By 1840 Cornish engines and engineers were the most distinguished in the world.

These industries (many new in Cornwall) included foundries; copper, tin and silver-lead smelters; rope-walks; ochre-works; arsenic works; chemical works; charcoal manufactories; candle factories; crucible works; brickworks; clothing factories; scientific instrument manufactories; gunpowder mills and explosives factories.

Foundries

Parts for steam engines were made in foundries and forges. Initially Cornwall did not possess any foundries capable of casting and boring cylinders. The Darby firm of Coalbrookdale in Shropshire (established 1709) was one of the principal founders of iron cylinders and, together with others in the Midlands, supplied almost all the early engines in Cornwall.

It was not until the end of the 18th century that Cornwall began making its own steam engines. The expiry of the Watt Patent in 1800 heralded a period of experimentation in Cornwall by engineers such as Sims, Woolf, Trevithick and Hornblower. From about 1820 virtually all the local mines bought ‘Cornish’ and by 1840 Cornish engines and engineers were the most distinguished in the world. Globally, as new mineral discoveries were made, so mine engines were despatched to South America, Australia, Ireland and South Africa; in fact, wherever deep mining was being progressed.

Three of the largest foundries were Harvey’s Foundry (Hayle), Copperhouse Foundry (Hayle) and Perran Foundry (Perranarworthal). Together they were responsible for the employment of more than 3,000 people during the 19th century.

Harvey’s Foundry, Hayle (1779-1903)

Harvey’s was indisputably the greatest of the Cornish foundries. It was established in 1779 by John Harvey and greatly expanded by his son Henry in collaboration with the renowned engineer Arthur Woolf. It became the foremost engine foundry in the world with an international market served through the company’s own port at Foundry town, Hayle.

Perran Foundry, Perran-ar-Worthal (1791-1879)

The Perran Foundry and Wharf stand on the level valley floor at the navigable limit of an inlet leading to the River Fal. It was the second largest foundry in Cornwall and is considered one of the most important surviving industrial monuments of its period in southern Britain.

Perran Foundry was established by the Fox family in 1791, trading under the name Foxes & Perran Foundry Co, and between 1858 and 1879 under the name Williams & Perran Foundry Co after the Williams family became major shareholders. It manufactured a wide range of mining implements and steam engines. During this period a complex of leats, foundry buildings, stores, facilities for transport and other services including offices and worker's houses were developed. By 1860, the works covered six acres and employed 400 men. It continued in operation until a decline in the fortunes of the local mining industry forced it to close in 1879.

Copperhouse Foundry (1820-1869)

The Cornish Copper Company started a foundry in their former copper smelting complex in Hayle when smelting ceased there after 1819. This traded as Sandys, Carne and Vivian and was one of the three great Cornish engine foundries. The 80-inch Robinson’s Shaft engine at South Crofty Mine, Pool (built in 1854), is testament to the quality of the products being produced by the foundry at the time.

Other Foundries

Cornwall and west Devon foundries and engineering works also specialised in the manufacture and supply of a wide range of mining equipment. There were important foundries also in Tavistock (e.g. Mount Foundry), Camborne, Charlestown, St Just, Tuckingmill, Redruth, St Blazey, St Austell and Wadebridge.

Holmans of Camborne was established as a boiler works at Pool in 1801. It developed into the principal employer in the district (over 3,000 employees) and expansion had a significant impact upon the urban development of Camborne. In the early 20th century Holmans became synonymous worldwide with excellence in rock-drills and air compressors.

Tin Smelting

Tin smelting in Cornwall was, on the whole, a more capital-intensive and lucrative business than mining and was controlled by a ‘ring’ or cartel of a few families. Money was often advanced to mines or miners, to be re-paid in tin. For the Bolitho family of Penzance this practice led to them becoming bankers. Thomas and William Bolitho founded The Mounts Bay Commercial Bank in 1807 in the count-house of their Chyandour Smelting House. The Consolidated Bank of Cornwall was taken over by Barclays Bank in 1905. The principal Cornish families engaged in tin smelting were the Daubuzes, the Williams, the Harveys and the Bolithos.

