Sport played a big part in mining communities. Rugby, football, and Cornish wrestling were all popular. Playing or watching sports gave the miners and their families something to do in their free time and was welcome relief from the toils of the working week. Games and matches were highly social occasions, particularly when teams from different villages or towns would compete against each other.

When mine workers travelled across the globe in search of employment, they kept their favourite sports alive, introducing them to local people and setting up leagues and teams that still exist today.

Cornish wrestling

Cornish wrestling has been practised for centuries. In Cornish dialect, it’s known as ‘wrasslin’ and it’s one of the oldest sports still practiced in Cornwall today. In 1923, the Cornish Wrestling Association was formed to help create a standard set of rules and promote it worldwide.

It’s quite different to other forms of wrestling, like WWF. Wrestlers wear tough jackets which help them grip their opponent more easily – and all holds have to be taken on the other wrestler’s jacket. Holding below the waist, or grabbing fingers or wrists isn’t allowed.  The objective is to throw your opponent and land him as flat as possible on his back.  There’s a complicated scoring system, which is administered by three ‘sticklers’, or referees.

Cornish wrestling has been practiced for centuries.  In Cornish dialect, it’s known as ‘wrasslin’.

Cornish wrestling takes place all over the world. Wherever the mine workers went, they took it with them – just as they did with traditional food like Cornish pasties. It’s still widely practiced and popular in Victoria, Australia, and Grass Valley, California. In Grass Valley, Cornish wrestling competitions form part of their St Piran’s Day celebrations.

Rugby

Three of the countries who have excelled on the world rugby stage - Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – all owe a debt to Cornish miners.  They introduced the game to the areas they went to work in, and gradually the sport developed. 

Teams from each of those countries all played in Cornwall in the early 20th century: New Zealand in1905 and1924, Australia in 1908, South Africa in 1906 and 1912 and the Maori in 1926.

Football

Cornwall also has strong links with Mexico (the silver mining settlements of Pachuca and Real del Monte are now referred to as Mexico’s ‘Little Cornwall’).

While the miners introduced a variety of sports, it was football that made the most impact there – local workers soon developed a passion for El Fútbol. Cornish miners were the driving force behind Mexico’s first football club, the Real del Monte Pachuca Athletic Club in the early years of the 20th century.

The International Mining Games

The International Mining Games were created by the American Mining Schools in 1978, to commemorate the miners lost in the 1972 Sunshine mine disaster in Kellogg, Idaho.

The Games are dedicated to all miners who have lost their lives in the course of duty. They aim to keep old-fashioned mining methods (many of which were developed in Cornwall and date back to the 17th century) alive.  Events include track laying, tramming, hand drilling, surveying and gold panning.

Now an annual event, the Games attract competitors from mining schools all over the globe and are hosted by a different country each year.  In 2018, the 40th International Mining Games were held in Cornwall, at the King Edward Mine in Camborne.

Cornish Pasties

The Cornish Pasty is the ultimate, all-in-one meal. They nourished and sustained miners during their long days underground, when it wasn’t possible to surface for lunch.

A traditional Cornish pasty filling is made up of beef, diced potato, turnip, onion and seasoned with salt and pepper, though pork would have been more readily available in the 19th century. Wrapped in pastry, the crust is thought to have been useful for allowing the miners to hold the pasty with dirty hands, without contaminating their much-needed meal. Pasties were such a common part of miners’ daily lives that some mines had stoves down the mine shafts specifically to cook the raw pasties.

In West Cornish dialect, a pasty was also called a ‘tiddy oggy’. Today, pasties make up 6% of the Cornish food economy.

Miners would often leave part of their pasty crust to the ‘Knockers’ – mischievous spirits who they believed lived in the mines and were thought to cause havoc and misfortune unless they were kept happy with small amounts of food.

Migrating Cornish miners helped to introduce pasties to the rest of the world during the 19th century. ‘Cousin Jacks’ were not slow to seek their fortunes wherever skilled miners were needed, and as tin mining in Cornwall began to fail an increasing number of miners began to travel and bring their expertise and traditions to new mining regions around the world.

