Having visited Cornwall last year & visited the Poldark Mining Museum/ visitor attraction near to Wendron, it dawned on me that I had in fact been there before back in 1980.
Although the basic layout is similar, there have been changes especially with the underground tour. Back in 1980 visitors simply wandered into the mine without a guide, following a short circular route. The underground tour now involves a H&S briefing, plus a hard hat, before following the guide into the workings, stopes, etc.

I have since re-discovered a guide book from my 1980 visit entitled "A guide to the Mine, Machinery & Bygones Museum", which states that old plans from 1856 identify the mine as "Wheal Roots, old men's workings".

Can anyone confirm that Poldark mine (named after connections with the BBC series of the same name) was originally the Wheal Roots mine, and provide any info. 🙂

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Cornwall is well supplied with tourist attractions named for half-forgotten tv series... "Flambards" is another

I did actually see a brief snatch of Poldark on one of the more obscure daytime channels quite recently and I have to say, it was quite toe-curlingly awful... no-one actually said "Aaarrr, Jim lad" or "scorchio!" but you definitely felt that they might.. :lol:

I thought that series with Dawn French set in a Cornish village was dreadful.. I quite enjoyed Martin Clunes as the grumpy townie with scant patience with the assorted yokels and inbreds in the village.

I remember a running joke on an under-rated 80s series called "Shine On, Harvey Moon" about the expected baby of the then-newlywed Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. The gist of it was that some off-screen character had married her cousin and had a baby whose ears stuck out like wings...

the parade of perverts and wierdos in "Vicar of Dibley" was the best by far, though..... :lol:

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Back when you visited the place it was probably called Halfpenny Park or something along those lines. The mine was originally named Wheal roots and was part of Wendron Consols mines before the re-naming to gain more visitors.

The old guide book says that as part of the then underground visit it is possible to see an "undisturbed" tunnel which leads to Boderluggan mine and then on to Wendron Consols mine further up the valley.

Is there any info, such as dates, etc, on the Wheal Roots mine? Doesn't appear to be in the an data base.

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Wheal Roots was later worked as part of the Wendron Consols Sett. There is indeed access to part of the original adit level (not open to visitors), with a branch extending out under the Helston to Redruth road, and accessed by a number of backfilled adit shafts. One of these is being opened up now. You should give them a call, and ask to speak to Richard Williams. He is the owner, and very knowledgeable about the early history of the mine. Try their website, there's quite a bit on there. :thumbsup:

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