The Caradon Mining District - East Caradon Mine

OS Explorer Map 109: Grid reference SX277704

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East Caradon Mine lies a quarter of a mile southeast of the summit of Caradon Hill and one corner of the sett is at Tokenbury Corner where it borders South Caradon Mine and Glasgow Caradon Consols.

The mine worked two groups of lodes. A northern section consisting of Marke's (or North) Lode, worked from North Engine Shaft and Seccombe's Lode worked from Seccombe's Shaft. Other shafts in this northern section included Williams' Shaft and Footway Shaft. The southern section consisted of Fawcett's Lode, Caunter Lode, New Lode, Child's Lode and South Child's Lode. Shaft names are not available on this section.

Thomas Spargo, the mining historian, writes in his book 'The Mines of Cornwall and Devon: Statistics and Observations' in 1865, that East Caradon Mine was '... in the parish of Linkinhorne, Cornwall, in 6,144 shares. Secretary, Mr. Charles Richard Norton, Salisbury. Manager, Captain James Seccombe, Menheniot. Landowners, Messrs. Mark Symons and Seccombe. Dues, 1-18th. Adit, 20 fathoms; depth below, 90 fathoms. Rocks, granite, clay-slate and elvan. 250 persons employed. Pumping-engines, 48 and 40-inch. Winding and crushing-engine, 24-inch.
Mineral sold in 1864: 6,046 tons of copper ore worth £35,488 13s. 7d.

This is one of those mines in which it is not difficult to see how the profits are produced. The circular lode produces in places deposits of ore worth from £40 to £60 per fathom; and, as most of the mining ground of the world can be stoped away in the lodes for from £2 to £5 per fathom, it is plain to see how the margin of from £35 to £55 per fathom gain on the working goes to form large profits. The sales from this mine frequently amount to £3,000 per month, while the cost is barely £1,000, showing a rich lode, a good mine, and good management. The boundaries eastward the great bases of these productive copper lodes remain intact, and will continue no doubt to make thousands of pounds profits as the resources of the mine are followed downward ; the depth is nothing, and will not be considerable, or offer much difficulty as to the working for the next 20 years, while the profits have already been from £70,000 to £80,000 upon an outlay of £20,000, the selling value being £90,000. The mine has made occasionally £2,000 a month dividends, or more than cent. per cent. upon the whole outlay. It is not easy to imagine how the most sanguine financier can expect a better result'.

Now that 'World Heritage' status has been achieved Cornwall in Focus will monitor developments and learn how the mines of the Caradon Mining 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