A landmark technical improvement in Cornish tin smelting came in 1702. This was the introduction of the reverberatory furnace at Newham (Truro). This used coal instead of charcoal and the charge of tin was no longer mixed with (and contaminated by) the fuel but was reduced by the application of heat alone.

By the 19th century, most tin smelting was conducted in reverberatory furnaces, although the larger and more important blowing houses remained until the mid-century, producing the purer and more valuable ‘grain’ tin. Tin smelters within the region were initially concentrated close to the Stannary Towns and navigable rivers or harbours, and near the principal tin mines. As the century progressed, smelting houses were established in new or developing mining areas as these, in turn, became important for tin production. Most of the major early tin smelters were concentrated in Penzance, Hayle, Truro and the St Austell area. Later, when rail transport had developed (and after tin ‘coinage’ (tax) had been abolished) Redruth became an important centre for tin smelting.

Copper Smelting

The technical complexity of copper smelting meant that sites needed to be close to a plentiful and consistent mix of copper ores. Large amounts of coal were also needed for fuel and the reduction process. Copper smelting was carried out in Cornwall in several locations but principally by the Cornish Copper Company at Hayle (1758-1819). In time, however, this was proven to be uneconomic and all copper was subsequently smelted in south Wales after 1819, it making better commercial sense to ship the ore to the coalfields.

Shipments were mostly of hand-picked, crushed (‘cobbed’) raw ore but later partly smelted regulus was sent also. While ores were initially sent to Bristol for smelting, Swansea was later to dominate due to its readily accessible coal reserves and good shipping links. The transport of millions of tons of copper ore accounts for the once extensive mule trade, the tramroads and railways, quays, industrial harbours and shipping fleets. The ‘Welsh Fleet’ brought coal for Cornwall’s steam engines as back loads in the copper-ore barques. In the Swansea region, copper smelting (and indeed much of the tin-plate industry) was in the hands of Cornish industrialists, including the Williams and Vivian families.

Arsenic Works

During the early 19th century Cornwall pioneered world arsenic production as a by-product of tin and copper mining in the western mining districts. The first commercial British arsenic was produced at Perran-ar-Worthal in 1812, followed by a works at Bissoe (1834) in the Carnon Valley that became a stronghold of arsenic production mainly trading with the expanding Lancashire cotton industry which used it in pigments and dyes.

During the latter half of the 19th century the working of arsenic provided several more years of profitable work for some flagging copper mines, and in some cases these ores became their principal output. Substantial works were established at the English Arsenic Company factory at Roseworthy, Gwithian and at Greenhill near Gunnislake, but the largest in the region was at Devon Great Consols, which at its peak produced 3,000 tons of refined arsenic a year. In the 1870s a handful of mines in the Tamar Valley mining district were producing over half of the world’s arsenic.

Gunpowder Mills

In 1836 alone, more than 30 tonnes of gunpowder were used in Cornish mines.

Gunpowder was very expensive, largely because of the monopoly on saltpetre. It was made by mixing and grinding charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre together in water powered incorporating mills. The process was complex with many stages, and also extremely dangerous as gunpowder dust could be readily ignited by the smallest spark.

Gunpowder was imported into Cornwall until 1808 when the first Cornish gunpowder factory opened at Cosawes Wood, Perran-ar-Worthal, about 5 miles from Falmouth. The site at Cosawes and at other works - such as the one at nearby Kennall Vale which followed in 1813 - were chosen for their seclusion in wooded river valleys. This ensured both the availability of water power and the relative safety of nearby settlements, shielded as they were by the trees. These also served to shield the process buildings and storage magazines from one another, should an explosion take place. The roofs of the buildings were also designed to blow off relatively harmlessly in the event of a detonation.