As a result, pasties can be found in many other countries, including many parts of Australia (the site of a pasty festival since 1973), Mexico (in which many states consider pasties a typical local cuisine), and parts of America, where Cornish migrants brought their skills working in the mines as well as their recipe for the pasty.

How to make a pasty:

1.    Start by cutting a circle out of pastry

2.    Add the uncooked filling to one half

3.    Fold the other half of the pastry over

4.    Crimp the edge to form a seal

5.    Bake in the oven till cooked and piping hot

The hoggan

The hoggan was also a common favourite and was often made if the ingredients for a pasty were not available. Comprising of flour mixed with water and baked without yeast or other raising agent – but perhaps with a little green (home cured) pork – a hoggan would also be taken underground as the main meal. 

Saffron buns

A traditional Cornish delicacy, also known as a ‘revel bun’ as they were often baked for special occasions (or revels). Saffron buns are made from a rich yeast dough flavoured with saffron and cinnamon or nutmeg with currants and dusted with sugar. Food colouring is now often added to the buns to give them their distinctive yellow appearance due to the high cost of including sufficient saffron. This practice started around the time of the First World War, when saffron was expensive and difficult to get hold of.

In west Cornwall, saffron buns were also called ‘tea treat buns’ as they were often baked for events known as Tea Treats, which were organised by Methodist churches and chapels for the local community. Tea Treats took place during the summer months, often around Whitsun. These were special occasions which often included a parade with everyone dressed up in their best clothes, followed by a tea party which would be attended by the whole town or village.

Cornish mining made substantial technological, social and economic contributions to the British industrial revolution and introduced pioneering industrial practices overseas. This occurred at a crucial formative period in the development of modern industrial society and played a key role in the growth of a global capitalist economy.

The mineral lords had a key part to play.  Not only did they help finance the mines, but they were also influential in helping to set up industrial infrastructure, ancillary businesses and settlements.

Who were the mineral lords?

The Williams family of Scorrier, the Basset family, Sir William Lemon of Carclew and Lord and Lady de Dunstanville were among the most successful mineral lords in Cornwall. Many of them possessed huge acreages of mineral-rich land and were also able to invest capital into the mines themselves.

Much of the wealth they amassed was transformed into great mansions, estates and extensive gardens, many of which can still be seen today. Older estates went through elaborate transformations, complete with lavish ornamental gardens.

Development and influence over the mines

Mineral lords had a huge amount of influence over the development of the mines. John Williams promoted a major drainage adit driving scheme which became arguably the most dramatic engineering achievement within the district. Begun in 1748 to drain Poldice Mine, this extraordinary drainage system was gradually extended to the other mines of the district and eventually became known as the Great County Adit.

Adventurers

Setting up a new mine was a costly business. Adventurers would help finance the cost in return for a share in the profit.  There were huge fortunes to be made, but it was a risky business.  The larger their share, the larger their profit- or loss.  If the mine failed to produce the anticipated amount of ore or ran into problems, they could find themselves in financial difficulty when a ‘call’ for funds was made.

Mineral lords who had the financial capital to also invest in mines stood to gain the most. Sir William Lemon held a quarter share in one of the most profitable of Cornish mines, Wheal Unity.

Captain Thomas of Dolcoath was known to be able to make or break a mine with his leadership.

Cornwall was one of the world’s earliest industrial regions, with a complex and dispersed industrial society. It was unusual in that it never developed a dominant large town or city containing the political, economic and institutional elite, around which the county might have cohered. Instead, ownership and control was spread among the small towns throughout the Cornish countryside. 

Stannary law

Most medieval European mining regions were closely controlled by the state. Cornish mining was different. It had developed under conditions which gave both miners and investors considerable freedom. 

Mining practice in Cornwall was based on Stannary law, which took into account customary mining traditions – including  the adventurers’ right to ‘bound’ land (in other words, to stake a claim to a piece of land for mining purposes without regard for the constraints of normal landed property rights).

