Stretching from the high granite ridge and exposed moors of Kit Hill in Cornwall to the lush, deep wooded valleys of the meandering River Tamar – and the farming lands of the Devon plateau beyond – the Area spans the border between Cornwall and Devon. In today’s tranquillity, it’s hard to imagine the noise from over 100 mines that operated at the height of its mining boom.

Tin, copper, silver-lead, and arsenic were all mined here. In places, engine houses and associated buildings are well preserved; elsewhere you’ll glimpse an occasional chimney or fragment of walling emerging through the trees.

Tavistock itself is unlike any other town within the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. 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, whilst a substantial proportion of the mining workforce was housed in model cottages built within the town, at the mines and across his estate.

There is also an exceptional mineral transport network here: you’ll find an unparalleled group of industrial mineral river quays (e.g. Morwellham), a mine railway, (which served Devon Great Consols), a mineral railway (East Cornwall Mineral Railway) and a mineral canal (Tavistock Canal). The Area also has numerous mine quays, mule tracks and mine roads, many of which have now been opened up as multi-use trails for visitors.

The Audio Trail guides below explore Tavistock and introduce some of the features that make this former industrial town so impressive.

Information sheets are also available to accompany the Audio Trail guides and please see the links to these below.

Tavistock Audio Trail Delve Deeper 

Tavistock Trail Information Sheet

Tavistock Audio Trail Map

Rising dramatically from the surrounding plain, the granite dome of Caradon Hill dominates the Area and is encircled by engine houses, chimney stacks, thousands of tonnes of waste rock from the various mines and quarries, and the trackbed of the Liskeard & Caradon Railway.

This is a story of boom and bust: the rise of copper mining here established new settlements and expanded others, but the explosion of mining activity within this formerly isolated landscape was to last barely 50 years; large-scale mining for copper had essentially ceased by 1890.

The remoteness of the Area means it is a wonderful place to escape the crowds, cycling or on foot, and discover wide open moorland, unique natural habitats, and ancient and industrial landscapes. Always remember when visiting Bodmin moor that livestock are often close to or in the road so drive extra carefully and respect their space and habitat when driving and walking.

To discover more about the wealth of mining heritage of the Caradon Hill area of Bodmin Moor, the Liskeard & District Museum is well worth a visit.

Copper mining commenced here in 1836 and created the Caradon mining boom.

A gem of a museum in the heart of Liskeard.

This site is unfortunately closed at the present time.

Sorry - there are no Audio Trail guides available for this Area of the World Heritage Site at this time.

Charlestown, whose picturesque harbour has featured in many films, was developed in the late 18th century by Charles Rashleigh, while the many works in the Luxulyan Valley, including the Treffry Viaduct, leats and tramways, were constructed by Joseph Thomas Austen, later Treffry, during the early to mid 1800s.

Charlestown was built between 1792 and 1801, and is the best-preserved china clay and copper ore port of this period anywhere in the world.

Works in and around the Luxulyan Valley include a three mile leat, constructed to power the many water wheels and water pressure engines at Fowey Consols Mine, and to supply water for the steam engines and ore processing; a canal to take the mine’s copper ore to the purpose-built harbour at Par; and a horsedrawn tramway, to provide a link to the mines of the hinterland and give access to the granite quarries at nearby Colcerrow. The most impressive feature within the Valley is undoubtedly the Treffry Viaduct,  an imposing granite structure which carries both a leat and tramway route high above the Valley floor.

The Audio Trail guides below explore Charlestown and introduce many of its notable features.

Information sheets are also available to accompany the Audio Trail guides and please see the links to these below.

Charlestown Audio Trail Delve Deeper

Charlestown Audio Trail Information Sheet

Charlestown Audio Trail Map

Sorry - there are no Audio Trail guides available for the Luxulyan Valley at this time.

This Area also has a rich heritage to explore inland, from the tin treatment works in narrow stream valleys to the pretty village with its granite mineworkers’ cottages, fine public buildings and luscious gardens.

Come here for great walks, breath-taking sunsets, dramatic mining remains and stunning beaches. If you’re lucky, you might catch a glimpse of the dolphins that play off the coast in the summer. Look out for peregrine falcons, which nest on many of the headlands, and gannets flying low over the sea a few hundred yards from the coast.

St Agnes reflects the influence of mining on the settlement, with its shops, pubs, hotels, chapels and public buildings like the Miners and Mechanics Institute (built to serve a growing population employed in the industry). Also look out for the pretty rows of granite cottages, like the famous Stippy Stappy cottages, which were built for ships’ captains sailing from Trevaunance Cove.

The Audio Trail guides below explore the St Agnes Mining District and introduce many of the notable features of the area.

Information sheets are also available to accompany the Audio Trail guides and please see the links to these below.

St Agnes Audio Trail Delve Deeper

St Agnes Audio Trail Information Sheet

St Agnes Audio Trail Map

It is a large and varied Area of fertile countryside, historic mining villages, pretty woods, tranquil river creeks and some of the most impressive industrial landscapes to be found anywhere in the Site. Gwennap is full of contrasts.

