Mines of the St Ives Area - Georgia Consols

Grid reference SW487363

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The sett of Georgia Consols lies near Towednack Church in the parish of the same name. Mining here dates from at least the early nineteenth century. An advertisment in the Royal Cornwall Gazette of January 1815, offered 3/32nds shares in Great and Little Georgia for sale. Initially the mine was a relatively shallow concern, reaching a depth of 150 feet and worked by hand with hoisting carried out by horse whim. It was known as 'Georgia Tin Mines'.

In 1847 the sett was purchased by a group of investors based in the City of London. Their aim was to extract ore using the usual Cost Book system of accounting. The proximity of the mine to the successful mines at Rosewall Hill and Reeth Consols suggesting that Georgia too may have sizeable amounts of good quality ore. Their hope that their investment would turn a tidy profit.

The mine worked two lodes, namely Coles Lode and Lane Lode, worked from Highburrow, Flat Rod, Engine, East Whim and Noon West Shafts. In March 1848 the small mines of West Georgia, North Georgia and South Georgia were consolidated on their purchase by the 'Cornwall New Mining Company'. Within a couple of years, Georgia Consols was selling tin, raising 170 tons of black tin between 1852 and 1855.

A new lease was granted on the sett in 1872, on a 21-year term to 'Georgia Tin & Copper Mining Co. Ltd.' The new owners struggled to keep the mine afloat however and the mine and equipment was soon up for sale. An advertisment in the Royal Cornwall Gazette of 7th August 1875 offered the 45-inch pumping engine for sale along with three horse whims and several hundred feet of ladderways. The sett was purchased and incorporated with its neighbours into 'St Ives Consolidated Mines Limited' in 1907.

For more information read the excellent Cornish Mines: Metalliferous and Associated Minerals, 1845-1913 (Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom, 1845-1913) by Roger Burt.

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