The Stannary Courts and Convocation existed in association with the Duchy of Cornwall (the Duchy tied Cornwall and parts of Devon into a close relationship with the Crown) to their mutual advantage.

Roles in the mining industry

Landowners and merchants diversified their portfolios across mining, banking, smelting and other associated enterprises. So capital was dispersed, with no direct social control. The owning class exercised their power through agents and stewards. 

The mineral lord owned the mineral rights to the land (although they didn’t always own the land themselves). Mineral lords stood to make the most money from any mining venture.

Adventurers were investors in the mine. They could make or lose a fortune depending on how the mine performed.

The purser was the mine accountant, often one of the adventurers. The purser was responsible for presenting the accounts at the monthly meetings

Mine agents, more usually known in Cornwall as captains, imposed workplace discipline and social leadership. This was often reinforced by their position as lay preachers in the Methodist chapels which dominated the Cornish religious landscape after the Revivals of 1799 and 1814. Some, like Captain Thomas of Dolcoath, could make or break a mine

The cost book system and count house dinners

The cost book system was how the accounts of a mine were kept. The mine’s investors would attend bi-monthly meetings, where the purser would present the accounts before the count house dinner took place. The investors would either share any profits, or meet the mine’s debts, or ‘calls’. If the mine was running at a loss, the investors’ names would be entered into cost books until they had paid their share of the debt. The dinners were also a chance for investors to socialise and discuss any issues regarding the mine.

Copper mining and industrial growth

Copper was to Cornwall what cotton was to Lancashire. Its production grew phenomenally during the 18th century, and by 1770 the value of the copper industry had outstripped all other national industrial sectors. Huge fortunes were made, so much so that in the early 18th century Cornwall probably had more newly rich than most other English counties.

Mining and banking

One of the key families in the tin smelting industry was the Bolitho family of Penzance.  Money was often advanced to mines or miners by the ‘count house’ of a smelting company and later repaid in tin. Thomas and William Bolitho quickly recognised the opportunity to develop an even more profitable business – and set up the Mounts Bay Commercial Bank in 1807. 

Hot conditions

Miners worked in often cramped levels (tunnels) and stopes (galleries) where temperatures would often soar. The depths of mines in Cornwall were sometimes as much as 300-600 metres, (around 1,000 to 2,000 ft) and high temperatures made working conditions in some of the deepest mines appalling. In Cooks Kitchen Mine near Camborne, the temperature sometimes soared to above 100 degrees Fahrenheit and in 1884, the east end of the level had to be left to cool for two months before it was possible to work there again.

Clothing and personal care

In such temperatures, miners often worked with little clothing. Flannel trousers, heavy boots without socks and a strong, resin-impregnated felt hat with a convex crown on which to secure a candle with a lump of clay, was all that most could suffer to wear. They sometimes left their home clothing in the engine house if they had no proper facilities to wash and change into dry clothes. The engine pool – the water reservoir for a steam engine – was a useful place to remove the worst of the grime at the end of the core (shift) if no washing facilities were available.

To try and improve working conditions, some bigger mines introduced ‘miners’ drys’ – changing facilities at the surface – where miners could wash and put on dry, warm clothing before leaving for home. These gradually became more sophisticated and eventually, by the 20th century, contained heated lockers and bathing facilities.

Dust-filled air

The main problem in the mines was bad air, which could be caused by low oxygen levels or through the presence of dust or fumes from rock blasting.  Miners were often paid for how much ground was broken in a core (shift) and the time taken for blast fumes to disperse was therefore lost to production. This could lead to mine workers taking risks and re-entering a level before the fumes had cleared sufficiently. The air could be so thick with powder smoke at times that it made the miners regularly spit up quantities of black phlegm.

At times, it was almost impossible to see the shining end of the drill steel, which miners had to strike to drive the holes in which to place the explosives, resulting in some of the many accidents which occurred underground. Miners often had to climb vast distances carrying their tools and supplies before and after working but they only got paid when they started work at their pitch.