The adoption of gunpowder for mine blasting in Cornwall in1689 represented a great technological breakthrough. By 1836 the consumption of this was considerable with more than 30 tonnes being used in Cornish mines. The first practical high-explosive ever fired in a mine in Cornwall was that at the Restormel Iron Mine (managed by John Taylor) at Lostwithiel in 1846. By the 1870s high explosives were starting to come into wider use being more efficient than the relatively slow burning gunpowder.

Dynamite

In 1866, Alfred Nobel (1833-96) invented dynamite. This nitroglycerine-based explosive reached Britain the following year and Cornwall soon after. The principal Cornish gunpowder manufacturer, Shilson, set up the National Explosives Company in 1888.

The first factory was built amidst the protective sand dunes of Hayle Towans and soon became one of the leading manufactories in Britain. In 1889 the British & Colonial Explosives Company was formed, and the site chosen for the new factory was a hectare of remote old mining ground at St George’s Common on the cliffs west of Perranporth. Extensive structures survive, both at Hayle and at Perranporth.

Religious buildings

Methodist chapels provide some of the most conspicuous evidence of the social impact of mining in the area. Huge numbers of towns and villages throughout the Site contain Methodist chapels, as Methodism was the spiritual support of choice for the majority of mine workers and their families. In Redruth’s Wesley Street there are two impressive buildings dedicated to Methodism – the Redruth Wesley Chapel and the Wesley Memorial Hall.

Church of England churches, such as those at Charlestown and St Day, were also built in prominent mining regions during this time, the latter most probably as a reaction to the perceived dominance of Methodism in the area. Although not built until the end of the 19th century, Truro Cathedral owes its magnificent architecture to the prosperity gained from tin mining and one benevolent mineral lord.

Libraries

Many of the public library buildings in Cornwall’s mining towns were bequested by editor and philanthropist John Passmore Edwards (1823-1911). He enabled the public library buildings at Bodmin, Camborne, Falmouth, Launceston, Liskeard, Penzance, Redruth, St Ives and Truro.

Redruth’s old Post Office at Alma Place was restored after being damaged by a fire in 1982. It was in use as the Cornish Centre and housed the Cornish Studies Library until 2019, when these relocated to the Kresen Kernow site at the former Redruth Brewery. Kresen Kernow is now the primary record centre for Cornwall and holds a wealth of archive material relating to mining.

Hotels

Tabb’s Hotel was a four-storey building in Redruth which was rebuilt in 1894 and turned into a hotel. Regular ore ‘ticketings’ (sale auctions) had been held at the site since the 1720s but Tabb’s was unfortunately demolished to make way for a supermarket in 1968. Many of the remaining buildings of Fore Street give a good impression of the wealth present in the town during the 19th and early 20th centuries, however.   

St Just also showcases a number of 19th century hotels surrounding the Bank Square area. Porthledden House, a 21-bedroom mansion with views across the Atlantic Ocean, was built in 1909 by Captain Francis Oats on his return to Cornwall from South Africa. The building was later turned into a hotel by Oats’ son before being sold in the 1950s.

Schools

The early 19th century chapel at Porkellis in the Wendron mining district was converted into a school room when the 1866 chapel was built alongside. It contains one of the most complete internal survivals of a large rural chapel in Cornwall.

Plans to establish an educational institution specialising in hard rock mining were first drawn up in 1829. By the end of the 19th century, three full-time mining schools had been established in Cornwall in Redruth, Penzance and Camborne. In the early 1900s, the decision was made to amalgamate them together under one name. Now known as the Camborne School of Mines, the school currently forms part of the University of Exeter and has relocated to the university’s Tremough campus in Cornwall as of 2004. It remains one of the world’s most renowned mining schools.

Institutes

A number of institutes were founded in Cornwall and west Devon in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, paying homage to the region’s mining expertise.

