provided most of the tin for Europe, exceeding the production of Cornwall. The Pipe Roll of Henry II

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

gives the annual tin production of Dartmoor to be about 60 tons. In 1198 he agreed that "all the diggers and buyers of black tin, and all the smelters of tin, and traders of tin in the first smelting shall have the just and ancient customs and liberties established in Devon and Cornwall." This shows that mining had been going on for a long period by this time. A charter confirming the miners' rights was granted by King John in 1201. The alluvial silt record in the Erme valley, Devon, shows aggradation of tin waste between AD 1288 and 1389.

Silver

Silver

mining became a major industry, particularly in the Tamar valley around Bere Ferrers

Bere Ferrers

Bere Ferrers, sometimes called Beerferris, is a village and civil parish on the Bere peninsula in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It has a population of 3,066, and is located to the north of Plymouth, on the west bank of the River Tavy...

in Devon, following the transfer of power to the Norman lord Robert, Count of Mortain

Robert, Count of Mortain

Robert, Count of Mortain, 1st Earl of Cornwall was a Norman nobleman and the half-brother of William I of England. Robert was the son of Herluin de Conteville and Herleva of Falaise and was full brother to Odo of Bayeux. The exact year of Robert's birth is unknown Robert, Count of Mortain, 1st...

who held the manor of Trematon

Trematon Castle

Trematon Castle is situated near Saltash in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is similar in style to the later Restormel Castle, with a 12th century keep. Trematon Castle overlooks Plymouth Sound and was built probably by Robert, Count of Mortain on the ruins of an earlier Roman fort: it is a...

. Profits from rights to the silver mines for the crown led to the rise of the ancient Cornish Edgcumbe family at Cotehele

Cotehele

Cotehele, , is a mediaeval/Tudor house located in the parish of Calstock, Cornwall, England, UK. In Cornish the placename is Koesheyl . Probably originating circa 1300, the main phases of building appear to have been by Sir Richard Edgcumbe from 1485–89 and his son, Sir Piers Edgcumbe, from...

and later Mount Edgcumbe

Mount Edgcumbe

Mount Edgcumbe may refer to:* Mount Edgcumbe Country Park, in Cornwall, United Kingdom* Mount Edgcumbe House, located within Mount Edgcumbe Country Park* Mount Edgecombe, KwaZulu-Natal, a sugar-growing town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa...

In 1305 King Edward I established separate Stannaries for Devon and Cornwall. Water was used to operate "stamps" to crush the ore, the lighter waste being washed away. The mineral "black tin" was placed in furnaces and layered with peat. The molten metal was poured into granite moulds which produced ingots of tin. These were taken on pack horses to the Stannary towns for assaying. Usable deposits in Devon became worked out and so Cornwall was then the center of tin production. In 1337 Cornish tin production was 650 tons but in 1335 it had been reduced to 250 tons by the Black Death

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

. In 1400 Cornish production rose to 800 tons. The production in Devon was only 25% of that of Cornwall in 1450-70.

The tin works of Devon and Cornwall were of such importance that the medieval kings established Stannary Courts and Parliaments

Stannary Courts and Parliaments

The Stannary Parliaments and Stannary Courts were legislative and legal institutions in Cornwall and in Devon , England. The Stannary Courts administered equity for the region's tin-miners and tin mining interests, and they were also courts of record for the towns dependent on the mines...

to administer the law in Cornwall and part of Devon. Up to the middle 16th century, Devon produced approximately 25-40% of the amount of tin that Cornwall did but the total amount of tin production from both Cornwall and Devon during this period was relatively small.

The Cornish Rebellion of 1497

Cornish Rebellion of 1497

The Cornish Rebellion of 1497 was a popular uprising by the people of Cornwall in the far southwest of Britain. Its primary cause was a response of people to the raising of war taxes by King Henry VII on the impoverished Cornish, to raise money for a campaign against Scotland motivated by brief...

originated among Cornish tin miners who opposed the raising of taxes by Henry VII

Henry VII of England

Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....

in order to make war on Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. This levy was resented for the economic hardship it would cause; it also intruded on a special Cornish tax exemption. The rebels marched on London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, gaining supporters as they went, but were defeated at the Battle of Deptford Bridge.

Quarrying was of very limited importance in medieval Cornwall. Stone for church building was very rarely imported from outside the county but most church building was in whatever stone could be brought for short distances. For some ornamental features such as doorways, pillars and fonts good use was made of varieties of elvan

Elvan

Elvan is a name used in Cornwall and Devon for the native varieties of quartz-porphyry. They are dispersed irregularly in the Upper Devonian series of rocks and some of them make very fine building stones...

e.g. Polyphant and Catacleuze. The granite was not quarried but collected from the moorlands and worked on site. Quarrying of slate developed in north Cornwall in the later Middle Ages and later developed in early modern times into larger undertakings.