Surface workers also weren’t immune to the effects of mineral dust, particularly the bal maidens who crushed up copper ore into small fragments on anvils with large hammers. As lots of water was used in the dressing of ores, surface workers’ shoes and clothing were often wet and stained red from the iron oxide in the ore. Bal maidens wore large hats called ‘gooks’ to protect their heads and faces from flying stones, and a coarse hessian apron (a ‘towser’) with their legs wrapped in strips of material to protect them from the cold and damp.

Rock drills

Mineral dust became more of a problem when pneumatic rock drills were introduced in the latter 19th century. These drills rapidly increased productivity, and although the number of Cornish mines fell in 1880, the amount of ore produced per person increased but a terrible price was to be paid for this increase. In the early 1900s, Redruth rock-drill operators who were working on the Rand had an average life expectancy of four years. For this reason, the drills became known as ‘widow makers’.

Sadly, employers were not at all keen to acknowledge the long-term damage that these drills had on their health. There was little in the way of compensation in Cornwall, in contrast to the Rand where miners received a lump sum payment in 1912. It was only when the Cornish Rock Drill, with its water feed to the drill tip, replaced the reciprocating piston drills that any improvement occurred, over 40 years after the large scale introduction of the rock drill to Cornwall.

Man engines

Before the introduction of man engines, which were only installed in the bigger mines due to the high installation and maintenance costs, mine workers often had to climb hundreds of feet of ladders carrying their tools and supplies before and after working. Miners only got paid when they started work at their pitch and they were therefore grateful for any device that spared them the physical ordeal of climbing up and down numerous ladders.

Miners also had to carry their dinner with them, as communal mealtimes were underground. They carried their meal in a metal box called a dinner pail, which commonly contained a ‘pasty’ or ‘hobban’. Water was then carried in a small wooden barrel called an ‘anker’.

The first man engine in Britain was installed at Tresavean Mine in Gwennap in 1842 and the last to operate was at Levant, where a terrible disaster occurred in 1919, claiming the lives of 31 people when the cap that held the rod broke. On the whole, the man engine had a fairly good safety record and doubtlessly saved many miners’ lives, as countless accidents were caused by exhausted and malnourished miners falling from ladders, particularly at the end of shifts.

Accidents and injuries

Death and injury were an everyday threat. Despite later safety improvements, such as ladders being replaced by gigs, conditions remained dangerous below ground. The Health of Towns Association returns for 1841 showed that the average age of death in the Redruth district, the heart of Cornish mining, was 28 years and 4 months. Mining was a dangerous occupation where accidents from falling, blasting, drowning, rock-falls and entanglement in machinery –which often maimed and sometimes killed – were inevitable. Accidents with explosives were also common, even after the introduction of the miners’ safety fuse which was invented by William Bickford in 1831.

In 1846, 31 men were killed in the mines of East Wheal Rose and North Wheal Rose by torrential rain that flooded the workings. In 1893, at Wheal Owles, miners inadvertently broke into the flooded workings of Wheal Drea which caused a catastrophic run to surface, and 19 men and a boy were drowned.

In such damp, moist conditions, a disease named ankylostomiasis thrived. Its symptoms were red skin blotches and anaemia, caused by contact with a parasitic worm that lived in human faeces. It was not until the early 20th century that mines such as Dolcoath introduced pails to curb the spread of the disease, which may have been introduced to Cornish mines by workers returning from South Africa.

Later medical benefits

In 1844 mine adventurers set up a Practical Miner’s Society to address the lack of hospital care. The mine surgeon never ventured underground and injured men had to be hoisted to surface to receive medical attention. The time delay in doing so often proved fatal. Many mines operated a Miners’ Club; a weekly levy to ensure a few shillings a week would be paid to the miner’s family in case of accident or injury.

There was clearly a need for proper medical care, but the only hospital that existed was in Truro. E.W.W. Pendarves offered to turn a country house into a hospital, but these attempts were met with suspicion by the miners, who threatened to tear down any buildings constructed – an attitude by no means unique among British workers at the time.

