Nice looking website, a list of names in well paid jobs, but what do they actually do? I'll be b------d if I know and I'm a member of the Consultative Forum!
The 'artwork' at Botallack is still in place with nobody in the slightest hurry to do anything about it before it becomes the accepted norm. The NT are failing, and the 'great protectors' do absolutely nothing, but what can you expect from an organisation that thinks that Heartlands is worth supporting.
Get rid of the lot of them and put some people in place who actually know something about mining heritage, and more importantly somebody who actually gives a damn! 😠 😠

THe site is well laid out, but I am the only one who found the delving deeper page rather disappointing (very simple) ? I consider myself as a relative novice compared with the knowledge of others on the Adit Now site as well.
Something useful like a shaft database would be good!

---

Something useful like a shaft database would be good!

Would it really? Or would it just be far too much detail of little interest to the majority. Information that is already available elsewhere.

Agreed though, it is a well presented site.

Would I be right in thinking that the WHS is a blur between a quango and a third sector orgainisation?

Aka, all the waste and overpayment of the public sector, combined with all the moral rubbish and guilt of a charity?

It's all well and good if they actually prevent places from being buggered up. However, having had a bit of experience with people involved in erecting stainless sundials and celebrating cross curricular links, combined with blue skies, carbon cutting, sustainable, creative performance artists whilst creating new ways of engaging stakeholders, in a bottom up new feminist paradigm, I imagine all they do is have free lunches, expenses paid trips to Rio and pay themselves a fortune in the process and achieving very little apart from deciding on cutting carbon, erecting a stainless sundial and having another conference.

Would I be right in thinking that the WHS is a blur between a quango and a third sector orgainisation?

Aka, all the waste and overpayment of the public sector, combined with all the moral rubbish and guilt of a charity?

It's all well and good if they actually prevent places from being buggered up. However, having had a bit of experience with people involved in erecting stainless sundials and celebrating cross curricular links, combined with blue skies, carbon cutting, sustainable, creative performance artists whilst creating new ways of engaging stakeholders, in a bottom up new feminist paradigm, I imagine all they do is have free lunches, expenses paid trips to Rio and pay themselves a fortune in the process and achieving very little apart from deciding on cutting carbon, erecting a stainless sundial and having another conference.

Ha ha ha, just brilliant Stuey! I do enjoy reading your rants! Keep it up! 😉

---

I think Roger Waters pretty much summed this up "And did we tell you the name of the game boy, we call it riding the gravy train"....

---

I'm mates with a quango gravy train rider and it's a very very nice gig indeed.

For anything charitable, or something "third sector" which could be called an iso-charity, the actual cause should be pushed by people who give real value for money. From what I can see myself, beyond their plumage and formal qualifications, a lot of them do not.

I can quite imagine the sorts of people involved on having a blue skies think tank session and whatever the politically correct term is for "brainstorming" and coming up with a few nebulous ideas, before jetting off for the next conference in Scotland/Prague/Geneva.

The whole third sector/charities phenomena is often another bunch of jackals stripping a carcass for themselves with some socially corrent slogan as an excuse for such.

Anyway, live and let live :guns:

Nice looking website, a list of names in well paid jobs, but what do they actually do? I'll be b------d if I know and I'm a member of the Consultative Forum!
The 'artwork' at Botallack is still in place with nobody in the slightest hurry to do anything about it before it becomes the accepted norm. The NT are failing, and the 'great protectors' do absolutely nothing, but what can you expect from an organisation that thinks that Heartlands is worth supporting.
Get rid of the lot of them and put some people in place who actually know something about mining heritage, and more importantly somebody who actually gives a damn! 😠 >:(