Early modern period

After the 1540s, Cornwall's production increased rapidly and Devon's production was only about 1/9–1/10 that of Cornwall's. From the mid-16th century the Devon Stannaries were worth very little in income to the King and were sidelined as such following the Supremacy of Parliament Act 1512, an Act of Supremacy (this did not apply to the Stannaries of Cornwall). The first Crockern Tor

Crockern Tor

Crockern Tor is a tor in Dartmoor National Park, Devon, England. Composed of two large outcrops of rock, it is 396 metres above sea level. The lower outcrop was the open-air meeting place of the Devonshire Stannary Parliament from the early 14th century until the first half of the 18th century...

Stannary Parliament in Devon was held in 1494 and the last in 1748. At Combe Martin

Combe Martin

Combe Martin is a village and civil parish on the North Devon coast about east of Ilfracombe. It is a small seaside resort with a sheltered cove on the edge of the Exmoor National Park...

several disused Silver

Silver

mines

Mining

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...

are located on the eastern ridge and evidence of tunnels can still be seen, as well as the remains of a wheelhouse used to lift ore from the mine. There are items in the Crown Jewels

Crown jewels

Crown jewels are jewels or artifacts of the reigning royal family of their respective country. They belong to monarchs and are passed to the next sovereign to symbolize the right to rule. They may include crowns, sceptres, orbs, swords, rings, and other objects...

made from Combe Martin silver.

A second tin boom came around the 16th century when open cast mining was used. German miners came in who had knowledge of the new techniques. In 1689, Thomas Epsley, a Somerset man, developed a method using gunpowder to blast the very hard granite rock loose, using gunpowder with quill fuses. It revolutionized hard rock mining. Six days work, with a pick, could be accomplished with one blast. A third boom occurred in the 18th century when shafts were dug to extract the ore.

Later modern period

However it was in the 19th century that mining

Mining

reached its zenith, before foreign competition depressed the price of copper, and later tin, to a level that made Cornish ore unprofitable. The areas of Cornwall around Gwennap

Gwennap

Gwennap is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately five miles southeast of Redruth....

and St Day

St Day

St Day is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated between the village of Chacewater and the town of Redruth.St Day is located in a former mining area and St Day accrued considerable wealth from mining...

and on the coast around Porthtowan

Porthtowan

Porthtowan is a small village in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom, and is a popular summer tourist destination which lies within the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, a World Heritage Site. Porthtowan lies on Cornwall's north Atlantic coast about west of St Agnes, north of...

were among the richest mining areas in the world and at its height the Cornish tin mining industry had around 600 steam engine

Steam engine

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

s working to pump out the mines (many mines stretched out under the sea and some went down to great depths). Adventurers put up the capital, hoping that the mine would return them a profit, but the outcomes were very uncertain.

Caradon Hill

Caradon Hill

Caradon Hill is on Bodmin Moor in the former Caradon district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The summit is above mean sea level.The hill was once famous for its copper mines but these are now closed. The South Caradon Copper Mine, 1 km to the SW of the transmitter, was the largest copper mine...

had the most productive mine in east Cornwall. The South Caradon Copper Mine, 1 km to the SW of the transmitter, was the largest copper mine in the UK in its heyday, 150 years ago. Other disused copper and tin mines are scattered around the base of the hill. By the mid-19th century Looe had become a major port, one of Cornwall's largest, exporting local tin, arsenic and granite, as well as hosting thriving fishing and boatbuilding industries. At Callington arsenic was found with copper ores and was processed by crushing and condensing; the poisonous nature of dust containing arsenic made the work very hazardous. Numerous precautions were taken but the workers tended to die in middleage. Menheniot

Menheniot

Menheniot is a civil parish and village in Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated 2½ miles southeast of Liskeard. The meaning of the name is "sanctuary of Neot" ....

was a centre of lead mining and is now surrounded by disused shafts and engine houses. Lead seams were discovered in the 1840s and Menheniot became the centre of a mining boom which lasted until the 1870s. During this period the population doubled. Kit Hill Country Park is steeped in mining history. Metals extracted included, tin

Tin

, silver

Silver

, copper

Copper

and wolfram

Tungsten

Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...

. The main mines were Kit Hill Summit Mines (which included a windmill near the present stack) (started about 1826; Kit Hill United closed in 1864); East Kit Hill Mine, worked from 1855 to 1909; Hingston Down

Hingston Down

Hingston Down is a hill not far from Gunnislake in Cornwall in the United Kingdom.-History:This is possibly the Hingston Down mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which says that in 835 Egbert king of the West Saxons defeated an army of Vikings and Cornish at Hengestdun = "Stallion Hill"...

mine (which worked westwards towards Kit Hill, may have started in the 17th century, it closed in 1885; and South Kit Hill Mine, worked from 1856 to 1884.

The last Cornish Stannary Parliament was held at Hingston Down in 1753. The Stannary Courts were formally abolished in 1836.