With diseases and accidents so common in the mining districts, it took a concerted effort by the Rt. Hon. T.C. Agar-Robartes of Lanhydrock to initiate a successful scheme for a miners’ hospital in the 1860s that resulted in a hospital at Redruth supported by Lady Basset of Tehidy, Sir Redvers Buller and Mr Williams of Caerhayes Castle.

Cramped living

For mineworkers and their families, homes were often small, cramped and perhaps unsanitary. Often rented on terms that guaranteed no promise of security, families involved in the mining industry had to learn to become mobile and adaptable.

Beyond the towns and villages, mining families often lived in granite or cob cottages on smallholdings with, perhaps, three to five acres of land to tend. This brought a degree of self-sufficiency where families could grow their food and perhaps keep a pig. Others lived in terraces or rows of cottages, whilst many lived in towns where gardens were small or sometimes replaced by courtyards – offering little opportunity to supplement their diet with garden produce.

Accommodating big families in damp overcrowded cottages with a lack of adequate sanitation meant a daily struggle. Sleeping arrangements were often complicated with several children sleeping in one bed. There would be no indoor water supply or bathroom – the lavatory being an earth closet outside – and the only heat came from an open fire.

Miners’ families often took in lodgers to supplement their incomes. In 1861, over 60% of the lodgers employed in the mining industry in Camborne and Redruth were accommodated in the houses of fellow miners.

Industrialisation

Much of the Cornish mining landscape – over 80,000 hectares – is in upland rough ground; commonly treeless, exposed, and very wet with thin acidic soil. This ancient landscape was once heathland and, until the late 18th century, was largely unfarmed and used for common grazing.

Most of the mining industry’s housing was formerly located within existing market towns and villages in the mining districts, but during the early 19th century the Cornish copper mining industry was expanding into entirely rural areas. Mines were being opened up remote from established settlements, so entirely new villages and towns were developed to accommodate the new industrial population.

Mining wealth accrued by the landowners or mineral lords enabled the construction of grand new estates and gardens, while many older estates underwent elaborate transformations. Mineral lords, such as John Francis Basset, also made available previously uncultivated land for use and over 50,000 hectares were taken into cultivation during the 18th and 19th centuries. The impact on the landscape was considerable at this time with much moor and heathland coming into production for the first time.

Mining radically changed the population distribution within Cornwall, and as the mining industry gathered pace, there was a marked movement of mine workers and their families from west to east. Camborne grew from a small village to one of the largest towns in west Cornwall, witnessing significant inward migration from eight other districts.

Sewage and health problems

Such rapid industrialisation helped to create social problems similar to those encountered in other industrial areas of Britain. In the mid-19th century, the ratio of number of toilets to the number of houses was surprisingly low by modern standards. For this reason, people were forced to relieve themselves behind walls and hedges, making many suburbs offensive.

To make things worse, the towns’ wells were sometimes contaminated with sewage from overflowing communal cesspits, which were sometimes sited uncomfortably close to people’s doors. The suggestive names of such Redruth housing – Dung Pit Houses, Poverty Court and Dirty Court – reflect the poor 19th century living conditions in this part of the town.

In damp, overcrowded cottages, diseases such as typhus were endemic, and typhoid, measles, smallpox and diphtheria were widespread. During the cholera outbreak of 1848/9, figures for the Cornish Registration Districts show that locality was strongly linked to the level of fatalities, which were usually highest in densely populated, unsanitary large towns and mining districts.

Many rural areas were little better. The public outcry against the serious housing shortage and gross overcrowding in the Tavistock area was one reason which prompted the Duke of Bedford to construct purpose-built accommodation for his estate and mine workers.

It was only with the increased public health legislation of the late 19th century that conditions began to improve, but it was not until the mid 20th century that many mining villages received piped water or sewage systems. This did not occur in some of the former mining villages of the St Just and Gwennap districts until the 1960s.

Rough neighbourhoods

Many of Cornwall’s mining towns and villages were rough places where rioting, fighting and heavy drinking were commonplace. Mine workers often met in local pubs or ‘kiddleywinks’ (beer shops) to split their monthly earnings. Gambling, singing and heavy drinking often ensued, leading to ‘Maze Monday’ when men were still too inebriated to turn up for work. Too much drink on payday was often the cause of disturbances, which led to Temperance Societies in some towns setting up Coffee Taverns as an alternative to the pubs.

