St. Austell Mining District - Par & St Blazey Consols

OS Explorer Map 106: Grid reference SX066553

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Par & St Blazey Consols, otherwise known as South Prideaux Wood and formerly known as Par & St. Blazey United mine lies just north of St. Blazey on the edge of Prideaux Wood in the Luxulyan Area of the St. Austell Mining District. This rathere modest tin mine worked Quarry Lode from Hitchen's Shaft.

A good account of the state of Par & St Blazey Consols in the mid 1860's comes from Thomas Spargo's book of 1865, entitled 'Statistics and Observations on the Mines of Cornwall and Devon' where he writes 'PAR AND ST. BLAZEY CONSOLS, (late Par and St. Blazey United), in the parish of St. Blazey, Cornwall, in 6,000 shares. Purser, Mr. Watson, Glasgow. Manager, Captain Wm. Taylor, Glasgow Caradon Mine, Liskeard. Agent, Captain Wm. Bryant, St. Blazey. Landowner, Sir Colman Rashleigh, Bart. In January, 1865, 20 men employed. Adit, 8 fathoms deep; bottom, 16 fathoms below adit. Pumping (rotary) engine, 36-inch, intended for stamping also. No returns in 1864. The present Company took the mine in February, 1864. The sett is near St. Blazey village, and contains several tin lodes of a very promising character, and one copper lode'.

Records of production are: 23 tons of black tin in the years 1839, 1852 and 1855 - as St. Blazey Consols and 65 tons of black tin between 1855 and 1863 as South Prideaux Wood.

Now that 'World Heritage' status has been achieved Cornwall in Focus will monitor developments and learn how the mines of the St. Austell District fare within the overall Mining framework.

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