By the middle and late 19th century, Cornish mining was in decline, and many Cornish miners emigrated to developing mining districts overseas, where their skills were in great demand: these included South Africa, Australia and North America. Cornish miners became dominant in the 1850s in the iron and copper district

Copper Country

The Copper Country is an area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States, including all of Keweenaw County, Michigan and most of Houghton, Baraga and Ontonagon counties. The area is so named as copper mining was prevalent there from 1845 until the late 1960s, with one mine ...

s of northern Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, as well as in many other mining districts. In the first 6 months of 1875 over 10,000 miners left Cornwall to find work overseas.

20th century and after
During the 20th century various ores became briefly profitable, and mines were reopened, but today none remain. Dolcoath mine

Dolcoath mine

Dolcoath mine was a copper and tin mine in Camborne, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. Its name derives from the Cornish for 'Old Ground', and it was also affectionately known as The Queen of Cornish Mines. The site is north-west of Carn Brea. Dolcoath Road runs between the A3047 road and Chapel Hill...

, (Cornish

Cornish language

Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...

for Old Ground), the 'Queen of Cornish Mines' was, at a depth of 3500 feet (1067 m), for many years the deepest mine in the world, not to mention one of the oldest before its closure in 1921. Indeed, the last working tin mine in Europe, South Crofty

South Crofty

, was to be found near Camborne

Camborne

Camborne is a town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is at the western edge of a conurbation comprising Camborne, Pool and Redruth....

until its closure in March 1998. An attempt was made to reopen it but the mine was then abandoned. There were local media reports in September 2006 that South Crofty was being considered for re-opening as the price of tin had soared but the site was subject to a Compulsory Purchase Order (October 2006). On the wall outside the gate is some graffiti dating from 1999:

"Cornish lads are fishermen and Cornish lads are miners too. / But when the fish and tin are gone, what are the Cornish boys to do?"

The collapse of the world tin cartel

Cartel

A cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products...

in 1986 was the last nail in the coffin for Cornish and Devonian tin mining. The most recent mine in Devon to produce tin ore was Hemerdon Mine near Plympton

Plympton

Plympton, or Plympton Maurice or Plympton St Maurice or Plympton St Mary or Plympton Erle, in south-western Devon, England is an ancient stannary town: an important trading centre in the past for locally mined tin, and a former seaport...

in the 1980s. The last Cornish tin mine in production at South Crofty

South Crofty

closed in 1998.

In 1992 Geevor Mine

Geevor Tin Mine

Geevor Tin Mine is a tin mine in the far west of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, between the villages of Pendeen and Trewellard. It was operational between 1911 and 1990 during which time it produced about 50,000 tons of black tin. It is now a museum and heritage centre left as a living history...

was acquired by Cornwall County Council as a Heritage Museum, which is now run by Pendeen Community Heritage. Both Geevor Tin Mine and Morwellham Quay

Morwellham Quay

Morwellham Quay is a historic river port in Devon, England that developed to support the local mines. The port had its peak in the Victorian era and is now run as a tourist attraction and museum...

have been selected as "anchor points" on the European Route of Industrial Heritage

European Route of Industrial Heritage

The European Route of Industrial Heritage is a network of the most important industrial heritage sites in Europe. The aim of the project is to create interest for the common European Heritage of the Industrialisation and its remains...

.

The extraction of china clay continues to be of considerable importance: the larger works are in the St Austell

St Austell

St Austell is a civil parish and a major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated on the south coast approximately ten miles south of Bodmin and 30 miles west of the border with Devon at Saltash...

district. The amount of waste in proportion to kaolin is so great that huge waste mounds were created whose whiteness in the early years means that they can be seen from afar. The Eden Project

Eden Project

The Eden Project is a visitor attraction in Cornwall in the United Kingdom, including the world's largest greenhouse. Inside the artificial biomes are plants that are collected from all around the world....

has been developed on the site of a former china clay quarry. Extraction of slate and roadstone by quarrying still continues on a reduced scale: it was formerly an important industry and it has been carried on in Cornwall ever since the Middle Ages. Several quarries have been productive enough to need their own mineral railways. Granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

of high quality has been extracted from many Cornish quarries such as De Lank and Porthoustock

Porthoustock

Porthoustock is a hamlet near St Keverne in Cornwall, United Kingdom, on the east coast of Lizard Peninsula. Aggregates are quarried nearby and Porthoustock beach is dominated by a large concrete stone mill. The mill was once used to crush stone but is now disused. Container ships of up to 82m can...

and some has been taken very long distances for use in building. There are also some important quarries in Devon, such as Meldon

Meldon Quarry

Meldon Quarry is a granite quarry in the parish of Meldon, West Devon, England. Meldon Quarry railway station is a railway station which serves the quarry.- History :...

(a source of railway ballast for the Southern Railway

Southern Railway (Great Britain)

The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...