Prostitution also flourished in many mining towns. The row of stones opposite Wheal Betsy engine house at Mary Tavy earned the sobriquet ‘Annie Pinkham’s Men’, an echo of the former prostitution in the village. Desperate times often called for desperate measures and reports of the concealment of births by women who had become pregnant out of wedlock made their way into the 19th century press with depressing regularity.

A closer community

Although many had a reputation for roughness, Cornish mining villages were usually close-knit places where people were often related and looked out for one another. 

Episodes of crime, rioting and prostitution were only one side of life in mining communities. Mining towns and villages were also places where people could forget their worries and problems by attending events organised by local chapels, such as improvement societies, bazaars, penny readings and choral ensembles. Feasts and celebrations emerged – many marked by games, fireworks and singing – which were often a joyous sense of local identity. 

The annual Sunday School Tea Treat, parish feast day and annual harvest were keenly awaited events in the social calendar. Lamp societies were established to raise money to put up gas lighting in mining villages in the late 19th century and women were involved in charity organisations such as the Dorcas Society to raise money for clothing and bedding for the most needy. 

There were also new roads to self-improvement; Miners and Mechanics Institutes, reading rooms, music and poetry, and above all, Methodism. Although residing in humble surroundings, pride and thrift were qualities encouraged by Methodism, meaning that a miner’s home was usually clean, his children as well fed as possible and their clothes, although old, laundered and neatly patched.

Later in the 19th century, civic pride resulted in towns such as Liskeard, Truro, Redruth and Camborne making great attempts to outdo each other, erecting grand municipal buildings and elaborate shop fronts, as well as improving facilities such as public parks and gardens.

Methodism is a branch of Christianity which was founded by John Wesley and his brother Charles in the mid-18th century. It was initially their intention to invigorate the Church of England from within; however the Wesleys eventually broke away, mainly because the Church of England found it difficult to incorporate evangelism. Methodism spoke to the Cornish people in a language they could understand and helped them to make sense of a rapidly changing world. Chapels became the hub of the community in most Cornish mining towns and villages, bringing people together for social events as well as services. Music also had an important role to play. Charles Wesley wrote many of the early Methodist hymns, several of which are still sung today. The development of male voice choirs also stemmed from this period.

John and Charles Wesley

John and Charles Wesley’s arrival in Cornwall in 1743 was a part of a broader evangelical awakening that included widely separated ‘revivals’ in parts of Wales and the North America in the 1730s and Scotland in the 1740s. John Wesley’s message was enthusiastically accepted by Cornish communities and by 1750 Methodist societies had been established in 30 of the mining communities in the west, with four societies in north-east Cornwall

Methodism: the people’s faith

Methodism was very much a community faith; meetings were held in cottages and barns which made services easily accessible and ideally suited to the close-knit societies that were formed around Cornish metal mining.  The domestic setting helped integrate spirituality and rationality with Cornish indigenous folk beliefs.

These small groups of early Methodists were closely bound together by a word-of-mouth network and the constant movements of itinerants and lay preachers, who were able to travel and interact with different communities in ways that would have been near impossible for the Anglican clergy, who were tied to the church building itself. The use of charismatic lay preachers, like Billy Bray, who preached to the people in the dialect they spoke, gave people sense of social inclusion. Huge crowds were drawn to open-air meetings, and Wesley preached to hundreds at a time in places such as Gwennap Pit.

Methodist beliefs

And then there was the message of Methodism itself, with its simple doctrine of justification through faith and instant salvation. This important message brought comfort, hope and security to a population that faced daily dangers in the hazardous environment of metal mines and increasing uncertainty in a world being rapidly reshaped by industrialisation.

Women and Methodism

The outburst of ‘cottage religion’ from the 1780s to the 1830s allowed women to actively aid the spread of the Methodist message at grass roots level. Over 56% per cent of the West Cornwall circuit (groups of congregations) were women in 1767, showing the significance of their early involvement in its spread in Cornish communities.