In 1833, The Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society (RCPS) was founded in Falmouth by Robert Fox and his two daughters Anna Maria and Caroline, marking the establishment of the first polytechnic in England. Many technological innovations were showcased at its annual member’s exhibitions, and Alfred Nobel demonstrated the first use of nitroglycerine anywhere in the world at the exhibition in 1865 – nearly blowing the roof off! The RCPS building was designed by George Wightwick and still stands in the centre of Falmouth Town.

The second oldest geological society in the world was founded in Penzance in 1814 as the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall. The technical education of mine workers was facilitated by a number of local organisations such as the St Agnes Miners’ and Mechanics’ Institute, the St Just Miners’ Institute, and the Carharrack Institution.

Alfred Nobel demonstrated the first use of nitroglycerine anywhere in the world at the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society exhibtion in 1865 – nearly blowing the roof off of the place!

The St Agnes Institute was founded in the 1840s. The building was one of four bequeathed by Passmore Edwards once its construction was completed in 1893. This building has recently received a £970,000 restoration to return it to regular public use once more. 

In 1845 the Truro Savings Bank was built and later became Henderson’s Mining School. Since 1919, this building has been home to the Royal Institution of Cornwall, which was founded in 1818. In 1986 the RIC acquired the adjacent Truro Baptist Chapel (built in 1848). Both buildings were designed by local architect Philip Sampbell.

Other public buildings

St Agnes mining district is home to Trevaunance Manor. Originally built by the Tonkin family using money made from the area’s mining industry, it was said to contain over 100 rooms including its own chapel. Today it remains as a more modest residence.

The Mining Exchange in Redruth’s Alma Place, where local dealing took place amongst mine captains, dates back to 1880. The building; thought to be designed by local architect Samson Hill, cost £500 to build. It underlines Redruth’s role as the commercial capital of Cornish mining and stands as a reminder of Cornwall’s world-renowned mining prowess throughout the 19th century.

Alongside the public buildings, constructed as a result of Cornwall’s industrial prowess, the settlements have a dramatic effect on the physical landscape we see today.

Prominent settlements

Mining radically changed the population distribution within Cornwall. As the industry gathered pace in mid and east Cornwall, there was a marked movement from St Austell to Liskeard and St Cleer, and longer distance movements of miners and their families from west to east – for example, from Gwennap to Calstock and Breage to Menheniot.

By the 19th century around 25% of Cornwall’s population was employed in the mines alone. Cornish copper accounted for more than one third of the world’s production during the 18th century and nearly all of it came from the region between Truro and Hayle. Much of this area was remote from previous settlements and, up until the 1840s, every Parish west of Truro experienced rapid population growth. The areas below also experienced remarkable increases in population as entirely new settlements were established around the mines.

St Just

Between 1831 and 1841, the town of St Just trebled in area.

Although some growth had already taken place in St Just by the 17th century, the rapid growth of the mining industry during the early decades of the 19th century completely transformed this quiet backwater. Census returns show that the parish population grew from 2,779 in 1801 to 9,290 in 1861. Between 1831 and 1841, the town trebled in area and mine employees made up a third of the local population.

Nearby, existing hamlets like Bojewyan Stennack, Botallack, Boscaswell, Carnyorth, Trewellard, Nancherrow and Kenidjack grew rapidly into substantial settlements whose occupants worked almost exclusively at the local mines. The boom was short-lived, however, lasting a little over half a century.

Hayle

Hayle developed into one of the country’s main industrial ports, serving many surrounding mines from the mid-18th century. It became home to two internationally renowned iron foundries, Copperhouse Foundry and Harvey’s Foundry. These were largely responsible for the growth of Hayle during the 19th century as the twin settlements of Copperhouse and Foundry developed next to each other.

Although Copperhouse Foundry has been lost to later developments, much of Harvey’s Foundry survives – giving a good impression of the scale and importance of engineering to Hayle in the 19th century. A good range of worker’s housing, villas and early shop fronts can also still be seen alongside industrial and public buildings.

