The Mines of Gwennap - East Downs Mine

OS Explorer Map 104: Grid reference SW725449

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The sett of East Downs Mine lies about one mile northeast of Scorrier. It lies north of the A30 trunk road and the Penzance to Paddington railway line. Its nearest neighbours were North Treskerby to the northwest, Wheal Rose to the west, Hallenbeagle to the south and Boscawen Mine to the east.

East Downs worked four lodes: Main Lode, South Lode, North Lode and Middle Lode from numerous shafts: Doctor's Shaft, George's Shaft, John Michael's Shaft, Vesey's Shaft, Footway Shaft, Jago Shaft, Western Shaft, Williams' Shaft, Eastern Shaft, John's Shaft, Vice's Shaft and Eastern Shaft.

Thomas Spargo reports in his 'Statistics and Observations on the Mines of Cornwall and Devon' (1865) that: '... East Downs, in St. Agnes, Cornwall, in 1,200 shares. Purser: Mr. Henry Michell, St. Day United. Manager, Captain John Waters, Whitehall. Landowners, Duke of Cornwall and others (for tin); for copper, Messrs. Williams, Ley, Jago, and Geach. Dues, tin, l-15th; copper, l-12th. Depth of adit, 50 fathoms. Depth below it, 30 fathoms. Rock, clay-slate. 70 men, 10 females, and 20 boys employed.
Minerals Sold In 1864: 44 tons 9 cwt 3 qrs. of Copper ore £208 14s 1d; Tin stuff 38 tons 10 cwt. 6 qrs. making a total of £247 4s 7d.

The Company began to do a little in September, 1862; they are now working energetically in sinking an engine-shaft (a new one), in order to prosecute the mine in depth. Their prospects are very cheering. Mr. Sampson Waters is a large shareholder.'

This relatively small tin and copper mine, worked the lodes in the area north of the Wheal Rose section of Great North Downs Mine and west of the railway line. The workings have now largely disappeared below the A30 road and nearby building operations. The mine produced 2,410 tons of copper ore. In conjunction with a mine called Silverwell, in the St Agnes district, it produced another 85 tons of 5% copper ore and some black tin between 1863 and 1899. It closed at the start of the twentieth century.

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).

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