Does anyone have any info on duncans shaft, when it was capped and how, its about a 50 yrds south ish of cooks kitchen engine houses. Its on a bit of land that i own and a few years ago i remember an old stone lined adit/drain runing south from it that i dug up, it was about 10ft below the surface.
Thanks
Threewheeler

I'm in the office right now and sadly don't have access to my own PC.

http://www.cornishminers.com/welcome.htm 

Go on there, go into gallery H and there is a plan of the shafts there. You are looking at Dunkin's Shaft, I imagine. This is on the Carn Brea adit system (Goes down through barncoose, rather than out to Roscroggan). If you were to get into that, apart from the people at Crofty jumping up and down having an orgasm, no-one would have been in there for a very very long while.

Do bear in mind that the shallow workings are pretty poorly recorded in general. Also bear in mind that water level is "down" in there. There is a possibility of a big freefall.

The shallow level is very shallow indeed. There are others like that.....I would imagine they were all capped slightly after Carn Brea was wound up finally.....Probably a concrete slab, rather than a plug.

I'd be interested in whether the level came out below the capping.

Thanks for the info Stuey
I take it that we are talking about the same shaft, its spelt differantly on the oldmaps website. I think it was capped in the late 70s/80s. Does it drain into the adit which comes out under the A30 viaduct, i would love to have a look one day.
Threewheeler

The chaps at Crofty wouldn't thank me for mentioning anything about access to their adit system. It is very secure indeed.

The "Barncoose Adit" starts "somewhere" down the valley and goes up under Blowinghouse, under Barncoose and to Druid's Shaft of Carn Brea. This is on the same lode as Dunkin's Shaft (pretty much) and I gather water was conveyed on Launders over stoping. I have a feeling that the Dolcoath deep adit somehow drains the workings, so water is about 30ft or so below the adit level "on that side". It would mean that theoretically, the adit level is above water level there. However, it will probably consist of half rotten timbers above flooded stopes.

There are some interesting documents on shaft capping "out the back" of Cornwall Studies Library and these document the removal and replacement of old concrete caps. I imagine yours is one of these. However, it may not be.

I know that Dolcoath deep adit is 30ft above the New Dolcoath Deep adit and people have been in both Dolcoath and Cooks Kitchen adits, which are on the same horizon as the Barncoose adit (in that area). Nobody has been in any workings that end, according to the people I've talked to.

I'm not sure if Highburrow East shaft pumped to surface, or not.... I think that's on something else on the plan.

Anyway, Crofty have made all of their adits and shafts very secure and there is no longer any access to any of it.

I guess Brea adit doesn't connect to this ?, it would seem to heading southwards (ie away from these shafts) at its entrance.

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From what I remember, the deep adit which connects to Dolcoath new deep adit goes as far over as Palmer's shaft (South Crofty). It is odd, but the adit plan shows the Carn Brea adit as going right over towards Cooks Kitchen. I assume that engines on it pumped into it.

I gather from a particularly well seasoned chum who explored the workings a very very long time ago, there were big launders hung in chains near the Wheal Druid section. These have been gone a very long time.

Who knows what the shallow adits do in the area. Probably something totally different (tuckingmill valleyish). I've seen a plan with the Trevenson and East Pool shallow adits, but not any of the other sections, which do have shallow adits according to other sources.

Does anyone have any info on duncans shaft, when it was capped and how, its about a 50 yrds south ish of cooks kitchen engine houses. Its on a bit of land that i own and a few years ago i remember an old stone lined adit/drain runing south from it that i dug up, it was about 10ft below the surface.
Thanks
Threewheeler

It seems to me that what you uncovered was the underground section of the Brea leat which ran into Crofty mill and engine pond on New Cooks shaft. Being only ten feet from surface would suggest it is not an adit. There is no connection at all with this area and Dolcoath. The Dolcoath adit comes out at Roscroggan, way below Tolvadden.

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The Brea leat i think crosses the railway to the north of the shaft and is still mostly visible heading out towards Brea tin streaming works, this adit? was granite walled with timber roof and heading towards duncans shaft. If i dig it up again i'll post it on here so a few of you can come and have a look and perhaps tell me what it is or was.
Martin

It could be that Cooks Kitchen was pumping to this and feeding the leat for dressing purposes.