) and granite quarries on Dartmoor such as Merrivale

Merrivale

Merrivale is a placename:South Africa* Merrivale, KwaZulu-Natal is a small town in the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal Province* Merrivale, Gauteng was a small gold mining town in Gauteng but now a military facility.* Merrivale, Durban is a suburb of Durban...

.

Disasters
In the metalliferous mines of Cornwall, some of the worst accidents were at East Wheal Rose

East Wheal Rose

East Wheal Rose was a metalliferous mine about a kilometre south east of the village of St Newlyn East, which is about 5 km inland from Newquay on the north Cornwall coast, United Kingdom...

in 1846, where 39 men were killed by a sudden flood; at Levant Mine in 1919, where 31 were killed and many injured in a failure of the man engine

Man engine

A man engine is a mechanism of reciprocating ladders and stationary platforms installed in mines to assist the miners’ journeys to and from the working levels...

; 12 killed at Wheal Agar in 1883 when a cage fell down a shaft; and seven killed at Dolcoath Mine

Dolcoath mine

in 1893 when a large stull

Stoping (mining method)

Stoping is the removal of the wanted ore from an underground mine leaving behind an open space known as a stope. Stoping is used when the country rock is sufficiently strong not to cave into the stope, although in most cases artificial support is also provided...

collapsed.

The main mining areas in Cornwall and Devon

Cornwall

Penwith
Penwith
Penwith was a local government district in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, whose council was based in Penzance. The district covered all of the Penwith peninsula, the toe-like promontory of land at the western end of Cornwall and which included an area of land to the east that fell outside the...
- St Just in Penwith
  St Just in Penwith
  St Just is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish encompasses the town of St Just and the nearby settlements of Trewellard, Pendeen and Kelynack: it is bounded by the parishes of Morvah to the north-east, Sancreed and Madron to the east, St Buryan and Sennen to...
  
  and Zennor
  Zennor
  Zennor is a village and civil parish in Cornwall in England. The parish includes the villages of Zennor, Boswednack and Porthmeor and the hamlet of Treen. It is located on the north coast, about north of Penzance. Alphabetically, the parish is the last in Britain—its name comes from the Cornish...
Camborne
Camborne
Camborne is a town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is at the western edge of a conurbation comprising Camborne, Pool and Redruth....

, Redruth
Redruth
Redruth is a town and civil parish traditionally in the Penwith Hundred in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It has a population of 12,352. Redruth lies approximately at the junction of the A393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road , and is approximately west of...

and Illogan
Illogan
Illogan is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated two miles northwest of Redruth.Originally a rural area supporting itself by farming and agriculture, Illogan shared in the general leap into prosperity brought about by the mining boom, which was experienced by the...
Gwennap
Gwennap
Gwennap is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately five miles southeast of Redruth....

and the Carnon Valley in west Cornwall
Wendron
Wendron
Wendron is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated three miles north of Helston.The Revd G. H. Doble served for almost twenty years as the Vicar of Wendron . Langdon recorded the existence of eight stone crosses in the parish, including two at Merther Uny...

area in Kerrier
St Agnes
St Agnes, Cornwall
St Agnes is a civil parish and a large village on the north coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. The village is situated approximately five miles north of Redruth and ten miles southwest of Newquay....

and Porthtowan
Porthtowan
Porthtowan is a small village in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom, and is a popular summer tourist destination which lies within the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape, a World Heritage Site. Porthtowan lies on Cornwall's north Atlantic coast about west of St Agnes, north of...
North Cornwall
North Cornwall
North Cornwall was the largest of the six local government districts of Cornwall, United Kingdom. Its council was based in Wadebridge . Other towns in the district included Bude, Bodmin, Launceston, Padstow, and Camelford....

(a few mines but no tin)
A large area bounded by St Austell
St Austell
St Austell is a civil parish and a major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated on the south coast approximately ten miles south of Bodmin and 30 miles west of the border with Devon at Saltash...

, Wadebridge
Wadebridge
Wadebridge is a civil parish and town in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town straddles the River Camel five miles upstream from Padstow....

, Bodmin
Bodmin
Bodmin is a civil parish and major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the centre of the county southwest of Bodmin Moor.The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character...

and Callington in mid and east Cornwall

Devon

Dartmoor
West Devon

Study and education

The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall

Royal Geological Society of Cornwall

The Royal Geological Society of Cornwall is a geological society based in Cornwall in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1814 to promote the study of the geology of Cornwall, and is the second oldest geological society in the world....

was founded in 1814 to promote the study of the geology of Cornwall

Geology of Cornwall

The Geology of Cornwall is dominated by its granite backbone, part of the Cornubian batholith, formed during the Variscan orogeny. Around this is an extensive metamorphic aureole formed in the mainly Devonian slates that make up most of the rest of the county...

