This "mine" consists of two adjacent "coffin" adits just east of Benjamin's Chair, in the Devonian shales and just south of the contact with the Lundy Granite. Due to this contact zone, the copper mineralisation present was trialled under the instruction of Rev. William Hudson Heaven during the early 1850s; indeed in 1853 it is mentioned that the headgear of a shaft was visible on the summit of the cliffs, however no remnants of this have been located today. Cornish miners were employed in these trials across the island, the main sites known to be here and at Long Ruse.
The western of the two tunnels is the longest underground feature on Lundy at 76ft long and when surveyed had the broadest variety of archaeological features.
The workings were surveyed 1967-9 by the Lundy Field Society and are described in their publication of 1972. For more about the accession into ownership of the Heaven family, the Telegraph has published an informative read (NB: not the bbc, so not fake news!)
Data courtesy of Ben Sum, Helston (21/7/18).
References:
www.goo.gl/ApMrwg ("Lundy: My family and the Kingdom of Heaven", Accessed 21/7/18)
M T Mills, 'The Copper Mines of Lundy' , 23rd Annual Report, Lundy Field Society, (1972)
Schmitz, C "The Granite Quarries & Mineral Mines of Lundy", No.10, Jour. Bristol Ind. Arch. Soc. (1977)