There is no use whatsoever in whining from the side lines (and I include myself in this) for while we pull in different directions instead of forming a united front, the dogs, being the NT, EH, Heartlands and all the rest of them will always get the bone.
Individuals, no matter who or what they are carry no weight whatsoever and are either ignored or treated with contempt.
What is needed is a body of like minded people that will take these various bodies to task, head on.
I would suggest that such a group could be set up with branches in Camborne or Redruth and another at Callington to look after the interests in the East of the County and West Devon, but these branches must act in unison informing each other of their intentions before acting on them.
I regard our mining sites to be in more danger now than they have ever been and I will give three examples why I think this.
At Brea Tin Streams there are two Linkenbach stationary slime tables, incorrectly described in the various brochure's that are now in abundance as buddles. These tables are in very poor condition and yet just a mile down the valley there are eleven, ten of which are in very good order. The problem is they are completely obscured by dense gorse and other undergrowth and are invisible to the visitor.
It is no use at all sending in "first offenders" or any other form of cheap labour to cut this back, as it only has the effect of pruning and so stimulates more growth. The site has to be cleared and planted with heather as these sites were years ago. I would suggest that this is the only site in the World where such a sight could be seen
The Wheal Fortune section of Consolidated is also in grave danger of being destroyed by off road bikers. Here, only a couple of inches below the surface are the remains of the best copper spalling floors in the County and until it was destroyed about twelve months ago there was also evidence of copper smelting being carried out on this site.
Surely some university that has "Industrial Archaeology", on its curriculum could be persuaded to clear this site as a practical exercise?
When the engine house at Wheal Henry was being conserved I visited the site. The scaffolding was being taken down as the work was nearly completed. I pointed out to the contractor that the cylinder bed-stone had been dumped on a burrow, he agreed to replace it. When I returned about six weeks latter, I found it not only in the wrong position but upside down!
I then wrote to the Council and was informed by reply that it would cost £2,000 YES £2,000 to correct it. One stone that two men could replace in half a day, if it wasn't so serious it would be laughable.
What is the answer to this tale of woe? As I have said a united front that can take them to task either by direct contact or through the pages of the local press.
If this is not done the only finger pointing will not be at them but at ourselves!

---

cylinder bed-stone had been dumped on a borrow, he agreed to replace it. When I returned about six weeks latter, I found it not only in the wrong position but upside down!

What is the answer to this tale of woe?

That is a simple cock-up, easily avoided by proper planning and adequate supervision.

Something useful like a shaft database would be good!

Would it really? Or would it just be far too much detail of little interest to the majority. Information that is already available elsewhere.

Agreed though, it is a well presented site.

database..thats taking it a bit far! ;D
a few problems with that..a) they dont know about all the shafts around there by any means b) they dont have accurate info for all the shafts they do know about c) the detailed info they do have they like to charge for Wardell Armstrong et al.
As Trewillian says the info on the main ones is easily found as well, I think maybe Dines is your best shot at a comprehensive database, ask Stuey 🙂

Very true about Wheals Lovelace and Fortune of Consols.

The bloody bikers have been making "allsorts".

Re Database - The County council had one already set up, all that would be required is to move it over to the WHS net area.

Other than mining enthusiasts, people buying a house also would like to know where all the capped and uncapped shafts Although we have a good database on AN, the old shaft one was good as you had a large map of cornwall and you could zoom in on an area and highlight what mining features you wanted to see.

---

Was it really for the whole of Cornwall, or was it just their various mineral plan strategic shafts?

I went through Ham Jenks and all the old series of 6" maps and had the lot on Google Earth annotated placemarks.....

Then the computer threw a wobbly.

I would consider doing it again, but it's the time.

Very true about Wheals Lovelace and Fortune of Consols.

The bloody bikers have been making "allsorts".

This is my whole point Stuey, are you prepared to do anything about it? If the answer is no, fair enough, that is your prerogative, but if the answer is yes, then you or I can't do anything with just the two of us.
As I have said, unless there is a united front there is no point in slagging off Heartlands, the NT, EH or anyone else 😞

---

Was it really for the whole of Cornwall, or was it just their various mineral plan strategic shafts?

I went through Ham Jenks and all the old series of 6" maps and had the lot on Google Earth annotated placemarks.....

Then the computer threw a wobbly.

I would consider doing it again, but it's the time.

THinking about it , it may have been various historical areas rather than all of Cornwall, but it seemed to cover quite alot.
The cost of maintaining this database (even without updating) is probably the same as the Biscuit budget for the Heartlands event planning meetings.

---

Do these bikes have registration numbers? If so, note them down, report them to the police. They might take action as it is an easy offence to process as you have given them the evidence. A photo and a note of the time etc is even better. If they get caught twice, they risk loosing their vehicle, even if it is not the same vehicle.

Do these bikes have registration numbers? If so, note them down, report them to the police. They might take action as it is an easy offence to process as you have given them the evidence. A photo and a note of the time etc is even better. If they get caught twice, they risk loosing their vehicle, even if it is not the same vehicle.