, and is the second oldest geological society in the world. The Cornish Institute of Engineers

Cornish Institute of Engineers

The Cornish Institute of Engineers was founded in 1913 by the then Principal of the Camborne School of Mines, J. J. Berringer. Its first President, Josiah Paul, was appointed on 1 March 1913. It is the only institute in Cornwall and maintains a continuous programme of lectures of very high quality...

was begun by mechanical engineers and mining is an important area in which it is active.

Camborne School of Mines

Because of the importance of metal mining to the Cornish economy, the Camborne School of Mines

Camborne School of Mines

The Camborne School of Mines , commonly abbreviated to CSM, was founded in 1888. It is now a specialist department of the University of Exeter. Its research and teaching is related to the understanding and management of the Earth's natural processes, resources and the environment...

(CSM) developed as the only specialist hard rock education establishment in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

in 1888. It continues to teach mining as well as many other earth-related subjects relevant to the Cornish economy, such as renewable energy. CSM now forms part of the University of Exeter

University of Exeter

The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....

, and has relocated to the University's Tremough

Tremough

Tremough Campus is a university campus situated in Penryn, Cornwall. It is the only such university project in Cornwall currently. The name Tremough derives from the Cornish word for "pig farm"....

campus in Penryn

Penryn, Cornwall

Penryn is a civil parish and town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated on the Penryn River about one mile northwest of Falmouth...

. Despite this move, the students and School continue with the use of "Camborne" in the title. CSM graduates are to be found working in the mining industry all over the world.

Terminology and symbolism

Several Cornish mining words are still in use in English language mining terminology, such as costean

Costean

Costeaning is the process by which miners seek to discover metallic lodes. It consist in sinking small pits through the superficial deposits to the solid rock, and then driving from one pit to another across the direction of the vein, in such manner as to cross all the veins between the two pits....

, gunnies

Gunnies

Gunnies or gunnis is a mining term derived from the Cornish language. It refers to open-cast mines. An example is to be found at Porthtowan near St Agnes in Cornwall. The word can also mean the empty space left by removing the lode from a mine, or the width of this space....

, vug

Vug

Vugs are small to medium-sized cavities inside rock that may be formed through a variety of processes. Most commonly cracks and fissures opened by tectonic activity are partially filled by quartz, calcite, and other secondary minerals. Open spaces within ancient collapse breccias are another...

, kibbal, gossan

Gossan

Gossan is intensely oxidized, weathered or decomposed rock, usually the upper and exposed part of an ore deposit or mineral vein. In the classic gossan or iron cap all that remains is iron oxides and quartz often in the form of boxworks, quartz lined cavities retaining the shape of the dissolved...

, and kieve

Keeve

Keeve and Keeving are terms used in:* Cider making* Ore dressing* Topography * Kier , or keeve, kier, or kieve, a large boiler or vat used in bleaching cotton...

.

Fish, tin and copper together are sometimes used as symbolic of Cornwall since they show the 'traditional' three main industries of Cornwall. Tin has a special place in the Cornish culture, the Stannary Parliament and 'Cornish pennies

Cornish currency

Cornish currency has been issued in various forms since medieval times and possibly earlier. One early story tells that the Cornish people raised the money by popular subscription to pay a ransom for the release of the Duke of Cornwall, Richard the Lionheart. The 15 Bezants on the arms of the Duke...

' are a testament to the former power of the Cornish tin industry. Cornish tin is highly prized for jewellery, often of mine engines or Celtic

Celtic art

Celtic art is the art associated with the peoples known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic...

designs.

The houses at Penair School

Penair School

Penair School is a secondary school in Truro, Cornwall, United Kingdom, for children aged 11–16. It is named after Penair House, a mansion built in the late 18th century by Rear-Admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds. It is currently reviewed as an outstanding school by government inspectors Ofsted. The...

are named after four notable tin mines.

Three hares

The three hares
Three hares
The three hares is a circular motif appearing in sacred sites from the Middle and Far East to the churches of southwest England , and historical synagogues in Europe....

is a circular motif which appears in sacred sites from the Middle

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

and Far East

Far East

The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...

to the churches of south west England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

(where it is often referred to as the "Tinners’ Rabbits"). It occurs with the greatest frequency in the churches of the West Country

West Country

The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...

of England. The motif appears in architectural wood carving

Wood carving

Wood carving is a form of working wood by means of a cutting tool in one hand or a chisel by two hands or with one hand on a chisel and one hand on a mallet, resulting in a wooden figure or figurine, or in the sculptural ornamentation of a wooden object...

, stone carving

Stone carving

Stone carving is an ancient activity where pieces of rough natural stone are shaped by the controlled removal of stone. Owing to the permanence of the material, evidence can be found that even the earliest societies indulged in some form of stone work....

