I have no wish to bring up the discussion about artifcats again but to a certian extent I've been sitting on the fence. Looking at Tonopah gave me pause to think. The only way we are going to attract and educate future generations is this way. But of course is that the intention of certain parties?

Part of the preamble:

The Tonopah Historic Mining Park is a 501 (C) 3 non-profit organization and all donations, monetary and artifacts, are tax deductible.
The park collects, restores and displays mining artifacts on the site and in the original buildings. All mining artifacts, large and small, are welcome donations to help preserve Nevada's rich mining past. With over 100 acres of property, the park provides a unique opportunity to house all types of mining equipment. Go Underground at the Mining Park!!


:angel:

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On the subject of renovation and preservation of historic mining and industrial sites, I must start with a repeat of a previous posting to give context to the photos that follow.

Wheal peevor is without doubt a perfect example of ignorance in action. I thought..... Just maybe..... That lessons would have been learned from the West Basset stamps site which I used to be regular visitor to. I have been there 3 times since it was 'Sanitised' in the name of 'World Heritage' And it isn't getting any better! What a barren characterless site it is now and an eyesore to boot looking across from Carn Brea.
Every bit of world heritage has either been removed, relocated to other parts of the site, or badly restored - i.e. mortar pointing done with white St.Austell sand and not a lime mortar or even cement with beach sand to tone down the pointing - Original miners tracks bulldozed away to make way for bland looking gritted paths that bear no resemblance to the way things were in the period that they believe they are ‘trying’ to capture and portray. I can just see some large hairy guy from Pittsburg visiting the site and exclaiming ‘Jeez honey dese Cornish guys were years ahead of der time in pathway technology!’
I could go on….but back to Wheal peevor. I have to say that they did do a good job getting the wall back on Sir Frederick’s engine house, but that I’m afraid is where any praise stops.
My good friend Dr Sharron Schwartz was livid with the way the site has been trashed, and she and I will be joining Allen Buckley on a space walk in the near future.
Probably my biggest grump is with what they did to Tresavean’s dressing floors and stamps. ( I’ll try to find the pics of the buddles etc, and post them on here) O.K. it was only the second deepest mine in Cornwall, was only the first to install a man engine, was only the first to use gas lighting IN THE MINE!!! , made probably the biggest profit in the shortest time, and paid the local lord dividends beyond avarice.
Notwithstanding…! CCC decides that Lanner needs an amenity sports area. Now where could we put a playing field???? Hmmmmm!
Several diggers, drills and numerous kilos of high explosives later and bang! No Californian stamps, no buddles, no wall remains, in short No Tresavean. Oh I must point out that they did leave what was left of an engine house and railed off an area around what was the crusher on the surface. To visit this you need a machete, a guide and a vivid imagination when you find it.
The subsequent sports field gets little use considering what it cost, floods dreadfully and is used by the local kids for racing motorbikes. The cost in lost heritage and local history is incalculable and must rate as one of the crassest pieces of planning ever.
Further; I’m glad they stopped the landfill tip at Carharrack from encroaching onto Consols and Wheal Maid valley. I had visions of seeing Taylor’s engine house half buried in household waste.
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If your going to do it at all do it right to start with!! Simple!

Here are the Tresavean Pics. How all this was allowed to be destroyed is beyond me.

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At least the Luddites left the remains!
:curse: :curse: :curse:

Now look what this load of cowboys left;

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??????????????????????????????????????????????????? History?.......That happened ages ago!!!

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it always amazes me what can be achieved with a few
back handers.....

council "were going to get an injunction next month
stopping your developement"

developer "bull dozers roll today then"

that sort of thing 😠 :thumbdown:

I agree with all that you say Roy. What has happened at Tresavean just amounts to wanton destruction. What has occurred with the archaeological remains around Carnkie isn’t quite as bad but it’s only a question of degree. What is doubly annoying is that these areas managed to avoid industrialisation which destroyed, apart from one or two exceptions, most of the heritage between Camborne and Redruth. This at the end of the 19th century; not much to be seen now.

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But I don't think the problem lies with the conception but with the execution of the idea of preservation. Too many ignorant little people with a touch of power and vested interests. If you start with the main priority of preserving the mining heritage and go from there problems along the way can be overcome. But it doesn't work that way. The vested interests start at the other end and work backwards and the results are all too obvious.

The next question is, what's going to happen to this. It's a grade 2 listed building and arguebly one of the most important in Cornish mining history. The area is up for development,

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On another unfortunate note (nothing to do with the council this time) There is a tin streaming site at Reskadinnick that has been mentioned before. It's on private property but the owner is quite interested in it. Most of it is underground and it would be very interesting if it could be properly excavated. He was telling me that when they built a new drive they found extensive workings.

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Fortunately the council can't get at it as they have many of the sites on the Red River!

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