Tavistock

Lying east of the Tamar in Devon, Tavistock is unlike any town within the Cornwall and west Devon mining district. The dramatic remodelling of much of the medieval town (by the 7th Duke of Bedford) during the mid-19th century was achieved with profits from his mines. A substantial proportion of the mining workforce was housed in model cottages built within the town, at the mines and across his estate. In the Tavistock District, the population grew by 30 percent between 1841 and 1851.

Gwennap – Chacewater

Historically, the Gwennap to Chacewater mining district was the richest in Cornwall during the late 18th and early 19th centuries and was referred to by contemporary writers as the “the copper kingdom”. Gwennap was also “…said to have yielded from a given space more mineral wealth than any other spot in the Old World.” In 1801, this parish had a population of 4,594. By 1841 it had mushroomed to 10,794.

Camborne – Redruth

This area, focused around Carn Brea, was the most important and complex of the mining districts in Cornwall and west Devon. It contained the majority of its most significant mines and key industrial enterprise and as such experienced widespread urbanisation of what had been a rural landscape. Redruth’s population grew from 4,924 to 11,504 between 1801 and 1861. Camborne grew from a small village to one of the largest towns in west Cornwall, witnessing significant inward migration from eight other districts.

Treffry Viaduct

After inheriting the estates of the Treffry’s family in 1813, Joseph Austen (later Joseph Treffry) had begun to take advantage of the Luxulyan Valley by building a new artificial harbour and canal to link up by inclined plane to Lanescot Mine and Fowey Consols. For the tram road which was later built across the valley, a high-level crossing of the river was required. The solution was this 198m long, 30m high viaduct – the most advanced engineering project in the western peninsula at the time.

Calstock Viaduct

Calstock Viaduct was built to carry the East Cornwall Mineral Railway at high level over the River Tamar. It stands 37m high with 12 18m-wide arches and was built between 1904 and 1907 following the construction of the Brunel Bridge.

Penponds Viaduct

Penponds Viaduct was built by the West Cornwall Railway in 1857 to replace an inclined plane that had been built 20 years before by the Hayle Railway. Penponds is situated close to Camborne.

Canals

As many of the area’s mines were relatively close to navigable water, canals were generally a less practical option for transportation. However, there were exceptions – most commonly in eastern parts of the Site.

Tavistock Canal

John Taylor’s intention in constructing the Tavistock Canal was to link the copper mines he managed in the Tavistock area to the River Tamar, the principal transport route to the sea from Plymouth. Building started in 1802 and on completion in 1817 it stood at 7.2km long.

Liskeard & Looe Union Canal

This canal linked Moorswater with Looe and opened in 1827. It became a popular route from the Caradon mines following the discovery of copper ore at South Caradon Mine in 1836. Eventually it was proving to be insufficient for the volume of mineral output from the district and so the railway connection was extended down to Looe in1860, rendering the canal redundant.

Par Canal

Opening in 1829, the Par Canal was constructed to connect Par to the foot of Penpillick Hill and later to Ponts Mill. This connected by inclined plane to Lanescot Mine and Fowey Consols and was part of the development of the Luxulyan Valley initiated by Treffry.

Cornwall has an extensive coastline and a long maritime tradition, but until the late-18th century it had few large specialised ports. The mining trade prompted the development of specialist industrial harbours throughout the region. Pre-eminent amongst these were: Portreath, Hayle and Devoran. These jointly handled almost all the requirements and output of the mines and industries of west Cornwall. Smaller harbours were also built at St. Agnes, Par and Charlestown. Harbours and quays at Newquay, St Michael’s Mount, Porthleven, Looe, Calstock, Morwellham and New Quay were enlarged to cope with several phases of the expansion of mineral output.