, window tracery

Tracery

In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...

and stained glass

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

. In South Western England there are nearly thirty recorded examples of the Three Hares appearing on 'roof bosses' (carved wooden knobs) on the ceilings in medieval

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

churches in Devon

Devon

, (particularly Dartmoor

Dartmoor

Dartmoor is an area of moorland in south Devon, England. Protected by National Park status, it covers .The granite upland dates from the Carboniferous period of geological history. The moorland is capped with many exposed granite hilltops known as tors, providing habitats for Dartmoor wildlife. The...

). There is a good example of a roof boss of the Three hares at Widecombe-in-the-Moor

Widecombe-in-the-Moor

Widecombe-in-the-Moor is a small village located within the heart of the Dartmoor National Park in Devon, England. . The name is thought to derive from 'Withy-combe' which means Willow Valley....

, Dartmoor, with another in the town of Tavistock on the edge of the moor.

Tinners' Rabbits is the name of a dance of many forms involving use of sticks and rotation of three, six or nine dancers.

World Heritage Site

In 1999 the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape

Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape

The Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape is a World Heritage Site which includes select mining landscapes across Cornwall and West Devon in the south west of the United Kingdom...

was added to the UK government's tentative list for submission to the World Heritage list. It was announced on 13 July 2006 that the bid had been successful. This World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

will be unique in that it covers a technique exported worldwide, including Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

and Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, and will consist of a trail linking mining sites from Land's End in Cornwall, through Porthtowan

Porthtowan

and St Agnes up the spine of the county to the Tamar Valley forming the border with Devon

Devon

. There, the exporting port of Morwellham

Morwellham Quay

Morwellham Quay is a historic river port in Devon, England that developed to support the local mines. The port had its peak in the Victorian era and is now run as a tourist attraction and museum...

is being developed alongside the Devon Great Consols Mine to demonstrate the nature and scale of the operations, with the Eastern Gateway to the World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

being anchored in the ancient Stannary town of Tavistock, the base for Devon's own 19th century Klondike Gold Rush

Klondike Gold Rush

The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...

, which brought the then Duke of Bedford

Duke of Bedford

thumb|right|240px|William Russell, 1st Duke of BedfordDuke of Bedford is a title that has been created five times in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1414 in favour of Henry IV's third son, John, who later served as regent of France. He was made Earl of Kendal at the same time...

, for example, at least £2 million at the time (equivalent to £158 million in 2006 terms http://www.measuringworth.com/index.html.

As at 27 September 2006, the hoped-for £1.1m Interpretation Centre planned for Tavistock has been cancelled. Although £300K of funding is secure from the National Lottery

National Lottery (United Kingdom)

The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...

, the remaining £800K from the Regional Development Agency

Regional Development Agency

In the United Kingdom, a regional development agency is a non-departmental public body established for the purpose of development, primarily economic, of one of England's Government Office regions. There is one RDA for each of the NUTS level 1 regions of England...

has not been forthcoming. http://www.gnn.gov.uk/content/detail.asp?NewsAreaID=2&ReleaseID=214185.

South Crofty mine

In November 2007 it was announced that South Crofty

South Crofty

mine, near Camborne

Camborne

Camborne is a town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is at the western edge of a conurbation comprising Camborne, Pool and Redruth....

, may restart production in 2009. When it closed in 1998 it was Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

's last tin mine. Its owners Baseresult Holdings Ltd, which bought the mine in 2001, have created a new company, Western United Mines Limited (WUM), to operate it and has said it will be spending in excess of £50m on restarting the mine. The company claims that rising tin prices had given the mine, first opened in the late 16th century, another 80 years of life. More than £3.5m will be spent during the next seven months on continuing the mine development. Crofty Developments, a partner of the new company, still has to resolve a row with the South West

South West England

South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...

Regional Development Agency

(RDA) over use of more than 30 acres (121,405.8 m²) of land surrounding the site. The RDA wants to make a compulsory purchase order on the site for leisure, housing and industry, but Crofty Developments has been fighting in the High Court to retain the site. The Cornish mining industry, started in 2000 BC, reached its peak in the 19th century, when thousands of workers were employed in up to 2,000 mines, before the industry collapsed when ores began to be produced more cheaply abroad.