The open-air Methodist preaching place, Gwennap Pit, along with the Area’s many roadside chapels, give us a fascinating insight into mining communities and their spiritual beliefs. John Wesley the Methodist leader preached here and termed the pit “the most magnificent spectacle this side of heaven”. Gwennap can hold 1,500 people around its 12 ‘rings’. The pit is still an active place of worship today with a chapel on site.

Tramways – including two of Cornwall’s earliest and most important – thread through this Area, linking its mines the well-preserved ports at Devoran and Portreath. Whether cycling, walking or on horseback, these trails are a fantastic way to explore the mining heritage of the Area and the beautiful countryside.

At Kennall Vale, the remains of the mills and waterways of the historic gunpowder works have been reclaimed by the woodland and now form part of an important nature reserve managed by Cornwall Wildlife Trust. This beautiful valley, which is carpeted in bluebells in spring, shows the industrial past now re-claimed by nature, the mill wheels are an impressive sight nestled by the river.

Explore 60km of mining trails in and around Camborne, Redruth and Gwennap using the free to download guide. The guide and further information is also available on the Cornwall Council website.

Please note that Kennall Vale is currently experiencing overcrowding and it is recommended the site not be visited at weekends.

The Audio Trail guides below explore the Poldice Valley and Kennall Vale, and introduce many of their notable features.

Information sheets are also available to accompany the Audio Trail guides and please see the links to these below.

Poldice Audio Trail Delve Deeper

Poldice Audio Trail Information Sheet

Poldice Audio Trail Map

Kennall Vale

Kennall Vale Audio Trail Delve Deeper

Kennall Vale Audio Trail Information Sheet

Kennall Vale Audio Trail Map

The impressive bulk of Carn Brea – a high granite ridge with jagged outcrops and fantastic 360° vistas – frames most views of Camborne and Redruth, serving as a reminder of the geology that underpinned their rapid growth. Mining built and shaped these mining communities; the decline of the industry had, and continues to have lasting effects.

This Area features essential rail links to Portreath harbour, historic mining cottages, the Great Flat Lode, (an extensive flat-dipping mineral vein extremely rich in tin), and South Crofty, Cornwall’s last operating tin mine. Heartlands (currently closed), a unique visitor attraction and the mid Cornwall gateway to the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site, is situated nearby and offers a wide range of events and activities all year round. King Edward Mine; the training mine for Camborne School of Mines is also close by and has an award winning museum.

It includes rugged open countryside, a lovely sandy beach, and bustling towns with the remains of its mining history ever-present.

The Camborne and Redruth Mining District became significant internationally for the pioneering technological progress made here, such as Richard Trevithick’s steam engines, William Bickford’s invention of the safety fuse, (which saved countless miners’ lives), and William Murdoch’s house, being the first in the world to be lit by gas (in 1792). A visit to East Pool Mine reveals the story of this Area and its huge achievements.

This is classic Cornish Mining landscape, with the highest concentration of historic mining sites anywhere in the world.

Explore 60km of mining trails in and around Camborne, Redruth and Gwennap using the free to download guide. The guide and further information is also available on the Cornwall Council website.

The Audio Trail guides below explore South Wheal Frances on the Great Flat Lode and introduce the principal features of this impressive site. There are also further guides available for Portreath, which is also located within this Area of the World Heritage Site.

Information sheets are also available to accompany the Audio Trail guides and please see the links to these below.

South Wheal Frances Audio Trail Delve Deeper 

South Wheal Frances Trail Information Sheet

South Wheal Frances Audio Trail Map

Portreath

Portreath Audio Trail Delve Deeper

Portreath Audio Trail Information Sheet

Portreath Audio Trail Map

Explore the beautiful open moorland on foot to wind through footpaths and lanes leading to mining settlements and villages where Cornish miner's once lived.

In the heart of beautiful countryside surrounded by open moorland and gushing streams, Wendron is one of the smallest Areas in the Site – although its rich tin deposits meant it once had enough inhabitants to rival the combined population of Redruth and Camborne. This demand led to the creation of a large number of mineworkers’ smallholdings around Carnmenellis, which are among the best-preserved in the entire Site. Here you can see pretty granite cottages and tiny fields framed by dozens of low walls made from cob and moorland granite respectively.

Wendron has one of the longest recorded histories of tin working in all of Cornwall. Records show that the district’s rich alluvial deposits were worked by tin-streamers from before the 1500s. These early tin works led to the discovery of mineral lodes, which were exploited through both shallow and deep-shaft mining from the 17th century onwards. The small number of surviving engine houses are important landmarks – particularly those at Wheal Ann, Trumpet Consols and Wheal Enys.

At Poldark Mine (temporarily closed), visitors are able to venture underground into Wheal Roots – an 18th century tin mine – to learn about Cornish mining history and find out what conditions were really like for Cornish mine workers. 

The Audio Trail guides below explore the Wendron Mining District and introduce many of the notable features of the area.

Information sheets are also available to accompany the Audio Trail guides and please see the links to these below.

