Trevoole Mine sits on the road from Camborne to Praze and was probably one of the bigger failures in the area, and a very expensive one at that. Initial records date back to 1825, although it is likely to have been around for longer given the depth of the mine. In 1837 the mine reopened as Trevoole Bounds, later being renamed Wheal Trevole in 1839; this working of the mine lasted until 1841. In 1851, Trevoole Copper and Tin Mine was opened with lots of plans being made, including erecting a 66-inch engine and extending the adit, however little actually happened on the site until 1856, with drainage of the mine being a real problem.
From 1856-61 the mine continued to deepen and raise moderate amount of fairly poor copper. Through 1861 the dept continued to rise and any new developments failed to find new ore, with the mine shutting in the September. The mine remained untouched until 1886, when it opened for the final time as West Wheal Grenville. Rumours circulated that the mine had found the Great Flat Lode, but this proved false and no significant ore bodies were found, despite money being poured into development. The mine turned its pumps off and closed in August 1891.
The engine house remaining on the mine is that of the 70-inch pumping engine built in 1888. It’s boiler house would have stood on the south-west side. The engine was originally built by Harvey’s in 1875 for South Caradon Mine. The other stack that remains on the site belonged to a 23-inch horizontal winding engine that came from Caradon Mine along with two boilers.
Engine (130-fathoms/238m), Stephen’s (40-fathoms/73m), Long’s (29-fathoms/53m), Glasson’s (13-fathoms/24m), Lean’s (13-fathoms/24m) and Richard’s (28-fathoms/51m). Adit was at a depth of 13-fathoms.
Main, North and South, although the latter two were poorly explored.
Output for the mine was about 3,355 tons of poor quality of copper, although this is an underestimate as some records are missing. The mine did raise a small amount of tin in its later years (211 tons).
During its working the mine had a number of engine houses on the site. The first was a 30″ pumping engine built in 1825 that ran alongside five horse whims. In 1839, a 26″ engine was built along with two horse whims. A 60″ pumping engine built by Harvey’s of Hayle in 1856 along with a steam whim of unknown size were installed. The final engines built are those that have remains left today, that of the 1888 70″ pumping engine and 23″ whim.
The remains of Trevoole Mine sit on private land, although it can be seen from the road. I had permission to photograph the site from the owner.
Dines, H. G. (1956) The metalliferous mining regions of south-west England. British Geological Survey.
Morrison, T. (1983) Cornwall’s central mines : the southern district, 1810-1895. Penzance. A. Hodge.
Nance, D. and Brown, K. (2014) A complete guide to the engine houses of West Cornwall. Gloucestershire: Lightmoor Press.
Wallis, W. (no date) Trevoole Mine, Cornwall. Available at: http://www.cornwallinfocus.co.uk/mining/trevoole.php (Accessed: 12 April 2018).