Partial list of Cornish mines

Mine	Opened	Closed	Operated by	Product	Production
South Crofty South Crofty South Crofty is a metalliferous Tin and Copper mine located in the village of Pool, Cornwall, England UK. An ancient mine, it has seen production for over 400 years, and extends almost two and a half miles across and down and has mined over 40 lodes. Evidence of mining activity in South Crofty has...	1590s	1998	South Crofty Limited (1906–1967) Siamese Tin Syndicate Ltd (1967–1982) Rio Tinto Rio Tinto Group The Rio Tinto Group is a diversified, British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto river, in Huelva, Spain from the... (1982–1988) Carnon Holdings Limited (1988–1994) Crew Natural Resources of Canada (1994–2001) Base Result (2001 -)	Tin Tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...	--tpa
King Edward Mine King Edward Mine The King Edward Mine at Camborne, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom is a mine wholly owned by the Camborne School of Mines of the University of Exeter....			Camborne School of Mines Camborne School of Mines The Camborne School of Mines , commonly abbreviated to CSM, was founded in 1888. It is now a specialist department of the University of Exeter. Its research and teaching is related to the understanding and management of the Earth's natural processes, resources and the environment... (1890-)	Tin Tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
Ding Dong mines Ding Dong mines The Ding Dong mines lie in an old and extensive mining area situated in the parish of Gulval, in Land's End, Cornwall. They are about two miles south of the St Just to Penzance road. They look out over Mount's Bay and St Michael's Mount to the south west....	c17th century	1789		Tin Tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
Poldark Mine (Wheal Roots) Poldark Mine Poldark Mine was a tin mine in Cornwall worked sometime between 1720 and 1780. The mine was originally called Wheal Roots and little is known of its early workings. In 1856 it became part of the Wendron Consols Mine and is shown on the surface plan of that mine as 'old men's workings' meaning that...	1720	1780		Tin Tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
Dolcoath mine Dolcoath mine Dolcoath mine was a copper and tin mine in Camborne, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom. Its name derives from the Cornish for 'Old Ground', and it was also affectionately known as The Queen of Cornish Mines. The site is north-west of Carn Brea. Dolcoath Road runs between the A3047 road and Chapel Hill...	1720	1920		Tin Tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4... copper Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
Geevor Tin Mine Geevor Tin Mine Geevor Tin Mine is a tin mine in the far west of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, between the villages of Pendeen and Trewellard. It was operational between 1911 and 1990 during which time it produced about 50,000 tons of black tin. It is now a museum and heritage centre left as a living history...	1780	1991	Geevor Tin Mines Ltd	Tin Tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
Mount Wellington Tin Mine Mount Wellington Tin Mine Mount Wellington Tin mine, two miles east of the village of St Day in Cornwall, in the United Kingdom, opened in 1976 and was the first new mine in the region in many years....	1976	1991	Kensa Heat Pumps (2001-)	Tin Tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
Wheal Jane Wheal Jane Wheal Jane is a disused tin mine near Baldhu and Chacewater in West Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The area itself consisted of a large number of mines.-History:Wheal Jane was probably seriously worked for tin from the mid-18th century...	1750	1992	Falmouth Consolidated Mines (1906–1915) Consolidated Gold Fields (1960–1969) Rio Tinto Group Rio Tinto Group The Rio Tinto Group is a diversified, British-Australian, multinational mining and resources group with headquarters in London and Melbourne. The company was founded in 1873, when a multinational consortium of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tinto river, in Huelva, Spain from the... (1969–1980) management consortium (1970-)	Tin Tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4... Silver Silver Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal... Zinc Zinc Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
Great Wheal Busy	1720	1909		copper Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish... arsenic Arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid... Tin Tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...	100,000 tons
Botallack Mine	1721	1914	Stephen Harvey James (1835–1870) Botallack Mines, Limited (1906-)	Tin Tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4... arsenic Arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid... copper Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
Cape Cornwall Mine	1839	1875	St Just Consolidated Tin and Copper Mining Company	Tin Tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4... copper Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
Consolidated Mines Consolidated Mines Consolidated Mines, also known as Great Consolidated mine, but most commonly called Consols or Great Consols was a metalliferous mine about a mile ESE of the village of St Day, Cornwall, England. Mainly active during the first half of the 19th century, its mining sett was about 600 yards...	1782	1857		copper Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
East Wheal Rose East Wheal Rose East Wheal Rose was a metalliferous mine about a kilometre south east of the village of St Newlyn East, which is about 5 km inland from Newquay on the north Cornwall coast, United Kingdom...	?	1886		lead Lead Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

Hayle Railway

The Hayle Railway was an early Cornish railway, built to standard gauge

Standard gauge

The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

, and opened in 1837. The railway served the engineering works and copper quays at Hayle

Hayle

Hayle is a small town, civil parish and cargo port in west Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated at the mouth of the Hayle River and is approximately seven miles northeast of Penzance...

with the copper mines of Redruth and Camborne carrying ore to the port and coal to the mines, before the construction of the Saltash Bridge and the direct rail route out of Cornwall.

