Mines of the St Ives Area - Wheal Sisters

Grid reference SW509363

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Location
Wheal Sisters is the combined group of the former Wheal Mary, otherwise known as Wheal Trencrom and Wheal Margaret that came into being in 1877. The sett lies just to the south of Cripplesease in Lelant parish in West Cornwall. The former mine were known to have been active before 1855 and records show that between 1875 and 1881 the Mine Manager was William Rosewarne, with chief mine agents being Simon Thomas and Mat. Curnow. Between 1877 and 1889 Wheal Sisters regularly produced tin with a value in excess of £10,000 per year, with the maximum output of 365 tons of black tin and 241.2 tons of tin worth £21,180 in 1882.

The major shafts on the combined sett were Wheal Mary, Horton's, Oxley's, Hyde's, Field's, Michell's, Bolitho, Ellis's, South Brunnion, Boundary, Diamond, Mushell's, Pearce's, Giesler's and Old Engine Shafts. The mine was suspended in 1909 and abandoned two years later.

The mine was renamed Trencrom Hill in 1913. For more information examine 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