Wendron Audio Trail Delve Deeper

Wendron Audio Trail Information Sheet

Wendron Audio Trail Map

With the largest section of the Area containing Godolphin House, smallholdings and mining settlements, the separate smaller section of the Area holds Wheal Trewavas and Wheal Prosper, cliff-top engine houses, perched high above the south coast.

Godolphin House provides a valuable insight into the wealth of some of Cornwall’s most successful industrialists and mine owners. The woods on the estate provide a great walking spot and the on-site mine workings are a fascinating find.

To the south of the Area, two of the best-known undersea mines – Wheal Trewavas and Wheal Prosper – offer a unique glimpse into how treacherous mining could be. Trewavas, which seems to burst out of the cliff edge, is particularly inspiring and, together with its neighbour Wheal Prosper, which sits a little further along the cliff. Wheal Prosper has now been conserved as part of a CMWHS supported project. 

Many other reminders of the Area’s mining history can be found here, from the terraces of minerworkers’ cottages in villages such as Praze-an-Beeble and Leedstown, to the vast number of mine shafts dotted through the countryside. The Area is also thought to have seen the installation of one of the world’s earliest practical steam pumping engines at Wheal Vor, in around 1710.

Sorry - there are no Audio Trail guides available for this Area of the World Heritage Site at this time.

In the early 19th century, Hayle was the most important mining port and steam engine manufacturing centre in the world. 

Two of the most important iron foundries in the Site were here – Harvey’s (1779-1903) and Copperhouse (1820-1869). A fierce and long-running rivalry grew between the competing foundries as they argued over access to the sea. This contributed to the development of Foundry and Copperhouse as individual settlements at either end of the town, located around the sites of the two companies. Harvey's helped produce the largest steam pumping engines ever built anywhere and was the work place and meeting place of some of the most famous steam engine engineers including Richard Trevithick and Arthur Woolf.

Harvey’s Foundry Trust promotes and preserves the natural, historical, architectural heritage of Hayle. The Heritage Centre based in the John Harvey House has exhibits, lectures, a shop and so much more to help you discover and enjoy Hayle’s fantastic history.

Despite the decline of Hayle’s traditional industries, today’s lively communities buzz with the prospect of imminent regeneration. Here you’ll find plenty of signs of the town’s great past, along with beautiful beaches stretching out under vast skies.

The Audio Trail guides below explore Hayle and introduce many of its notable features.

Information sheets are also available to accompany the Audio Trail guides and please see the links to these below.

Hayle Audio Trail Delve Deeper

Hayle Audio Trail Information Sheet

Hayle Audio Trail Map

World-famous for their mineralogy, the mining sites here are extremely well preserved – as is the sense of community amongst the people whose lives they once dominated. The close-knit community work passionately to preserve their landscape and continue to celebrate their mining heritage, many local residents are descendants of miners; they keep the stories and traditions alive in their community celebrations and remembrances.

This Area’s unique geography and mineralogy meant that undersea mining was more concentrated here than anywhere else in the world in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The oldest surviving Cornish beam engine (constructed in 1840) remains in its original engine house at Levant, restored and still working under steam. Geevor, one of the last mines to close in Cornwall (1990), was saved from demolition and is now the largest metalliferous mine site open to the public in the UK. Set on the cliffs of Pendeen, the extensive mine complex is a spyglass into the industry which shaped the area even allowing visitors to go underground into Wheal Mexico and receive guided tours from genuine former miners. Their pasties in the clifftop café have a reputation for excellence; the perfect spot for a day of mining heritage.

The historic mining town of St Just is home to characteristic rows of granite mine workers’ cottages, public squares, shops, cafés, art galleries and, just off Bank Square, a medieval grassed amphitheatre – the Plen an Gwary or ‘playing place’. The ‘Miners Chapel’ of St Just is a building not to be missed, its’ enormous outline was often the last building Cornish Jacks would see as they sailed to the far-flung corners of the world in search for metals. The Chapel is now also used as a magnificent theatre venue for productions such as Hireth.

Geevor Tin Mine is set in the spectacular wide open spaces of the Lands End peninsula on the dramatic Atlantic coast.

High-up on the exposed cliffs of the Tin Coast, Levant has at its heart the restored 1840s beam engine running on steam.

Part of the wild Tin Coast, the famed Crowns engine houses cling to the foot of the spectacular cliffs at Botallack.

The Tin Coast is Cornwall's oldest new destination. A cultural landscape of World Heritage Site status, it is a place defined by Cornish mining and a popular filming location. 

The distinctive headland is part of the Tin Coast and juts out into the ocean where two great bodies of water meet.

Built in 1833 St Just Miners’ Chapel is a Grade II* Listed building of considerable cultural, historical and spiritual significance. 

The Audio Trail guides below explore Botallack, with its world famous Crowns’ engine houses, and other nearby mines, including Geevor and Levant.

Information sheets are also available to accompany the Audio Trails and please see the links to these below.

Botallack and nearby mines

Botallack Audio Trail Delve Deeper 

Botallack Audio Trail Information Sheet

Botallack Audio Trail Map

Geevor to Levant

Geevor to Levant Audio Trail Delve Deeper 

Geevor to Levant Audio Trail Information Sheet

Geevor to Levant Audio Trail Map