Supplies

Cornwall and west Devon had no suitable coal of its own, the inferior coals found in north and south Devon being mainly used domestically and for lime-burning. All the region’s needs were brought from the coalfields of the Bristol area and subsequently from South Wales; an unlimited supply made accessible by sea and navigable river systems. Timber was also required in immense quantities for pump rods and underground props. Pitch Pine was found to be particularly suitable and was imported in great quantities from Scandinavia and Canada, again by sea.

Exports

By far the greatest volume of transport from the mines was that of copper ore to the nearest port for shipment to South Wales for smelting. It was transported in its raw state, whereas other exports like tin or arsenic were smelted or processed in Cornwall before being shipped. Mines in the region were often  concentrated on or near outcrops of granite and their associated ore bodies and a substantial transport network that formed a reliable, economic and high capacity link from mine to port, developed.

Portreath

Constructing the harbour at Portreath may have begun as early as 1760. It was described in 1827 as perhaps Cornwall's most important port; it has strong links with South Wales where coal was procured and Cornish copper smelted. Hundreds of local men left here on the coal ships for South Wales on their way via copper ore barques to work as miners in Cuba in the 1830s and 40s.

The Portreath Tramroad (1809) and the Portreath branch of the Hayle Railway (1838) linked the mines in the Camborne & Redruth and Gwennap mining districts with the port. The harbour was too exposed to be safely used in bad weather. For this reason, an inner basin was added in 1846, but it still remained dangerous to enter. An outer basin was added in 1880. The decline in the amount of copper ore being raised inland meant that the port began to diversify from the 1850s to the 1920s. Shipbuilding flourished in the 1860s and 70s, as did seine fishing until the disappearance of the pilchard shoals in the 20th century.

Hayle

Hayle’s setting within a natural estuary and its proximity to the major copper and tin mines of Camborne and Redruth gave this area an important role. As a key sea port, Hayle not only had vital links with South Wales and the Swansea copper smelters (being on the north Cornish coast) but also reached out to the far corners of the world. Cornish beam engines built here were exported for use across four continents. Much of Hayle’s large harbour infrastructure survives and gives an idea of the scale of industrial activity which took place here during the 19th century.

Devoran

Different in character from other mineral ports in Cornwall, Devoran was planned from the outset to be a complete new town. Symmetrically designed and built, it remains the best example in Cornwall at this scale of a planned 19th century settlement, intended to be more than just a mineral port – a place of general trade, professional and commercial significance. Before the 1820s tin streaming, mining, foundries and metal smelting were located at Devoran. From 1824 the Redruth & Chasewater Railway linked Devoran to principal Cornish mining areas, making it a major industrial port in Cornwall for the 40-year heyday of Cornish copper mining.

Charlestown

Designed by the foremost civil engineer of the day (John Smeaton FRS, 1724-1792), Charlestown is one of the finest examples of late 18th and early 19th century industrial harbour works in Britain. It is also the best-preserved china clay and copper ore port of its period anywhere in the world.

Charlestown was built for Charles Rashleigh (1747-1825), a local industrialist who had acquired the small settlement of Polmear in 1784 as part of a larger land deal. Work began in 1792 and involved the construction of a breakwater and outer harbour, an inner wet dock, and a seven-mile leat to bring water from the Luxulyan Valley. This fed two reservoirs on the west of the village, which were used to scour the outer harbour and keep the wet dock full. Polmear became known as Charles Town very soon after the works commenced.

As well as the export of copper, china-clay, and china-stone, Charlestown imported coal and supported pilchard fishing and processing, limekilns, a ropewalk and shipbuilding.

Morwellham Quay

Morwellham is strategically sited at the centre of the Tamar Valley mining district. It is 3km below the tidal limit near Gunnislake and 32km upstream from Plymouth. The port occupies the floodplain of a wide bend in the river and is backed by sharply rising and thickly wooded valley sides which rise to over 180m. It was connected to Tavistock (6.5km away) via the Tavistock Canal completed in 1817. Morwellham was also connected to Devon Great Consols by a standard gauge mineral railway (and inclined plane) in 1859.

