The famous, much

photographed and painted
Engine Houses of

Botallack Mine.

Just above the Engine Houses

and Crowns are the Buddles.

These were used to separate

 the fine tin - an unpleasant

task in this location in the

middle of winter. Young boys

were allocated this task.

The Cornish Miners Lot

An excerpt from the book
"The Cornish Miner"

By

A. K. Hamilton Jenkin

Cornish Tin" it has well been said, "is the one famous product of Ancient Britain". For tin, that pure metal which as Henry Borlase quaintly put it, "is so excellent in Cornwall that it's only not yet silver" this metal was much sought after by the ancients for their weapons and their ornaments of bronze, as we of the latter day desire it for our motor cars and for tin plating. Unquote.

The book "The Cornish Miner" was written when he was twenty years old. I met him the next day by coincidence after reading it in one night from cover to cover. It was hard to believe that he had written this at such a tender age. We met at Mount Wellington Tin Mine, which is near Truro in the County of Cornwall. We did not have that much time to talk as I was waiting to go underground, but he was a fascinating man to talk to, if we only had longer.

Mount Wellington Mine was the first mine I had ever worked in. Even then I did not want to go "underground" - the prospect of hurtling in a downward motion, in total blackness except for your cap lamp, was daunting to say the least but with the help of such a wonderful bunch of men I managed to last the day out. Some men have been so terrified to go into the cage that they went down, but quickly came back up, changed, and then went home.

This mine was originally called Magpie Mine; I think this was changed at the turn of the century. The deepest level then was 400ft and gradually the mine has deepened to its present depth of 950 metres. This was the first time I had worked at the mine and my task was to hold a drilling machine ten feet above my head and drill a series of holes ready to blast at the end of the shift. This was back breaking work and in fact I did put my back out pushing a Cactus Grab across the shaft. This machine was used to excavate the rock we had blasted which took nearly a whole shift to complete. We eventually drilled six foot a shift which was much quicker and we could also start drilling before the end of the shift.

After my experience working at Mount Wellington, I worked at South Crofty mine which lies between Camborne and Redruth. This was a much deeper mine, the total depth was 400 fathoms, a fathom being 6 feet. South Crofty is a much older mine - it has been worked for about three hundred years. I worked on 335 fathom level, and my interest in mining progressed from there. My task on this level was to dig out and to clear the gutters that ran along the rail track. From there I progressed to a machine man's mate; I had to learn about hard rock mining and my teachers were some of the best miners in the world. It was a privilege to be working with them.

We used a machine called a "303" and an air-leg that pushed the machine into the face - a very clever machine. This was manufactured by Holman Climax, a company based in Camborne which started production of mining machinery in 1801, which was shipped all over the world. In its day the firm employed about 800 men, but as the mining has declined, so has the staff.

When man first found tin and copper they found they had to go deeper and deeper to win the precious metal - the problem then was water. They invented a method where they could 'de-water' the mine by using a rag and chain operated by a donkey or pony.

Eventually, as the mines went deeper and deeper engineers invented the man-riding platform. This was operated by a steam engine and as the rod went up and down on a twelve foot stroke the very tired miners stepped on to a platform which took them up or down. Before the advent of this, they had to climb down, and then back up. No wonder the miner had a life expectancy of 30 to 40 years. Not only had they to put up with this, they also had to endure the heat underground, especially in the deeper mines. They also suffered horrendous accidents, often ending in death. The most remembered accident was on October 20th 1919, when 31 Cornish miners lost their lives when the man-riding rod snapped. Other miners that had already ascended could hear the men screaming as they hurtled down through the shaft. The fund that was set up after the tragedy is still in force now. (1998).

The small village churchyards bear the names of so many men who died in mines all over Cornwall. For instance at Balnoon cemetery in St. Ives, there is the grave of Edwin Trevorrow, who was killed at St. Ives Consols on March 15th 1887. There were too many accidents in deep rock mining to mention here but it gives some idea to the reader what the miners had to put up with. There were also accidents on the surface with boilers exploding and a gunpowder factory blowing up killing mostly women.

The methods of mining the ore from deep underground has taken its toll on the surface and at that time they did not have the technology as they do today so they just followed the lode sometimes straight up to the surface. Even today holes have appeared overnight, making nearby homes unsafe. Some years ago a woman was talking to her neighbour when the ground opened up to reveal a 6ft by 5ft deep hole. She later died in hospital. Only recently a lorry was turning round in a car park in Pendeen (8 miles from Penzance) and the front of the lorry dropped into a hole from some old mine workings. This area has many mines like Geevor, Levant, Wheal Edward and the most famous and photographed mine, Botallack. This mine was visited by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in the 19th century. The mine is situated on the very edge of rugged cliffs and is in fact two engine houses, one above the other. The shaft that is on the side of the cliff extends half a mile under the sea. The Cornish name their shafts and this one is called Boscowen. The extensive surface workings are still there, it makes a dramatic foreground to the raging sea - it is well worth a visit.

The deepest mine in Cornwall and at one time the richest mine was Dolcoath, which is situated just to the south of Camborne. The main shaft here was called Williams, and is 575 fathoms deep. It was brick lined all the way down to the sump. It used to be said that it was the Queen of Cornish mines, which it was.

All the mines are now closed in Cornwall, the last being South Crofty. The people of Cornwall tried their best to keep it open, but in the end it closed. The senior shop steward even sat on the very cold and windswept head-gear to stop the management from taking the ropes and cages out, but to no avail. They even had a fund started by local people to keep the pumps on but they still shut it down. The mine is now slowly flooding.

The miners have now either found alternative employment in factories or left the area altogether. Some will never work again. Some have been lucky to find work in mining still, but when that has finished, mining as we know it will be just another forgotten trade. In the time it has taken me to write this, the water will have risen another three inches.