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Someone on here may be able to help.

There is a famous section of a mine in this area with 2 underground waterwheels and various steam engines.

Bullen Garden mine rings some sort of bells.....I thought one of those was a "dunkin's shaft".

I've forgotten which book I saw it in. It's perhaps in Buckley's Crofty. Not 100% sure.

I have quite a thing about underground waterwheels and have seen several pits, but never wheel remains.

Allan Buckley's book on Dolcoath has some diagrams of the leat system. It has the 1880 map of this area which looks like this shaft was abandoned at that time.
The water wheels are also shown at Bullen garden fed by leats and connected by the shallow adit system.
It shows what looks like the path of an old leat system or tramway leading up to this shaft. I could not find any maps of the shallow adit system relating to this shaft with a quick look through the book.
There is mention of water wheels and shallow adits in Cook's Kitchen Mine in the 1780's but no plans.

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The chaps at Crofty wouldn't thank me for mentioning anything about access to their adit system. It is very secure indeed.

You're right Stuey we wouldn't 😉

The leat which brought water from the Brea Addit area to Cooks Kitchen is / was quite visible on the Brea side of the railway line only a few years ago. It was carried over the railway in a metal launder and then unfortunately landscaping has removed much of its path. How much of it is just buried is anyones guess.

The water pumped by the Cooks 50" was raised to adit, where it discharged into the main Dolcoath / Cooks adit system which came out close to the A30. This is not the same adit which emerges at Roscroggan, but the one which daylighted at Tolvaddon. The remains of its portal has been lost in the landscapping, not that you could get into it.

The leat was used to power various water wheels on site including a 50 foot wheel underground. This wheel was used to power the man engine which operated from Dunkin's / Duncans Shaft on the south side of the railway.

I hope I haven't repeated too much and have added a little 😮

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Morrison's Book is well worth a read on the matter.

I wonder how the shaft is capped. I assume in the same manner as Highburrow East.

To 3 Wheeler....
As a slight aside, a friend of mine also lives very close to this shaft (He has the scaffolding up at the moment!)... Might ask what "features" he has around his property.

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Hi
Dolcoathguy is your friend on tin croft road if so he is probably only about 200yrds as the crow flies, there are lots of features on his doorstep literaley i should imagine. Allan Buckleys book on Dolcoath sounds interesting i'll go to the libarary to see if i can get a copy.
Threewheeler

He is indeed on Tincroft road, although not sure if he is fully moved in yet as the house has been undergoing extensive renovation. I suspect the shallow adit may run close to his property.
AB's book is mainly on Dolcoath, but occasionally mentions Tincroft and Cook's Kitchen mines. Not sure if there is a better book on these mines, maybe the one Stuey suggested? (Morrison?). I would imagine any historical book on South Crofty going back to the 19th Cent would cover this. The Bookshops at East Pool and Agar and King Edward maybe a good place to have look before buying.

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http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=3530387824&searchurl=bt.x%3D0%26bt.y%3D0%26kn%3Dcornwall%2527s%2Bcentral%2Bmines%2Bnorthern%26sts%3Dt 

Cornwall Studies Library is an exccedingly useful place to visit if you have a spare hour or eight. They have pretty much everything in there.

As this level is only ten feet from surface it is most likely it was for access to the man engine.

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Straight to the dry like Levant?

Did man engines tend to have access below the collar.

I'm curious as there is a shaft at Consols which has a very shallow level which I think is something similar....

I wonder if it goes below the plug. (IIRC, Dunkins is vertical to the 30F level below adit and then inclined to the very very deep, it's not one which is likely to be filled. )

A test would be to see which way the tunnel dips. I suppose waterwheel feeds and access tunnels dip towards the shaft.....

Straight to the dry like Levant?

Did man engines tend to have access below the collar.

I'm curious as there is a shaft at Consols which has a very shallow level which I think is something similar....

I wonder if it goes below the plug. (IIRC, Dunkins is vertical to the 30F level below adit and then inclined to the very very deep, it's not one which is likely to be filled. )

A test would be to see which way the tunnel dips. I suppose waterwheel feeds and access tunnels dip towards the shaft.....

I doubt if it went to the dry but it is a possibility. As for Consols, that mine did not have a man engine. Entry to most man engines was from surface, including the one at Levant until the new dry was built.

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