They may be long closed down, but many of them are still fascinating to explore by foot or bicycle. Until the 19th century mules were used to transport coal to – and tin and copper ores from – mines as the roads were unsuitable for heavy use, particularly in winter months. During the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) fodder prices rose steeply, side-lining mules and leading to the emergence of Cornwall’s first tramways and railways.

Cast iron rails were first adopted in Coalbrookdale (Shropshire) in 1767 and short industrial tramroads were soon in use at mines and quarries across the country. Far heavier loads could now be moved, by the same power, than on the finest road surface. 

Linking up the industry

During the 1820s, many of the more important mines in the region adopted horse-drawn tramroads to link production shafts and dressing floors. Traction continued to be provided by horse and mule power until steam locomotives were introduced. The early Cornish tramroads and railways were built to link copper mines with mineral ports. Up until the early 19th century, almost the entire copper mining region was within a 13km radius of Carn Brea.

Portreath Plateway (1809) 

Portreath Plateway, the first of the mineral lines, was started in 1809 to link the copper mines of North Downs and the Gwennap district with the harbour of Portreath on the north coast. It was leased from the Bassets of Tehidy and promoted by the Williams family and their friends, the Foxes of Falmouth. Gwennap parish alone produced one third of the total output of Cornish copper and mines such as Poldice benefited greatly from the new plateway. Poldice was both the richest mine in Gwennap and the last to close down (in 1873). It had gradually switched from tin to prolific copper production during the last quarter of the 18th century. 

Redruth & Chasewater Railway (1824) 

John Taylor (1779-1863), industrial rival to the Lemons, the Williams and the Foxes, built the Redruth & Chasewater Railway in 1824 to link the principal mines which he leased in Gwennap – including Consolidated – to his new port at Devoran. This was built on one of the creeks on the River Fal, above Falmouth harbour on the south coast.

Hayle Railway (1834)

The Hayle Railway linked the Camborne & Redruth mining district to the port of Hayle from 1834 to 1839. The Portreath branch was constructed in 1837 and was intended to capture the trade of the rich mines in the district north of Carn Brea.

Luxulyan Valley

In 1829 Joseph Thomas Austen (later changing his name to Treffry) opened a canal from Par to the foot of Penpillick Hill, later to be extended to Ponts Mill. This connected via an inclined plane and tramroad to the rapidly expanding Fowey Consols copper mine. Ten years later work began on another incline (also to be worked by water wheel) and tramroad through Carmears woods and across the viaduct/aqueduct which spanned the Luxulyan Valley. After leaving the viaduct the line terminated at Molinnis near Bugle. In 1844 Treffry turned his attention to the north coast and constructed a railway from Newquay harbour to St Dennis with a branch to East Wheal Rose. The line was completed in 1849 and was the beginning of what was to become the Cornwall Minerals Railway.

Liskeard and Caradon Railway (1844 - 1915) 

This railway was started in 1844 and linked the Liskeard & Looe Union Canal at Moorswater to South Caradon Mine. In 1846 the line was extended to Minions and Cheesewring Quarry via a long incline at Gonamena. Further extensions took place over the years including the incorporation of the Kilmar Railway and a route around Caradon Hill, taking in more productive mines such as East Caradon and Marke Valley Mine, and avoiding the Gonamena incline. By the late 1850s the canal was proving to be inadequate, due to the increasing traffic, and so the canal company constructed a railway – mostly built on the bed of the canal. This gave the railway a direct route to the port of Looe.

