Mines of the Callington District - Kit Hill United Mines

OS Explorer Map 108: Grid reference SX374713

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Kit Hill United Mines, lies almost two miles northeast of Callington in East Cornwall. The group includes Kithill Consols, East Kithill and South Kithill. Parts of the combined sett were worked from the 1850's under one name or another. Dealt with individually, we have the following information:

Kithill Mine
This mine lies at the summit of Kit Hill. It lies to the east of Kelly Bray Mine. The following lodes produced tin, wolfram and some arsenic: Main Lode, Kelly Bray Lode, No.1 Lode, South Lode and Quarry Lode. Details of production are quite sketchy although Dines reports that the mine raised 107 tons of black tin and 15 tons of low grade copper ore (3.25%)between 1860 and 1883, as well as 70.5 tons of wolfram between 1855 and 1880.

South Kithill Mine
Otherwise known as Cornwall Great Consols, this mine was at work between 1870 and 1883 and raised 62 tons of black tin during this period.

East Kithill
There is very little information on East Kithill, the mine is known to have been at work between 1853 and 1909. Working mainly from one lode - Great South, the mine raised 218 tons of black tin and 11 tons of Wolfram during this time.

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