Wendron Mining District - Wheal Gurlyn

OS Explorer Map 103: Grid reference SW565329

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Situated in St Erth parish just to the northeast of Ennys Wheal Virgin, Wheal Gurlyn was a copper and tin mine, extracting its ore from two lodes - Engine (or Bawden's) Lode and Richard's Lode. Bawden's Lode was developed from Bawden's Shaft and Engine Shaft, whilst Richard's Lode was cut by Richard's Shaft.

Initially known as Wheal Fox it worked for copper between 1848 and 1865, it was worked for tin between 1861 and 1865, re-opening between 1904 and 1910. It produced 475 tons of 7% copper in the years 1848 and 1862-65, as well as 237 tons of black tin between 1861 and 1865 and between 1904 and 1907. The mine employed 80 workers in 1906 but by 1913, just prior to its closure, this had fallen to just one employee. All that remains nowadays are some overgrown burrows in a field south of Trannack.

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