I've uploaded some pics of the work that took place under the A30 just north of Mellanear Bridge at the back of Hayle during the construction of the A30 Hayle bypass.

As the topsoil was stripped around 6 shafts became clearly visible as blue lode material had been tipped into the shafts in an area of elvan ground - so blue rectangles on an orange background. This occurred exactly at the cut/fill point above the bridge location. As the shafts were probed by dth drill another raise opened up on the back of a stope so the decision was made to probe drill all the area to determine the extent of any voids.

The results indicated open voids and the further decision taken to open cut the area (the cut/fill line represents the narrowest part of the road so easements and accessibility issues ensued) down to the stopes and adit level to ensure that the road above wouldn't be affected by subsidence and that the water discharge regime through the adit from the more extensive workings to the SE wouldn't be compromised and create further problems with flooding from shafts as had happened previously.

The sequence of photos show the works in progress in May 1982. There was a £0.5M contingency fund and this work used up a lot of it.

Thanks for a great set of pictures, and a flip back to my time on the project; bridges and underpasses on the Camborne to Loggans section.
One question...being so close to the estuary, was that section at Mellanear subject to the tides?

That canteen at Loggan's Mill was real palace of education :lol:

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wotcha Roy

I remember an old six wheel coach near Random Stack parked up. They used scrapers and a dragline and dumps. What were you doing there?

I worked on the Polstrong-Loggans section too; for Macs under Pete Cousins. Bridges were run by Keith Titman. At first I was setting out and later got involved in the mineworkings element - initially being dangled over a shaft at West Roskear in Geevor's shaft kibble on the end of a Macsalvors crane....

Down from Mellanear there was a shallow adit cut in the cutting on the rhs (Hayle) - we had my opposite number's boss from FF&P with us and went in and had a look - there was quite a gaggle there milling about - after about 30m of nothing special - roots! - there was a blockage and a figure prone on the slope of ground....decisions made to exit and call the police....boy did those guys there have a laugh when we came out all of a twitter! Oh yes a hard hat, overalls, old wellies and a pair of gloves look pretty convincing in the gloom of a couple of Oldhams....we were had well and truly.

But we got our own back when we dug the whole width of the road up - and then some - at Mellanear!

As for the area by the estuary I only remember the road line being wrong by a metre or so on one of the approach embankments.

There was another shaft in the bottom of Mellanear culvert which we probe drilled - Franco from Saxtons; all teeth and garlic sausage using the DTH rig - unfortunately it was full of carcases under the capping and when Franco blew the hole out....Jeez, I was ill - the stench was overpowering - he just picked up his garlic sausage sarnies and carried on....

Rick

Fantastic set of photographs. Lived just around the corner in Hayle and remembering spending a lot of time watching the excavation. Still drive over the section almost daily and there have never been any problems with subsidence so job well done. Had one year old twins at the time and remember walking up and down the unfinished road in the evenings and weekends. Health and safety had not gone crazy then. There is still one open shaft in the rough ground in front of what was Tolroy Motors garage. The main engine shaft (Gundrys) was capped and built over a few years ago. One of the houses there still has the cylinder bedstone buried in the garden. Do not think this was mentioned in the sales blurb.;)

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I'm sure it was Gundry's shaft that had flooded

Fantastic set of photographs. Lived just around the corner in Hayle and remembering spending a lot of time watching the excavation. Still drive over the section almost daily and there have never been any problems with subsidence so job well done. Had one year old twins at the time and remember walking up and down the unfinished road in the evenings and weekends. Health and safety had not gone crazy then. There is still one open shaft in the rough ground in front of what was Tolroy Motors garage. The main engine shaft (Gundrys) was capped and built over a few years ago. One of the houses there still has the cylinder bedstone buried in the garden. Do not think this was mentioned in the sales blurb.;)

I was at Roseworthy for quite some time. The weather that year was fantastic for months on end.
I was working as a carpenter with a bunch of guys that lived hard and played harder. A pretty whacky cross section of life on the bypass,
The scrapers uncovered the top of a clay pluton, for want of another word, and the morning mist would settle on it making it slippy like oiled glass. Sitting in the canteen portacabin eating breakfast and watching the guys trying to get across without going down on their arses, was a never ending source of amusement. It was like a keystone cops movie.
Hard work and long hours, at times not finishing until after 11pm, then joining the surveyors in the office for shots of Johnny Walker before driving back to Twelveheads, dinner,bed, up again at 6 to start at 7.
Here's a few shots from that time.

🔗109511[linkphoto]109511[/linkphoto][/link]
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🔗109512[linkphoto]109512[/linkphoto][/link]

🔗109513[linkphoto]109513[/linkphoto][/link]

:offtopic: :guns: I Know!

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