Redruth Mines - Pednandrea

Pednandrea Mine is located as its name suggests at the top of Redruth town - Pedn (Head) -an (of the)-drea (town). The unusual stepped chimney is quite a landmark these days - its lower sections can still be seen as you walk up Basset Street and into Sea View Terrace from the Cornwall Centre at Alma Place via Bond Street. Imagine how it must have looked with its top four courses of brickwork intact - since removed. It once towered 140 feet (42 metres) over the town! The area of the mine is bounded today by St. Day Road and Raymond Road. On its eastern flank the mine was bounded by Wheal Grambler and St Aubyn United, whilst to the south lay Wheal Sparnon.

Pednandrea produced copper and tin between 1707 (maybe even earlier) and 1891 when it amalgamated with the smaller Suit and Cloak, Park Reskyme (Skimmers), Dopp and Wheal-an-Drump concerns. It closed during the great copper slump (Parys Mountain) period of 1778 but reopened in 1797. It also has a mention in legal proceedings between Boulton and Watt in 1797-8. Its main minerals being Chalcedony, Amethyst and Pharmacosiderite with lesser minerals being Cassiterite, Chlorophane, Chlorite, Clinoclase, Fluor, Galena, Olivenite, Psilomelane, Pitchblende, Scorodite, Smaltite, Wad, Wolfram and even the radioactive Zippeite. The stamps (ore crushing plant) for Pednandrea lay some distance away to the south east along the Redruth and Chasewater Railway near Wheal Sparnon.

'World Heritage' status has been gained for the area and works should take place in 2008 to connect the mines of Redruth to the Portreath to Devoran (Coast to Coast) Trail via Tolgus. Cornwall in Focus are waiting to see just how Pednandrea fits into the mineral tramway framework. See The Mineral Tramway Heritage Project for more details.

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