St. Austell Mining District - South Polgooth

OS Explorer Map 106: Grid reference SW989499

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South Polgooth lies in St. Mewan parish, about two miles southwest of St. Austell in the St. Stephen section of the St. Austell Mining District. An engine house was built in 1880 to house a combined pumping and stamping engine and this still stands today beside Chapel Hill to the southeast of Sticker and the southwest of Polgooth village.

South Polgooth was an ancient mine with records dating back to the 16th century and worked under one name or other until 1918. Including Treloweth Mine and New Hewas Mine, South Polgooth was a relatively small tin mine. It worked three main lodes: Hewas Lode, North Lode and Caunter Lode from Engine (Main) Shaft, Baldu Shaft and Treloweth Shaft. As historians have reported, the mine was '... never a great producer of tin' and '... although South Polgooth has worked several times, it has had little or no success'.

The lodes at South Polgooth carried tin, a little copper and some arsenic. Caunter Lode also returned a little wolfram. There are also reports of blende or Sphalerite (Zinc blende, ZnS) being discovered on the sett. South Polgooth was not worked in 1886, 1892, 1894-95 and 1905 to 1908. In 1916 the mine was re-opened briefly, but very little work was carried out underground. Hewas Lode was prospected at the 10 fathom (60 feet) level, with Caunter and North Lodes investigated at the 20 fathom level. Some arsenic was reported. South Polgooth closed in 1918.

Records of production are: 115 tons of black tin between 1837 and 1839 and between 1880 and 1882. With Treloweth Mine in 1896-99 about 34 tons were raised, As Treloweth alone between 1900 and 1910, 10 tons of black tin were raised.

Now that 'World Heritage' status has been achieved Cornwall in Focus will monitor developments and learn how the mines of the St. Austell District fare within the overall Mining framework.

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