The Mines of East Cornwall

Penwith • St Ives • Camborne • Redruth • St Agnes • Wendron • Gwennap • St Austell • Perranzabuloe • Caradon • Tamar Valley • ALL

The mines of East Cornwall fall into two distinct areas:

Caradon Mining District

The first covering the south eastern section of Bodmin Moor and centred around the granite intrusion of Caradon Hill is known unremarkably as the Caradon Mining District. The major mines of this area being the copper and later tin mines of South Caradon, Phoenix United, Gonamena, Wheal Jenkin and the Marke Valley Mines.

The Tamar Valley Mining District

The second area straddles the Cornwall-Devon border on the flanks of the River Tamar and so has been designated the Tamar Valley Mining District. The area runs east from Holmbush and Kelly Bray through Kit Hill and Hingston Down to Gunnislake before crossing the Tamar to peter out near Tavistock in West Devon. The major mines of this area were Kit Hill Consols, Hingston Down, the Prince of Wales and Harrowbarrow, Gunnislake Clitters and Drakewalls.

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