Wendron Mining District - Great Wheal Fortune

OS Explorer Map 103: Grid reference SW627290

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This sett is located three-quarters of a mile northeast of Breage. The mine produced zinc between 1860 and 1876, copper between 1855 and 1884, tin between 1855 and 1906 - making over £37,284 in 1863 and £32,632.40 the following year on tin alone. Arsenic was produced and sold between 1866 and 1891 with some arsenical pyrites produced in 1897 and 1898. Between 1877 and 1890 the mine was run by the 'Great Wheal Fortune Mining Company' under William Argall, Stephen Harris and Stephen Curtis. Employment at the mine varied along with the production with the 78 people employed in 1890 falling to just 3 workers in 1907.

Including Carnmeal Mine, Great Wheal Fortune worked five lodes. They were: Carnmeal Lode, Blueburrow Lode, Middle (Copper) Lode, Main (Engine) Lode and New Lode. Carnmeal Lode was worked from Hick's, Crotch's, Skip, Painter's Engine, Hoskin's and Eastern Shafts. Blueburrow Lode was worked from Blueburrow Shaft and Footway Shaft. The Main, Engine Lode was worked from Harvery's Engine Shaft, Copper Ore Shaft, Flat Rod Shaft and Field's Shaft.

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