It seems to me that almost all culture is based on our use of technology; hence, I am fascinated to see the way old technologies come and go. I am a sucker at antique fairs for old radios, electrical equipment, machinery and so on.

We have a local history society, of which I am a member, and I have started trying to interest others in relics of quarrying, mining, manufacturing of all kinds.

I use to have a cottage in a Cornish mining village; from here my wife and I explored a lot of Cornish industrial sites. Some of these are rapidly disappearing, so if you have any interest in (relatively) recent history, go out and take some photographs NOW! I recently led a group of like-minded souls on a walk into an area which I have known for a number of years; I was somewhat horrified to find it rapidly changing, with bulldozers making vehicle tracks where there had previously only been footpaths. The cause of the disruption was actually to improve the habitat of some rare butterflies, so I guess I can't complain too much, but I wish I had taken more photographs years ago!

The counties of Devon and Cornwall have an industrial past that is often forgotten about by the visitors to the beaches and the countryside; it reached a peak of activity during the last century, during which the industry and tourism existed side by side, the most beautiful parts of the country being also those that sourced the most minerals. By the beginning of the 20th century, most industrial activity was in decline, and currently mining, brick and tile making, engineering and similar heavy industry has almost disappeared.

The key to the mineral wealth of this part of the country lies in the presence of the group of granite outcrops that form a backbone to the area, running from Dartmoor to the Scilly Isles, where the granite is largely covered by sea. On the way, outcrops at Hingston Down, Kit Hill, Bodmin Moor and Carnon Downs are sites where the heat from the molten granite has metamorphosed the underlying country rock to produce mineral deposits that have been mined for centuries. At higher levels, iron, lead and zinc are found, with tin, copper and arsenic at greater depths. In many cases the higher level minerals have been lost to erosion, and the major mining has always been tin and copper, with arsenic as a by-product of the copper. Other minerals are also available, however, and wolfram (tungsten) and silver were also found, and even gold and uranium in small quantities. Nowadays, the mining of metal has almost ended, the most important mineral being china clay. Some granite is still quarried, but only on a limited scale.

Here are some photographs of some local sites of interest. There are still some things to be seen today, but not much remains except traces of ruined buildings at most of these sites.

If you have viewed the pictures in my gallery, you will have seen the miniature of Geevor mine. This mine was one of the last to continue mining in Cornwall, and has had a long history. The following photograph is one taken of Levant mine, which was an old and relatively successful mine, and which was swallowed up eventually by Geevor; the photograph was taken in the latter part of the last century, and shows the proximity of the mine to the sea.

Levant's workings extend out for a mile under the sea, when my wife and I visited (as tourists) about 10 years ago we got a little certificate each, saying we had visited 'the mine under the sea'! As this mine was worked until relatively recently, and even after it closed was used as a tourist attraction, there is still much to be seen here.

The next photograph is of a mortar (a bit like a small cannon) that used to be at a site on Dartmoor called 'Powder Mills'. Here, they made gunpowder during the second half of the 19th century. It was an ideal spot, with plenty of space, stone and adequate water power to drive the mills. The walls of the buildings remain, and should remain for some time, as the buildings were substantially built - except for the roof, which was deliberately made lightly so it would easily blow off if there was an explosion. The mortar was used for proving the strength of the powder: to be satisfactory, the powder had to fire a ball of known weight at least a certain distance.

Dartmoor is a fairly unforgiving place; I visited this site with a party and an experienced guide some years ago, and he tried to take us on a short cut. Several members of the party got wet and very muddy, and we all ended up well bitten by a cloud of gnats who hadn't fed so well for years!

Dartmoor granite is a very hard-wearing stone, but is a long way from good transport links, which has restricted its commercial viability. My third picture is of an unusual tramway line, made entirely from granite! Granite blocks were cut about 1 foot square section, and about 5 to 8 feet long. A rebate was chiselled out to take the metal wheel of a horse drawn wagon, which could carry up to 3 tons of quarried granite. Granite from here was used to build London Bridge.

The railway was opened in 1820, and was about 8.5 miles long, and dropped 1300 feet in this distance. The picture shows a set of 'points', with a branch line extending to the right. I would have thought that coming down the hill with 3 tons of granite on board was fairly nerve wracking!

My final picture shows the interior of a tunnel that was started in 1880, intending to drain water from a mine on Kit Hill. My wife and I came across this one day, when out walking in the woods. Subsequent investigation revealed that it was called the 'Excelsior' tunnel, and that it had been abandoned after digging some 400 fathoms.

The local claim for fame for this unfinished tunnel was that, in 1959, it was taken over by the Atomic Energy Authority for 'atomic testing' - in fact, they were testing instruments designed to detect underground explosions. This lasted a year or so, and the tunnel, like so many other similar artifacts, was again abandoned. The whole of this particular area of east Cornwall is very rich in mining remains, and many photographs exist, although the buildings themselves are still disappearing.

Copyright © 1996 Roger Yeates
Latest amendment 9 October 1996