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Mines of Crowan Parish - Binner Downs MineOS Explorer Map 104: Grid Ref. SW612337 Binner Downs Mine sett lies just half a mile southeast of Leedstown in Crowan parish, West Cornwall. An ancient mine, Binner Downs is known to have been at work in 1758, producing on average 4,500 tons of copper ore a year. It was reported by Spargo in 1865 as '... In Crowan, idle and has been so about 30 years'. Mainly a copper mine, Binner Downs had, according to Mining Historian Joseph Y. Watson in 1843, produced over £100,000 profit but was long since abandoned. The mine worked North Lode and South Lode from shafts called North Mine and South Mine. There were also a couple of caunter lodes known as Gooseberry Lode and Hick's Lode, with the tin mainly occurring there. Thomas Spargo also states in his book The Mines of Cornwall (1865) that Binner Downs ' ... lies immediately westward of, and has the same lodes as those of Crenver and Wheal Abraham. It yielded large returns of copper-ore for many years. It ceased to work, I believe, soon after those mines. £8,000 worth of tin has been returned from the burrows since the abandonment of the mine. It is said that a new Company has been formed for re-working it'. There was quite a selection of minerals found at Binner Downs with the main ones being Galena, Pyrite and Limonite, with records showing that over 100 tons of Iron Ore were also produced.
For more information on production dates and so on please see Roger Burt's excellent book Cornish Mines: Metalliferous and Associated Minerals, 1845-1913 (Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom, 1845-1913) or what is widely regarded as the mining enthusiasts bible by H G Dines - The Metalliferous Mining Region of South-West England: Vols I & II (Economic Memoirs). For those of you with
possibly a little more time to explore, once you've done
'the tourist
bit', why not explore Cornwall's industrial heritage through its Tin and Copper Mines or learn more from my Cornish Bookstore |
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