Mines of the St Ives Area - Wheal Merth

Grid reference SW524357

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Wheal Merth is an amalgamation of the former small mines of Wheal Strawberry, South Wheal Kitty and Colorian Mine. It is situated about one and a half miles southwest of Lelant, at the end of Heather Lane, on Lelant Downs at Canons Town, to the south east of Trencrom Hill. Wheal Merth was a tin mine and worked between 1852 and 1864, during which time it raised just over 750 tons of tin. the mine worked from six shafts: Engine, New, Pool's, Davey's, James's and Curgenvening's Shafts. Its nearest neighbours were Treloweth, Wheal Providence, East Wheal Margaret and Wheal Reeth.

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