I've been meaning to get around to it for a while. I think it was in my primary school, I had a trip to Truro museum and if my memory serves me correctly, I wrote in my school news book "We went to a museum and saw a load of old stuff, then I went go-carting and climbing trees when I got home, etc, etc".

At that age, I used to get dragged around by my father and remember looking through the sollars over Engine Shaft at Great Onslow Consols and dropping the biggest, flattest stone I could through them and peering at the eerie reflection waiting for the splash and boom. My first mineral collecting outing was a failure. I remember going looking for "geodes" and it feeling like the most incredible sensation, finding a likely looking stone in a river and setting it up on a block of stone, giving it a few taps with the blade edge of the hammer and then "go on son, whack it". Sadly, as a skinflint, my grandad's geology pick decided to show it's age and broke. That was it for the minerals but the "What's up that tunnel?" and getting dragged around old surface sites here and there.

Funnily enough, bumping into a few old adits rekindled that spark and it went off with a blaze. I recall seeing a bunch of weird orange people come out of Railway Shaft (Crowndale) out walking one time and thought "weird bastards" I didn't realise I'd end up being one myself.

Anyway, I've got into exploring and am very aware of the historians getting very upset in cases about mineral removal....particularly from a commercial perspective.

I've found the odd sparkly thing as I'm sure I am still looking, from my failed Geode mission, but these days, I'm more interested in the rock it came in and it's relation to others. I keep an eye out for what the men were after, as well as what they left behind.

I've got a pile of rocks in a basket in my window. It's nothing great or museum worthy, but I've seen some bits here and there, like we all have and it fills me with wonder when I hear stories about old collectors running through the county adit to escape detection from authorities at the tops of the shafts in St Day, how some collectors would trade specimens for new pairs of boots. I've seen the pictures in books and I always wondered what the original specimens were like, before tens of collectors turned the tips over and over and over.

Philip Rashleigh was pretty much the biggest of those collectors and he was around at the time the best specimens were being hurled out of St Day, Gwennap and the rest of Cornwall.

Today I got to see it. I dragged the girlfriend reluctantly for a poke around "a load of rocks" in a museum. What I saw was utterly incredible. If collectors are looking for a grain of salt, Rashleigh had sugar cubes, the beauty and range of these specimens has to make it one of the most important collections in the UK. I'm not sure how many of you lot have made the journey to Truro Museum to see "a load of old rocks", it is totally worth it and one of my best recent days.



Anyway, a bit of a ramble, go and see it if you haven't. :thumbup:

The collection is fantastic in the museum, I'm very glad that it's a permanent attraction there and not just an exhibit that they drag out now and again.

Did anyone go and see the John Peck exhibition last month? It was great, really brilliant photographs. I wish he would release a proper book with decent sized photos in of all the mines he has photographed, some of his Crofty photos were awesome, particularly the vertical shot down Roskear shaft.

'Painting A Mine With Light' was a good little book but the pictures were a little poor in resoloution, it would be good to see a book with better quality printing and more of the other mines.

p.s.

poke around

Unregistered User's identity truly confirmed 😉

What else is there at the Truro museum? Is there mining stuff to see or is it just lumps of crystals? I may be down Cornwall next year but if its just bits of rock in cases I wont bother making the detour. Are there any mine buildings etc to see?

The directors carriage from the Portreath Tramway is there.

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Yep, there are some of JC Burrow's photo's blown up large as well.

"If there are only rocks". Jeez, we have a pleb in our midst! The whole freaking point was they aren't just rocks.

Facepalm.... :guns:

You have to agree, or do you consider Rashleigh's collection a bunch of rocks as well?

If it all is a bunch of rocks, we may as well just put them on ebay and turn the museum into a wine bar. ::)

No, I consider Rashleigh's collection brilliant and very important

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When I helped to compile the nomination document for the Cornish Mining Landscape World Heritage Site, the mineralogical diversity of the Cornubian orefiled was cited as one of the aspects of its authenticity and integrity. 450 mineral specimens have been recognised in Cornwall and this represents around 50% of those known from the UK, and about 12% of those known worldwide. Nearly 40 type localities are recorded and Cornwall possesses 223 sites where individual species were first identified in the UK. The greatest of any 'county'. These minerals formed the basis for scientific enquiry from the beginning of the C18th and are an important part of our intellectual heritage.

