Wheal Owles

Caitlin — Sun, 12 Apr 2020 09:51:51 +0000

Wheal Owles is a mine sat on the cliff path just south of its more famous neighbour Botallack. This particular mine is a rarity in that four engine houses and parts of several others can still be seen today.

Some sections of this mine were already at work by 1725, although they were all separate ventures at this point. In 1810 the first engine was erected, possibly the 22” Boulton and Watt or the 15” whim.

West Wheal Owles 36″ pumping engine, famous for being the Wheal Leisure engine in Poldark.

It wasn’t until the 1860’s when several of the smaller ventures were added into one sett that Wheal Owles began to produce large quantities of ore. During this period there were eleven engines, twenty nine miles of tunnels with at least another mile being added each year. Over the next two decades even more small mines were added, and in 1870 Cargodna was renamed West Wheal Owles.

The walled Cargodna shaft where ten people perished in 1893.

The next two decades saw the fortunes of the mine take a real downturn. In 1874 a drop in ore prices led to Wheal Owles, Wheal Boys and Wheal Grouse shutting down and only three engines were left running. Tin prices continued to plummet and more inland sectioned closed, with efforts focused on the West Wheal Owles area. Only the 36” engine on West Wheal Owles was left working in 1884.

The consolidated ruins of the 28″ Wheal Edward stamps with Scott for scale.

In 1893, men was sent to the 65 fathom level of Cargodna shaft to break into what was thought to be richer ground towards Wheal Drea. However, the plans were incorrect and the men broke into the 148 fathoms level of Wheal Drea, releasing all of the backed up water and flooding the workings. The pressure was so great it supposedly blew a crater down near the Kenidjack almhouse. Nineteen men and one boy drowned. The mine was never drained again.

The smaller workings that make up Wheal Owles include: Wheal Edward, Wheal Drea, Wheal Grouse, Cargodna, Wheal Boys, Wheal Gendall, Wheal Chase and Lower Boscean.

The last bits of Cargodna’s 24″ whim.

Lodes

Shafts

Lodes

Shafts

Different views of the Wheal Owles 30″ pumping engine and what’s left of its chimney.

Engine Houses

Wheal Owles – 1810, 22″ Boulton & Watt pumping engine
Wheal Owles – >1825, 15″ whim
Wheal Owles – 30″ pumping engine
West Wheal Owles – 1857, 36″ pumping engine on Cargodna shaft
Wheal Drea – 1857, 26″ pumping and winding engine
Wheal Edward – 1870, 28″ multifunction whim and stamps with 16 heads
Wheal Edward – 1882, 24″ whim on Cargodna shaft

Wheal Edward – 1882 – multifunction engine, hoisting drum removed and 16 more stamps added
Wheal Grouse – 30″ stamps engine
Wheal Grouse – 40″ pumping engine
Wheal Boys – pumping engine
Parknoweth – 23″ pumping engine
Parknoweth – 20″ whim engine
Chycornish – engine house

The 26″ multipurpose engine at Wheal Drea that was used to pump from Wheal Drea shaft and wind from Greenland.

Output

Wheal Edward: 1821-56 2 tons (2,032kg) of black sin and 955 tons (970,325kg) 9% copper. 1859 874 tons (888,025kg) copper.
Wheal Owles: 1837-9, 1841, 1853-93 8,540 tons (8,677,041kg) tin and 340 tons (345,456kg) 7% copper. 1878-9 5 cwt (254kg) uranium and some bismuth. 50 tons (50,802kg) arsenic.
Parknoweth: 1837-41 42 tons (42,674kg) tin.

More images from the Wheal Drea section of the mine.

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Parking

References

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References

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Botallack

Caitlin — Sun, 29 Mar 2020 18:01:03 +0000

Botallack mine can be found perched delicately on the cliffs in West Penwith. An ancient monument, this long working mine is really a collection of several smaller workings which utilised at least twenty engine houses and mined from over 102 shafts.

By 1778 parts of the mine were already deep and stretching out under the seabed, where the real riches of Botallack are found, with some sections of tunnel only having four feet of rock between the sea and the miners below. Around 1802 an engine was being installed on the Carnyorth section, with the first Crown’s engine following fourteen years later.

What’s left of Carn Whim.

Through the 1830’s when tin prices dropped, the mine was kept alive under the management of Steven Harvey James. In the following decade, tin production became more and more important as it continued to expand.
Botallack’s most famous shaft, Boscowen’s Diagonal/Incline, was started in 1858 and completed in 1862. It was only a year later that the chain holding the gig bringing miners up broke, resulting in the deaths of eight men and a boy. The chain was quickly replaced and not long after the Prince and Princess of Wales were on site taking a ride down the shaft, which enjoyed a brief venture as a tourist attraction.

Again, fluctuations in ore prices and overall low output meant the mines fortunes were mostly over. While they were able to make some ground selling off arsenic, several of the lower levels had to be abandoned and the Crown’s and Wheal Hazard sections put on hold. The emigration of miners abroad did not help the situation. To aid the arsenic sales, a new plant was built in 1875, however this didn’t stop the Carnyorth section closing the following year.

Allen’s shaft and headgear, originally sunk in 1908. The headgear dates from the 1980’s Geevor revamp of the site.

Even during this trying time, the Wheal Cock site was still going strong and was even enlarged in 1883 while the managers were unsuccessfully trying to sell the rest of the mine. Botallack was producing poor quality tin and an upgrade of the entire dressing floor was much needed. In 1895 an underground dam in Wheal Cock collapsed, allowing water from other parts of the mine to flood the richer parts, an influx of water that the pumping engines couldn’t cope with. Large sections of the workings were sold off.

Probably the most famous engine houses in the world: the 36″ Crown’s pumping engine and 24″ Pearce’s Whim.

In 1906 a new company under the name Cornish Consolidated Tin Mines Ltd bought Botallack, Carnyorth and Buzza with the aim of reopening. A large number of surface buildings were erected, including a brand new dressing plant, offices and even rooms for Penzance School of Mines. One condition of this new venture was the sinking of Allen’s shaft; however it was located inland, away from the profitable ore under the seabed. It was abandoned again in 1914.

The sad remains of Wheal Hazard whim.

1980 saw once last try at the site, under Geevor Mine management. Allen’s shaft was revamped and the underground workings were extended, but this only lasted until 1985 when tin prices crashed again.

Following this, the Carn Brea Mining Society formed the Botallack Trust which set about consolidating the engine houses and dressing floors as they appear today.

All that’s left of the Wheal Cock section: Engine shaft, the concrete whim remains and Skip shaft.

Pumping Engines

Whim Engines

Stamps Engines

Other Engines

Other Features

Pumping Engines

Whim Engines

Stamps Engines

Other Engines

Other Features

Extensive remains of the 20th century dressing floor, including large labyrinth, calciner, buddles and utility buildings.

Lodes

Shafts

Output

Lodes

Shafts

Output

Narrow shaft with its metal grid. This was pumped by a stamps engine just up the path.

Botallack is made up of a number of smaller sets, including:
Wheal Hazard, Wheal Tolvan, Wheal Button, Wheal Loor, Cotton Wrath, Wheal Sampson, Wheal Chase, Grylls Bunny, Wheal Cock, Wheal Hen, Wheal Buzza, Wheal Chicken, Carnyorth and Ninevah.

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References

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References

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Wheal Owles

Engine Houses

Output

Botallack