Methodist revivals in Cornwall

The most distinctive thing about Cornish Methodism was its revivals (periodic upsurges of religious fervour that swept through communities), which saw chapels remain continually open for days. Revivals were the means by which all the Methodist chapels gained members, and the great revivals of 1799 and 1814 helped to firmly establish Methodism in Cornwall.

The link between mining and Methodism was strengthened by the role played by the newly emerging entrepreneurial and merchant class, which was becoming particularly conspicuous where the influence of the Anglican Church was already in decline. Numerous mine captains were also Methodist preachers who communicated to their communities the powerful messages of respectability and self-improvement, thus helping to ensure that Methodism became the most relevant religious institution for labourers and the working class.

Chapels

Methodist chapels remain a highly visible manifestation of 19th-century industrial society and both their character and distribution are often closely related to the development of mining in the region. The 19th century also saw the building of new Church of England churches in the mining areas, such as those at Charlestown and St Day, the latter probably as a direct response to the perceived dominance of Methodism in the area.

Cornish Methodism abroad

Cornish Methodism was also carried overseas to areas such as South Australia, Canada and the American Upper Mid-West, where Cornish communities flourished. Many of the most well-known names in Cornish Methodism were from mining backgrounds. These include political leaders such as Michael Foot, popular evangelist Bible Christian preacher Billy Bray, miner poet John Harris and organist and choirmaster, Thomas Merritt. Merritt’s carols are not only performed in contemporary Cornwall, but also carried to the gold fields of western America and the copper triangle of South Australia. They are still performed in overseas communities today; a continuing reminder of the symbiosis of mining and Methodism.

Symbols of great wealth

While upward social mobility meant that people with new money were able to move to more attractive areas of towns and villages, the landed classes – many of whom made huge fortunes form the mining industry – were keen to reflect their success and status. 

During the expansive period of industrialisation many new estates were built, including a mansion at Scorrier constructed by the Williams family and Carclew, the home of William Lemon. Older estates underwent elaborate transformations. Tehidy, the seat of the Basset family, was one of these. The mansion was rebuilt by John Francis Basset in 1861, reflecting the fortune he had made from local mines. His yearly income from the Dolcoath and South Frances mines was about £20,000 (worth approximately £860,000 today). 

These elegant mansions boasting well stocked libraries, music rooms and conservatories crammed with plants were shielded from the source of their wealth – acres of mine tips and industrial buildings that ‘scarred’ the landscape – by lavish ornamental gardens.

The rise of horticulture

Horticulture became increasingly popular amongst the wealthy during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Several of the families involved with the mining industry became notable horticulturalists. Many sponsored plant-hunting expeditions all over the world to look for new species they could bring back to Cornwall.  

Due to Cornwall’s mild climate, many of the plants and shrubs brought back from more tropical regions flourished here, particularly in the more sheltered, south-facing gardens. Rhododendrons, brought back from India and the surrounding areas, and tree ferns, which originate from New Zealand and Australia, have flourished in Cornish gardens. As a result, many of the gardens that developed during this period have become internationally renowned.

Carclew House

Once home to one of the great Cornish mining dynasties, the Lemon family, Carclew was destroyed by fire in 1934. Sir Charles Lemon’s family was one of the first to receive and grow rhododendrons from seed around 1850, sent from Sir Joseph Hooker’s expedition to the Himalayas. 

Trengwainton House

Trengwainton House was bought by the Bolitho family, one of the great Cornish mining families in 1867.  When Lt. Col. Edward Bolitho inherited the garden in 1925, he set about transforming the garden with exotic species. He sponsored a plant-hunting expedition to Assam and the Mishmi Hills in Burma in 1927-8. Many of the specimens brought back from that venture had never been grown in the UK before.  The rhododendrons at Trenwainton today were grown from seeds brought back by that expedition. 

The property is now owned by the National Trust, and the gardens are open for visitors.

