Greetings & a brief report from Poldark Mine - Wheal Roots – an open air mining & Heritage Museum set in delightful water gardens in the peaceful Cober River Valley. Thanks to all for their welcome comments.
We are busy above and below ground here at present as the gardens and our ancient 1493 tail race, leat and 1905 water wheel are under restoration. Its amazing to know that this man made watercourse dates from the time of Christopher Columbus who came back from his voyage of discovery in that very year and King Henry VII was on the throne of England.
We hope to open the mine very soon, some engineering works are being carried out below ground to attend to a capped adit that has re-opened itself due to the failing of old capping procedures from many years ago – our mine being around 300 years old. Thankfully this can be repaired and made safe relatively easily. This is being carried out by Camborne School of Mining trained mining engineers & consultants at present, the heavy 8" square treated Douglas Fir timbers needed having been cut and delivered to the mine on Monday morning along with other materials.
At the end of the season the top of the shaft will be restored and kept open for added airflow to the miles of tunnels below. A new stone and brick lining will be formed. A headstock and it is hoped that one our 114 year old Holman Brothers steam (or compressed air) two cylinder winches (from South Crofty Mine Pool) may be added in due course which will enable a kibble to be used again for winter works and demonstrations on special days. The particular adit is vertical to grass but lower down is sloped, so the use of the kibble again will be a unique event.
The unique 1900 Holman Bros Traversing winder is in working order and will be demonstrated each day. Although it weighs in at a few tons, it is in fact a 1/5th scale model of a 120 ton monster that was installed at the 3000 feet deep Williams Shaft at nearby Dolcoath Mine - the deepest and most productive in Cornwall.
The "model" was taken to Paris in 1900 and won a Gold medal at the 1900 Exposition - thanks to the continued support of the Trevithick Society we will have that medal on display in our new consolidated museum, sales area and visitor centre.
It is hoped that the Trevithick Steam Road engine will be here this coming month and in steam.
The circa 1850 (or earlier) ex Bunny Tin Mine Cornish beam engine that dominates this historic tin mining and even earlier tin ore processing site will soon be running again. It moved to a china clay site in 1894. It was destined to be the very last beam engine in commercial steam in Cornwall when it ceased pumping at Greensplat China Clay mine in December 1959 when Arthur Hancock turned off steam for the last time - beating the claim of another engine by some 5 years! We have Arthur's throne-like chair on display together with some of the steam gauges that were discovered this week. At 500 gallons a minute, the engine ran for all those years without any major stoppages. Here at Poldark and Wheal Roots, many thousands of gallons are brought up to our tailrace each week, some being pumped by the beam engine.
We need some volunteers to assist in restoring our 1493 leat and water wheel pit - the oldest recorded industrial site in the UK, its also worth coming to see & touch the only Scheduled Ancient Monument to pre-historic alluvial tin-working in the UK - the Trenear Granite Outcrop where tin workers pounded the tin ore by hand perhaps as long as 2500 years ago or before. The site itself is of Geological importance.
If you are visiting this summer take our advice and include time to visit nearby King Edward Mine to see and feel how tin ore was processed, some of the machinery there also went to Paris in 1900 - its quite amazing to see it all working. The mighty Holman steam winding engine has now been restored, Initially rescued by Peter Young at Poldark where it was displayed for many years, its back where it should be in a splendid new replica Winding House and is actually bolted to its original bed that survived.
We hope this news is of interest and again from the team here at Poldark (some have been here for many years) many thanks and our promise to make you welcome. There are plans to restore the industrial engines on site into new buildings and working order. We hope to get some in steam for next year - So its all good news. David Edwards and the Poldark team.