The East Cornwall Mineral Railway 

The first turf of the Tamar, Kit Hill and Callington Railway was cut in 1863, and the line was completed as the East Cornwall Minerals Railway in 1872. The line connected the mines in the Kit Hill-Gunnislake area with the port of Calstock. The railway above Calstock (worked by two steam locomotives) was connected to the Calstock quays and the River Tamar by a rope-worked single-track incline with a passing loop at its mid-way point. The line was taken over in 1901 by the Plymouth, Devonport & South Western Junction Railway. The Calstock Viaduct was built in 1907; subsequently the Calstock incline was abandoned and a 15-ton steam wagon lift was constructed against one of the viaduct piers. This was dismantled and sold for scrap in 1934.

The Pentewan Railway (1829)

The Pentewan Railway was built by Sir Christopher Hawkins primarily for china clay traffic, although there was however a siding near London Apprentice that served Polgooth Mine. It was not until 1874 that a locomotive replaced the horses. The silting of the harbour at Pentewan combined with the reluctance of the clay companies to transport their clay by horse and cart to the terminus at St Austell brought about the closure of the line in 1918.

Other notable railways

Other railways constructed in Cornwall and west Devon to link developing industrial areas to the coast were: the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway (1834); the Newquay to St. Dennis line (1849) with its branch to the Newlyn East lead mines; the Ponts Mill to Par Harbour line (1851) replacing the Par Canal; and the line linking Devon Great Consols to Morwellham Quay (1857).

Most mineral lodes in Cornwall and west Devon stretch vertically underground far below the natural water table, so mining could only go as deep as the drainage technology available at the time allowed. With the development of the high-pressure steam-pumping engine in the early 19th century, ore bodies could be exploited at much greater depths thereby helping to prolong a mine’s productive life.

Pumping engine houses needed to be large to accommodate steam cylinders which could be up to 100 inches (2.54 metres) in diameter and sturdy engine houses were built to contain them. There are over 200 Cornish engine houses spread across the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. They stand adjacent to where the main mine shafts were and provide one of the most distinctive displays of industrial buildings anywhere in the world.

It is estimated that around 3,000 engine houses were built to house beam engines in Cornwall and west Devon.

The Cornish engine house

The main function of an engine house was to provide the framework for the engine it contained. Its basic design was essentially established by Newcomen for his atmospheric engine. The distinctive architecture of Cornish beam engine houses links their landscape context – both in the United Kingdom and overseas – with Cornwall and west Devon mining engineering. More beam engines were installed in Cornwall and west Devon than any other mining region of the world: it is thought that around 3,000 engine houses were built in total to house them.

Local stone was used to build Cornish engine houses. This was sourced from quarries, sometimes from mine waste and often from existing derelict engine houses on the same or adjoining mines. Some engine houses were reconstructions of engine houses already existing elsewhere on a mine or at a neighbouring working. Cut granite was always favoured for the cylinder bedstone, the bob wall and corners – the latter known as ‘quoins’. Gable roofs were covered with Cornish slate and bricks were brought to construct the top most section of the chimney stacks and often window and arch details. The necessary strength and size of construction of Cornish engine houses is the principal reason in many instances for their survival.

The bob wall

Most surviving engine houses are rectangular in plan with a much thicker wall in the front (the bob wall). This was constructed using massive stones (often cut granite) and was perhaps two-thirds of the height of the other walls. It supported the beam (known in Cornish mining as a bob), which transmitted the reciprocating motion of the piston to the pump rods in the adjacent shaft (in the case of a pumping engine) or to the hoisting or crushing machinery. This wall had to withstand both the weight (that might be over 50 tons for a large pumping engine) and the rocking forces of the bob.

Other design features

The other walls braced the bob wall and helped to take some of the working stresses of the engine. The rear wall (usually with a gable that supported a pitched roof) contained the cylinder opening through which the cylinder, bob, and other large components were brought into the house. There were usually three chambers internally built above a basement area known as the cataract pit.

Associated structures include: boiler houses, which were usually attached to the engine house as a lean-to building; chimney stacks that were either built-in to a rear corner of the engine house or sometimes detached and connected by a flue; and engine ponds (usually upslope), which stored water for the engine condensers.