The Philip Rashleigh collection (1729-1811) with extensive manuscript notes, survives almost intact at the RIC which has done much in recent years to make the display more accessible. It is without doubt one of the finest mineral specimens collections I have seen in the world (along with
that of the School of Mines the University of the Atacama, Copiapo, in Chile). It most certainly is not just a pile of old rocks!

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Hi Dean,

From the moment you cross the Tamar at Gunnislake you will find more mine buildings in Cornwall than you can shake the proverbial at. You'll have to be down there for a couple of weeks at least to take them in. 😮

"If there are only rocks". Jeez, we have a pleb in our midst! The whole freaking point was they aren't just rocks.

Facepalm.... :guns:

Thanks for your kind reply Mr unregistered user. I just wanted to know if it would be worth me making a detour. I didnt know if the museum was just for minerals or if it contained mine buildings and equipment which is what I am interested in. Thank you for the information 🙂

King Edward museum is probably far more your scene. That itself is hugely interesting and run by very interesting people. I'd see both if you are down. 🙂

King Edward museum is probably far more your scene. That itself is hugely interesting and run by very interesting people. I'd see both if you are down. :)

Nice one. Thanks for the info. Its a long journey for me and I dont know Cornwall at all so that helps! Cheers 🙂

depending on your time, don't miss Geevor. It's the only Cornish mine preserved in much the same condition as when it ceased operation in the early 90s; the mill is the only complete one anywhere.

you will then be only a short way from one of the three preserved engines still working in their houses, at Levant. The working hours for this are quite restricted so you'll need to check this first; a short walk along the cliffs brings you to the spectacular Botallack engine houses, the Crowns.

it's my favourite walk anywhere in the county.

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depending on your time, don't miss Geevor. It's the only Cornish mine preserved in much the same condition as when it ceased operation in the early 90s; the mill is the only complete one anywhere.

you will then be only a short way from one of the three preserved engines still working in their houses, at Levant. The working hours for this are quite restricted so you'll need to check this first; a short walk along the cliffs brings you to the spectacular Botallack engine houses, the Crowns.

it's my favourite walk anywhere in the county.

Thanks Derrickman. Looks like I'll need a couple of mionths down there instead of a few days :thumbup:

Drop me a PM with your email I have some ready marked up map sections I can send you as a driving guide based on OS....

regs ICLOK

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if you can't find your way from Levant to Botallack via Geevor, you don't need a map, you need a guide dog 🙂

there are four engines complete in their houses in the county, three are in the Camborne area. Robinsons's shaft engine is not accessible and not conserved, it has simply never been dismounted since its last steaming.

the other two are near the Pool/Tuckingmill junction. One is right beside the road, you can't miss it; again, check when it is working ( this one is not in steam, I believe it is driven electrically ). The Levant one is the only one capable of steaming.

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Nice thing I did was plot all the major bits with standing stuff to the west for ease. There is tons and it took me 3 years going down every month for 1.5 days just to do the engine houses and big stuff... fun tho! apart from multi drenched days in the middle of nowhere... part of the joys of mine exploring.. :thumbsup:

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just doing a bit of checking, Mitchell's engine is the working one by the road; a 30" winding engine.

Taylor's engine ( a 90" pump engine ) nearby isn't working, but is apparently part of a visitor centre of some kind, I've never been there - this is new since I was in Camborne in the 70s - so I don't know. This engine is quoted as having last worked in 1954.

Robinson's engine is quoted as having last steamed in 1955, although some sources quote as late as 1960, but I would favour the earlier date.

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depending on your time, don't miss Geevor.

you will then be only a short way from one of the three preserved engines still working in their houses, at Levant. The working hours for this are quite restricted so you'll need to check this first; a short walk along the cliffs brings you to the spectacular Botallack engine houses, the Crowns.

it's my favourite walk anywhere in the county.

I'll second that walk as one of the best in Cornwall, we usually start at Botallack and walk round via Levant to Geevor, the cafe is excellent at Geevor too. I was lucky to arrive at levant on the very day it was steaming, this was the first time I had actually seen the old winder run 😉

Oh and whilst at Botallack I had a look in the NT visitor centre, there was an exhibition from loacal artists to raise money for the St Just & Pendeen miners statue and to commemorate the man engine disaster of Oct 1919 , I entered the NT raffle cost £1, and ended up winning one of the pieces of art work, now that's a first, just awaiting my prize in the post.

You really need to allow a full day for this section of the west coast.

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Cheers all for this info and many thanks ICLOK for the maps 🙂