You're quite right John and to a greater extent the motor bikes have been stopped. The problem now is with chopper bikes. These are not kids having a bit of fun, no-one would object to anyone riding a bike around. These are grown adults that tear down walls that have stood for hundreds of years to build ramps or bank up corners. The problem with this site
although it is quite remote there are at least ten exits making it very difficult to police, and let's face it the police have better things to do than chase after push bikes.

---

Police feign interest, but nothing happens.

The cost of maintaining this database (even without updating) is probably the same as the Biscuit budget for the Heartlands event planning meetings.

sounds about right

I am in the process of shifting some of my one-pack and my bike ride goes from Carharrack, through Wheal Virgin, Lovelace, Fortune, up Poldice valley, up to Wheal Busy, down through Unity Wood and back through Wheal Unity and then Carharrack mines.

I gather that the landowner has got workmen to destroy all the biking related nonsense in Unity Wood.

Consols is a totally different matter and in the vicinity of Andrew's Shaft and Davey's Shaft of Consols, they have made all manner of "stuff". There has clearly been an immense effort gone in to doing this. I have noticed that in certain cases, it appears that shaft walling has been robbed to make ramps.

This nonsense is spreading towards Poldice and I see that people have been buggering about there also.

I suppose it gives the kids something to do and it is "only" some old mining wasteland.

I'm not sure who was behind it, but the ground in the vicinity of Richard's Shaft and Harvey's North has been heavily ploughed, before being forested with totally alien trees. (monterey pines, I think) The area between Taylor's engine and Davey's has also been heavily ploughed/graded as well. I gather there was an open gunnis somewhere here....well it says so on some 1980's plans I have.

I suppose we have to be careful as the local inbreds say "nobikesonthedam-bleddybikes" and that's pretty much the driving force in the area. I can't say apart from a few cyclists and a few local historians that anyone I've bumped into has any positive views about "the dam".

It would probably be better that SITA put a rubbish tip there and fill "the moon bit" in with rubbish and after they have finished, grass it all over....somewhere to walk the dog then, eh?

I now live in Carharrack and it's a great place. The history and the mine-scapes in the immediate area are well and truly unique.

I was yacking to a couple of fellow weirdy beardies the other night and typical of the performance is the utter lack of giving a toss when some inbred gippo decided he was going to annex Whiteworks Mine site (complete with emergency egress shaft to the minerals-plan protected Wheal Maid Decline) and bulldoze it to make it a part of his scrap yard. Legend has it this was council property and their response to being notified of this was sweet FA.

I suppose the WHS is a force for the positive, when you cut through all the crap. The locals and the local government can't put together one set of complete chromosomes between them. Bloody retards.

The problem with organisations like these is that they are set up by well meaning individuals and then the whole thing gets infiltrated by career gravytrainers, which seem to infest the whole RDA/Third Sector. Before you know it, it will be infested with first names, apple computers, brown shoes and a lefthanded lesbian diversity consultant called Barbara with a flowery dress and a moustache explaining how the area should celebrate feminism and contemporary dance. :lol: and then some ******* will come along and suggest what the area really needs is a massive stainless sundial. :guns:

To reiterate my point. Places like Consols and Poldice need to be managed in order that they may be kept in as good a condition for future historians and the future people of the county as a part of our collective wealth.

If you leave it to the locals, they will nick bits of it, bulldoze bits of it, occupy bits of it, throw things down the shafts AND THAT'S JUST THE BLOODY COUNCILLORS!

If I remember rightly, and I was involved with the SITA United Mines history project (which I don't think has yielded anything at all) that the WHS includes Consols, but not United (despite the nice floors near United Taylor's Shaft). In my estimation, this WHS has done absolutely bu99er all so far. There are still bikes on the dam, there are no signs or EU flags to be seen, not even a stainless sundial. However, I imagine the people who are behind all of this inaction are making a fortune.

I'd like to see the accounts.

NB: When I use the word "locals" I am referring to an exceedingly purebred elite.

NNB: It also appears that some harebrained idiot has damaged the grille on the shallow adit from West Shaft of Wheal Fortune to the dressing floors. You can bet your bottom dollar that there will be "hell up" about this.

However, this brings up a totally new conversation where people like the Cornwall Archaeological Unit recommend a "bat grille with human access" and the people who install them either weld the bolts up, or omit the man-access bit totally. Local caving groups and genuine enthusiasts act responsibly. It seems many curious people do not.

The whole thing needs a very big shake up IMO.