West Wheal Basset Stamps

Caitlin — Fri, 28 Dec 2018 16:19:34 +0000

The West Wheal Basset stamps sit on the side on Carn Brea in the village of Carnkie. The complex was built in 1875 in an attempt to keep up with the stamping and dressing needs of West Wheal Basset Mine (written about here). The 40″ stamps engine built by Tuckingmill Foundry, worked 80 heads of stamps, 32 on one side and 48 on the other. It has a separate stack behind the house, its boiler house would have sat between them.

The stamps engine also drew water from the shaft at its rear, although the West Wheal Basset engine provided some water from 1896. Two tramways also served the mine, one coming from West Wheal Basset and South Wheal Frances, and another coming up the hill from Lyle’s shaft.

The vanner house would have contained Frue vanners, shaking tables that separated black tin from other materials. These were driven by a smaller steam engine which sat in the projecting section of the front wall.

The site also contains two Brunton calciners with a separate calciner stack along with both concave and convex buddles. The complex did however extend past the walls still standing today, with further buddles to the west, remains of settling tanks and various frames to the east and west. Five ponds used to sit above the engine house.

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West Wheal Basset Mine

Caitlin — Sun, 23 Dec 2018 22:36:44 +0000

On the road between Pool and Four Lanes stands a relic of West Wheal Basset Mine. It’s stamping complex sits down the road in Carnkie. Previously known as Wheal Charmer and Wheal Haste, mining in the area dates back to medieval times. The site was initially used for farming, but a 1700’s map does show a leat from Wheal Jowel adit all the way around to Wheal Druid in Pool, with the water used to power a water engine and later a pressure engine. A lease was granted for the area in 1835 by Lady Basset under the name Wheal Haste and a 36″ engine erected.

West Basset as we know it opened in 1846 and was a successful copper mine up until the discovery of the Great Flat Lode in 1869. Unfortunately the mine failed to fully transition over to tin production, predominantly due to poor management and lack of stamping facilities.

Thomas’ 60″ pumping engine house was built in 1854 and named after the companies chairman. In 1896 is suffered a fire which bent the piston rod and the bob was then moved to Pascoe’s 80″ pumping engine across the road. This house was unique as its chimney was inside the house walls. The engine did some winding along with its pumping duties.

In 1896, West Basset amalgamated with its neighbour South Wheal Frances and became part of Basset Mines Ltd. Underground mining ceased following this and the engine was only used to supply water to its separate stamps and dressing floor. The engine stopped working completely in 1899 and the site appears abandoned on the 1907 map, with the rest of the mine closing in 1917.

Shafts

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Output

Shafts

Lodes

Output

While only the engine house remains, the mine previously had a substantial number of other buildings. In front of the house, to the east was a balance bob housing while to the west was a capstan. On the western side of the engine sat its very large boiler house which held two boilers, with another building on the eastern side, potentially a miners dry. Two tramways ran alongside the north and south of the site – one of these went to Old Skip shaft while the other went to the stamps in Carnkie. Maps show that on the northern side of the house used to lie a complex arsenic works including calciners, flues, labyrinth and a chimney while on the southern side of the road used to sit a winding engine house.

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West Wheal Basset Stamps

West Wheal Basset Mine