List of mineral railways in Cornwall

Name	Opened	Closed	Gauge	Location	Notes
Basset Mines Tramway	before 1907	1918		Redruth Redruth Redruth is a town and civil parish traditionally in the Penwith Hundred in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It has a population of 12,352. Redruth lies approximately at the junction of the A393 and A3047 roads, on the route of the old London to Land's End trunk road , and is approximately west of... , England	Steam locomotive worked line connecting the West Basset Mine and the stamps at Carnkie
Botallack Mine	before 1864			St Just St Just in Penwith St Just is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish encompasses the town of St Just and the nearby settlements of Trewellard, Pendeen and Kelynack: it is bounded by the parishes of Morvah to the north-east, Sancreed and Madron to the east, St Buryan and Sennen to... , England	300 yard surface line and cliff-side inclines into the mine.
Camborne Mines Ltd. Pendarves Mine		after 1979		Camborne Camborne Camborne is a town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is at the western edge of a conurbation comprising Camborne, Pool and Redruth.... , England	Underground railway serving the Pendarves tin mine
Cornwall Tin and Mining Corporation Mount Wellington Mine		by 1979		Twelveheads Twelveheads Twelveheads is a hamlet in Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom. It lies between Truro and Redruth.Twelveheads has a small Methodist chapel; Billy Bray, the Methodist preacher, was born here. The former village pub and post office are both now private housing.The name comes from the hamlet's... , Cornwall, England	Underground Tin mine
CTS Mining Ltd. Wheal Concord mine		after 1987		Blackwater, Cornwall, England	Underground mine railway Mine railway A mine railway is a railway constructed to carry materials and workers in and out of a mine. Materials transported typically include ore, coal and spoil. Today most mine railways are electrically powered; in former times pit ponies, such as Shetland ponies, were used to haul the trains... using battery electric locomotives
Geevor Tin Mines Ltd. Pendeen Mine Geevor Tin Mine Geevor Tin Mine is a tin mine in the far west of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, between the villages of Pendeen and Trewellard. It was operational between 1911 and 1990 during which time it produced about 50,000 tons of black tin. It is now a museum and heritage centre left as a living history...	1911	1991		St Just St Just in Penwith St Just is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The parish encompasses the town of St Just and the nearby settlements of Trewellard, Pendeen and Kelynack: it is bounded by the parishes of Morvah to the north-east, Sancreed and Madron to the east, St Buryan and Sennen to... , England	Extensive underground tin mine railway. Part of the site, with reinstated tramway, has been reopened as the Geevor Tin Mines Museum.
Rosevale Historical Mining Company	1974	present	and	Zennor Zennor Zennor is a village and civil parish in Cornwall in England. The parish includes the villages of Zennor, Boswednack and Porthmeor and the hamlet of Treen. It is located on the north coast, about north of Penzance. Alphabetically, the parish is the last in Britain—its name comes from the Cornish... , England	Newly re-opened tin mine using battery-electric locomotives
South Crofty Mine South Crofty South Crofty is a metalliferous Tin and Copper mine located in the village of Pool, Cornwall, England UK. An ancient mine, it has seen production for over 400 years, and extends almost two and a half miles across and down and has mined over 40 lodes. Evidence of mining activity in South Crofty has...	1900	1998	and	Camborne Camborne Camborne is a town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is at the western edge of a conurbation comprising Camborne, Pool and Redruth.... , England	Extensive tin mine with internal railway. The mine was re-opened in 2001 although currently without the use of railway transport.
Wheal Jane Ltd. Clemo's Shaft Wheal Jane Wheal Jane is a disused tin mine near Baldhu and Chacewater in West Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The area itself consisted of a large number of mines.-History:Wheal Jane was probably seriously worked for tin from the mid-18th century...	1965	1992		Baldhu Baldhu Baldhu is a village and parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom.The parish church is the burial place of Billy Bray, the revivalist preacher who was born at nearby Twelveheads.... , England	Locomotive-worked Cornish tin mine.
Wheal Pendarves Ltd. Wheal Pendarves mine		after 1987		Camborne Camborne Camborne is a town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is at the western edge of a conurbation comprising Camborne, Pool and Redruth.... , England	Locomotive-worked Cornish tin mine.

External links

Cornish Mining
Camborne School of Mines
Cornish Mines
Man engines - from the Harz to the World : a Contribution to the History and global Distribution of Man Engines (in German)
Map of Cornwall (Kernow)
The Trevithick Society
Cornwall's Mining Collapse Revisited
Carn Brea Mining Society
King Edward Mine
Cornwall's World Heritage Mining Status
Cornish Miners Association
Geevor Tin Mine
Levant Mine
Poldark Mine
Rosevale Mine, Zennor
East Cornwall Mining History Association
The Wheal Buller Project
St Just Mining Project
Camborne-Redruth Mineral Tramways
'The Great Dolcoath', by Albert Bluett, 1898
Bal Maidens and Mining Women Website
{http://dingdongcounthouse.org.uk]The story of the Count House of Ding Dong Mine and Richard Trevithick

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Geology

History

Stone Age and early Bronze Age

Expansion of trade

Diodorus Siculus's account

Legend of Joseph of Arimathea

Iron Age archaeology

Roman and Post-Roman periods

Middle Ages

Early modern period

Later modern period

The main mining areas in Cornwall and Devon

Study and education

Camborne School of Mines

Terminology and symbolism

Three hares

World Heritage Site

South Crofty mine

Partial list of Cornish mines

Hayle Railway

List of mineral railways in Cornwall

See also

Further reading

External links