Trevarno House

Trevarno House, formerly the home of the Wallis mining family, later became the home of the Bickford-Smiths (safety-fuse manufacturers). It’s famous for its magnificent gardens. It is now privately owned and not open to the public.

Tehidy House

The Tehidy estate had been owned by the Basset family since Norman times. During the height of the mining boom, the family’s wealth grew exponentially as a result of income from mining and land rents. The house was rebuilt by John Francis Basset between 1861-1863.  The estate was sold by the Basset family in 1916.  The mansion was destroyed by fire in 1919, and replaced by the new owners in 1922.

Not only did women play a key part in the home life of miners by keeping their homes and smallholdings running whilst raising families alongside taking in extended family members, they also worked at the mines themselves. Known as Bal maidens - from “bal” meaning “mining place” in our Cornish language - women and girls were found in great numbers at many Cornish mines, skilfully sorting ore and wielding heavy “bucking” and “cobbing” hammers” to break the rock before further processing. 

Women were active in methodism - the “miners’ religion” - and have also been recorded as occupying more senior positions in mining. Women played an essential part in the Cornish mining story.

Bal Maidens

Mining was frequently a family affair. In the early 1800s, women and children were working in the mines as well. Although women are not reported as working underground, young women took work as bal maidens, dressing ore at surface. Using special hammers, they would carefully select and crush the ore to a manageable size before further processing. Heavy “bucking” and “cobbing” hammers were used for this which required particular techniques to effectively separate the ore from the waste mineral (known as gangue). 

Teams of women and girls were also employed in barrowing ore around the dressing floors. They worked in pairs using hand barrows, often carrying over 68kg (more than the weight of an average man) between them. A famous bal maiden named Grace Briney was even known for carrying out “kibble landing”, a physically intensive job mainly carried out by men. Quite an eccentric character, Grace also was known to smoke a pipe and dress as a man.  

Working on the mine dressing floors was hard, physical work which soon took a toll on their health and appearance. Even though they took pains to protect the faces from the sun, wearing cardboard hoods (gooks) to shade their complexions, contemporary writers noted their rough, chapped hands. Bal maidens often bought fancy gloves, which weren’t a luxury for these women, but a way of trying to stay young and attractive.

By eight or nine, a miner’s son or daughter was old enough to make their contribution to the family's income. Many boys also worked alongside the men, women and girls at surface, in the dressing of ore and in tending mine horses and machinery. This was seen as an apprenticeship of sorts before going underground when older.

Boss ladies

The majority of the managerial positions at mines in Cornwall and west Devon were occupied by men but very occasionally women appear in the mining records. Lydia Taylor is a notable example and is understood to have acted as mine manager at Wheal Lovell, Wendron, in the early 1840s. While little else is known of Lydia’s life she is also understood to have been associated with South Wheal Towan Mine, alternatively known as Wheal Lydia.

In the home

Mining was a dangerous job, and this often meant a high number of widows both young and old. Census records show that when a sister, sister-in-law, auntie, mother or grandmother became widowed, she would often move in with extended family. Records from the time also show that miner’s wives did not only work as Bal maidens, but also as farm workers on the smallholdings kept by miners to supplement their income. 

This meant alongside their responsibilities in the household taking care of children, extended family and husbands, making sure were well presented and well fed, and living in a tidy if small home, these women were also tending the family’s smallholding.

Women in religion

Fairly unusually for the time women played an active part in religion in Cornwall. Methodism, the “miners’ religion”, would often have women holding “cottage religion”; informal worship in the home in 1780s to the 1830s and allowed women to actively aid the spread of the Methodist message at grass roots level. Over 56 per cent of the West Cornwall circuit (groups of congregations) were women in 1767, showing the significance of their early involvement in its spread in Cornish communities.

Methodism also encouraged pride and thrift, meaning that a miner’s home was usually clean, his children as well fed as possible and their clothes, although old, laundered and neatly patched. This took place alongside working in the mines and community commitments within religion and unpaid care work of the extended family. Women worked hard to maintain the household and their families well-fed, all on a small budget.